Ferraza nervously checked the state of her clothing, a tokar dyed the purple and deep blue of House Loraq. She then ran a hand over her hair, currently styled as a pair of clasped hands.
This is it… I must not do anything to do shame the House of Loraq.
The young Ghiscari looked at the manse in front. It was much smaller than her own pyramid—indeed, it was smaller than any of Meereen's pyramids. But the dignitaries waiting within were higher in status than anyone else in Meereen.
They've been helping Meereen in countless ways… just this morning, they'd started giving out seeds of a new kind of wheat, one that would eliminate even the possibility of famine. And it's not even the end of what they plan to do.
Standing on either side of Ferraza was two men, slaves-turned-servants of the House of Loraq. One of them was holding a parasol to shade her from the sun, while the other had a sheathed sword on his belt and acted as her guard.
"I'm sure you'll do well, Lady Ferraza," said her guard. "Your brother chose you for a good reason."
"Alright… if you say so…"
Ferraza looked at a gift carried in the guard's hands, currently wrapped in silk to keep its true nature concealed. This was an asset to help her in her task. Looking at it every now and then helped her stay calm.
After a few minutes, Ferraza saw the front door open and people emerge. She recognised one of them.
"Kozira?"
"Ferraza…" said a woman in a pink and white tokar.
Kozira Pahl was someone who Ferraza had only met a couple of times before. However, Ferraza did know an important fact about her.
She's lost three of her family to the dragon queen… two Pahls were killed in the fighting, a third was among those… disembowelled and crucified…
It was clear that Kozira had come here for the purpose of revenge. Queen Daenerys was too well-protected to kill by most methods, but if Kozira could get the favour of the monsters… Though judging from the disappointed look on her face, Kozira hadn't been successful. The only things that Kozira had gained appeared to be an immaculately smooth face and a serpentine hair braid that twisted and whipped around like an actual serpent. And she didn't look too satisfied by these changes.
"…I wish you well," Kozira said, seemingly out of politeness and nothing else.
Ferraza and her retinue stepped aside to let Kozira and her retinue pass. There were several groups behind Ferraza who likewise had to step aside.
Normally, it would be rude to make highborn guests queue outside the building until allowed to enter. The monsters could get away with this due to their status, and it was apparently done because the mother was very paranoid about security, wanting as few outsiders in the manse as possible.
Alright… it's my turn.
Ferraza and her retinue walked through the front door, Ferraza herself using one hand to keep her tokar in place. There were two Unsullied standing outside, one of whom muttered "To the right" in a well-practiced tone.
On entering the entrance hall, Ferraza saw many tapestries, paintings, marble busts and other decorations; the gifts brought by her predecessors. It was a strong reminder that she had to work hard to leave an even stronger impression than any of them.
She took the first door to the right, which was also the only door currently open. Then she immediately stopped in her tracks.
Ferraza knew the importance of her duty. She also knew, thanks to detailed reports from her brother and other people, quite a lot about her target today. Yet all of that now proved… insufficient.
"Hi! You must be Ferraza, right?"
Sitting in the room was the most beautiful woman Ferraza had ever seen. If regular women were like dull rocks, she was like a diamond polished by a master jeweller. Her face was more perfectly formed than any of the statues Ferraza had seen. Her hair looked like it had been woven from pure gold, aside from one lock of hair that was instead as blue as the sky. Her eyes… one could spend an entire day doing nothing but gazing into those blue eyes, drowning in them. Her lithe arms had skin just as immaculate as that on her face and neck, and mostly exposed thanks to the short sleeves of her yellow shirt.
And then there were the more… controversial aspects of her appearance. Her breasts and hips were nearly as large as Ferraza's mother's, except that Amelia's breasts showed not the slightest hint of sagging. Yet the waist in between showed not a hint of excess fat, nor did her face or limbs. An unbalanced figure like this would normally be considered unattractive in Ghiscari culture, which favoured a more slender form. However, Ferraza had to admit that Amelia made it work.
How does she know my name!? Ferraza thought wildly. Has she—Has she been watching me all this time!?
Ferraza felt a tap on her back—one of the servants discreetly bringing her back to her senses. She then looked at her surroundings in more detail, and she noticed the paper on the table right next to the target.
A list of names…? Right, of course she'd have that!
"This is Ferraza of the most noble House of Loraq," a servant announced. "She has come here today hoping to be graced by your miraculous magic."
Ferraza made a mental note to reward the servant later, just as soon as she learned what his name was.
"Well, have a seat!"
Ferraza sat in the chair that Amelia was gesturing towards. Only then did she notice the two Unsullied also in the room. The armoured eunuchs stared at her with humourless expressions. She did her best to ignore them.
Was I supposed to give the gift now or at the end? …Better do it now!
Ferraza unwrapped the silk, revealing a wooden box and a thin book. She opened the box, showing that it consisted of two hollow halves with small ivory figurines within.
"This is a cyvasse set," Ferraza said, trying to remember the speech that had been written for her in advance. She pressed the two halves of the box together edge to edge, revealing that they formed a board. "Have you perchance heard of cyvasse?"
"I have!" Amelia replied. She picked up one of the figurines, one shaped like a dragon. "It's a game around these parts, and it's between two people, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Ferraza held up the thin book and opened it up to show that it was equal parts text and illustrations. "It also comes with these instructions, prepared by elite scribes and artists! It will not only help you learn to play the game of cyvasse, but also to learn the written form of Valyrian… i-if you wish to do that…"
Ferraza's brother had chosen this gift based on his own experience around the monsters, and around Wilmarina in particular since she was the most important target. While most of Amelia's clients would be bringing ornamental gifts, competing to outdo each other in monetary value, her brother had said, "Something more… intellectually stimulating should allow Loraq to stand out from the crowd."
"Thank you, my mother should like it."
Internally, Ferraza was jumping for joy. She tried not to let this show on her face, but the corners of her mouth still quirked upwards.
Focus, Ferraza, focus! Remember what you're here for!
Amelia took the cyvasse set, putting the pieces back into the box and stood. This gave Ferraza a better view of her long and slim legs, covered only by tight-fitting black trousers. She set both box and instructions on a nearby table.
"But you didn't come here for that, right?" Amelia said as she walked back from the table. "So, what did you want me to work on?
"Um, that's…"
Ferraza tried to remember the details of her request, which had also been planned in advance. Her tongue froze in indecision.
Eventually, one of her servants calmly said, "My lady would like her skin to be made smooth and free of blemishes, and for you to modify one dress for her. Is that acceptable?"
"Of course! Just stay still…"
Amelia leaned forward and brought her hand close to Ferraza, who froze still on the expectation that she'd be touched. But the monster just kept her fingers a few inches away and swept down Ferraza's body. Then she pointed at a nearby full-length mirror.
"Well, is that okay? You can stand up for a better look."
Ferraza slowly stood. She touched her face, confirming that her makeup had also been removed just now, but it was no longer necessary. The scattering of freckles on her skin were gone, as was the small birth mark that had been near her right eye. She looked down and saw that her arms had become similarly flawless.
And this is just what is exposed… when I return home, I'll likely find every blemish on the rest of my body gone…
"You have done marvellous work, Lady Amelia," a servant said.
Ferraza felt like kicking herself. She was supposed to be winning the monster's favour, not leaving it up to her servants. That just made her house look incompetent.
"Yes, I'm very grateful," Ferraza said, doing her best to sound composed as a Loraq ought to be. "May I ask just how you… accomplish such a feat?"
The two Unsullied in the room looked at Ferraza for just long enough to make her feel uncomfortable. The tales of Unsullied just being tools of flesh and blood were clearly untrue. These ones at least were aware of Ferraza's purpose and—despite not being ordered by any master—had just given her a non-verbal warning.
"Hmm, it's tricky to explain to someone who's never used magic," Amelia said. She didn't sound annoyed at a question she must have heard dozens of times by now. "Magic in general is a way of affecting things that normally can't be affected. Here, look."
Amelia held out a hand towards one of Ferraza's servants—no, towards the folded-up parasol he was holding. That parasol floated out of his grasp and to a point above his head, much to the man's surprise.
"That was something simple, holding something that's out of reach." Amelia touched her hair and changed it from blonde-with-a-blue-streak to fully black. "Magic also allows you to affect things in other ways… ugh, it'd take hours to properly explain. But it's a way of doing things, just like…" she gestured at the cyvasse set on the table, "like carving things from wood, or writing books. It's a… wait, how would you say this in Valyrian…? A set of knowledge and skills, which many people in the past came up with, and people now keep adding to it, little by little… does that make sense?"
"It makes perfect sense," Ferraza said. To sweeten the praise, she added, "You have a gift for words, even though this language is not your own."
"Well, I've been practicing a lot. But to get better at it, I'd like you to show me more of the language. How about you tell me about yourself, while I work on this dress?"
Basic etiquette dictated that Ferraza respond. While one of her servants passed a folded-up pink dress to the monster, she said, "I am the youngest child of the House of Loraq—ah, and I am eighteen years of age. I have two older siblings, one of them being the king—"
Amelia held up one hand, while her other held the dress. "Hang on, sorry, but this'd be easier if you're wearing the dress. I'll swap it onto you."
Ferraza blushed. She hadn't expected to be changing clothes in front of so many strangers, but if it was what her target wanted, she had to comply.
Then Amelia swept her hands across Ferraza's body in a blur of motion, making contact momentarily. In one instant, Ferraza was wearing the tokar she'd put on this morning. In the next instant, her tokar was in Amelia's hands and the pink dress was on her body, fitting just as well as if servants had carefully put it on.
"Sorry for surprising you," Amelia said, grinning cheekily. "But I've got lots more people to help today, and this is quicker than having you go and change normally."
Ferraza wanted to ask just how this incredible feat had been performed. However, she suspected the explanation would be so complex she couldn't understand.
"Now, what did you want changed?" Amelia asked. "The colour, the design, or anything else?"
While tokars were the standard clothing for Ghiscari of high birth, that didn't preclude them from wearing other types of clothing. The pink dress that Ferraza now wore was a lacy thing with a skirt reaching just past her knees. It had been made in Myr and her brother, after returning from one of his trips abroad, had gifted it to her three years ago.
"Well… the colour isn't quite to my liking," Ferraza admitted, checking herself in the mirror. "But I'm not yet sure what colour it should be."
"Then I'll take it through a series of colours, and you can tell me which one you like. While I'm at it, you can keep telling me about yourself."
Amelia began changing Ferraza's dress through all sorts of colours: pure white, sea green, golden yellow and midnight blue being just a few of the options. Meanwhile, Ferraza resumed her tale.
"…sometimes, my brother and I would make fun of our older sister for acting like our mother. She was often just as strict as our mother, always telling us to act properly. Hizdahr learned quite quickly…" Ferraza looked down in embarrassment. "It took me a few years longer."
"I get that all the time from my mother," Amelia said, walking in circles around Ferraza to inspect her appearance. "But I don't have older siblings like yours—uh, there's Louis, but he's so much older that he's really more like an uncle. But my mother always kept saying I have to work harder, to take things more seriously, to be a better example for my younger sisters…"
Ferraza had come here today already knowing of the monsters'… atypical family arrangement. Her brother had heard of it from Daenerys, who'd heard of it from Wilmarina. But hearing the details was another matter entirely.
She says there are six mothers in her family, and one father. The mothers all wed the father because they truly love him. And they love each other's offspring just as much as their own.
It sounds unbelievable… more like those stories of a wicked sorcerer using magic to beguile women, to bend their minds to his liking… but I shouldn't say that. Shouldn't even hint at it.
It was far from the only unbelievable revelation. Ferraza next heard about how, in Amelia's country of origin, it was normal to work for just two or three days of the week—and their week was also seven days long. Amelia herself worked for even less than this, for just a few hours a week.
"But like I keep telling her, it's not just the hours I'm actually making the pictures!" Amelia ranted. "I have to spend the rest of the week looking at the latest fashion trends, and thinking about how to keep on top of them! If I didn't do all that extra work, no one would pay attention to me, over all the thousands of other girls stripping and trying to get noticed!"
That was the third unbelievable revelation. Amelia's previous job had been to magically create pictures of herself in… risqué attire and then distribute them, also by magic, for others to purchase. This was considered an ordinary job in the society she came from.
"And… your mother hasn't stopped you?" Ferraza asked timidly. "If I so much as suggested the idea to my mother," not that she would ever want such an embarrassing profession, "she might… lock me up and bring in healers and priests to… to 'restore my sanity', as she'd put it."
"Well, when it started, she yelled at me almost once a week," Amelia said. She'd finished changing the colour of Ferraza's dress—now silver with stripes of blue—and was now peering closely at the lace on the sleeves. "But my father got her to give up, said my job wasn't really hurting anyone. Now she just keeps randomly talking about other jobs a young succubus could be doing, respectable jobs."
"I must admit, Lady Amelia…" one of the Unsullied spoke up. "I did not expect you to speak about your mother in such ways, when she is just in the next room."
Ferraza jumped at that. She looked around, but the room had no door except for the one she'd entered from. "Th-The Royal Sorceress is just in the next room!?"
"She is always in the next room during these cosmetic magic sessions," the other Unsullied explained. "In case of emergency, she can then break through the wall to intervene."
That was a sight that could have haunted Ferraza's nightmares. However, her mind was soon pulled onto another path by Amelia asking more questions.
A few questions later, she heard a fourth unbelievable revelation.
"Your people can control the weather!?" Ferraza exclaimed.
"But it's not easy!" Amelia amended quickly. "As in, the four of us here, none of us has the power to do it!"
Ferraza recalled everything she'd heard of the monsters' capabilities so far. This was already enough that people had reportedly started a cult worshipping the monsters.
"Weather's something that only powerful monsters can control. And it's not easy for them, either. It's usually done when… for example, when there's a big outdoors event and we don't want it to be ruined by rain. Anyway, would you like the length of the sleeves changed?"
Over the next ten minutes, Ferraza tried out over forty different variations of her dress. It was a very different experience compared to ordering from a human tailor, who would only be able to make limited changes once the dress was complete. She also continued to work at her mission.
"…rather curious, that you have arms as well as wings, while the three dragons have wings in place of arms," Ferraza said.
"Monsters can be pretty strange," Amelia admitted. She wiggled the fingers of her hands. "Succubi like me get arms and also wings to fly with. But the ones with wings instead of arms are actually better at flying. And even they can actually get arms, with hands and all, if they want."
"Truly?"
"Yeah, it's something else magic can do! I'll show you something a bit like it."
Amelia stopped in her work on Ferraza's dress—now a bright red, incidentally. She closed her eyes, then her appearance changed: blue scales grew over her forearms and hands, claws burst out from her fingertips, and the clear membrane of her wings turned opaque.
It was an appearance that was slightly unnerving to Ferraza, and would be to most of Meereen. It was the appearance of a dragon.
"With a bit of practice, even changes like this can be done!" Amelia said. She turned around on the spot, showing that even her tail was now thick and scaly. Then she reverted back to her succubus form. "So if the dragons here practice, they could change their wings to arms. Anyway, what do you think of changing the skirt just a little bit?"
"Um, I suppose it couldn't hurt to try…"
They experimented with making the skirt longer and then shorter. Amelia did the former by simply pressing fabric to the hem of the skirt, causing it to magically fuse. She did the latter by simply pulling away strips of cloth from the hem without tearing.
"The communication here is incredibly slow," Amelia said. "So many things could happen—people being born, getting married, moving house—and you might not hear for months."
"And the communication methods of your home sound incredible to us," Ferraza said, gesturing at Amelia's bracelets. "I have some kin in other cities, and I'd love to be able to speak with them instantaneously."
The conversation continued. Ferraza recounted how her brother always shared stories of fantastic adventures whenever he returned home, and sung a few of the old Ghiscari songs that she'd heard from her mother as a child. Amelia spoke of growing up with numerous sisters and one stepbrother, and gossiped about the romantic affairs of her friends… yet never her own.
But this time could not last forever. Eventually, Ferraza had a variation of her dress that she was satisfied with, as well as perfected skin and one other, last-minute change. Eventually, she had to bid farewell to the cheerful succubus.
"It was nice chatting with you!" Amelia said, waving goodbye. "Come back if you ever want more!"
"Y-Yes… thank you for the offer…"
Ferraza dressed in her tokar again, then she and her servants left the manse and arrived at a litter waiting in the street. Two muscular servants were leaning against a wall near the litter. They widened their eyes when they saw her, but said nothing.
She boarded the litter and the litter-bearers picked it up, then began walking. The first pair of servants followed along on foot after the litter.
In the end… did I learn more from her than she learned from me?
Such thoughts plagued Ferraza during her journey home. She wasn't nearly as experienced in socialisation as her older family members. When she'd met Amelia in person, she'd repeatedly lost focus and forgot the original plan.
She seems friendly enough… but is she like that with all her clients? I'm not sure… Sister mentioned that those of other houses are tight-lipped about their visits to her. They don't want to share information with "competitors".
And… being around her was…
Ferraza covered her face with her hands. She now wished she'd travelled in a palanquin instead of a litter. Then she wouldn't be exposed to the gazes of others.
…I'd heard that some men had put in requests, and even been accepted. Did any of those men try to… to seduce her? If so, there's no indication that any has succeeded…
She returned to the Pyramid of Loraq in late morning. The servants here were also surprised when they caught sight of her, but they quickly remembered their training. They lavished her with praise for her new look.
Ferraza climbed up stairs to the pyramid's fourth level, then went to a parlor on the south side. Her mother liked to spend afternoons in here, reading and snacking on fruit.
Mother stood up when she saw Ferraza enter. Her jaw was wide open in shock.
"Ferraza! You… what did that creature do to your hair!?"
For Ferraza no longer had the red-black hair natural to Ghiscari. Her hair was now a dazzlingly bright pink, similar to but even brighter than the former pink of her dress.
"She… Lady Amelia said it looked good on me," Ferraza replied.
That caused Mother to shut her mouth immediately. She knew very well that the purpose of this mission was to gain the monsters' favour. Letting one of them perform an unplanned magical hair dye was a small price to pay.
That wasn't a lie… the Harpy shouldn't frown on me for this, right?
Ferraza had told the truth about Amelia thinking this looked good. She simply… chose not to mention that it was Ferraza herself who'd requested the change in the first place.
"…I see," Mother said. She swallowed. "Then we will have to accept that, at least for now. More importantly, were you able to establish a connection?"
"Yes, Mother. She and I became quite friendly. And I learned various things from her…"
AN: I wondered if I should finally give a name for the mother of the Loraq family. I eventually decided not to bother. That gives my readers fewer names to have to remember, and it's also keeping with canon ASOIAF (see other unnamed characters like the kindly man from last chapter).