Court of Love

Chapter 3

But Wisp was already limping away, taking her glasses to the pantry. Loera sighed and went back to scrubbing the rest of the dishes. When Wisp returned, she fell in a comfortable silence and did not pipe another word until she was called for snack preparations. With no other beckoning tasks, Loera slipped to her cupboard for one of her few naps. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but Loera had long ago given up the luxury of sleeping at night. Instead, she would nap in the wee hours between the setting of the moon and the rising of the sun, and once more in the late afternoon before business began booming. 

Like clockwork though, Loera wouldn't fail to wake right before duty called. Word came quickly from the Mistresses that the King was throwing a ball for his Queen's birthday in a month. Preparations would begin at once in anticipation for carriages upon carriages of guests to arrive in the city. Whenever these guests were invited, business at the brothel would boom after the drunken court members would wander to the exotic Dragonskeep Brothel on Seventh Avenue. Even in the time before the actual ball, early arrivals would find themselves with ample time for entertainment. 

It meant parading as well, as Seventh Avenue would do to catch the eyes of new guests and draw them to forbidden treasures. Of course, normally the height of arrival would come the week before the ball, and that was when the Madam would order for afternoon parades. But the week before the parades was always the best week of Loera's life. The staffing would be switched to rotations, in order to give those who were to partake in the parade a time to rest and practice. Loera, as the sole ring-dancer in the establishment, was given a week of less duties and ample free time. Normally, she was able to spend time with at least two of her friends who were also selected for the parade. 

Servants were scampering around, trying to find the receivers of parade duty. The Mistresses would give the servants names and the servants would obediently give a small notice to those who were to adjust their schedules. Some of the workers, indebted or not, did not always sleep at the brothel. Workers like Bruno were often bought for a few nights at a lady's own home, and would return in the late afternoon to report for work. 

Should a worker not return, and owed any sum of service to Madam, they would immediately be put on a flyer in the city. If returned, Madam would add the sum of their reward to their debt. If not returned, well, Loera tried not to think about those who were killed if they got too far away from Oden City and were not worth the travel back to the brothel. 

Loera was able to distract herself from such thoughts when she noticed Hallo talking to a servant. Hallo's beautiful eyes lifted to meet hers across the kitchen and an arched eyebrow was all Loera needed to know she would be able to enjoy a week of free time with her best friend. 

It was after the commotion finally died down that Loera was able to finally approach Hallo. "So you're to be in the parade?" Loera asked, eyebrows drawing together in happy anticipation. 

"I'll be on one of the floats," Hallo answered coolly, although Loera heard the tinge of excitement. Even though it meant a week of no wages, Hallo was always excited to be off the floors. 

Hallo lowered her voice as she walked with Loera out of the kitchen and under the arches of the court yard, "I heard about Wisp. Is she doing okay?"

Loera gulped, knowing she was not the one to tell Hallo about Wisp's seemingly helpless attitude, and forced a weak smile. "She's in better health than she was." 

Hallo took that answer at face-value and nodded, as though she was not worried. But Loera knew better. Hallo had a fierce love for Wisp and Jena, as the four of them had become inseparable friends in this hellhole. If seeing Wisp broke Loera, it absolutely wrecked havoc on Hallo's heart and conscious. 

"Bruno is going to be pushing my float," Hallo offered up lightly, changing the conversation. "I'll have to tell him to go painfully slow so we milk our freedom. I want to spend as much time away from this hell as I can, even if it's just at the other end of the street." 

The parading would span from one end of the Slums to the other. Seventh Avenue, although the last street in the west of the gridded city, was the first to cross when entering from the countryside. Maingate was the large road that led straight to the gates of the castle in the middle of the city. On either side flanked two roads that crossed a bridge over manmade ponds used for fishing and entertainment in the winter when it iced over. One was named Bridgestone and the other Bridgewood, both aptly named for the material the bridges were made of. Bridgewood was older than Bridgestone, and Loera even remember watching carts pulling stone to be used for the construction of Bridgestone when she was young. The memory was faint but still monumental since she had never seen such amounts of stone.

Before Bridgestone, and closer to the side that Dragonskeep stood erected, was Tower's Travel. A lot of the diplomatic courtiers and students used this road, as the tower--which was more of a cathedral--near the castle was home to the city's library. On the other side of Bridgewood was Stronghold's Way, where the mass majority of soldiers and knights would travel. The military academy of the city was located down that road and past the castle, towards the back of the city where they had ample room to train. Although the majority of roads on the backside of the castle were homes of the rich and wealthy, Loera wished she could travel them once. But she knew gates laid in the inner part of the city, patrolled and guarded, with proper documentation needed to enter. Loera would be lucky to get past Fifth Avenue, more properly known as the Market. 

There laid several streets between the end of the Slums and Bridgestone, but they were but measly alleys where unkempt stones eroded to dirt. This was the area that the vendors and businesses would gather to begin the parade and travel north, towards Bridgewood and beyond. 

The parades were by no means official. But the guards who were stationed at the front of the city knew better than to fight the entirety of the Slums who were simply trying to market for themselves and gain a living. Instead, the guards would request extra help and block the five main streets once the parades started, keeping traffic at a still until they were done. With the pace that the parade normally went, men and women would leave their carriages to catch a site of what was holding them back from their destination. Normally, a few prying eyes would catch the waving banners of the sleeping dragon and find themselves coming back to Dragonskeep. 

Of course, a lot of thievery also happened as young children were sent to swipe at purses and pockets. These kids were dangerous, not because of the thievery, but because they would daringly meddle inside the parade in order to slip to the bystanders and slip away into chaos before being caught. Due to the nature of the Dragonskeep dancers, they risked being trampled. 

Loera always felt like her and the others were more of circus entertainers than true escorts and dancers. But the Madam had insisted that they look as flashy and exotic as her establishment, and had floats constructed. While Loera was the only ring-dancer, there were several smaller demi-fae and younger servants who would walk in stilts that had their banner tied to each leg. Loera herself was able to do it occasionally, but ever since she had mastered the art of the ring, she was left to the ground. 

Normally, Loera brought up the back, a last minute impression as guards hastily opened the roads behind her. As she rolled and spun down the street, carriages would see her as they passed and watch. But with being in the back came the responsibility of making sure no one was left behind or slipped into the crowds. Once before, Loera had lost one girl who had used the parade as an opportunity to escape. Her sentence had been added to Loera's as a punishment, and it made it all the worse when one of the Mistresses sneered the news that the girl had wounded up dead for thievery in a nearby town. 

Loera would not make the mistake again. Not that it mattered. She was sure that she probably wouldn't outlive her sentence anyways. What was another year? Another hundred?