Foundation's Mistress

17. The Houses of Refuge

I bring order from chaos, my children. I bring light out of darkness. Harsh are my words, for healing follows pain.

- Excerpt: The First Annals of The Mother, Book Two. Date Unknown.

'Let me check on him, my mistress,' Conrad said, using his body to block Adya from the egress chamber of the barge. 'Please.'

Adya rolled her eyes. 'They know me here, Conrad. I'll be quite safe.'

Conrad shook his head. 'It's not your safety I'm worried about. It's the concern, the anxiety I know you'll feel on seeing Jehu, here, in this place. I know what it will evoke.'

Adya frowned at him. His opinion, though intended kindly, was altogether too close to a reprimand. He ought not to have spoken so in front of the acolytes.

'He's right, Adya,' Ebony agreed. 'And not only will it tug at your heartstrings - it will do so exactly at the moment when you need it least. You're invigilating in less than an hour - and at a criminal trial, no less. You will struggle to remain present.'

Adya shook her head at both of them. She felt an unease at the concurrence between their views. Were Ebony and Conrad siding together because Adya had recently allowed them to be intimate?

She had let Ebony indulge herself with Conrad the previous evening. Although unusual, the girl had her reasons, and Adya was inclined to be generous when it came to such things. The acolytes had all responded to Vashti's Reclamation in different ways, most of them sensual. Adya understood this well. Seeing a friend Reclaimed was a source of sadness, but it was also damned erotic. Her own frustrated, lust-fuelled response with Conrad in the stone garden had been her own way of venting her passions and frustrations. It was only healthy for the girls to want the same. For the most part, each had wanted some quality alone time with their preferred consort.

Ebony, oddly, had asked Adya if Conrad could come to the acolyte's apartments the previous night. Around the household, Conrad was considered to be exclusively Adya's property, but there was no out-and-out rule to that effect.

'Of course you can have Conrad,' Adya had said. 'Whenever you wish! It's just...'

'What?' Ebony had said to her.

'Well... what about Mason?'

'I want to feel the touch of a different man,' Ebony replied. 'Someone older.'

'I see,' Adya had said. Perhaps there was nothing particularly rational about Ebony's choice. On the other hand, although Saburran women never openly discussed such things, Adya herself had often fantasized about the intimate direction that an older man could give her. Perhaps, after the near-public taming of Vashti in the exhibition room, Ebony was also evaluating such ideas.

Later, Conrad had told Adya that Ebony had asked him to stand with her under the water wall, thrusting into her with the oscillant, pressing the girl hard against the wall, while he sucked her nipples under the running water. Apparently Ebony's climaxes had reached the double figures before she collapsed into her bed, mewling herself to sleep in his arms.

Adya could absolutely identify with such impulses, and made a mental note to request the same treatment - and preferably before the week was out.

But now, at the threshold of the egress chamber, Adya had other thoughts to contend with.

'Please, mistress,' Conrad appealed, now grasping her hand, 'let me ensure Jehu is safe and has everything he needs. I can meet you afterwards at the courts.'

'Good idea,' Ebony nodded.

'That's enough from both of you,' Adya said stiffly, withdrawing her hand from Conrad's grasp and keeping her tone level. 'I'm going down. You are to remain here. All of you.'