Talla's Temple Ch. 22

She had never been the recipient of a double upgrade before. As her Conduit fired several more loads in to the mix, she noted that there was a lot more heat than she had expected. Nothing that would make her uncomfortable, but still ...

The man in her hand relaxed and leaned back a bit, clearly spent and sweating just a little from the brow under his dark hair. She nodded confirmation to him to let him know that he had done his part. This brought a quirky smile to his lips, suggesting that he had been quite certain it would work.

The drums stilled their beating and attendants arrived with wet towels for all three of them. The advantage, she realized, of having hairless genitals was definitely in the hygiene. Wiping herself down was much, much faster when she didn't have to scrub through any hair. Lifting her legs up in the air, she carefully wiped down to her vagina and back between her cheeks. It was as the towel passed over her vagina, perhaps pushing a bit of semen and Synergist inside her tunnel, that she felt another tingle.

Madra Zen, she thought. Not here!

With a deep and stifling breath, she got off her altar, bowed respectfully to her superiors and headed immediately to the exit that led to the physician's room, snatching her skirt from an attendant on the way out. Part of her hoped that no one was offended by her sudden departure, but another part didn't care, for the urge was unbearable.

The physician was still seeing to the previous upgrade recipient which gave Maksa time to grab a curtained off bed and a moment of privacy.

A moment was all that she needed.

Two fingers plunged urgently past her lips, forcing themselves through the semen and syrup that she'd washed up inside her vagina. So wet and so hot from the upgrade! Her right hand worked her artificially moistened tunnel while the left jabbed at her clitoris. She didn't know how much time she had before the physician's attention would be turned her way.

But, as she had predicted, she didn't need much time. Her mouth became a rictus of near pain as her thighs clamped around both her hands. She had to bite both of her lips to stop herself from crying out. All that escaped from her orgasm was a muffled groan as her body shook itself repeatedly on the fragile bed. Six, maybe seven times she felt the muscles of her vagina closing down on her fingers before her climax relented and she was able to relax.

What in the nine hells had that been? Did that happen to a lot of women after double upgrades?

Maybe.

At least no one appeared to have noticed.

She picked her skirt off the floor where she had unknowingly dropped it and fastened it back to her waist. Still breathing heavily, she waited for the physician.

"That's the last of the agenda, Highness."

The Queen of Endowment nodded.

"Pril?"

"Highness?"

"Were you able to see our young hero ejaculate this evening?"

"Zhair'lo?

"Yes."

Pril pursed her lips as she tried to recall the upgrade she'd sourced. With the rites complete for the evening, she had cleaned herself up but was still wearing the embroidered orange clothing she'd put on for the occasion.

"No," she replied. "I was blocked by his body."

The Queen paused a moment.

"I am concerned for the ... lack of volume."

"I see, Highness."

"I suggest that we give him a day off. I assume his bed has been full every night?"

Pril checked her notes while the rest of the crowd of high rankers looked worried.

"Do you think he's damaged?" the Sorceress of Abundance asked.

"Doubtful," Greta put in. "If he could handle a quadruple without dying, I can't see how this schedule could be an issue."

"It shouldn't be a problem, Highness," Pril concluded. "We're down to four Sealed Virgins. If the Virgin -- um, Yua is her name - he did tonight wants him, she can have him tomorrow. Then I'll give him a day to recharge before the next upgrade."

Endowment nodded.

"That's it, then," she waved them away. "I'll be down for a drink in a bit."

It was a dismissal, casual as could be, but no less of a command than any other order she gave.

Most of the women bowed. Both Pril and the Sorceress of Abundance, as the only two wearing skirts, curtsied high. Not even women of this high a rank would dare to wear anything underneath their skirts and both made sure to demonstrate obedience to the Queen's rules while in her domain.

"A moment, Shanata."

Shanata, impassive and proper as ever, turned back to face her Queen and waited attentively.

"Highness?"

The Queen pursed her lips as though she wasn't sure if she wanted to proceed with whatever it was she had held Shanata back for. It wasn't customary to have anyone below the rank of Officer at a meeting like this. An Acolyte I, two levels further down, was quite an exception.

Shanata, however, was an exception in herself. Her mental fortitude, intelligence and discipline made her well positioned to fly up the ranks. She would be Acolyte II quite soon, if she could avoid annoying too many people with her demeanour.

Endowment made up her mind. She reached for something on the desk behind her and came up with a sealed, black scroll cylinder tied with a green ribbon. This item she handed to Shanata.

"A mission for you," she told her junior. "The Sorceress of Tight is concerned that one of our young charges is involved in a -"

She choked for a moment.

"A monogamous relationship."

Shanata's eyebrows rose. Didn't they spend hour after hour teaching the young girls the dangers of monogamy? The Temple put a lot of effort in to making sure that women were rotated around -- a lot -- before they ever got back to the same men. The whole point was to have so many partners that one became immune to the temptation toward such focused devotion. A woman's duty was to the Temple and the entire city, not to one particular man. The punishment for such behaviour ... there was a knot in her stomach.

"Does Tight identify the woman?" Shanata asked, nodding to the scroll.

If so, it was a simple matter. She would be rounded up by some leathered enforcer from Form and dealt with. What did that have to do with Shanata?

"No," the Queen said.

The Queen leant back on her desk and took a glance at the ceiling. All but one of the panels of her skirt parted to the outsides of her thighs, leaving scant protection for her crotch. The split in the fabric went high enough that Shanata knew that even the Queen obeyed her own rules about underwear.

Her superior let out a breath.

"You can read the details," Endowment nodded to the scroll. "For some reason I don't understand, the guard was unable to properly track the young criminal in question. So we only know what building our stray white skirt went in to -- and there are numerous possibilities within that building even with the knowledge that criminal had considerable breasts."

"And my role in this?"

"You are to deliver a warning," the Queen told her. "Warn these foolish girls en masse. We don't know which one it was and it might not be easy to find out."

"We could interrog-"

"It might not be easy to find out," the Queen interrupted gently. "As it stands, after all, we have only one incident."

Shanata waited a beat as she contemplated the Queen's interruption. Comprehension dawned in her eyes.

"That is insufficient for a charge of monogamy," Shanata noted.

She knew the law. Never forget that. There was a punishment for unsanctioned meetings, but it wasn't anything like being found guilty of that repetitive devotion the Temple called monogamy.

"Yes," the Queen said, "and your goal is to ensure it goes no further."

"I see, Highness."

"I'm glad you do. You are dismissed."

Shanata, without a skirt, could only bow with the perfect form and poise for which she was known, letting her heavy breasts threaten to fall from their containment, and then turning on her heel and leaving.

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Marissa, like most women of Form, was trained for a variety of martial tasks. For the purpose of adventures outside the city, she had learned the skills necessary to hunt and kill both people and wild beasts -- though she'd yet to have occasion to attack the former. Within the city, her purpose was to patrol and maintain order. For the most part, the presence of people like her was enough to keep the Protocols and Dictates at the forefront of the collective female mind. In other cases, like the little girl who had recently eluded her, apprehension and judgement were the goals.

Two other guards had been drafted in to her service. With her recent promotion to Adept she had the right to make certain requisitions from the lower ranks. For her current level of authority, that amounted to a pair of Keepers clad in the same leathers she wore while on patrol. Thigh to shoulder was more than enough in this heat, and certainly more than was needed for the quarry she intended to track.

It was very much like the training hunts she'd done outside the city. Tracking a wild animal through the forest, her instructor had explained, was quite similar to tracking a human. Learn one task and you will easily grasp the other.

This was a hunt, and Marissa was taking point. As the ground still bore marks from where she had fallen the day before, she had found it easy to position herself at almost the exact place where she had passed out, taking only a few steps back in to the forest to keep her cover. She maintained an excellent view of the path in either direction.

Her two accomplices performed two different services -- one which they understood, the other they did not. Primarily, she had told them, they were there to provide coverage for a larger portion of the path. Marissa could not be certain where it was that her quarry had been headed, so she spread her subordinates in either direction on the path, spacing them out so there weren't any gaps in their coverage. Once they were able to find the girl, they would follow her and find out what she was up to.

The assumption on which all three guards operated was that she was meeting with some young man. Bad enough if it happened once. A second meeting would spell out a curse word above all other such words.

If that were the case - and what else could it be? - then they would want to identify the male as well. So Marissa had brought her comrades along not just for the purpose of helping her find the one who had escaped her the day before, but also to find the other -- the man she was meeting.

Marissa's lips formed a thin line and then a frown.

That was what she had told them and it was, in all honesty, their major purpose. Anyone in Marissa's situation, with the same training she'd had, would have set things up pretty much the same way.

There was another reason for their presence, a reason she had not stated out loud to either of them. Something had made her fall unconscious the day before. Perhaps it was unwise to run so hard just a few days after an upgrade. The Adept told herself that that must have been the case and that it certainly couldn't happen again. But if it did happen -- if another personal failure befell her - at least she had some backup. That was the responsible thing to do.

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Talla's shift was winding down. The procedure at this point in the day was to hand everything off to the girls coming in for the afternoon. Mostly that meant letting them know which of the little ones were puking today and which were behaving hysterically. Talla had recently decided that they were quite adorable creatures, full of curiosity and bright eyed innocence. They could be quite endearing if you knew how to handle the temper tantrums.

The heat bell had come and gone. It had stirred her heart like a bubbling cauldron and she'd felt Zhair'lo twitch to it as well. But they'd both held themselves in check. Wait a day. That's what she had told Zhair'lo and, despite the fact that she could have overruled herself with a single mental message, she went with caution.

She vividly recalled that guard, panting as guards never panted, arguing with the teacher.

Wait a day. Be careful.

"Endowment!" a voice called out.

Heads twisted. Bodies turned. Talla saw Shanata standing at the main entrance.

Her dark hair was pulled back as tightly as it could be, the ponytail going straight out behind her head to keep it off her back -- a wise precaution in this heat. She stood with her hands on her hips and her feet firmly planted just a bit farther apart than the width of her shoulders. It was Shanata the Teacher once more, the pose telling the story even if the tone of her voice hadn't.

"Assemble!"

All of the women of Endowment in the building were wearing white. That meant that none thought twice about disobeying an Acolyte. Nearly a dozen followers of Abundance, Point and Strength promptly trotted over to the entrance and formed two rows with the higher ranking ones to the front. Talla, perforce, was in the back row. She strained her neck to see her superior properly. The only thing odd about her was the leather satchel over her shoulder. That was the sort of thing a messenger from Form might wear and it looked out of place where the beige strapped crossed her tanned cleavage.

Once they settled in, Shanata spoke again, her words crisply formal.

"Who is senior here?"

M'lis stepped forward.

"I am, Mistress."

"I require the attention of those that were present yesterday morning," Shanata told M'lis. "Are all of those here today?"

Talla inhaled sharply and stifled a gasp. Yesterday. Why did it matter who was here yesterday? What else could it be but -

"Yes, Mistress," M'lis replied. It was her job to keep track of such matters. "There are none sick, nor have any been reassigned."

"Good," Shanata said. "Those from the afternoon may return to their duties. The rest of you ... on me."

She turned on her heel and marched out. They could do naught but follow as she set a casual, jogging pace. It was nothing like the mad run Talla had taken the day before to the little well under the tree.

"You're coming closer," a voice whispered a warning inside her head.

"You're not supposed to yet," it added.

"I know," she acknowledged, relaying her fear. "Something's going on."

"What?"

There was a nascent panic in his query.

"I don't know," she mentally shrugged at him.

That worried him. The link faded at that point, whether due to their fear or her exhaustion she couldn't say. All she could feel from him was his concern.

Shanata was continuing to lead them south. It was very close to the route she had taken through the city the day before. Was that where they were going? Had she and Zhair'lo been discovered?

But no one followed me, she complained to the universe. I'm sure of it.

Shanata was going to take the whole lot of them to the well and she was going to call Talla out and punish her. That's what was going to happen. What would they do to her? If the punishment for flashing your breasts at somebody was three across the ass, what was it for what she and Zhair'lo had done?

She nervously gritted her teeth. Her only saving grace was that the sweat from her brow and the squinting she had to do in the face of the bright sunlight combined to cover up the guilty look on her face.

Shanata swerved suddenly. Where were they going? Talla was surprised but relieved. The path to Zhair'lo's farm started somewhere off to her right. The little clearing with the well was in a direction that she would characterize as vaguely southwest. Shanata was leading them to the left, somewhere just west of due south. Where to? Talla's heart began to beat much more steadily when they came to a stone bridge that crossed the river. If they were crossing the river, they definitely weren't going to either Zhair'lo's farm or the little clearing.

The entire group had a chance to catch their collective breaths while they waited for a row of horse drawn carts to cross the bridge in the other direction. Regardless of any cramps any of them might be having, not a single one of the girls leaned over to give some relief to the muscles in her side. They all remembered what had happened the last time they'd gone for a run. Then, as now, a brusque woman in orange was leading them somewhere and not taking questions. The similarity, absent the rain, was eerie.

Talla caught M'lis's eyes, then Adria's. All she got from them was the same bafflement she felt in herself. She shrugged back. This couldn't be about her, then, could it?

The horse carts had cleared the bridge, allowing Shanata to lead them across it and down river toward a lush pasture. They shortly came to a stop when Shanata leaned an elbow on the fence that separated the roadway from feeding grounds.

"I invite you all to observe," she told them with a nod towards the deep, green field.

Shanata was the only one who had complete control of her body. How many Iron and Tight upgrades did the woman have? As the rest of them were panting, they happily took the opportunity to scamper up to the fence and rest against it for support.

What were they supposed to be looking at? There was a long silence in which the girls stared obediently at the slow moving, dumb animals while Shanata stared at the girls expectantly.

"Cows, Mistress?" M'lis asked.

It was a fair question. Who hadn't seen cows before?

"It may occur to you," Shanata intoned, speaking as though she hadn't heard M'lis's query, "that there are a few differences between a person and a beast of the field or a beast of the wild."

"You have all studied history. You are all aware of what it was like before the Temples were built. People actually were beasts. They visited murder and violence and all sorts of cruelty upon each other. When men ruled this land, they took control of the women, fought over them as if they were trinkets or paintings and used them to make children by the dozen."

She nodded again at the field.

"M'lis?"

"Mistress."

"Which ones are the males?"

Stupid question. Who couldn't answer that?

"The ones with the horns, Mistress."

"And how many females are there for each male?"

That required some thought. Talla looked out at the field and noticed the way the animals were clustered around each other. It looked as if each group had one bull roughly in the centre of it with a number of heifers surrounding him.

"About ten or so, Mistress," M'lis answered.

"If we were to remain here long enough," Shanata continued, "we might get a chance a to see two of the bulls fight each other for some of the heifers. Very occasionally, one of them will die in such a fight. Most of the time, however, one yields to the other and loses a few of his possessions."

She let that sink in a moment.

"And so it was with us."

Talla's entire knowledge of pre-Temple history consisted of two lessons and yet this material had already been covered. On account of a total lack of surprise from her colleagues, Talla concluded that it must be the first thing they teach to every woman when she enters the Temple. It was odd to actually see it -- it was a little more vivid to be forced to imagine human women being herded around like these cows -- but it was nothing new.

Shanata looked away from them, steepled her fingers and touched them to her lips.

"They called it monogamy," she said derisively, "and they enforced it upon us. Each man wanted to be sure, you see, that the children he was raising were his own. Each man wanted as many children as he could have from the women he owned. And a man who killed another man would only take the wives he saw fit to take, leaving the rest to starve along with their children."

"Women had no choice. For men, it was a thing called polygamy: many for one. For us, though, it was monogamy: utter submission of a female to a single male."