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Because I’m too weak to handle this.
And they were right. She couldn’t handle this. She had to get out of here. Out of the Garden. Back to sanity!
“It can be a shock to the constitution, can’t it, my dear?”
Teigra turned to face the richest-looking woman she’d ever seen. She wore a sea-green tunic, with a golden stola overtop. No, not a stola, which was the heavy, female counterpart to the toga favored in Mestibes. This was the lighter, form-fitting himation more common north of Apaderma.
But whatever it was called, the garment was impossibly detailed, and swept perfectly around her slender curves. Easy curls of blond were held back with a golden laurel band, encrusted with pearls. And around her emerald eyes was a smoky application of kohl-black, giving her a mysterious air.
Despite having the bearing of a matriarch, she couldn’t have been older than thirty.
The woman held out a soft, ring-covered hand. “You must be the new girl Ramuna mentioned. Teigra, I believe?”
“Who... who are you?”
“Sophia Fabulosa, my dear. High envoy for the most prosperous and glorious polity of Ondocis.”
“Ondocis?”
The woman gave a charming laugh, taking her by the arm before she could protest and leading her into the fray. “Of course! Mestibes isn’t the only one with foreign dignitaries. Why there is scarcely a polity in all Dynosia where one of our officials aren’t present. And with rather more resources that your envoys are provided with, I might say.”
Naked flesh towered all around. Teigra did her best to avoid looking, but once or twice she saw someone’s front, causing her whole body to clench.
“Did Ms. Securia send you to check on me?” asked Teigra.
“Ramuna? Oh, you are new, aren’t you! Your high envoy wouldn’t wish me anywhere near you! She and I have a little rivalry when it comes to matters of trade. Mestibes can charm and flatter all you wish, but in my experience, nothing speaks quite as loudly as gold. And my polity rather trumps yours in that regard.”
“Then, why—”
“Did I come to your aid? Dear Teigra. I saw you standing in the entrance like a frightened little rabbit! Shaking in front of all the citizens you will soon have to bargain with. Consider me a sentimental fool, but if I am to be sparring with you in the battlefield of commerce, I would rather the odds were fair.”
Despite her lingering disquiet, Teigra felt better for the woman’s company. She seemed totally at ease with herself, radiating an impenetrable confidence.
“Ms. Securia said that coming here would help me adjustto life in Ardora.”
“And how right she was! I know how difficult such things can be.”
“You felt the same way? When you first saw this?”
“Oh dear, no. I meant I know how difficult it must be for you, coming from your more enlightened climbs. My polity does not share such sensitivities. In Ondocis, no noble of worth would be seen around court without both a powerful spouse and a beautiful lover. Of either gender.”
There came the sound of wood clinking against clay. All around, people were placing their stater coins in little amphorae at each model’s feet—light ones for the women, dark ones for the men.
“They’re... voting?” said Teigra.
“Of course.”
“But that’s so...”
“Crass?”
“Yes!”
“First rule of surviving in Ardora, my dear. Throw off such notions of propriety. Does every animal not yearn to mate? Just as one of your poets might thank Mesti for their vocabulary, or one of my sea captains might thank Ondo for their navigational prowess, in Ardora, they thank the goddess for their big tits and thick cocks, for their strong muscles and childbearing hips! And they don’t just give thanks, but display them—for why should they be ashamed of their divine gifts?”
Teigra ducked her head at the woman’s volume, talking about private areas in full voice.
“Oh, you poor thing. Well, why don’t we start easy? Best we stick with our own ilk before broaching the male form.”
