Quoted By:
>Gender: Woman
>Style: Pleasant Courtesan
You were a full grown woman. The Gnosis coursed through you. It felt like an unseeable haze had been lifted off your mind and body. You felt stronger, better, more confident. Regal Ox could feel the difference in you immediately.
Your training in Pleasant Courtesan style continued. The lovely scarves around your neck were like whips and chains to anyone who raised a hand against you. Your lungs became like a cauldron - one smoke weed goes in, and another you’ve recently ingested goes out. Catching wanted men - and women - had become a side hustle to you. You’d walk the streets of Koulay, offering your companionship to those who paid. And sometimes those folk were worth something to the Kingdom of Edo, or the Sapphire League.
Your charms and martial art were used all the same. Yes, there were parts of living in the House of Celestial Delights that didn’t sit well with you… But you had a roof over your head, a job, and an outlet to use your martial art for good. That was worth something, right?
Right?
The sea. It still called to you despite your cushy living. More pirates and ex-Khan men kept coming through, and the imperial powers less and less. The tension filled the air. Everyone wanted to lay claim to Koulay. But it was so massive to hold, and the others wouldn’t let that slide.
The politics of the world, sadly, infiltrated your life.
You entered Regal Ox’s office at her summons. She was old, no longer working like the other women in Celestial Delights. An opened scroll lay on her desk as she fanned herself, a turquoise peacock dancing upon it. “Master? What is it?”
Ox gave you a smile. “I’ve tried to keep us as neutral as possible,” she began, flicking her fan closed. “But that seems there’s no longer a choice. Our hand is being forced.”
You glance at the scroll… And see others besides. You recognize the symbols and letters for Edo, the Sapphire League, the Confederacy of the Braids… and fourth, crumpled, scroll. “We’ve been propositioned. By all of them.” Ox continues, sternly. “Give them information on the others, and we’ll be granted safety. If not, they have safe houses in the city… And are looking to recruit any of our girls as spies. Take them to their homelands for training. Of course they’d rather make us completely theirs… But most of the girls have children.” You raise an eyebrow. “But you don’t, my student.”
You smirk. “What are you getting at, Grandma?” Regal Ox snorts at the name.
CONT
