Metellan

I met Virosa again at the Tendora's Tit paga den, thinking to perhaps beseech her into letting me stay in her small hovel down in the basement there. I don't much care for the cramped quarters, nor the serpents that are housed in a small cage. And yet it is preferable to returning home again to the Magician's house, where I fear to meet the lady Scribe all in black again. For I am ill at ease in her presence of late, and I believe she has no good intentions toward me anymore.

Virosa was with a man I have not seen before in these parts, making preparations to leave.. Ar, I think. I was bereaved over this small fact, as if someone I loved were about to die. Virosa did not wish for me to call her by that name anymore. "Call me Amanita now," she said. Virosa does not even exist, and yet my mind played tricks on me as I stood before this same woman and spoke with her face to face.

She promised to return for me soon. I shall be counting the nights til then, as Temis, I'm quite sure, has innumerable plans for my subsequent days.

Caustic Words

The lady all in black has spent about a month with me in the Magician's home, and still there has been no sign of Xarika all this while. More and more she has become aggitated with me, to the point that I have begun to fear for my life. She is curious to find out what I know about Agamemnon Sarce, though I dare not utter one peep of what I have seen. I know nothing of the man he slew, other than that he was some general of Ar who'd come to arrest Agamemnon. And I dread every new day that comes, suspecting that the black Scribe means to see me hanged.

Virosa came home with me one eve after I ran into her at the Stadium of Blades. I had accompanied the Lady all in black there, but she hurried off to tend to some business and left me stranded for several ahn in the stands. Near the end of the night, when she had failed to return for me, I decided to head home on my own. And that is when I ran into Virosa a second time.. literally so.

Outside the Arena, we hid ourselves in the shadows 'neath the parapets. It was then that Virosa laid open her plans of leaving Ar very soon, and I in my frantic desire not to lose her, begged her to kiss me again, the way she had kissed me before.

In the end she had kissed me with such a passion that she swallowed down every last drop of my desire for her. And I truly think that my fragile heart shall break into a million pieces, should she leave me behind.

Later at home, I had planned to sleep the night in Virosa's arms. And yet Fate had her own different agenda, for as Virosa began releasing me gently back into the mainstream of my life.. the black Scribe suddenly returned. Too, she was not pleased to find me in tears; distraught. Virosa was chased out of the house with several threats of retaliation should she choose to disobey. And I myself was chastised, as only a woman scorned might lash out. She threatened to put me on a leash and expose me to the world for what I am.

Strangely, the black Scribe's caustic words served only once again to dredge up regret for all the wrongs I have committed against Marius. This too, shall be yet another straw that perhaps finally breaks the proverbial kaiila's back.

My Homesick Heart

In the months that have passed since the Magician brought me to Ar, I find my increasing lonliness leaves me wanting for my old life. I miss Marius. And just as often I think of Jade, and I wonder how she fares. Has she forgotten me by now?

Penitence is a strange thing. For as part of me wishes I'd never partaken in theft, another part of me could never fathom the eternal loss of Jade. And though I did not ultimately get to keep her, the thought that she is with my Master does bring me some relief from my own misery. I shall never cease to wish upon the stars at night. For in them I might obtain the mercy I desire. And Marius' open arms, welcoming me home once again.

Virosa

From nowhere she came, threatening to upend my constitution. And yet she claimed to know a thing or two of Fate, coercing me with a constant tug to my hand to enter with her, this paga den known as Tendora's Tit. Right into her web.. "Come in and stick around awhile," said the Spider to the Fly.

I cannot say that I have frequented many paga taverns in my lifetime, for Marius is none too fond of them. I do not think any of my former Mistresses thought much of such iniquitous dens either, though I never outrightly heard any speak of them. And yet once I crossed the threshold of Tendora's Tit, there was a certain magic that filled the air. Heady and like an aphrodisiac.

I followed Virosa to the raised platform at the fore of the tavern, where she led me by the hand. And this in of itself seemed to draw several jeers from the many patrons, their faces flushed red with sweat from too much paga. It is said that men love kajirae with spirit and tenacity. If they loved Virosa, I can see why.

Upon the platform, I raised my Kalika and bow and began a new melody that came to mind upon a lark, for I was both beguiled and inspired by the Ost Charmer. Her hips moved in grinding gyrations, and she danced in such a way as I have never before seen a woman dance. It made me almost sick with fever as I succumbed to lust. And I am sure I was not alone in my sentiment, for several times the men in the crowd rose up collectively to beat their fists into their left shoulders in ovations as we gave them our all.

In the end, I stayed the night with her down in the storage room beneath Tendora's Tit. And while at first I had been paralyzed with fear the snakes she kept in a cage, as well as the small cramped space of her personal niche.. I did my best to overcome my acute sense of claustrophobia, long enough to spend the night in her arms and joined at the hip as lovers.

All That Glitters

From the stone steps that lead to this magnificent structure.. stripped of my shirt by a thief.. the Great Theatre is not at all the way I have remembered it.

Nor the way I wish to again.

Lady In Black

"Very well. I shall stay, but I must warn you. Should you become suddenly tempted to take advantage of my person, I am armed with pins, needles and other weapons all over my body."

I had met the lady on one of Ar's many streets that intersect the market where I've been staying. She was dressed all in black, as if she meant to keep from drawing any unwanted attention to herself. But I could not help but notice this, as if it stood out like a sore thumb. From across the street, I could not be certain if she were being robbed, or merely cajoled by one of the friendlier hoodlums that prowl the streets of the Metellan District after dark... but when she asked whether I meant to stand there or come and save her, I assured her it was the latter.

I was most glad when she'd not required my assistance in fending off a street thug afterall. And yet she seemed rather pleased with my company at any rate as we walked several blocks, arm in arm. Along the way I learned she stayed at one of the Inns as a guest, having no real home of her own. And several times I did ask her to accompany me to the Magician's house. I had been alone there for some time, afterall.

I think that oftentimes it is proper for a lady in strange company, to announce she is well-armed and quite dangerous. Although at first it confused me, merely because I wondered how she slept at all knowing that with one wrong move, she might become a human pin cushion, injected with her own poisons and whatnot.

But this was when the lady all in black broke down and confessed that she had no weapons upon her person whatsoever. And in that regard, I was not required to be so careful when I curled myself around her the very first night she slept with me.

Fiona

She was a pretty woman in my arms, timid at first and later with her courage laid bare. I led her in our secret revolt against all things lawful and right as we crossed our hearts and vowed our propoganda would spurn none but those of Ko-ro-ba.

Halfway across the clearing and back, the patterns of a star-crossed dance lay imbedded in the flattened sod, for proof that we had been there. It was the next best thing sans the lost glass slipper.

And just like that, she slipped from my grasp and was gone.

Lourdes Fleur

It was none other than the Taurentian, Agamemnon Sarce that I had crossed paths with again. He asked me whether I was familiar with Ka-la-na, though I had to admit to him my experience was scarce. Also, I refrained from filling him in on some of Marius' more colorful expletives regarding the staple wine of Ar, for I feared to hurt Agamemnon's feelings. Instead I mentioned only a rumor to him that I had heard of Ka-la-na's most potent ability to reduce a free woman to a slave for the space of an ahn. It was only when I speculated what such a drink must do to men, that he insisted we imbibe.

I recall being almost immediately dizzied by the drink, and I think for one fleeting moment I had the innate desire to silence his copious monologue on the various qualities of Ka-la-na via a more intimate transgression of my mouth than mere words alone. Yet not two seconds after curling my arms around his neck and leaning much too close, Agamemnon rose abruptly and accused me of being drunk. His laughter was not the genuine sort, but bore upon it an aggitation.. as if he fought against his own natural desire to taste my mouth upon his own.

"Let's go to a party," he said instead as he lept up from the bench we two had occupied, side by side for the better part of the day. "I will intoduce you to all the hags I know so well."

Once we passed the gates and I was introduced by my escort, I played my Kalika at the insistence of Lourdes Fleur with such an infectious tandem of melodies, that she.. full of Ka-la-na herself.. danced before me like a woman abandoned to the very throes of sensuality. I wondered if she were aware for the ahn, how like a kajira she seemed.

"I have never, in all my life, danced the way I did just now." She had a tiny dot of perspiration beading the small crinkle in her brow, and I longed so to take her into my embrace and kiss her. Just like her namesake, she was soft and fragile like the furled petals of a flower.

And so with all my heart I made my silent supplication that she allow me to love her whilst I blurted a thing I probably should not have said aloud: "I am glad I have inspired you then, my Lady. And you are certainly the most beautiful hag in whose company I have ever been graced with."

I am not sure at which juncture Lourdes' sudden burst of tears combusted into a veritable war. I had no idea I would hurt her so, yet before I could even think to beg the Lady's forgiveness.. her brother Leander was suddenly in my face, confronting me. I am not sure what infraction, whether mine own or another's, brought about Nemesis' divine retribution.. for I never saw it coming until justice was already much passed.

Leander's attention was suddenly elsewhere, as was my own. Yet mine did not linger, not after a man named Flavius entered House Fleur and entered into an altercation with Agamemnon. Their fists flew only moments before the parry of heavy steel crossed back and forth, yet by then I had already hidden myself behind Lourdes, who was curled upon one of the divans. From there I laid upon my belly on the floor and hid beneath the furniture.. until it and the lovely Lady Fleur were overturned and spilled to the middle of the floor and I was once more exposed.

In one fell swoop of steel, Lourdes was separated from all her hair and the man Flavius lay slain in his own sanguine pool of blood. I could bear no more as my own bile threatened to rise up inside my throat.. and I crawled upon my hands and knees to escape the violence. Once again I am convinced it is Nemesis and her scales of justice that have sought me out. Yet twice now I have escaped her scathing punishment.