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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 2169256" data-attributes="member: 15043"> Felonca Gets Used to Life on Pillows, and Nayu Faces a Green ManFelonca and her companions found themselves taken into the beautiful pavilion in the midst of the lake, and rising up several sets of elegantly carved stairs.  Within the cold halls of the harem, she found marble floors, silk draperies, and jade statues of various animals.  After the first set of guards took them to a rather small room that held four bunks (their new “quarters”), a pair of red turbaned guards arrived, escorting them to the common room of the harem...“Why does every harem have a room with a ridiculous amount of pillows?” Meiji whispered quietly after the guards led them to the threshold, before commanding them to stay put.  It was apparent he was trying his hardest to not pay attention to the hordes of females about, all in various states of dress, or more often, undress.For a second Felonca didn’t hear his comment, she was so busy looking about herself.  The room was large, perhaps a hundred feet long by thirty or forty across.  Twenty foot colonnades, their bases and caps covered in gold, their shafts bright red, held aloft the frescoed ceiling.  On the floor itself were numerous mosaics of... people in interesting positions.  Finally, when Meiji’s comment sank in, Felonca raised an eyebrow at him.  “Meiji?  How in the world would you know this?”  Please... do not tell me someone here will recognize you from an ‘escapade’...“Well... a few years ago, I did not get into the Governor of Liao’s palace, and I did not get two of his concubines...”  Mercifully, Meiji’s story suddenly stopped as the two guards returned, followed by a woman.  She looked quite a bit older than the other women present... fine crow’s feet around her eyes spoke of one who was at least thirty-five, perhaps forty years old.  Her figure still looked desirable... Felonca could tell by Meiji’s semi-vacant stare.“Madame Yu, these are the three additions.  They are now in your care,” one of the guardsmen said, gesturing to the party.  The woman gave an almost regal nod, and to Felonca’s surprise, the guards bowed, then returned to their posts... on either side of the exits to the common room.The woman eyed the three figures before her with an air of inspection.  First, she looked at Mai Lin, closing intently, looking about the girl’s face for blemishes, and wrinkling her nose when she found a mole.  Next, her face contorted in disgust at seeing Meiji.  Finally, her gaze fell on Felonca, and after a few seconds inspection, she gave a slight smile, and whispered under her breath, “the governor will certainly have fun with a hengeyokai.”Felonca immediately tensed up.  That does NOT sound pleasant...  Focusing all of her energy, the rogue made herself blink several times, and give a pleasant, if slightly eager looking smile.  Keep the role going...“As you are aware,” the older woman spoke aloud, her tone and form pleasant and soothing, but with an undoubted undercurrent of command, “I am Madame Yu, the chief concubine to Governor Ho.”  Her long silk gown swished as she turned around, looking towards Mai Lin.  “I understand that arriving here, far from your homes, is sometimes a shocking, even frightening event...  but the life in this harem is not that bad...”  Swish towards Meiji, then a frown.  “...even if one looks... less desirable than hoped.”“It is possible to live here quite a long time, and even gain a measure of influence over the governor,” she smiled slightly, before her face suddenly went to stone, and her gaze switched finally to Felonca, “if you know your place!”  The implied threat vanished from her face, as a smile of mystery too its place.  “As well as keep the governor pleased in all his... admittedly strange ways.”Felonca gulped, before her roguish instincts forced her assumed persona back to the fore.  In a slightly too happy tone, she managed to blurt out, “Oh, I don’t think the governor would be that strange!”  Madame Yu’s eyes narrowed at her perky comment.“Things here are not what you are expecting,” Yu said rather icily.  “The governor is an elderly man.  He cannot... perform... as he did when I was younger.  Instead, he is more interested in you – in all of us - as a symbol of his power, a token of his authority.”  The smile returned, this one the smile of superiority, as if she was a scholar revealing to a slow child some small tidbit of how the world worked.  “After all, only the powerful can afford to have themselves waited on and constantly surrounded by beautiful woman, no?  And the more powerful he is, the more women he can surround himself with?”“So... we are to be... servants then?” Mai Lin asked... the first words Felonca had heard the young woman say, period.“Think of it as ‘show servants.’  For you, occasionally he will ask you to entertain his guests.”  Another sharp stare at Felonca.  “I alone entertain him, so you can drop your ‘cute’ act, kitty.”Felonca found herself giving a sigh of relief, despite the Madame having seen through her acting job.  It wasn’t until Yu had left that the full implications of what she said went through the rogue’s head, and she hissed a mild curse.“What troubles you?” Mai Lin asked as the group found an unoccupied pile of piles and sat, Meiji somewhat uncomfortably.“If we’re ‘show servants’ who will spend most of the time lounging around the governor during audiences, but not with him in private... how in the world are we supposed to...” she let her voice drift off.“Well, she said His Eminence likes to use his harem as fancy schmancy servants,” Meiji replied, his voice half-cracking has he spoke.  He was obviously very constrained.  “Maybe we’ll have to draw him a bath, or take him his slippers before bed.”“He speaks the truth,” Mai Lin whispered quietly.  “As for now, I think we should try to sit by ourselves, and avoid needless conversation, between ourselves or with the others.  We do not want to give ourselves away, when we are this close.”The tactic of aloofness and silence only worked for ten minutes or so, before one of the other harem girls sauntered over to their location under the guise of bringing a plate of grapes.  When the young girl began blabbering away, at first the only thing Felonca took note of was that she was blonde... undoubtedly a foreigner.“Would you like some grapes?  Chen brought them in this morning, fresh from the markets!” she eagerly offered.  Her voice was high pitched, and rather annoying.  To her chagrin, Felonca saw Meiji was having a hard time not staring... the woman was clad in much the same manner as Felonca and Mai Lin, and her lighter than normal skin made her very exotic looking.“Not really,” Felonca spoke for the others, before delivering a look that would have told most people to move on and mind their own business.  Apparently, this girl lacked the intelligence to understand.“Oh... cheer up!  You’re new here, and that old witch told you that you’ll be playing servant for the rest of your days!”  The blonde plopped herself down next to Felonca, and the rogue saw Mai Lin take over ‘death look’ duties towards Meiji as Felonca was reluctantly forced into conversation.“Why should I be cheery?” the rogue asked.“Well,” the girl’s voice dropped into a conspiratory tone, “for starters, two of the guards here aren’t eunuchs!”  She let off a slight giggle, and added, “it looks as if you’ve caught Chen’s attention!”  She flashed a look towards the door, and one of the two guards that escorted Felonca in smiled back.“And why should I celebrate that?  Won’t a guard sleeping with people in the harem cause a death sentence of some kind?”  It’s rather logical that the governor would not like his toys played with...“Oh... he has access to some alchemals, so there’s no pregnancy,” the girl laughed, “and he’s in a good position to buy trinkets and stuff from the outside and smuggle notes out, considering that his other duty is as a one of the chief personal guards to the governor!”Felonca was suddenly all ears.  Chief personal guard... hmm...I think we have our inroads now...“Oh... he is?” she let her tone flip towards the happy, excited tone she’d tried with Madame Yu, and as she expected, the blonde girl didn’t question the switch... indeed, she laughed.“Good!  I thought that might cheer you up!  Last week, he smuggled a letter from home for me!” The girl winked towards the guard in question, a move that got another smile from him.  “Besides, he’s much better than the governor in bed anyways!”“Really?”  Felonca was actually interested, just in a different thing that guard could do.  “Do you think I could go...um...talk to him?”  Play nervous... pull her into the web a little more...She stifled a giggle.  “Of course!  Everyone assumes he’s a eunuch!  He’s rather nice to us, like the other guards...” her tone quieted for a bit, “except when the governor orders them to do mean things.  But that happens only rarely!” Her tone perked back up, “And he regrets having to do such to us.  Besides, if your parents are like mine, they’d probably want to know where you ended up!”You have no idea about my parents!  Their mere mentioning made Felonca tense up, as part of her mind imagined what her father would say if he knew where she was at the moment.  He’d probably call me a harlot... and curse me even more...  The moroseness lasted only a second, before the girl’s blinking eyes and vacant stare prompted Felonca to respond.“Yes... they’d probably wonder.  Besides, I have a special request for him.”  Despite the sourness in her mind at such a comment, Felonca made herself wink, and the girl giggled.“Like what?  You want a special posting on your first day in the harem?” “Um... yes...”  Special posting?  What does she mean... god, if this is another euphemism...The girl gave a teehee giggle.  “Then you want to talk to Chen too... when the governor calls for just any of the girls to come do something, Chen picks who goes.  So if you want to get yourself on the governor’s good side right away...”“Bah,” Nayu looked out of the small murderhole in the South Gate and resumed his pacing.  Battle is fine... it is the waiting that is killing me!  Annoyed, the wizard looked to his left inside the first floor of the pagoda atop the immense gate, and Yari Ai gave him a slight grin.“You’re annoyed too?” she said softly, her own hands nervously sharpening the blade of her shikomi-zue.  From her neck hung a small totem she’d found in the city, a piece of jade shaped like a human face.  Despite the fact he couldn’t tell what it did, Nayu could feel magic eminating off of it.“No, I just pace for the fun of it,” he gave a wry grin.  Selim isn’t back yet... did they run into trouble?  Or worse...  “I’m just worried about Felonca, Selim... and ancestors deny it, Meiji...”She reached over and patted his hand.  “They’re alright... I’m sure of it.  Otherwise, we’d be seeing an army of guards approaching the gate...”When the Captain of the City Watch called out his warning, Nayu almost jumped out of his skull, until the guardsman ran into the room, and called that Selim was even then climbing the stairs towards the parapets.“So... Jerika says that you want to ask for something special...”  Despite the red cloth covering all of his face except his eyes, Felonca could tell the man called Chen was leering, his mouth probably spread in a predatory grin.  His lascivious voice told it all, and Felonca thanked her stars that the two were in a obscured part of the chamber.  Otherwise, she was sure Meiji would see this, and she’d never live it down.Instead of smacking him, like her instinct told her, Felonca instead looked at the ground shyly, and shifted her feet.  “Yes...” she said quietly.  “I need you to do something for me... and I’d...be willing to do something for you...”  She then looked up at him coyly.“Well, my assistance comes with a price,” he whispered, “and I have to say I have a thing for hengeyokai...”  He gave a dark chuckle, and Felonca sighed.  The evils I endure... she mentally complained, before launching into her request.“I...um...” she kept up her act by twisting her hair awkwardly, “want to meet the governor... but it’s only my first day...”“Oho!  This is something new!” Chen laughed softly.  “I remember Jerika asked the same thing, and so did Li, and Akino, and...”  He stopped, and leered again.  “What will you do for me to give you this...”“...and when I go see him,” Felonca plunged onwards, maintaining her coy look, “I don’t want guards listening.  I...have some rather unique skills.  And I tend to be rather loud.  I have no doubt His Eminence will be as well.”  She shot him a look that mixed coyness and defiance.  She could see the guard’s reaction by his eyes, bright and glinting as ideas of future events ran in his head.  She memorized those eyes that were already doing things to her, even as she was still clothed.  If I see you again, I’ll fix the governor’s mishap of not castrating you!“Hmm... well, I believe I will agree, on the condition that I can also experience your ‘unusual skills’ as well.  Not tonight... I have guard duty at the gates, but tomorrow night, I am posted here again...”Felonca forced herself to nod, not spit.“Tonight then, you will attend the governor at his baths...” he looked up momentarily, then leaned so he could look into the rest of the room, before turning back, “...along with the plain one and the whale.  In comparison to them, your beauty should be accented, and I have no doubt, the governor will call for you again by name...”  The lascivious smile returned, and he leaned close to her.“Then tomorrow night...”Felonca nodded, keeping her left hand hidden behind her back.  If she hadn’t hid it from him, he would’ve seen her warfan shaking within its grasp, she was so eager to slash his smile from his face.It was some six hours later, and Nayu still chafed, nervously running through spells and tactics, examining and reexamining the battle in his mind, long before it happened.This man has green skin... a feared spellcaster and swordsman... I can’t allow him to get into a position to use his magic... We’ve GOT to lay him low as quickly as possible!  As the sorcerer found a likely spell in his repetoire, he heard Selim’s raspy voice calling from his hidden spot on the ramparts.  Yari Ai and Nayu dashed from within the gatehouse onto the ramparts as well, and Nayu’s heart fell.On the street below, headed towards the gatehouse was an immense parade of power.  A mass of turbaned warriors, at least thirty of them, marched first, scimitars in hand.  Behind them came another twenty turbaned warriors with composite bows, and finally, in the far rear, a brilliantly gilded chariot, a scholar, and a driver underneath its bright parasol.  Between them stood a tall, lean man, clad in the red robes of an advisor.  His dark eyes flashed about keenly, as his emerald green hand rested on the hilt of an immense longsword.Yi Man had arrived at the South Gate, six hours ahead of schedule...</blockquote>

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