December, 1864
Lisette woke unfeelingly at the crack of dawn. The changes had stopped three weeks ago, when she had finally been sold. Sold. The word made Lisette's stomach turn under her heart, which had long since shriveled. Nothing made her feel any longer, for she had closed her feelings away for safekeeping, possibly forever.
She knew nothing of where she was, not the language nor the people. They had dark skin, black hair. They spoke with a strange tongue, and no one spoke French, or Hebrew, or Yiddish. Lisette had tried all of them on a fellow European-looking worker, who only shrugged and replied in some hard Germanic language.
The other European worker, a girl with dark yellow hair and sad eyes, had only managed to tell Lisette her name, Nicolla, and her home, London. Angleterre. Nicolla was English. Lisette had given her the same information, but they had managed to communicate nothing more before Nicolla was sold to someone else.
All the girls working were either pretty or gifted; Lisette was the only Jew and the only European, except for one extremely beautiful Russian who had been there for less than two hours before being sold to someone with a regal bearing like a prince. Lisette felt the Russian girl's new owner would only mistreat her, but nothing could be done, of course.
Lisette was deep into the routine: wake at dawn, eat, clean, work in the garden, eat the midday meal, clean more, hide as best as possible while being inspected by possible customers, make a light dinner, eat some scraps, clean the eating-place, sleep. Nothing changed, and Lisette expected it to stay that way. She did not fear her boss, her owner, for she complied to his basic whims. She would rather wallow in nothingness here than live passionately loathsome of a new life.
Life, she knew, could never go on.
---
Lisette was polishing the entrance hallway with two brown-skinned girls who whispered constantly and stared at Lisette without shame when the bell rang throughout the place, signaling someone was there. Automatically, the three girls quickly took their things and disappeared into a side closet. They pressed together as they managed to squeeze the door closed. Lisette smiled indifferently as the others suppressed giggles. She guessed them to be thirteen and fifteen, or about that.
The man Lisette called the butler glanced at the doorway the three hid behind before opening the doors. The girls heard a gasp, and pressed their ears to the door to hear. "Your excellence," the butler said. One girl breathed "Shah!" into Lisette's ear. She understood enough from that word to make her shudder involuntarily.
The shah had come to steal someone away to his harem.
---
The butler led the shah away, and the three girls rushed away before they were caught hidden there. The two brown girls pointed to and named themselves; the younger was Richa and the elder was Aleena. Lisette smiled, did likewise.
Richa mimed fixing her hair, putting kohl around her eyes, and putting on their good linens, and Lisette nodded. Richa smiled, pleased at Lisette's comprehension, and led her to the sleeping-places of the many girls.
Lisette was dragged to where Richa and Aleena slept next to each other, and each changed quickly and brushed their hair with makeshift combs. Their black hair gleamed after they rubbed something into it.
Richa pulled out a crisp, pure white linen and pressed it upon Lisette's form, and Aleena clapped her hands together and smiled. Lisette let them dress her up for the shah; she knew, or rather hoped, he would have no interest in a dead-looking girl. They put a little kohl around her eyes, and used water to clean her neck and face, chattering all the while and calling out greetings to others who ran in to put on their finest. A few smiled or nodded to Lisette. She could not understand Richa and Aleena's actions; why were they helping her?
But it hit her: they were trying to make her appealing to the shah! She would be sold to him, and she would have to live in his harem. Anger coursed through her, and she was shocked at it. She did not want to leave this place: even though nothing felt right anymore, she felt safe here.
Richa paused making a braid in Lisette's hair, feeling her tensed neck. Richa placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, frowning; Lisette sat still, staring at nothing. Aleena quickly finished Lisette's braid.
The butler came down and called out something, something the master had told Lisette in halting French to mean 'come to the market room'.
She stood, Aleena and Richa on either side, and stepped forward. Another step, another. She made it to the doorway of the market room, and Richa and Aleena led her in behind perhaps the thirty others that were already there. She forced herself to the back of the crowd, glad she was shorter than many.
Aleena and Richa stayed by her side, held her hand, whispered sweet nothings to each other and to her in a foreign tongue. Lisette stared at the back of someone's head.
There was a loud clap, and silence fell. Lisette understood nothing of what the master said, and she did not care. But everyone else went to one side, and Richa and Aleena took her with them. Lisette watched a process that seemed disgusting to her.
Three girls walked in at once, bowed to the shah, turned about, and if he made a motion towards one, would bow again and move behind the master. The ones not given the signal bowed, crossed the room, and left.
Richa and Aleena gripped Lisette's shoulders, both looking eager. Lisette played dead, until they were at the front. Aleena went first, and Richa gave Lisette a slight push; she only recalled moving as if looking down upon herself. She bowed to the shah; turned; looked at his hands. They were strong, almost fat. She watched as he made a motion to herself and Aleena. The three bowed, and Richa gave a glance full of sadness to Aleena and Lisette before crossing the room away from them. Aleena steered Lisette to a place behind the master.
Lisette dimly realized the shah had liked her, or her form, at least. And she would probably never see Richa again. Aleena squeezed her hand, and Lisette returned the motion.
The girls finished; about fifteen out of the fifty or so had been chosen. They were made to stand in a line, and the shah and the master walked down the line. Lisette and Aleena stood at the far end from where they started.
The shah and the master spoke together about each girl, Lisette guessed, and some were sent away in a single moment. They bowed and left. By the time the shah came to the girl next to Lisette, only three of the others had been chosen to stay. The girl next to Lisette was sent away, and then the shah looked at Lisette.
He looked at her corpse-colored skin, and made her look into his brown eyes. He spoke to her in his language, but Lisette only shook her head and looked at her feet. Aleena bowed and spoke to the master, speaking for Lisette. Lisette cared little for what Aleena said.
The shah looked at her again. He felt her neck and waist, her cheeks and ears. He nodded, moving to Aleena.
Another instant and he had nodded; Aleena was very pretty by her brown standards.
Lisette's spirit sagged as the shah gave some of the foreign money to the master, who looked at Lisette and took pity at her lost expression. He spoke in his broken French to her: "You go with shah now, be his odalisque. You go to palace, be in harem. A great honor," he said. "You will there learn Persian, be a good odalisque."
Lisette looked at him, dismayed, but he gave her a warning look and she looked down again. Aleena took her hand, sympathetic. Lisette watched something splash on her foot; a single tear.
Lisette felt no more, and began her count: so far in Persia, one tear.
