Bed and Wine: Part 22

By Kaynara

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Christianity and Cortex sex. Bunch of other stuff, too. This is 22 of 30, kids!

As always, thanks go to Grimlock.

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May 20.

To Malcom:

I’d wish for any son of mine the incomparable experience of loving a trained companion, including all its heady and sometimes less-heady pleasures, its lusts, its lows.   I would not, however, advise my son to wed one. 

The women of Sihnon reflect the best and worst elements of their ancient world, embodying the land’s terrible beauty, her immense material worth, her long and vivid memory.  A companion’s craft is old; some say the art dates back to Earth-that-Was.  When unfettered, such a creature shines like the twinkling lights of the Great City itself.  Captured, though:  captured she does not dim like light does when bound in paper lanterns, one of which adorns the doorway of every saloon and tavern and tea room in Sihnon City.  Instead her soul flames, as though the paper itself catches spark from the inner candle, ignites and consumes itself until all that remains is ash.

Esmerelda, when first I encountered her, was a gift in every sense of the word.  But first she was quite literally a present, bought and paid for by Aston who suggested none-too-subtly that I find a manner of alleviating my “distressing disquietude.” Derry was less diplomatic.

“Son, you got a problem in your pants. Best you see to that.”     

I came to her that first time in a foul mood. I’d been docked on Sihnon eight straight weeks and hadn’t seen Mary in twelve. I balked when Aston first informed me of the appointment. Now I’d nothing against sex as a rule, but I’d never stooped to paying for it. Emmy would teach me that Companions were so much more than common whores.

I tried to beg off; Aston insisted it was out of the question. Unification between Sihnon and the Allied Core could well depend on Guild support. The Five Houses and their heads held great sway over the Sihonese people; Emperor Kai himself was said to visit House Madras