He makes it home.

Emid leaves Miss Monto's house feeling foolish. He knew she wouldn't have been flirting with him. He was just a student and she was trying to show she was just a person too. Why did he try to grab her? Perhaps he should have taken it easier on the drinks. He had been studying hard recently and abstaining from drink so he could study so having drinks two nights in a row was obviously a bad idea. Oh well, Miss Monto seemed to be pretty understanding about it. He should be careful to show her proper deference for a while and this proverbial water would pass under the bridge.

Going home, he took a different route. He typically went to a tavern closer to the castle or was out in that district during the day and wanted to avoid the crowds the cathedral drew, but at night he thought there would be less people clambering for the blessings of the SoS outside the cathedral. He was correct. There was nobody outside. Emid passed along the side of the building towards the castle gate. He saw candles in some rooms and mostly there were church officials of various station reading old books or praying. He saw shadows projecting from one room and thought they must be practicing for the shadow puppet show they have each week for the children. It was childish, but Emid enjoyed the show. There were jokes sprinkled in for the childrens' parents also that Emid also found amusing.

Emid decided to peek in the room. He was shocked at what he saw. It was a female church official he had seen leading prayers in the cathedrals and ordering around lower church officials. She tied in an elaborate web of ropes hanging from the ceiling. There was another lady on her knees bent over a metal bar attached to some type of frame her elbows and hands were also on the ground but her hips were high over the bar. She was fixed to the frame at several points. Her head could move a bit, but her mouth had some kind of leather gad and a clothe stuck in her mouth behind the gag. She had drooled through at least part of the cloth and it was dripping off her chin. There was a priest of the SoS teasing clit of the girl on the frame. She seemed to have some kind of metal stuck in her rectum. The lady suspended from the ceiling was slowly spinning and her head was soon to be facing the window Emid was looking through. He knew better than to peek, but he really knew better than to get caught peeking so he ducked down and made his was safely back toward the castle.

As he arrived at the castle, he saw the elf that lives with the blacksmith out sitting at her chair near the forge. Emid waved, and the elf nodded towards him. A couple folks were out having a drink in the courtyard. Most were the usual suspects but there was a daughter from a lesser noble from Finfar there. Her family had a couple banks in more remote cities in Finfar as Emid recalled. She was about a year younger than Emid but Emid had no idea what she was doing drinking with the courtyard crew at this hour.