A Spark

Early afternoons in the Temptress were the calm before the storm. The kitchens were being cleaned, the bar was being restocked, and the whores ate and stretched and lounged while they could. Rob stood as an impassive center to the brothel, with the businesses and girls orbiting around him. Some, he reflected, circled closer than others. Reaching back, he took the cup of coffee from Selise, where she'd been acting as his cup-holder. Sipping the drink appreciatively, he kept his eyes on the stage thoughtfully.

Tsan gave a slow, seductive dance atop her pedestal, demonstrating the charms of her flexible frame. Rob reflected that she'd been working hard to recover from her arrival, even if she still seemed lost as often as not. Someone had dressed her in a loose, short skirt, barely providing any modesty when she stood still, and a thin shirt secured only by a single clasp between the elf's petite breasts. It was a good look for her, Rob thought, and he watched a little closer.

"Das'in seves valah'in?" He heard Selise question from beside him.

Tsan made a misstep and wobbled a moment before giving a yip as she went over the side of the stage. Rob watched dispassionately as she hauled herself up, glaring at Selise and blushing. Rob knew little elvish, but he caught some choice commentary about Selise's parentage that was less than complimentary as Tsan presumably rotated through her stock of profanity. It looked as if it might come to blows, but a glance to Rob and a deepening of her blush made the blue-haired elf retreat, rubbing her shin where she'd battered it against the table.

Rob looked back to Selise, lowering his voice. "What'd ye say to her."

The red-haired elf tittered, whispering back. "I told her that you'd take her to bed if she kept dancing like that." Eyes of orange fire peered back at him in mirth. "She needs to learn to perform while being heckled, after all."

Rob gave a discontented rumble before waving Tsan over. The dancer obediently scurried to them, clasping her hands behind her back and lowering her gaze submissively.

"Look at me." He commanded, only continuing once she'd obeyed. "I will never take ye to bed unless ye ask me to. That was how things were in the old days. It ain't the old days no longer." He kept his eyes on Tsan's as he spoke, keeping his words low and slow. "Tell me you understand."

Tsan nodded quickly, thinking hard on her words to keep from slurring them. Rob felt a pang of something uncomfortably close to guilt. "I understand. May I ask why?" The careful deliberation she had to use made the crispness of her accent stand out all the more.

He let out a slow breath, keeping his face serious with an effort. "Because a cock this big is a privilege." He let the laughter out, a vast barking sound that drew eyes from across the brothel. He caught Selise's scowl from the corner of his eye, but then Tsan's smile captured his attention. Ordinarily, she was plain for an elf, but her full smile, slightly crooked, just a bit too big, and brought out so sparingly, turned her into the only thing the men in a room would see. "You should smile more." He chided gently.

She slipped then, for just a moment, eyes sparkling and her words slurring as her wit cut through, "Then you should be funnier."

The second it was out into the air, both elves looked at each other in shock, and Rob could see Tsan's damaged mind trying to find the words for an apology in the foreign tongue. With the second bout of laughter, Rob cut off any wasted words, lifting a hand to tousle Tsan's shock of blue hair. "You should be witty more often. Customers like a bit of spirit. Within reason, of course."