Sisterhood - Initiation Ch. 01

Leah examined the square of card she held in her hand. It was a dappled brown color, and the words were printed in small serifed characters embossed into slight depressions in the paper.

Dear Leah,

The Seven Sisters are pleased to invite you

and a partner of your choice

to join us for the annual Summer Ball

June 17th from 20:00, Sisterhood Summer House

(Girls' night: Women only)

The gates in front of her stood at least three meters tall, two rows of thin, pointed iron rails. Leah watched Caroline take one of the rails in her hand. The gates were held fast, but there was no obvious lock or handle, nor a button or bell.

"How do you think we get in?" Caroline turned to Leah.

"Don't know," Leah said, looking up, "But this is definitely the place." She turned the card over. On the reverse was a miniature map showing how to reach the venue. Up here in the mountains it was easy to confuse one road with another, but the map was very clear, as was the wrought iron number 7 fixed high up on one of the stone pillars framing the gates. It had taken the two of them quite a while to drive here from their apartment down in the valley, with one or two wrong turns along the way.

Leah looked up from examining the card and saw at the foot of the gates a glossy tortoiseshell cat, its fur a patchwork of black and golden brown blotches. It was weaving itself smoothly in and out of the gaps in the rails, threading its body and tail through them while scratching itself against the metal bars. The cat stopped and slid out to brush itself against the hem of Leah's dress. She stooped to stroke its back, and heard it purr in appreciation.

"Is eight thirty perhaps a little early?" wondered Caroline, "If it said 'from eight'?"

"No idea," shrugged Leah. She stood up, "I don't really know that much about it. Anyway it must be later than that by now."

"So what did she say when she invited you?" Caroline asked.

Leah looked down at the card again and thought back to the previous weekend. "Um, not that much, really." Now that she thought about it, Leah realized she knew very little about the party she had been invited to, or about the girl who had invited her. Leah knew the girl's name. Marianne. And Leah knew also that despite having only met Marianne the once, she was stupidly, desperately in lust with her. After years of having thought she was over all that, the girlish crushes of her younger days, Leah had suddenly and unexpectedly fallen for it again. Marianne had, over the course of one short evening, succeeded in bewitching Leah with the most aching desire her body had suffered for a very long time. Tall, slender but womanly, with pale skin and long, silky red hair, Marianne had flirted her way confidently past Leah's nervousness and mistrust, all the while an immovable pout on her unbearably beautiful face.

"So she didn't say to call her when you got here or something?" asked Caroline. She paused, "Um, hello?"

"Oh, sorry," Leah looked up from the words she was staring at without reading them, "What was that?"

"You going all gooey again?" Caroline rolled her eyes, "She was pretty, but come on."

"Sorry," Leah apologized, "No, she didn't say I should call. I don't have her number."

"Well, she did have a great ass," Caroline continued, a sly grin creeping across her face.

Leah felt a warm shiver run through her body just remembering it. Leah had been able to get a good, discreet look a couple of times when Marianne had got up to talk to some other girls, and it was truly spectacular. Marianne's waist was slim and narrow, but it widened out into broad, soft hips. Her buttocks were like two great soft pillows perched lazily atop her thighs, swaying and jostling inside her tight jeans.

Leah felt a silky tickle against the skin of her ankles. She looked down and saw the cat bound swiftly away, darting through the gates and running off along the stone pathway beyond. Leah followed its movements as it scampered, following the path that wound up a small grassy hill towards the house. "Wow," said Leah, omitting to reply to Caroline's remark, "The place is huge."

"It's big enough all right," Caroline peered again through the railings.

The house was intimidatingly grand. It was set inside a vast, grassy garden. The lawn was dotted with clusters of tall fir trees neatly sculpted into bulging, pointed cones. A dense row of such trees also stood just behind the iron railings that enclosed the grounds, stretching off to the left and right of the gates. From the end of the path up the hill, a flight of broad, shallow stone steps led up to an imposing pair of studded wooden doors. More like a castle than a house, the building was composed of huge gray stone blocks. From the front, two side wings were visible, jutting out towards the gates. The central part of the building stood taller, and was wedged between the two wings. It was impossible to judge how far back the rest of the building went. In places the walls were covered in a carpet of ivy that crept up to the ramparts and round small squat turrets at the corners. Three storeys of high arched windows looked out onto the gardens, and through some of them Leah could see a faint, flickering light and perhaps just make out a few silhouetted figures.

She gazed up at the house, and watched as one panel of one of the wooden doors swung open, a door within a door. "Someone's coming," she turned to Caroline, "How do I look?"

Caroline stepped closer and took her hand to the side of Leah's face, brushing her long, hair to one side, arranging its thick waves neatly over Leah's bare shoulders. "Fine," Caroline smiled at her, "You look stunning."

"You really think so?" Leah asked. The nervousness had been slowly simmering inside her on the way over.

"Yes," Caroline reassured her, "Come on. Relax."

"Okay," Leah sighed, "You ready?"

"Sure. And how am I looking?"

Leah took a look at Caroline. "You look great," replied Leah earnestly. Caroline's smooth skin was tanned golden brown from the summer sun, and her impish smile radiated self-assurance. Her bright, mirthful eyes and confident pout were a sharp contrast to the awkward smile Leah could feel on her own face.

It had been an easy decision for Leah to make, picking her cousin Caroline as her partner for the ball. Now that Caroline had moved in with her after they both finished college, it would also have felt a bit awkward to take someone else out to a big party and leave Caroline at home on her own. And of course, Caroline was a girl, as the admonition on the final line of the invitation stipulated clearly enough. In any case Leah had few male friends, and none she felt comfortable inviting to an occasion so grand as a ball. In addition, Caroline had only a month earlier split up with yet another boyfriend, and was once again in that phase of her curious cycle of sexual preferences in which she wanted to pick up girls, and preferably lots of them.

More than anything, Leah just liked having her cousin around. Caroline was attractive and friendly, and people were drawn to her. Leah somewhat envied her for her relaxed, carefree attitude to life, and to social life in particular, her ability to just dive into conversation and set people at ease. Caroline's gregariousness had its uses. Leah hoped that with Caroline on her arm she might find it a little easier to mingle and to make new friends.

There was a vague family resemblance between them, but one that wasn't immediately striking. Something about the mouth, the full lips and the way they fell into a brooding, disdainful pout when at rest. They had the same soft, lightly tanned skin and very slightly downy upper lip. Caroline's features were a little more petite. She had a small nose, dimpled cheeks, and slightly narrowed brown eyes that hinted at a distant oriental ancestry. Leah's face was more slender, with prominent cheekbones and a stern jaw. She had full lips that framed a toothy, slightly equine smile, the top two front teeth a little longer than the others. The two girls' hair was of a similar mousy brown color, and thick. Leah wore hers long and at the edges of her face it twisted into tight curls. Caroline's hair was uniformly silken and straight, and a little darker, and she wore it in a bob that reached just to her neck.

Their bodies, too, were somewhat alike. They were both built to be full-figured, with wide hips, broad backs, and big busts. Caroline in particular had grown rather fuller in form over the last few years. Being a bit taller than Leah, the weight had spread fairly pleasingly over her figure. But as they had gotten dressed together, Leah had felt a brief thrill of competitive satisfaction when she saw just how much chubbier Caroline had gotten. A full plump cushion of fat sat around her waist, her stomach beginning to crease into smooth rolls whenever she bent over, and her broad back was rippled with two firm, sloping curtains of flesh pulled down by the weight of her big breasts in front. Leah had made an effort to keep herself in shape since graduating from college. She had found a local stables where she could keep up her horse riding, and she also did a weekly swim. Her stomach was almost flat, at least when standing straight, with only the slightest rounding about her waist. Her breasts were large, almost as large as Caroline's, but firmer, bouncing tightly as she walked. Her figure was curved and full, too, but her extra weight was carried mostly on her big, high-perched buttocks and her thick thighs.

Leah had decided it would be fun for them to dress alike for the party. She had taken Caroline shopping specially for the occasion, and after an afternoon of wrangling and wavering, they had settled on ankle-length, shoulder-strapped black dresses in a tight material that stretched to just faintly transparent where it was pulled most tautly over the curves of their bodies. They had decided in the end to go braless, after not liking the way that the outline of a bra showed through the fabric of the dresses. Leah had found that the dress itself held her bust more or less reasonably firmly in place, and was pleased to see a bit of cleavage showing where the neckline plunged down her chest. Up one side of the dress was a slit that led part way up the thigh, occasionally baring one leg as they walked. They were perched atop tall, black high-heeled shoes with slender straps that crisscrossed their way up the ankles. Each wrist jangled quietly with a collection of thin silver bracelets. They had a little black eyeliner about their eyes, but otherwise wore no make-up. And as a finishing touch, they even had on matching black string thongs.

Leah had had to make only few small compromises on the details. She didn't like to wear earrings when there might be the prospect of dancing, as she found they tended to get caught in her long thick hair. But Caroline had wanted to wear her big, silver hoops. Leah had also opted to crop the soft brown hair between her legs into a neat narrow strip, which flanked the lips of her opening and extended a short way above. She had not quite been able to muster the boldness to ask Caroline to style hers the same way, and had noticed as they dressed that Caroline had simply trimmed it short and neat.

"I hope we're not overdressed now," grinned Caroline, "Are you sure this is going to be a fancy formal thing?"

"Yes, I think we'll be fine. It's a ball, after all," Leah didn't really know what the tone of the party would be. Marianne hadn't said anything about it. Leah wasn't even so sure what a 'ball' entailed. She had preferred to err on the side of formality. And she had also been determined to look her absolute best for the evening. Caroline, who usually preferred somewhat more casual wear, had taken a little persuading when it came to their slightly risque matching outfits. Aside from the prospect of meeting more attractive girls like Marianne, it had in part been the suggestion of dancing and of drinking that had helped sway Caroline. For her own part, although she felt she wouldn't mind a drink, Leah secretly hoped there wouldn't be any dancing. It always made her feel self-conscious.

"Oh, here we are," Caroline's gaze drifted over Leah's shoulder.

Leah turned, to see a slender, quite young, dark-haired girl on the other side of the gates. The girl seemed to be wearing only a loose, slightly damp white t-shirt. As the girl leaned forward to pull on one of the gates, Leah was somewhat relieved to see that underneath the long hem of the t-shirt the girl was in fact also wearing a pair of wet navy blue swimming bottoms.

"Hi there," the girl gave a hesitant smiling wave, then leaned back to heave the gate wide open.

"Oh, thanks," Leah replied, for a moment not too sure what to say.

"Come, welcome," the girl smiled again her half nervous smile.

"Hi," Leah took Caroline by the hand and led her though the open gate, "Thanks for coming to get us."

"Oh my pleasure," replied the girl, "I'm Ellen by the way."

"Hi, Leah," Leah leaned forward, and Ellen, after a slight hesitation, met her to exchange light kisses on each cheek, "And this is my cousin, Caroline," Leah gestured.

"Hi," Caroline smiled, bending forward for her own two kisses.

"Sorry," Ellen laughed, "I was in the pool. Lost track of time, forgot it was my turn on the gates already."

"Oh, don't worry," Leah replied with a smile. Ellen was glistening wet. Her long black hair was glossy with water, and hung in a heavy tangle across one shoulder, soaking into her t-shirt. Her plump, bouncy breasts were showing through a few scattered patches of wetness across her chest, and glistening drips of water trailed from her waist down her legs to her bare feet. She wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and there was something endearing, a little awkward or nerdish, about her. She was not strikingly beautiful, but still pretty. She had a slightly raised forehead, long-lashed, squinting eyes, soft pale skin and a cheerful, innocent smile.

"So," Ellen turned and gestured up the stone path, "Let me take you into the house."

"Thanks," Leah followed, turning with a smile to Caroline. They followed in Ellen's sprightly footsteps across the slabs towards the stone staircase that led up to the front door. Leah glanced over her shoulder and saw the gate moving slowly shut behind them.

"I hope I didn't get you wet," Ellen looked over her shoulder.

Leah could feel the cool of a little moisture on her cheeks where they had met Ellen's, and perhaps a few little drops on her dress, but not enough to have wet her. "No, not at all."

"So there's a swimming pool?" Caroline asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yes," Ellen replied, "Of course. Did you bring your swimming costumes?"

"Oh. No," Caroline replied.

Leah hadn't even thought of it, "I hadn't realized there would be a pool."

"Well no matter, we can find you one I'm sure if you feel like a dip later on," Ellen had a clear, refined accent, and a sweet, girlish voice. Leah watched her slender legs climb the steps, and caught flashes of her swimming costume from under the t-shirt.

"That would be nice," said Caroline.

"So how did you come to be invited to the Summer Ball?" Ellen asked as they achieved the top of the steps.

"It was a girl called Marianne who invited us," Leah replied.

"Do you know her?" Caroline added.

"Marianne? Yes of course," Ellen skipped ahead to the doorway, while Leah and Caroline trotted after, teetering a little on their heels across the smooth stone patio. Ellen pulled at a black iron handle set into the middle of the small cut-out doorway, heaving it open. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't go in all wet," Ellen paused, "Oh well," she ushered them inside before her, indicating to Caroline to mind her head under the door frame.

"Wow," gasped Caroline, "Very nice!"

They stepped over the sill of the doorway into a high-ceilinged entrance hall, dominated by a broad, curved flight of stone steps that branched off left and right to lead onto balconied hallways on the second floor. Tall, arched windows at the mezzanine of the steps looked out onto treetops in what was either the rear of the gardens or a courtyard in the center of the building. From the walls hung paintings depicting rural landscapes or ruined buildings, and tapestries with floral motifs.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Ellen stepped in behind them.

"Very nice," Leah repeated, "So whose house is this?"

"Nobody's in particular, I guess," Ellen replied, shrugging, "Just the place where they all meet."

Leah wanted to inquire further who they might be, but held back, not wanting to seem too curious.

"Um," Ellen paused, glancing up the stairs, "I suppose I should go and get changed for the rest of my door duty."

"Should we just go on through?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, don't let us keep you from your duties," Leah flustered, "I'm sure we can find our way through to the ball." She wanted to be relaxed and accommodating, but she was actually a little unnerved at the prospect of their being left there in the lobby to find their own way to the party through such a huge building.

Ellen looked around. The place seemed empty, though Leah thought she could hear a faint, echoing chatter from afar, perhaps even the clink of glasses. "No, don't worry. I can't abandon you here, can I? Let me show you the way," Ellen skipped off to the left around the edge of the main staircase towards the entrance to a corridor. "I'll just have to go through in my swimming stuff," she giggled.

"Is it very formal dress?" asked Leah, following, "We weren't too sure what to wear."

Ellen stopped at the archway of the corridor, and turned to look at them, "You look both just right, I would say," she smiled. She led them through the archway and along a wide hallway. After the first few paces, windows appeared to their right, looking out onto a courtyard garden. The floor of the corridor was made of big, worn stone slabs. Ellen's bare-soled footsteps made almost no sound as she walked, the faintest of little slaps, but Leah's and Caroline's high heels rang out with a dramatic, echoing clack.

"The place is pretty quiet," Leah remarked, looking out of a passing window onto the courtyard, lush and green with the fronds of various plants and small trees.

"It was fairly hot earlier on, so a lot of the girls were outside in the gardens," Ellen replied, gesturing ahead of her and to the left, presumably to indicate the approximate direction in which the gardens lay. Then she stopped still for a moment, so that Leah almost bumped into the back of her. "Of course," Ellen turned, smiling, "The welcome address. It's probably about now," she looked about her, "Does either of you have the time?"

Leah looked instinctively at her wrist, even though she never wore a watch, "Er, no."

"One moment," Caroline rummaged in her handbag. She pulled out Leah's phone, which Leah had given her for safekeeping before going out, "It's just before nine o'clock."

"They'll all be in the Great Hall. Come," Ellen turned and beckoned them after her, "Let me take you there."

Ellen hurried on down the hallway, her pace quickening slightly. Caroline was able to keep up to her by lengthening her strides, but Leah on her somewhat shorter legs had occasionally to break into a trot, her heels click-clacking against the stone. Before long, the corridor opened out even wider, into another entrance-like area with a high vaulted stone ceiling. Here Leah saw the first signs of a party underway. A few groups of girls stood in clusters further down the hallway, some walking across it and through a very tall arched doorway. Leah was relieved to see that most seemed to be fairly elegantly dressed. A few girls were dressed inconspicuously in tight-fitting, casual but very smart outfits, but most were wearing long dresses more or less like Leah's and Caroline's, some a little fancier still, with lace or ribbons, or a few bejeweled threads hanging from the hem or sleeves. A very few were wearing more elaborate long gowns with open backs or plunging necklines.