Truly, the nightlife of Renais was devilish.
It was far removed from the pristine dances and calming environs of L'Arachel's Rausten, and once Eirika had escorted from the regalia of Castle Renais' upper and middle areas, she found herself in a district illuminate by red and purple light. Her simple white blouse, brown corset, caramel breeches, and basic boots looked rather conservative amidst all of the pastels and golds of the districts' denizens.
"Where are we exactly?" L'Arachel questioned, large green eyes bouncing from tantalizing men to downright delicious looking women. She felt her loins warm and she cleared her throat, clearly both captivated and anxious.
Eirika looked far more suited to area: she wore blacks and red, her normally unruly hair pulled into a sleek ponytail. She moved with ease through the area, almost as if she belonged. "The Pleasure Quarters, but of course. Does not your fair Rausten contain them?" Eirika responded, waving to a dancing girl who stood in a large, gilt doorway. She smiled in return.
"I'll give you a fair price, Queenie!" the girl called, waving a hand crusted with rings.
Eirika chuckled. "I'll pass tonight. I've got… company." The dancing girl shrugged, blew a kiss and twirled back in the doorway. Loud explosions of laughter followed her. "Well?" Eirika asked again. "Do they?"
L'Arachel's cheeks burned red. "N-No! Rausten is a religious theocracy! WE… We are not so craven to succumb to such... such.." Eirika held up a hand, and L'Arachel paused, face now red from exasperation.
"It's alright, L'Arachel. Twas just a question," Eirika said as they turned a corner. She brought her hand upto L'Arachel's hip, resting it gently on the generous curve. "You do know we can always turn back if necessary, right?"
L'Arachel nodded, chewing her lip slowly.
They continued in relative silence for a few more minutes until they turned another corner. "There," L'Arachel whispered. "I want to go there."
"To… there?" Eirika followed L'Arachel's pointing finger.
The front was simple: a flat, brownstone wall clear of debris and damage. The only thing that gave the building was a wooden sign with golden letters reading "Dalliance".
Eirika smiled slowly. "Well, let's indulge ourselves."
Large pillars, decorated with sheer silks and taffeta and golden baubles. Brocade cushions, fat with down and stuffing, circled a wide, flat expanse of sand contained within a circular pit. The sand itself was also colorful: bright reds and deep greens, coupled with airy yellows and haunting blues shimmer as dozens of candles illuminate the stage. Girls with golden and brown skin, smooth as silk, meandered around the area with trays of fruits, spirits, and cheeses. Laughter filled the air, along with the tinkling of bells.
Yet there was also something entirely exotic. The interior smacked of influences from Jehanna, but it had a truly Eastern air. The girls, clad in sheer fabrics with trialing scarves and soft soled flats, were distinctively Eastern, quite a difference from the Western style that Eirika wore. Girls from Kudan, a constitutional theocracy not far from L'Arachel's Rausten, bore scarves about their heads and neck loosely, a sign of their religion under the foreign Goddess Marina, stark white against their light brown skin.
A group of women with caramel colored skin, citizens of the oligarchy of Akistan, smoothed the sand across the stage, dipping down to show off their busts and hips to the crowd. In a corner, porcelain skinned girls from the Eastern nation of Xu'qua, a land filled wit history and Dynasties, and the island nation of Soji, a land ruled by mymidions and swordmasters, giggled, eyeing a spree of fat aristocrats with too full pockets. Dajian girls with dark, chocolate colored skin swirled in dizzyingly slow circles, scarves billowing behind them. Red marks shown on their foreheads, marks of their intellect and their chakra.
L'Arachel was truly amazed at the display of opulence. "This is…"
"Gaudy, but nice," Eirika finished. She guided L'Arachel to a set of blue pillows and settled down, removing her boots and cape. A girl smiled and eagerly scooped them up. "You look familiar…. Jun?"
The girl looked up from beneath her thick lashes. "Evening, Queen Eirika!" she chimed, leaning down and pecking Eirika on her cheek. The queen laughed and patted the girl on her head, ruffling her buns.
"Ah, Zhao Jun! How nice to see you!" Eirika was quick to embrace the girl, knocking her belongings to the ground.
Zhao Jun smiled, leaning back. "Ah, it has been too long since you've come to one of our shows, Queen! I shall ensure a great dance tonight."
"Ah, who will be dancing?" Eirika mused. "Will it be Anhilsha? I do love the Daji style of dance." Eirika leaned near to L'Arachel. "It's quite wonderful. A true show of skill from a truly elegant land. It more than rivals Jehanna and Tethys."
"Actually, I will, my highness, especially since you have come," Zhao Jun responded, a knowing smile resting on her lips. "I'll have to put on better than this. I shall announce your presence.
Eirika gripped Zhao's arm, eyebrows knitted together. "I'd… prefer you didn't. The next Queen of Rausten is with me," she said, hitching her head towards L'Arachel. L'Arachel smiled and nodded.
"Ah, I believe I can do that," Zhao finished, winking. "Well, it will between us, dear friend. I shall go and get ready." Zhao rose once more and quickly disappeared behind a curtain, waving a final goodbye to Eirika.
"Where does Zhao Jun hail from?" L'Arachel asked, relaxing onto a pile of pillows. A girl lowered a tray of cheese and she took a chunk. "Mmmm, mulberry," she mumbled around the bite. A crumble of cheese fell down her cheek.
"Ah, Zhao Jun is from Xu'qua. It's a land on the continent of Ekana."
"Wow, how exotic," L'Arachel said, taking another bite. "I like to think I'd visit one day."
"Perhaps we'll go on a politic visit. I would like to encourage trade outside of our fair Magvel."
"Yes," L'Arachel said, cheeks turning a soft pink. "I'd like that."
Suddenly, the candles above the dance pit dimmed, and the room ebbed into silence. A woman, clad in fur boas and a long, black slip of a dress, stepped onto the sand pit. "Good evening, lords and ladies, and welcome to our fair Dalliance. What a pleasure to have you!" The crowd erupted into applause. "My name is Hei'ri, and I am your hostess for this evening. Allow me to introduce our premier dancer, Zhao Jun of Xu'qua."
Zhao Jun stepped from the shadows behind Hei'ri, a smile upon her face. She was clad in sheer pink fabrics, accenting her golden skin. Her hair was bound in two buns, tendrils of pink rose hair dangling down to kiss her elfish ears. Two thick braids fell from the buns, resting on her shoulders. Her top was scant, a simple maroon brassier with pink fabric the same color as her hair laid over it. The same pink made up her pants, which were sheer and ballooned about her legs until they cinched at her ankles. She completed the outfit with light pink shoes, a pink scarf about her waist, and bangles matching her hair. Slung over her shoulders was a long, maroon scarf, nearly twice her size.
"Dance," Hen'ri mouthed approvingly. Zhao Jun nodded.
A rollicking beat erupted into the air, filled with the sound of zithers and castanets. Zhao Jun spun into action, hips swaying seductively, stomach muscles clenching and relaxing as she shook. Her eyes closed, as if in rapture and she twirled around the permitted of the strange, sand swirling beneath her practiced feet.
The entire crowd remained silence as the music picked up. Zhao Jun's scarf came into play, and she flicked her wrists, sending it undulating in smooth waves above her. She bent back the scarf snapping and flapping only inches above her taut stomach. Quickly, she twirled, her whole body a singular muscle as she shimmied across the stage.
With great skill, Zhao Jun tossed her arms out, the scarf snapping in a perfect arch in front of her, and she flipped, body a perfect line as it arched over the scarf. She smiled and whooped, bright red eyes opening and looked down. "For you, nǚwáng," Zhao Jun whispered as she bent down and gently draped her scarf about L'Arachel and Eirika shoulders. "Yuàn dàdì mǔqīn yǔ nǐ tóng zài." She bowed deeply, and lifted her arms as she rose, her dance complete. The crowd broke out into great applause and Zhao Jun returned to the back, ducking behind a curtain.
L'Arachel was stunned into silence. Eirika, effectively, was too.
"We should go," Eirika managed, gulping hard.
L'Arachel nodded. "I agree. Something is…"
"Yes."
Quickly, the women rose. Zhao Jun greeted them at the doorway, belongings in hand. "Good night, friends. I hope to see you again. Now shoo!" She waved them off, chuckling.
Eirika and L'Arachel quickly took her command and escaped into the night.
Something had changed between the women as soon as they exited Dalliance.
Their lips crashed together, a tangle of tongues. It was a desperate kiss, spurned on by the dance they had seen by Zhao Jun, by the vigor and pure sexuality demonstrated by the talented dancer. It had lit a flame in both women, and now, they struggled to break away.
"Castle Renais," L'Arachel managed, the sudden rush of heat between her leg both frightening and curious.
Stumbling, both women made their way through the district, Eirika trying hard to maintain her decorum as Queen, L'Arachel trying not to faint from the heat inside her. After what felt like hours, the twosome clambered into L'Arachel's personal chambers after paying off both Puck and L'Arachel's retinue of maids with promises of treats from Eirika's favorite bakery.
"I do not know what's overtaken me so," Eirika panted as they clambered into L'Arachel's bed. L'Arachel chuckled, hair falling about her face as she and Eirika set to undoing one another's clothes.
"I would say you are in heat, my dear," she sighed, pulling Eirika close. "Share this moment with me." Eirika eagerly obliged her, pressing her lips back to L'Arachel's', nipping at them eagerly.
Soon, they found themselves down to their underclothes, L'Arachel's shirt torn by the overeager Eirika. Both women were sticky with sweat, lust only increasing.
Eirika felt courage rise in her chest and eagerly snuck her hand down the front of L'Arachel's pants, the intensity of the heat of her loins welcoming. L'Arachel gasped and shifted, wrenching Eirika's hand slightly. She cursed and looked at L'Arachel. "Warn me next time, if you may," she chided.
"Eirika, we… we can't," L'Arachel panted, chest rising and falling beneath her torn white blouse. Oh, how she wanted to continue though. "I will not until our wedding night. We can do other things though," she said, sliding Eirika's hand from her crotch.
Eirika pulled back, a bright red mark evident on L'Arachel's creamy neck. "I… What?"
L'Arachel shifted and Eirika immediately moved. "I…" L'Arachel paused. "I…I… This is not my way, Eirika. I am not a woman of… such desires. I am convent raised, and an emblem of religious purity for my nation. I have always imagined consummating on my wedding day, although I desire it now."
Eirika quickly got up, forcing away the adoration, and lust, she felt for L'Arachel in that very moment. She hated herself, but she was mad, and she knew all she could do was to leave. "Very well. I shall go."
L'Arachel pulled her blouse together, eyes widening. "I… you don't have to go. Perhaps we could just lay here?" L'Arachel smiled nervously, reaching towards Eirika with her free hand.
Eirika shook her head. "No, I think it would be best if I left. I… I feel I am a fool now for misreading you."
"Eirika, don't, I just… I was frightened."
"I shall leave, nonetheless," Eirika responded.
Shifting, Eirika slid out of the door, letting it shut behind her.
Notes:
· Kudan is a fantasy version of Saudi Arabia.
· Akistan is a fantasy version of Ancient Iraq.
· Xu'qua is a fantasy version of the Ming Dynasty in China
· Soji is a fantasy version of Feudal Japan.
· Daji is a fantasy version of Medieval India.
· When Zhao Jun speaks to Eirika and L'Arachel at the end of her dance, she uses traditional Chinese. What she says, when translated, is: "For you, Queens. May Mother be with you." This is reference to Zhao Jun and her possibly associating with a religion akin to Daoism.
· The continent of Ekana is meant to be similar to the Asian continent of the 15th and 16th centuries.