A Gentlewoman is waiting for her

"Here Child." Winlay heard a refined, confident high pitched voice calling her "You can't stay here, not even for a minute." Winlay stumbled hesitantly in the direction of the speaker, but almost immediately her arm was grabbed by an elderly woman and she was pulled rapidly away from the large building that loomed behind her. The woman's grip on her arm was surprisingly strong and Winlay felt herself propelled through the streets down one narrow alley after another. Occasionally as they moved down towards the harbor they'd have to pass a wide boulevard well lit with street lamps and patrolled by city guardsmen; each time her guide would wait until the street was empty and then the pair moved swiftly into the next available dark alley.

Winlay began to feel a little more awake now that the blood was flowing through her body and she tried to orient herself as they headed through the late-night city streets. Other than the fact they were headed down towards the harbor district, Winlay could make no sense of their path, but the woman at her elbow never hesitated as she navigated the dimly lit back-streets. It seemed odd that her refined guide would be so comfortable navigating the night-time city, but so many other memories clouded her mind that she didn't even know what to think.

The gentlewoman at her elbow was dressed as elegantly as any one of the city's finest ladies, she wore a high-necked gown of dark blue satin and velvet with long sleeves and a tightly cinched waist that looked impossibly small. Unlike most fine women her age her hair was not colored, but the silver-haired woman was still beautiful. In spite of her age, the way she spoke and moved evidenced the confidence and training of wealth and power. Even her dress reflected this attitude. In every sense the dress was modest and proper for a woman in her sixties, but somehow even though almost all of her skin was covered the way the dress hugged the woman's figure screamed of sexuality.

"Where are we going?" Winlay finally asked after several minutes of this hurried pace.

"Somewhere safe, honey. At least as safe as anywhere we can think of in Telnon." The cryptic answer was enough to satisfy Winlay for now although the neighborhood that the pair were heading into looked both rundown and dangerous. Several times she saw groups of drunken sailors staggering past them who eyed the pair with questionable intent, but her guide barely reacted to their crude comments and the men let them pass without any other harassment. Soon after the third of these encounters they arrived at a brightly painted house with gilded windows and dozens of lanterns that lit up the street despite the late hour. The two huge men wearing exotic silk pants and black leather boots guarded the double doors with ebony-shafted pole arms that gleamed in the lamplight.

Winlay's guide ignored the broad steps to the main door guarded by the two bare-chested giants. Instead she took Winlay through a small locked door hidden behind a ragged stand of bamboo that reeked of urine. As the woman locked the door carefully behind them Winlay had a moment to take in the abrupt differences between the two sides of the wall. Instead of the scraggly bamboo and muddy uneven cobble stones of the street, there were beautiful flower beds and the citrus trees laden with fruit. From this side of the high garden wall none of the squalid smells or harsh sounds of the street marred the tranquility of the surroundings. The grass under feet was soft and cool and music and laughter drifted from the open windows of the three storied house, it was like stepping into a fairy-tale.

"What is this place?" Winlay asked as she gazed up at the large building. "I don't understand, who are you?"

"Welcome to the Hook Line and Sinker, Sister Winlay." Her guide smiled warmly "My name is Wanda Breaudine, and I'll be your hostess for the next few days at least, perhaps longer. Could you wait here for just a moment?" Winlay nodded obediently and stood quietly as her mysterious hostess slipped into one of the many doors leading to the gardens and returned almost immediately with a luxurious robe of embroidered silk.

"I have to change you out of these robes, Sister Winlay." The woman said not unkindly, "These Church Whites would certainly attract attention in an establishment like mine." Winlay still understand almost nothing of what was happening, but the lady seemed so assured and relaxed that she let her slide the robes over her head and quickly cover her naked body with the beautifully embroidered red and gold robe. "That's much better, my dear. You'll fit in perfectly."