Talla's Fallen Temple Ch. 04

The other girls gave her credit because she continued to take her failures with such aplomb. No matter what happened to them, they knew that Nadine had been through worse. Her example was what kept them from freaking out.

"They will do it," Illya said distantly, not really talking to anyone in particular. "You wouldn't believe it ... it's so hard to explain. This guy, Zhair'lo. He's, I don't know, different somehow."

Talla was now staring in rapt fascination at Illya.

Nadine put in softly, "Yes, he seemed a bit odd."

"Will you take him for your Virgin's Choice?" Talla asked.

It was the first thing she had said since they'd all sat down. The sound of her voice attracted the attention of everyone but Nadine. It was the strangest thing Illya had ever seen. There was Nadine, the calm Mistress of her own emotions, gone suddenly past cool to dark and outright cold, refusing to turn her gaze towards Talla.

In a moment, it passed and everyone was looking back to Illya, who was still stunned by the raw edge of Nadine's -- what had it been -- hatred?

"Oh, definitely," Illya stammered,

Had she really meant to say that? Yes, she had. Whatever her feelings were about the Temple and how they'd judged her, her feelings about the man who had delivered her from the pit of Sealed Virginity were unalloyed. The first erection to plunge past her lips would be his.

"What about you?" she asked Arda.

"Zo'kar for sure," Arda replied. "I'd always planned it that way. Whoever broke my Seal gets first dibs, period. Part of me wants to take Zhair'lo, just because I've heard so much about him, like that story that he quadrupled that girl and -"

That was when the whole conversation really stopped.

The story of Zhair'lo and how he'd been discovered was a series of crazy rumours that floated around. The Sealed Virgins, cut away from the rest of society as they were, received only the faintest table scraps of information. They knew that Zhair'lo was a recent find, knew that the discovery of a Seal Breaker was a spectacular and unusual event, knew that someone must have been the first accidental victim of a multiple upgrade.

The idea of a quadruple upgrade, however, was the wildest of the possibilities that they had heard.

Once again, all eyes turned to Talla.

"That one's true," Talla said meekly.

"You're Talla," Arda said. It wasn't -- quite -- an accusation. "I've heard about you."

She was really uncomfortable. Illya could see that, and it was obvious why.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed," Yua put in. "If you hadn't gone through that, Zhair'lo would never have been discovered."

"Yeah, really," Nadine put in, her voice unusually flat. "We should all be grateful. If not for your gigantic sacrifice, where would we be?"

Illya glanced furtively at Nadine, who was staring at the grass in the centre of the circle of girls.

"I've got duty in the morning," Nadine said to no one in particular.

She quickly stood up, turned away from them and walked off into the darkness.

Talla was actually cringing.

In the stunned silence that followed Nadine's sudden departure, the rest of Illya's sisters let out a few exaggerated sighs and vague murmurs indicating that they were getting ready to go to sleep, too. Gerta, Malin and Arda left in a group. Anzha, abandoned by Nadine, decided to tag along with Yua.

It left Tina, Talla and Illya sitting in the courtyard. Illya stalled a bit, pretending to have trouble refastening her top around her recently enlarged breasts. In the corner of her eye, she saw some gesture pass between the two others. Shortly thereafter, Tina waved to them both and trotted off into the darkness.

Illya looked up to see Talla staring straight back at her with those all-seeing eyes.

Very slowly, Talla crawled over to Illya and sat down in front of her so their knees were almost touching. She then reached around her back and undid the ties on her top, letting it fall off to reveal her breasts. Illya, hoping that she was taking Talla's intention, stopped trying to do up her own top.

"It's been hell for you," Talla opened, keeping her voice flat and guarded.

"Yeah," Illya replied, on the same level. "You?"

Talla nodded.

"I was caught with a man I hadn't been assigned to Serve," Talla said. "Twice."

Illya bit her lips, holding back the curse word implied by that simple declaration.

"I've been an outcast for three months," Illya said.

"It isn't right," Talla said. "What they've done to either of us."

Illya gulped, feeling the bracing chill of sedition in the air.

"No," she agreed.

It was just one word, that sledgehammer of honesty, but it was the first time she had ever spoken against the Temple in any way. It was the first time she'd let her traitorous thoughts leave her skull.

"It isn't right," Illya affirmed.

Talla took a breath.

"They made him whip me," Talla said. "And while I bled, I had to watch him being Served by someone else."

Illya felt her stomach drop. She hadn't been punished for anything since the lessons before her Initiation ritual. For that sort of thing, they just smacked your ass with a little stick. She'd never been whipped. And why the cruelty of that last bit?

"That's awful," Illya said. "My misery was longer than yours, but ..."

She trailed off.

"I'll help you any way I can," Talla said. "Whatever it is that you need help with. Whatever you want to do. But I desperately need a favour."

Illya raised her eyebrows, waiting. There was a certain economy of words implied in the way they were speaking to each other. A gesture, in this context, was an appropriate substitution for words.

"They'll never let me see him again," Talla explained. "I'm sure there's a note somewhere on his file or mine making sure I never get assigned to Serve him."

Illya only nodded, letting Talla know that this was a safe assumption. Talla, meanwhile, stared down at the grass between their knees and went on.

"I want to get a message to him, to ask him why he did what he did. And I want to know what he's planning to do now. I can't use scrolls. Even if I could send one to him, I'm sure anything coming back to me will be checked."

"Of course I'll help," Illya promised instantly. "If his name comes up, I'll carry your message."

Talla smiled weakly and looked up at Illya.

"I don't think you understand," Talla said. "You're going to see him tomorrow night."

Illya's eyes widened in realization.