Life and Times of a Priestess: Ch.9 : Concessions (Part 3: Popularity)

Part 3 : Popularity

     Gerald told her there would be no guard this time to show her the way.  The city was not dangerous and she knew her way to the General’s quarters.  She never needed a guard when she went to visit other officers.  At quarter to seven on the following day she put on one of her two Prancirian dresses and came out into the dark evening cool to walk to the General.

     As she walked some soldiers noticed her and waved.  One of them whistled at her and she laughed back at them.  She recognised Albert, one of her regulars as she approached them and the other two seemed familiar.  Yes, one she had been with before, but she was unsure of the other.  She had surely seen him in the dormitory before but she could not remember whether she had accommodated him herself.  If so it must have been some months before.

     “On your way to somewhere then,” joked Albert.

     “Of course,” she answered, not knowing what he thought was funny.  Of course she was going somewhere, were not they also.

     “Who is it this time?” he asked.  “Who is the lucky soldier?”

     She realised now what he meant.  She was going somewhere to see someone and he wanted to know where she was going to visit.  But she still did not understand what was funny about that.  They had a strange sense of humour, these Prancirians.  They could laugh at anything and they seemed to find humour in the most uninteresting words.  They laughed at any possible reference to sexual activity.  She thought perhaps that the idea of her going to visit someone in order to have sex made him laugh.  She did not find such an ordinary occurrence funny herself and could see no humour at all in that, but many Prancirians seemed to find the merest suggestion of sexual activity funny.  They turned it into humour.  She could only assume that was because they could not perceive of it as a normal everyday occurrence.  It was normally forbidden to them. Therefore they pretended that it was funny.

     “How about a freebie?” asked the other soldier she knew.  She had learned that word by now many solders asked for it when she was particularly warm and friendly to them.  Gerald would not allow them to give freebies.  It was impossible inside the dormitory with guards at the door, but when they were out visiting it was possible.  Their occasional visits to Pirionite men were effectively freebies.  Perhaps Gerald would have allowed some of these if he had known, as they were acts of kindness to their own people.  Sreela and the others had felt it best not to give Gerald the power to prevent this by informing him.

     The only other ‘freebies’ she had given here were to Ravelleon’s guard and the offer she had made to Ravelleon, being a high ranking General, was probably free.  She doubted Gerald would charge one of the commanders who allowed the ‘business’ to continue and probably profited from it.

     “No, Gerald won’t allow me, and I am on duty. I must continue now, but come and see me soon.”  As she would to Pirionite men whom she knew well, she greeted Albert.  Reaching forward to him she grasped him gently around the waist and brought her lips towards his face.  She sensed the recoil of surprise in him as he almost stepped back.  This was not the standard Prancirian greeting.  Perhaps in certain situations and between certain people, relatives, family friends, this greeting could be used, but normally amongst people who were not partners it was not allowed.

     To do this out in the street made it even more unusual.  Such a showing of affection was not normal amongst Prancirians who enjoyed the affections only of wives, girlfriends and the love of a mother.  As he realised the greeting she intended Albert rallied, making the most of this free gift of pleasure, although she could tell he was reluctant to go too far out here in the street where officers and others might notice and disapprove.  He clutched her around the waist, allowing her to lick his cheek hotly.  She let him go and he now seemed reluctant to let her go as she moved to the next man who she knew.

     “I hope you’re not going to charge us for this,” joked Albert.  “What did I tell you Jean, she is very keen, good at her job, she is.   She offered to approach Jean also, whom evidently she did not know personally.  She was willing to extend friendship to him too as with the others, and he also was a handsome man.  However at that moment an officer began to approach further down the road.  Evidently this kind of fraternisation with Pirionite women, perhaps any women, was not allowed on the streets by the military rules.  Albert issued a warning “Watch it Jean.  There’s an officer coming.  Sorry Danella.  We love it, but its against regulations.”

     She deferred to them and stepped back saying, “I must go anyway.  I will see you again soon. Goodbye!”  She walked down the street as they gazed after her. They thought they knew what Priestesses were like, full of kindness, sexually direct and usually very willing to satisfy them, but this affection was beyond the bounds of duty. 

     “I wonder if that officer in charge at the brothel knows what she’s getting up to when she goes outside?”  “Probably not,” said Peter, the other one who had thought he knew everything about Danella, “but he can hardly stop her.”  “Do you think she would give me a kiss like that if I run after her?” asked Jean, joking, but feeling a little annoyed at having missed the chance of a quick grope.

     “She probably would,” said Albert. “Look at her go.  She doesn’t even know you and yet see how generous she is.  You must try her out sometime. I can tell you she is high class.”  In his own mind he was thinking that these women were far more friendly than his own harassed wife at home and the women he had known in his younger days.  And the prostitutes at home, you had to watch them for every penny when you could afford them, and they could switch off the tenderness at the tick of the clock, and usually did when time was up.  If there wasn’t a war on this would be a nice country to live in, away from the pressures and unhappiness of life in Prancir.  But he didn’t say any of that to the other two.  There was a war on and they had better get on with it, instead of wasting time thinking about it.