Mistress of Siren Cove Ch. 11-12

This is a romance/fantasy about women who have the power of the siren and use it to control and take pleasure from men. It is set in the real world of today. It focuses on one of these women, who seeks to find a man who can see past her siren allure and love the real woman he finds inside. It is an allegory of modern love, which often focuses too much on the superficial. There is sexual activity in this story, but none of it is explicit. The story is being published in chapters as it is being written. Everyone is over 18.

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Chapter 11: Palace Lawyer

Three days later, Elysia and Antoinette were back on the island. They met with the Mistress, who was all praise for what they had accomplished and ordered them both to rest for a week before they were given new tasks. In this meeting, she told Antoinette that Elysia was her daughter. Shock, giving way to a smile, played on Antoinette's face when she learned that Elysia might one day be the Mistress of the island. That day had not yet come, and likely would not for a long time, so for now, Elysia would remain her friend and sometime lover.

Because of her growing importance to the Palace and to Elysia in particular, Antoinette was to be moved to a room in the Palace and would be assigned work there as well. This would be her Palace job, for when she was not out in the "field," preventing some man from doing something violent or destructive. Immediately, they both requested that they share the same room.

"Is it OK if Antoinette and I share the same bed?" asked Elysia. "I know that many sirens do this. I get so lonely sleeping alone, and so does Antoinette." Her friend nodded in agreement.

"Of course, daughter," said her mother. "As you say, many do, because it is so difficult to have a long-term relationship with a man on this island."

They were assigned a larger room than Elysia had previously occupied. Coming back from living at Claridge's for two months, they had both grown accustomed to luxurious surroundings, and the new room certainly lived up to that description, right down to the marble bathroom.

They inaugurated their first night in this room by inviting Andrew to join them. He was no stranger to making love with two sirens at once and left their room exhausted but completely satisfied with life. He walked back to his own room at nearly one in the morning, whistling happily the entire way.

After their week of holiday was up, Elysia was assigned to work in the Palace legal office. The legal office had 20 lawyers, both men and women. Only two of the lawyers, including Elysia, were sirens. Six were men, none of whom were born on the island; seven were women born off the island; and five were born on the island with no siren ability. The general counsel was a woman named Estella, who was island-born without the siren gift. Estella was married to another island-born woman with no power, Marina, who managed personnel for the Palace.

Elysia's main job was U.S. immigration. Island folk often traveled stateside, and her office handled all the related paperwork. The trickiest part of the job stemmed from the fact that the island did not officially exist, so there could be no direct intergovernmental relations, no passports, no visas, or anything else of an official nature. They solved this problem with an arrangement with another island country that accepted the islanders as its citizens. They paid a hefty price for this accommodation, but it was the only way to move around in the world while keeping the island off the maps.

Her caseload was light, and as she entered her fourth month of pregnancy, she was glad of it. She was over the morning sickness and other ills of the first few months, but now she tired easily. Antoinette was a godsend, always willing to rub her back or feet, or apply oil to her belly and breasts and massage it in as her skin stretched. She also loved to cradle her friend in her arms as they slept together.

Sometimes they went further than merely holding each other in bed, and there was tender kissing, touching, and even gentle sex. It was nice when it happened. Many sirens enjoyed laying with each other, as well as with men. Even though they enjoyed each other, Elysia and Antoinette preferred men for real satisfaction and did not hesitate to call Andrew or some other man for that. When they did lay with a man, they almost always sent him away after it was over. They preferred each other's loving warmth when they wished to sleep. They found security in holding each other that they could not find in a man.

In addition to her legal duties, Elysia met with her mother for special training to develop her special powers, which Elysia could only describe as some kind of ESP. Her mother had told her she was pregnant a mere one or two days after conception. She later explained that she could sense, and almost see, Elysia's energy body, and with training had learned to read it. From reading her energy, her mother knew that Elysia had this same power, and she was training her to use it. Elysia did not know what they did during these training sessions. Her mother said little while they sat, cross-legged on the floor. The Mistress said that her own energy was working with Elysia's energy but explained no further. Still, after each session, which took place at midnight, three days a week, she felt different. She came back to bed more sensitive to Antoinette's energy. In the dark, she thought she could see the slow emanations from her friend's energy body, but perhaps that was only her imagination.

Her sessions with her mother also included other related training. She was shown how to meditate, focusing on a specific mantra that her mother taught her. Meditation would allow her to form a deep, intuitive connection with the people around her and the world around her. This would allow her to be more in tune with the unseen currents that influence everyone's lives. If she was to become Mistress one day, it was this power, the ability to listen to a silent symphony of human energy, that would enable her to discover the imbalances of yin and yang forces that could grow to create danger and destruction in the world. It was her ability to do this that gave the Mistress the information used to send her women into the world of men and correct these imbalances.

Up until her fifth month of pregnancy, the lives of Elysia and Antoinette were quiet, productive, and allowed for plenty of time to care for themselves, the growing life inside her, and enjoy the many men that they drew to their room. That was about to change.

The island woke up to the news of the murder of a young siren. It was late at night when a messenger woke Elysia with a summons from the Mistress. Wearing only a light wrap, Elysia sat in the presence of her mother, who told her that she felt a serious disturbance in the energy of the island and wanted her daughter with her when its cause was made known to them. The messenger went back to her room to get suitable clothes, and while she dressed, her mother said that the island was being searched.

An hour later, they were informed of the death of a young woman, Jasmina, and that the suspected killer was a woman with no power named Savata. Savata was brought to face the Mistress and Elysia, who sat next to her. Those who were there saw, for the first time, that Elysia had a special position on the island, although few still knew that she was the Mistress's daughter.

The Mistress quickly elicited the story from Savata. It was no point in evading or lying because everyone on the island knew of the Mistress's power to discern when a person was telling a falsehood. Even Elysia, with a mostly undeveloped ability, would have seen a lie from the woman.

The woman was married to a man named Schmidt who had come from Germany to provide technical services that were sorely needed. He had been a software engineer who loved vacationing in the Caribbean and had loved sailing. One day he went for a long sail, with no destination in mind. He had a GPS, so he had no worries about finding his way back. He saw the island in the distance, consulted his GPS, and found it was not on the map. He sailed into the harbor and docked at the pier.

It was unusual for people to stumble on the island, but it sometimes happened, and the guards were good at getting rid of people. Most left without trouble, but when a siren happened by, Schmidt was entranced and would not leave. In these cases, the siren would ordinarily spend three or four days with him until he was completely bound, and then send him off with the command to forget the island. Women could be made to forget the island as well, but this was a skill possessed by only specially trained sirens.

While Schmidt was under the care of the siren, he told her what he did for a living, and he was allowed to stay on the island because the Palace desperately needed his skills. For several years, his life was paradise, living on a beautiful tropical island, playing with the sirens, and an easy workload. But he missed the companionship of a mate. The sirens came and went but were never mates. Then he met Savata and fell in love. They had a daughter, who had the siren power. Sometimes he went with a siren, but over time they left him alone. There were other younger, handsomer men to prey on. When he did go with a siren, Savata got angry, but then got over it, knowing that he was powerless to resist them.

Then Jasmina met him and wanted him. Over and over, she would call him to her, and he would be gone for a night and sometimes two. Savata got angrier and angrier and went looking for them. She screamed at Jasmina and screamed at her husband, but Jasmina kept luring him. Finally, she went out looking for him and found them together. She hit Jasmina with a vase that was near the bed. It was not a hard blow and was not intended to kill, but her blow struck the right temple, and an hour later, Jasmina was dead. Savata wept bitterly as she told the tale. She was truly remorseful.

There would be a trial, but as she had already confessed to the killing, the trial would only decide her punishment. The island law was clear: taking someone's life was forbidden. There was no death penalty on the island, but those found guilty could face severe consequences, including isolation from the community. Until the matter was settled, Savata would be confined to a room in the Palace, as much for her own protection as anything else.

As news of the killing spread, old animosities between siren and non-siren women erupted. As Elysia sat listening, she knew it wasn't to be just a legal battle; it was a case that stirred the deep waters of the island's long-standing beliefs and prejudices. The event had brought up a lot of old feelings and biases on the island, where some sirens had always believed that women with no power should not mingle with those who did, and that men on the island should never marry but should remain prey for sirens.

Some women without power, who wanted men as mates, thought it was unfair that sirens, with their enchanting abilities, often went unpunished for leading men, including husbands, astray. There was another law at play here, which said that a siren should not use her powers to lure away the husband of a non-siren woman. Jasmina might have been forgiven for luring Schmidt once, but after Savata confronted her the first time, that defense was not valid. Still, if Jasmina had been accused, her lawyer would argue, as had happened in the past, that this law wasn't fair because seduction was part of a siren's nature, something they often couldn't control.

Elysia, with her sharp mind and sense of justice, was asked to join the two other judges in determining the fate of Savata in this case. She was not an experienced lawyer, but the Mistress wanted her to settle this matter since she may one day be required to make judgments that affect the entire island.

That night, needing relief from the stressful events of the day, she and Antoinette lay with a golden-haired young engineer named Darrin. He was not nearly as handsome as Andrew, but as the power of the two women grew in intensity, he seemed to them to be a god in his beauty. As he touched and kissed their shining bodies, he brought them to the heights of ecstasy, and as Elysia lay with him her awareness was only in that moment, and she forgot about everything else.

He left them with the knowledge that they would call him back again. Still buzzing from the experience, the two women slipped back into bed, and held each other close as sleep gently took them. They both still yearned for men, but each was very content with the quiet joy of lying there with the woman she loved.

Over the next weeks, as the three judges talked to people who knew both Jasmina and Savata, Elysia realized the matter was about more than just determining guilt or innocence or the proper punishment. It was about questioning the basic fairness of ancient laws in a changing world. It was about the balance between the natural abilities of sirens and the rights of those without power who lived among them. The old laws were from a time when there were few women without power on the island. Now there were many.

In the modern world, the island could not fulfill its mission without skilled people. Like Schmidt, with his engineering skills, they needed doctors, scientists, software experts, telecommunications specialists, and educators. Some of these skills they could acquire through remote learning, but often they had to recruit from the outside. It was difficult enough to recruit someone to an island that was not on a map, and that would be difficult to leave. It was harder still to recruit a powerless woman, or a man who wants a long-term female companion. Such a man was Schmidt. Elysia recognized that the laws had to adapt.

She realized that this case was important for her future, as what she learned and what she decided would affect how she eventually ruled, if she were ever to become the Mistress. This case was not just a case about applying the laws of the island; it was a case that could shape the future of how justice was served on the island, making her role in the proceedings not just that of a judge, but of a politician.

As her work on the case continued, so did the growth of her belly. Andrew made efforts to connect with her and their unborn child. He still loved his nights with the sirens, and Elysia knew he always would, but his growing attachment to their unborn child was evident and warmed her feelings toward him. At the same time, however, her affection for Antoinette deepened. Their shared experiences living together, and loving each other, created a bond far greater than anything she felt with Andrew.

As the time for the final judgment in the case approached, Elysia continued to immerse herself in ancient texts of the island, going back even to the breaking of Atlantis, as she tried to divine how the goddess might decide this. There was no longer a goddess cult on the island, since that was closely tied to the temple in Atlantis, and when it broke, so did the belief of many in her power. Elysia spent many nights meditating with her mother, trying to get a sense of the ancient knowledge that was lost in the fall.

She and the other judges met with Savata, trying to understand the events from her perspective. By this time, Savata was a broken woman, broken with remorse, and broken from her husband's betrayal, even though she did not blame him for what he did. She was a good woman, whose actions were a response to a world in which she perhaps did not belong. Elysia couldn't help but feel empathy for her.

The judges met with the lawyers representing Savata and the victim, one arguing for leniency and understanding, the other asking for justice, while really meaning revenge.

In Jasmina's family, in particular her mother and sisters, all of whom were sirens, there was deep mourning for the loss of their young siren but also rage. They argued that Jasmina was simply acting according to her nature and couldn't be blamed for the allure she naturally possessed. Savata had no right to stop Jasmine from going after her natural prey.

The courtroom was filled with islanders of all kinds on the day of the judgment. The lead judge presented the facts of the case, which had not changed much since Savata confessed. Then she summarized the law. At Elysia's urging, she highlighted the ancient laws against seduction, questioning its fairness in a society where sirens and non-sirens lived side by side. Was it just to punish someone for an act that was an inherent part of their being? Then came a discussion of the rights of non-sirens and how their skills are crucial to the survival of the island people and the success of the work of the island.

The judgment was that neither Savata nor Jasmine were at fault. It was the administration of the island that had failed. Unfortunately, Savata could not be freed into the island population because the hatred of her by many of the sirens was too great. Both she and her husband would have to leave the island forever. They would be given enough money to live moderately well for the rest of their lives. Their memories would be modified so that, while they would remember their time on the island, they would not be able to remember where it was, or anything about its inhabitants being sirens.

Elysia was tasked to create a team to rewrite the island's laws to help avoid these conflicts in the future. She was also to work on ways to ensure that men who chose not to have sexual relations with sirens would have defenses that were effective in preventing them from being prey to these women.

Elysia's status as a judge in this high-profile case gave her a lot of visibility on the island, with most wondering who she was and where she had come from. From her accent, it was clear that she came from off the island, and from her obvious allure, it was also clear she was a siren. The Mistress preferred to let the rumors run. She wanted to allow Elysia to make her own reputation among the island people before identifying her as the possible future Mistress. She also liked the idea of a certain mystique growing up around her daughter.

Elysia continued to work in the legal office as she pursued the difficult tasks assigned to her and her team. This was quiet and thoughtful work, which suited her as the time for giving birth neared. Antoinette tried to make her as comfortable as possible, and Elysia was grateful. Her back and legs hurt most of the time and were soothed only by Antoinette's tender hands. Every evening, Antoinette took on the role of personal masseuse, gently rubbing oil on Elysia's belly and sides. It was more than just a helping hand; it was a moment of real connection. Antoinette's touch was always gentle and full of care, making these moments special and comforting for Elysia. Andrew helped when he could, but it became clear that he was useless in this area. Antoinette would be her birthing partner when the time came.

Now in her ninth month, with the baby active in her, seemingly eager to see the world, she was filled with a profound sense of wonder and contentment. She would catch herself daydreaming about the future, about holding her baby girl for the first time, the first smile, and the first laugh. It was a mix of excitement and much nervousness, but above all, there was a deep love for the little one she had not yet met.

Antoinette watched Elysia with love. To Antoinette, Elysia was more than just a companion; she was her everything, her family, her future. Seeing Elysia carrying what she thought of as their child added a new layer to their bond. She was fiercely protective of Elysia and the baby. She began to imagine their life together, the three of them, and the challenges they would face, and the joy they would share. Also stirring within her was a desire to join Elysia in motherhood. Soon, she thought, when they made love with Andrew, she would allow him to get her with child.