#liani

Elissa sat against a tree in the atrium of her majesty’s harem estate, staring past the branches at the stars. Her majesty, her love, her everything, she was gone. Queen Viarra had left aboard the Myrmidonian Harpe and sailed south without her. Yes, Elissa understood their need for haste, that there’d been no time to return to Kel Fimmaril before sailing south. But she’d never been left behind before. She’d never been apart from her love for so long.

She felt an emptiness in her guts, a hopeless feeling that something was going to go wrong. And there was nothing she’d be able to do about it. What if her love never came back? What if something happened while her majesty was in the south, and Elissa never got to say farewell?

It was irrational, gods knew it was. Her majesty was strong and intelligent and always surrounded herself with loyal, capable people. She was sailing on a powerful, well-built warship, and the Vestic’s winter storms had ended weeks ago. There was literally no probable reason why Queen Viarra was in danger of not returning, and yet Elissa couldn’t shake the empty, lonely feeling in her guts.

The sound of a poorly muffled giggle interrupted Elissa’s fretting. She could hear Liani trying to sneak up on her—that strange serving woman who’d traveled with that courtesan woman, Senyara. Senyara was here to help train her majesty’s harem girls as future courtesans, but Elissa had no idea what Liani’s role in all of this was.

“Boo!” Liani shouted, bursting around the tree at Elissa. “Hi, Elissa!” she chirped, giggling. “Did I scare you?”

“Um, maybe a little?” Elissa answered, still uncertain of how to respond to the strange, tall brown-haired woman. Apparently Liani was practicing sneaking up on people?

“I did scare you; I can tell,” Liani laughed, plopping down to sit beside Elissa. “I’m a sneaky kitty, like Corsair!”

So she was pretending to be a kitty? Elissa frowned again, trying to recall everything she knew about Liani. Two days ago, one of the harem singers had sang a story about nymphs, which lead to Liani pretending to be a nymph by running around “seducing” fair maidens—which to her apparently meant awkwardly hugging the other harem women until they either hugged her back or asked her to go away.

Liani cocked her head as she watched Elissa. “Kitty says you smell kind of sad,” she observed, leaning in and making sniffing noises.

“I guess I am,” Elissa sighed, tucking her knees against her chest. “Her majesty sailed away to the south, and I’m left here without her. I mean, I know she’ll be alright, but we’ve never been apart this long, and I don’t know what to do.”

“I understand. You’re worried about your mistress, huh?” Liani frowned, sounding genuinely sympathetic. “I worry about my mistress all the time, too. She’s dying, you know.”

“Wait… what?” Elissa turned to her sharply. “No, I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, she has something wrong with her heart,” Liani confided, sniffling and looking up at the stars. “The physicians say she only has another year or two. It’s why mistress asked Queen Viarra to keep me safe after mistress dies.”

“Gods, I had no idea, Liani,” Elissa apologized, scooting over and wrapping her arms around the strange woman. Liani leaned in to rest her head atop Elissa’s. “I feel bad now,” Elissa admitted. “I was worrying irrationally over my love, even though I know she’ll be fine. But you, you know that your time with your love is short. I… feel kind of selfish by comparison.”

“My mistress has always been so kind to me,” Liani sniffed loudly, weeping. “My past master and mistress weren’t kind. They’d yell and hit me when I made mistakes. I know I’m not as smart as the other slaves, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t trying.” She sobbed again. “And their son and daughter… they were both so horrible. They used to make me have sex with them, and it was awful. I always felt sick after. Their son, he–he said he was practicing for when he got married. I always felt so bad for that girl who had to marry him. I hope she’s okay.

“But Mistress Senyara, she rescued me,” Liani continued, looking at Elissa behind earnest tears. “She bought me and took me away from those terrible people. She’s so kind, and she’s always patient when I make mistakes. And she’s so gentle when we have cunny-sex. She cares for me and wants me to be happy. And I want to spend the rest of my life making her happy.”

“And I want to spend the rest of my life making Queen Viarra happy,” Elissa assured her, feeling a sudden kindred spirit with the strange woman. Liani gave a grateful smile as Elissa reached up to wipe her tears.

“I really like Queen Viarra,” Liani said, nodding. She leaned in conspiratorially. “Have you ever had cunny-sex with her? She’s not as soft and gentle as mistress, but she’s really, really good at it.”

It felt like a minute or two before Elissa could make herself stop laughing.

“I’m serious,” Liani insisted. “She is really, really good.”

“I know she is, Liani,” Elissa said, trying to regain herself. She leaned in, mimicking Liani’s conspiratorial posture. “She learned everything she knows about ‘cunny-sex’ by practicing on me,” she whispered.

“Wow,” Liani whispered back, staring at Elissa in awe. “You’re really lucky.”

“Yeah,” Elissa decided, thinking it over. “I guess I am pretty lucky. Thank you for helping me realize that, Liani,” she said, leaning up to kiss Liani’s cheek.

“You’re welcome,” Liani answered as Elissa leaned against her shoulder. Liani lay her cheek against the top of Elissa’s head in return. They sat together for several comfortable minutes.

“Do you want to go have cunny-sex?” Liani asked suddenly, her tone completely earnest.