Winter Days IV

“You want me to teach you, spear fighting?” Andraste asked, leaning on her spear as she studied you.

“Yes,” you reply, folding your arms.

“I only teach women” Andraste informed you. You sigh as you morph into your female form, making sure to change your attire into the sporting clothes that Andraste’s girls all wear. “Very well then, but in exchange you can teach me sword fighting later” the bunny goddess told you before straightening up again.

“So what’s first?” you ask cheerfully, knowing full well that Andraste was probably not even going to properly start you on spear fighting today, or tomorrow.

“First, I’m going to teach you the spear forms” Andraste told you “And I’ll expect you to show up to organised training sessions” she added “Then, when I’m confident you’ve mastered the forms, I’ll move you on to actually using that spear in a fight” she finished.

You idly wondered if Andraste would be up for some fun later, assuming you weren’t too exhausted. You had, after all, decided to do this all without augments, and in a completely untrained female body. Still, you could always just give yourself more energy if needed.

****

“Father!” Cattleya greeted, hopping up from her chair and abandoning her paperwork in order to give you a hug.

“Hello little cat, how are you?” you greet in return, wrapping your arms around the energetic teen.

“I’m great!” she replied happily before slipping out of the hug and returning to her desk. “Trade is increasing” she told you “The pearl industry is paying for a lot of things, the consumption of clams and muscles is lightening the load on food purchases, and someone, somewhere learned that we have a unique silk production . . . there was a man from the Empire yesterday asking about commissioning an outfit made of silk” Cattleya reported and you blink a couple times as you absorb the info-dump you were just given.

“The man give you any trouble?” you ask, wondering if he was still here. He probably was, since who in their right mind makes a several day long trek just to commission an order and then leaves the same day.

“A little, but he came to the conclusion that I was just a scroll girl and that I’d be taking his order to whomever it concerned” Cattleya replied. This was technically true since Cattleya’s job was to control trade in some regard, but still.

“What about the merchant league?” you ask, frowning as you remembered their existence. At your question paused over the scroll she had just picked up and a smirk tugged at her lips.

“They’ve been happy to be of service” your daughter politely informed you. Her tone of voice sent a shiver down your spine and you snort in amusement.

“No disappearances without my say so” you tell your daughter who giggled in response.

“Yes father” Cattleya replied cheerfully, flashing you a happy smile.

“So then, run me through the numbers” you say, conjuring a chair and pulling it up beside the little bundle of joy. Cattleya beamed happily and began to rapidly chatter on about item after item. You smile at her exuberance and use your god powers to help you keep up.

You had made sure to clear the rest of your day so you could spend time with your daughter.

****

“. . . could be a great wife” You hear a male voice say in a tone that could only mean bad things.

“Get your hands off of me!” Came Cattleya’s voice. You had decided to check up on her again to make sure the problematic visitor from the Byzantine Empire didn’t try anything funny. With Cattleya’s call you knew you were correct, and so barged right on in to find that a man in a fine tunic had Cattleya up against a wall, his hand stroking her arm.

“Exactly what are you doing to my daughter?” you ask in a low, threatening growl as you draw your sword. The man turned around with a slimy grin until he saw your sword and then the grin vanished.

“I was just talking with the young Mistress of Trade” the man told you, a charming smile working its way onto his face. “I was thinking that such a bright young woman was wasted here in this land where barbarians rule” the man explained. “I was wondering if I could court her some?” he asked. “As a member of His Imperial Majesty’s court . . . she would have a life of untold luxury compared to what she is used to, and I would even pay YOU for the privilege” he said.

“She’s fourteen” you say with a deadpan expression. The man actually genuinely looked surprised at that, turning around to throw a glance her way before returning his attention to you.

“Really?” he asked incredulously “Such maturity! I thought she was a youthful looking woman of seventeen or eighteen” he exclaimed mirthfully. The man shook his head in amusement before sighing. “Either way, consider my offer, if I’ve not a wife in a few years . . . Cattleya would be my first choice” the man told you before leaving again.

“Thanks” Cattleya sighed before walking up to you and slipping into a hug. You returned it happily. “I was actually considering his offer” she admitted “Working as a trade master for an empire” she added “But then he started touching me and it put stones in the against pot” she said, referencing ancient Greek voting systems.

“If you’d wanted it, I’d have allowed it . . . in a few years” you tell the girl who smiled up at you.

“Thanks, I’m still not totally against it actually” she admitted to you

“My ambitious little daughter wants to be in the Emperor’s court hmm?” you ask and the girl chuckled.

“It’s tempting,” she agreed.

“Still, you’ve got a few years to think before you decide to do something like that” you tell her and she nods into your chest.

****

“I think you’re going to need a bigger club” You tell Ishtar as you look around the room. It was full to the brim, the only reason you were able to see the stage while sitting was because a table was reserved for Ishtar and guests.

“Yeah, Tevron said he’d get around to it, but there’s much to do and the project is quite big” Ishtar replied. At that moment a woman in Ishtar’s uniform, without the gown, came sauntering up to the table with a tray and three cups. She set them down gracefully, making sure to accentuate her curves while she did so, and you, Ishtar, and Artemis, who had joined you, grabbed a cup to sip at.

“I’m actually quite excited to see this ‘erotic show’ you’ve concocted” Artemis commented as she took a sip of her wine.

“Well, you won’t have long to wait!” Ishtar chirped. As she said this, the din of the crowd quietened down in response to two girls taking the stage. They were dressed in very colourful gowns that went down to their ankles in multiple layers of skirts.

“Interesting” you comment, leaning forward and steepling your fingers. The two girls took up positions on either side of the stage. You didn’t have long to wait for, after a moment, the sound of a hurdy gurdy, or wheel fiddle as they were calling it, filled the room. With this musical key, the two girls began to dance.

They danced in spins and twirls that took full advantage of their colourful gowns as they made their way around the stage, getting ever closer to each other until finally they were arm in arm and dancing with passion.

From the music, and from the dancing, you began seeing a story unfold on the stage, a play of some sort. From what you could gather, the story was about two girls who met at a ball or something and fell in love. This, however, was a problem as women aren’t allowed to be in love, or so the story claims, and thus the girls must dance in secret or some such. The interesting part of the dance was that each time the girls ‘met in secret’ one of them would lose a skirt. It was an exceptional display of skill that the dance partner could unhook the skirts, they were hooked onto the next one up, in the brief moments they held each other.

Finally, after some rather exceptional dancing, the girls both reached the last skirt on their dresses. With none more to remove, they began to paw at each other, deepening the ‘lust’ of the characters they were portraying and getting more and more comfortable with their relationship. This ‘pawing’ began undoing their dresses, bit by bit until at last, they slipped to the floor. First one girl, and then the other, leaving them in silken undergarments. The dance got ever more passionate as the girls almost kissed while pawing at each other, groping and caressing until even their undergarments started coming loose.

Though there was no noise amongst the crowd, you could feel their emotions as the dance steadily progressed towards what could almost be considered sex.

At last, the two girls stopped. They were panting from their dance routine, glistening in the firelight, and completely naked. They didn’t quite stop there though, they wrapped their arms around each other and slowly, gracefully, slipped to the floor, bodies entangled. Finally, as the two girls lay together, chests heaving and looking tenderly into each other’s eyes, they kissed. The crowd went wild.