Talla's Fallen Temple Ch. 08

"Although with your instincts for genealogies, maybe you can imagine."

Maksa smiled at this compliment.

"Nevertheless, our grip is weakening."

"Weakening?" Maksa stammered. "What do you mean?"

"Whether it is some natural occurrence or yet another byproduct of our machinations, we do not know," Pussy explained. "The Enraged are breaking free of our control more quickly with each passing century. Nine hundred years ago, we could trust any man to make a seven day journey without faltering. Now the Enraged will become violent in four. The Catatonic will hibernate in the same time."

"The only way to make the journeys between towns is to include women – the H'rem – infused with the magic of Goddess. As long as they Serve the men during the journey, most men can last eight or nine days, though the odd Catatonics do pass out before the end."

"How long have we needed the H'rem?" Maksa asked.

"For the last five hundred years."

"And it's getting worse?"

Didn't miss a beat, this one. Count on that.

"Yes," Pussy confirmed. "In another two hundred years, without our intervention, we would have to limit merchant caravans to only the Heroic."

"Without our intervention?"

"That's why we're breeding the Goddesses," Pussy said. "Trying to make the next generation more potent. It is working."

Maksa heard the hesitation in her Mistress's voice.

"But not well enough," Maksa said.

It wasn't a question.

Pussy pursed her lips and shook her head.

"We've bought ourselves time. That's all."

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"You're up to something," Zoe said. "I can tell."

Lying on his back, he eyed her suspiciously as she knelt straddling his stomach. They'd had sex twice more since he'd come in her mouth. She was becoming delirious from the orgasms.

"Comes with the upgrade," she added.

"What does?"

"I can tell when people are lying. When they're hiding something," she explained. "Why do you think they stick us with those uptight bitches in Iron and Tight? It's not to lighten them up – nine gods know they could use it. It's to help them keep the peace without having to beat the crap out of people."

Zhair'lo didn't know what to say.

"Whatever you're up to," she said, "I'm with you."

He was wary. Did he want to trust a girl who was in league with the 'uptight bitches' in Form?

"Why do you think I'm up to something?"

It wasn't easy to fool Zoe. She knew something was going on, but not what. On the other hand, she had no lever with which to force him.

After a thoughtful pause, Zoe cleared her throat.

"We're not like the rest of them," she explained.

"The rest of whom?"

"The Temple," she said. "Facial is different. Separate. Go back through the records hundreds of years in all the Temples. There are tonnes of Goddesses from the Sweetness Disciplines. Lots from Endowment and even a few from Form, when they're really needed."

"When would -" Zhair'lo started to ask.

"But you know how many come from Facial?" Zoe asked, poking at his chest with her right index finger. "You know how many?"

Zhair'lo shrugged under her sudden aggression.

Zoe held up the fingers of her left hand to make an 'o'.

"None," she punctuated her gesture. "Ever. Anywhere."

Stunned disbelief overcame Zhair'lo. Zoe withdrew her poking finger and leaned over, holding herself up on her elbows and putting her nose to his. She lowered her voice.

"They've been educating me, the Facial women, even though they aren't supposed to. It's stupid to waste a person's time the way the Temple would have it. So they've been teaching me. I've learned as much as any Virgin my age. They'll even skip me through to Initiate as fast as they can, making up stuff about how I deserve a fast track."

"You're telling me all this?"

"Because I've been talking to you for several hours," Zoe said. "And you know way, way too much about the Temple. Way more than you should have learned by now. And you ask questions that only make sense if you're up to something. I can take a good guess, but I want to hear you say it."

Zhair'lo felt a cold chill in his stomach. None of the other girls had noticed the way he'd pried information from them. He cursed himself for an idiot. None of the other girls had been from Facial. None of them had had Zoe's abilities.

But how could he have known that? He couldn't remember anything in Talla's memories that would have clued him in.

"And now I've told you something I shouldn't have told you," she added lightly. "So that you'll trust me. I even let you come in my mouth, and it'll be a long time before anybody else gets to do that."

Zoe looked up at the ceiling.

"A very long time," she emphasized.

Relief warmed him, then. She wasn't trying to get him in trouble.

"So spill it," she demanded. "What are you up to and how can I help?"

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Appendices

A Temple is a high-walled equilateral triangle large enough to house, feed and provide working space for a city's entire population of women. It is the centre of administration for the city or town around it and is under the control of its Goddess.

The Temple is divided internally into four equilateral triangles.

The centre triangle is reserved for the Goddess and her needs. Each of the other triangles is the responsibility of one of the three Divisions, each of which is run by a Queen. Inside those Divisions are three Disciplines run by a Sorceress , but the triangles are not divided up any further.

Appendix 1: Divisions and Disciplines

The divisions are: Sweetness, Endowment, Form

Disciplines
Sweetness: Within, Lips, Pussy
Endowment: Abundance, Point, Strength
Form: Iron, Tight, Facial

Within (Administration, Medical, Teaching)
Internal muscular control of the genitals

Lips (Medical Research)
Tightness and control of the entrance to the vagina and vaginal lips

Pussy (Genealogy, Medical, Nursery)
Exterior appearance (pubic hair and so forth).

Abundance (Engineering/Admin)
Total volume of breasts.

Point (Engineering)
Appearance and dimensions of the nipple and surrounding tissue.

Strength (Test Engineering, Regulation)
Strength of chest muscles, firmness of breasts and the texture of the skin

Iron (Protocol and Law, Admin, Military)
Abdominal and upper body muscles, lung capacity

Tight (Enforcement, Miltary)
Firmness and strength of legs

Facial (Art, Music, Dance, Clothing)
Hair colour, facial structure

Appendix 2: Ranks and Clothing

When a woman is inducted into the Temple, she chooses her primary Discipline and receives her first upgrade.
In the list below, the number on each line is the number of upgrades (in that primary Discipline) required to reach each rank.
Starting at the rank of Initiate, a woman begins to receive upgrades in other Disciplines, but may never have as many upgrades in her other Disciplines as she has in her primary.
The maximum number of upgrades in one Discipline is 11, the point which is called "Perfection". A Sorceress holds one Perfection, a Queen three and a Goddess all nine.

1. Virgin: White bikini top, Ankle/knee length skirt
2. Initiate: White bikini top, mini skirt
3. Neophyte: White double sash, knee length skirt
4. Keeper: Yellow Bikini top, grass/fabric strip skirt
5. Adept: Yellow bikini top + single sash, grass/fabric strip skirt
6. Adept II: Yellow double sash, grass/fabric strip skirt
7. Acolyte: Orange bikini top, small bottom
8. Acolyte II: Orange double sash, small bottom
9. Officer: Orange shirt, small bottom
10. Second: Blue shirt/blouse, knee length skirt
11. Sorceress: Green bikini top + single sash, knee length skirt
11 * 3. Queen: Red shirt/blouse, ankle length skirt
11 * 9. Goddess: Black shirt/blouse, ankle length skirt

Notes:
a) the Virgin's skirt length shortens immediately after her first night of Service.
b) "bikini top" is used here to mean any of a range of styles that cover the breasts while leaving the mid riff and generally the shoulders bare. We could as easily say "crop top".
c) "small bottom" is any of the basic styles of underwear.

That's all the info I can really give without spoiling the plot, so I hope it's enough to help everyone keep track of Talla's World. I really don't want to write in a way that's confusing or impenetrable.

Cheers,
Xavier.