Chapter 2

Duty.

Sarina curled into a ball and wept. She’d given up on being a mother years before because not only wasn’t there a man on her horizons, but she was terrified she’d perpetuate the abuse her mother had heaped onto her onto her child. Sarina had read many books about the abuse cycle the daughters of abusive parents inflicted on their children, who then went on to abuse their kids and on down through the generations. No. It was better that it ended now with her.

However, with Thaddeus, Sarina felt nothing but awe for the miracle of his birth, and she felt only love for the swiftly growing child. Even when Thaddeus was teething or at his brattiest, Sarina felt no anger or resentment towards him. All she wanted to do was hold him and love him forever. Alas, it was not to be. She didn’t even know if she would see him again. She feared she wouldn’t, and so she cried.

Not even ten months old, and already taken from his parents to be trained as a Defender, and in time, if he proved worthy, a Knight of the Light. Sarina had no idea what these Knights of the Light even were, but it sounded like a dangerous occupation or duty if they were called to fight the darkness of The Marshall, as Dawid had indicated.

Andie and Eloise tried to encourage Sarina to get out of bed and bathe. They urged her to eat, and when that failed, they tried to entice her with sex. Sarina refused all enticements. Even her typically recalcitrantly responsive body failed to respond to Andie’s and Eloise’s talented lips, tongue, and fingers. Nor, when they summoned Ella and Elsa, did Sarina react to them. Sarina’s heart was a cold stone, shattering within her, so she was cold and unresponsive to everything and everyone.

For seven days, Sarina lay in bed and wept. The only time she got out was to use the commode and to take sparing sips of water. Andie tried to recall Meester Dawid, but communications between Dawid’s travelling party and Kingsholme depended on them being within reach of one of the few remaining repeater stations still working and not under The Marshall’s control.

Early in the morning of the eighth day, Andie ran into Sarina’s bedroom, yelling, “Sarina! Sarina! Here, listen!”

Sarina took the proffered cylindrical object. It thrummed in her hand, and her son’s voice broke forth. “Mumma? Mumma? It is so neat here,” Thaddeus’ joyful voice told her. “There are so many toys to play with. Daddy calls them training devices, but that’s silly because they’re so easy to use. If they were meant to train me, they would be more difficult.”

“Oh, my baby boy,” Sarina wept, her heart glad she could talk to him but breaking because he was so far away.

“Why are you crying, Mumma?” Thaddeus asked. “I’m training to be a Knight of the Light. Guardian Markus says I have the potential to match Meester Lancelot, the greatest of King Arthur’s Knights. You should be happy and proud, not crying like a baby.”

“I am proud, baby boy,” Sarina managed even though her voice broke with sobs. “But I miss my baby boy.”

“Not a baby anymore,” Thaddeus said firmly. “I am doing my duty as a Defender, Mumma. Remember what Daddy said? ‘So it was, so it is, so it will always be. The line of the Defenders must not fail, lest all else be lost.’ You must stop missing me, Mumma, and do your duty, too.”

“I will, baby boy,” Sarina promised. “I will do my duty, but I won’t stop missing you.”

“Guardian Markus says I have to go now, Mumma. I will call you when Markus says I can, which will only be when it’s safe.”

“Goodbye, baby boy,” Sarina said to the dead phone. Well, she called it a phone because it operated like a cell phone on Earth. Lawd knew what the Aetherians called it.

Recovery

Sarina swung her legs out of bed and stood. A passage from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series came to her mind: “Duty is Heavier than a Mountain, Death is Lighter than a Feather.” Well, she tried death twice now; if Sarina believed Paolo when he said she had died when she fell on the stone in the desert, so that wasn’t an option—that left duty. She picked up the mantle, settled it on her slender shoulders and then used the rope pull to summon her companions, as she’d come to call them.

As she waited for them to attend her, Sarina looked down at her gaunt body. Seven days of drinking little and eating less had ravaged her body. Even her typically firm breasts drooped and seemed empty compared to their usual fullness. Sarina shrugged; they’d either fill back out, or they wouldn’t. Meester Guān would either still find her desirable, or he wouldn’t. She needed to get healthy and do her duty. Sarina knew that even though her body was ravaged, it would improve, and her beauty remained undiminished. If Meester Guān didn’t find her attractive, then she was sure one of the other Masters would.

Andie and Eloise entered her bedroom and, seeing that she was up, squealed happily and ran to her side. “Bath first,” Aloise sniffed. “You stink!” Eloise pulled the rope again, and when one of the two women who stayed overnight with Sarina entered, she said, “Tell Meester Guān that Lady Sarina is up and would like to see him. Tell him to wait for an haneur and meet her in the sitting room with the fire.

(Aetheria takes approximately 40 Earth hours to rotate 360°. This period is divided into 20 haneurs, only four of which are in total darkness. Another three hours every morning have just one sun visible, and a further three hours every afternoon into the evening also have only one sun. These periods leave Aetheria in a kind of twilight-like state, and it is during this time that The Marshall’s forces attack. 20 haneurs/day. 10 deurs/week. 10 weurks/month. 10 meurths/year, etc.)

Ever silent, Sarina’s overnight companion nodded and left to do as Eloise ordered.

“She speaks?” Sarina asked as she allowed Andie and Eloise to guide her into her bathroom and help her sit on one of the commodes. “She and the other woman have been silent every night they’re with me.”

Andie and Eloise looked at each other before Andie reluctantly responded. “Your overnight companions had their names and tongues removed for being scolds. To explain: Husbands can take their complaints to the Master responsible for the area in which they live. After the Master hears their grievances and weighs the evidence, he assigns guilt and punishment and/or annuls the marriage. In the case of annulment, the ex-wives go to the slave markets to be sold.”

“This is a one-way system, right?” Sarina asked coldly. “Men get sick of their wives and get rid of them to the slave markets?” She thought of Muslim and early Christian societies.

Andie and Eloise glanced at each other, perplexed. They shook their heads. “No. As often as the Masters find women guilty of being scolds, they also find men guilty of abuse, neglect or abandonment. Additionally, wives can file a complaint against their husbands for being scolds. The men, too, go to the slave markets if they’re found guilty and their marriage is annulled. Your morning servant, the one who brings your breakfast, is one such man. It still has its dick, so its crime can’t have been too serious.”

“If his crimes weren’t serious, then why did they chop out his tongue and cut off his balls?” Sarina asked.

“The tongue is to prevent it from abusing or scolding someone again, and the balls are removed to ensure it cannot reproduce,” Andie explained.

“Harsh!” Sarina exclaimed.

“It works,” Eloise defended. “Rape, murder, and child molestation are almost nonexistent on Aetheria, or at least they are in the areas controlled by the Masters.”

Andie and Eloise completed Sarina’s ablutions as they explained how Aetherian society worked. They tsked over her skinny body and made disappointed moues over Sarina’s ravaged breasts. “My Lady Sarina,” Andie admonished. “You must take better care of yourself lest the Masters reject you and send you to the markets.”

“As long as I contain the spark to birth more Defenders, I think I’m quite safe, thank you,” Sarina replied huffily, ashamed of being scolded.

“That spark was almost extinguished by your unnecessary grief over your son being chosen to study and train with the Guardians. Such an honour should be celebrated and rejoiced,” Eloise chided. “It’s returning, which I’m sure the Masters will appreciate, but you must not let yourself fall so again.” She examined Sarina before saying, “In around ten yeurs, your son will return a man and possibly a Knight for The Light. This is something you should cherish and honour. It is not something to mourn.”

“I get it!” Sarina growled. “I’m honoured; it’s an honour; I’m grateful. Can we please let this rest and move on?”

Both women took a deep breath and swallowed. Their words came from their fear for Sarina—the gorgeous young woman who had suddenly entered their lives and unexpectedly stolen their hearts. Love, something that they never thought would be theirs when their struggling families sold them to the markets, had budded in Andie’s and Eloise’s souls, and with Sarina’s grief, they feared that love would wither and die.

Although it was true that their lofty positions in the mansion came from being Sarina’s chosen, both women would have gladly sacrificed them if it meant Sarina’s joy would return. They released their fears and turned their attention to preparing their Mistress to meet Meester Guān.

Andie brushed Sarina’s luscious black hair before infusing it with vanilla hair oil. Simultaneously, Eloise rubbed cinnamon-scented moisturiser into Sarina’s skin. Sarina opened her mouth to remind them that she used rose oil and sandalwood, but then she remembered that Ella and Elsa had prepared her similarly for her first one-on-one meeting with Meester Guān.

Andie and Eloise completed Sarina’s preparations, and then Ella and Elsa guided her to the sitting room Sarina typically used. It was midsummer in this part of Aetheria, so the fire was unlit. Sarina lowered herself onto the low stool and smiled her goodbye to Ella and Elsa.

They’d barely exited the room when Meester Guān entered. He gaped at Sarina’s emaciated figure and yanked the rope pull. “Bring a harvester immediately,” he growled when a male slave entered the room. He crossed to Sarina swiftly. “My Lady Sarina, are you ill?” He worriedly asked.

“Only with grief,” Sarina smiled, warmed by Guān’s concern.

“For what do you grieve?” Guān wondered. “Has someone close to you died?”

“My son was taken away too soon,” Sarina explained. “On Earth, a mother would typically have twenty years or more with her child before he left home. I’ve found losing him so soon distressing. However, he called me today, and he firmly told me that I was not to ‘cry like a baby’, and to do my duty.”

The door opened, and an intense-looking, bearded and portly man hurried in. The man looked so much like a stereotypical Hollywood version of a family doctor that Sarina almost burst out laughing.

“Harvester Michael,” Guān greeted the man. “Lady Sarina has lost a lot of weight recently. Will you please check her over for any parasites or diseases?”

Sarina almost laughed again when Harvester Michael pulled out a Star Trek-type laser scanner because it seemed so trite. The harvester ran the scanner over Sarina’s head, body, and limbs, examining the read-out as he did. After completing his scan, Michael tsked before asking, “When did you last eat?”

“Seven days ago,” Andie replied as she entered the room. She and Eloise had watched from the doorway, worried about Meester Guān’s reaction to Sarina’s appearance. “The Guardians took her son for training, and Lady Sarina stopped eating due to her grief at her loss.”

“That’s ridiculous!” The harvester exploded. “Having your son chosen to train as a Defender is an honour bestowed on very few. Most sons aren’t even chosen for the elite cadres because they’re deemed unworthy. Your son must be genuinely remarkable because there hasn’t been a new Defender in more than thirty years.”

The harvester checked his instrument, and his eyes widened. He gasped, “By the Light! You have the spark that gives birth to Defenders and maybe even Knights!”

“So I’m told,” Sarina said modestly.

Harvester Michael turned to Meester Guān and said, “It is malnourished but in no real danger. I will stay at the Mansion and supervise its recovery. Will you have someone direct me to one of the kitchens? I need to oversee its meals to ensure it receives food that it can easily digest and won’t cause its body to rebel against.”

“The Lady Sarina, not ‘it’,” Guān said dangerously. “Sarina is a slave in good standing, and she is the Mistress of this Mansion. You will address her directly and appropriately, or you may find yourself on the selling platform minus your tongue and balls.”

“Of course, Meester Guān,” the harvester quickly agreed. “I misspoke out of ignorance, not disrespect.”

“Very well,” Guān said. He tugged the pull rope and asked the attending slave to show the harvester to the nearest kitchen.

“Does this slave know its way to The Lady’s rooms?” The harvester asked before he left the room. “I’ll bring Lady Sarina’s meal and stay until I’m sure she’s held it down.”

“Slave, do you know which is Lady Sarina’s room?” Guān asked the man.

The tongueless man chuffed a nodded reply and left with the harvester.

Guān turned back to Sarina. He helped her to his feet and encouraged her to sit with him on the couch. Sarina was touched because although she knew that Dawid loved her, he never treated her as an equal. Other than in their bed, Dawid maintained a certain aloofness and always ensured Sarina knelt at his feet or sat on the low stool before him. Not that Sarina minded. She had Dawid’s love, and it was enough for her, especially since Dawid’s love was the first time she had that emotion directed towards her.

“May I kiss you, Lady Sarina?” Meester Guān politely asked when Sarina had settled.

“Of course, Meester Guān,” Sarina said sultrily. “You needn’t ask.”

“Please, my Lady,” Guān said. “Just Guān, if you will.”

“As long as you call me just Sarina,” Sarina agreed, tilting her head to the side and anticipating Guān’s kiss.

Guān smiled happily and kissed his bride-to-be. Like Sarina’s and Dawid’s, Guān’s and Sarina’s marriage would effectively be a limited-time contract, extending only from their first night together until Sarina gave birth to their first male child and the Guardians took him away to be trained. However, Sarina knew she’d love Guān intensely until that day. Then, as had happened with Dawid, their love would evolve into the platonic affection that good friends shared.

Guān’s kiss, although lacking the surety of Dawid’s, sizzled through Sarina and ignited her desires. She became wet at her core, and her nipples stiffened, aching to be touched. As they had during their first kiss, Guān’s hands found and cupped Sarina’s breasts, and his thumbs strummed her nipples delightfully.

Sarina hummed into Guān’s mouth as she softly ran her hand over Guān’s rampant erection. She squeezed the Master’s hardened shaft and revelled in its staunch length. Sarina ached to take Guān’s cock out of his trousers, but her reticence, which her mother’s abuse had enforced, prevented her from acting so boldly.

Guān was close to losing control, and even though his entire body ached and demanded he claim Sarina as his wife tonight, he knew he had to wait until she’d recovered from her unfortunate, self-imposed fast. Fasting for seven Aetherian days equalled nearly twelve Earth days of not eating, which is unhealthy by anyone’s standards. Guān knew it would take probably as many more days before Sarina recovered from her starvation. He would gladly wait at least that long before claiming her as long as she was eventually his.

Guān reluctantly disengaged himself from Sarina when Elsa entered the room and announced Sarina’s meal was ready. He asked, “May I visit again tomorrow evening?”

“You may visit whenever you want, Guān,” Sarina said warmly. “I eagerly look forward to our next meeting.” She followed Elsa back to her room despite wanting nothing more than to kneel and expose Meester Guān’s lengthy tool.

Recovery II.

Sarina returned to her room and got into bed. Her usual morning male servant picked up a tray and opened the legs before placing it over Sarina’s upper thighs. Harvester Michael lifted the various lids and explained. “This is a beef bone and vegetable broth, which I want you to eat first. The second bowl has scrambled eggs, and the final one has peeled and sliced bruift (the fruit Sarina didn’t recognise but thought tasted like a combination of kiwifruit and banana). After you’ve eaten all of the soup, I want you to have at least two spoonfuls of each.

Sarina looked at her meal, and despite realising there were barely more than a few spoonfuls of each dish, her stomach rebelled at the thought of eating so much. Still, she’d promised her son that she would do her duty, so Sarina picked up her spoon and obeyed the harvester’s directives.

Harvester Michael studied Sarina as she finished her mouthful of bruift. He knew she struggled to hold the food down and summoned Ella and Elsa. “Get Lady Sarina out of bed and onto her feet,” he instructed. “Support her as she walks around until her meal settles.”

Sarina wanted to protest because she thought she’d puke if she had to move. But once she was on her feet, Sarina discovered that the harvester was right—now she was moving, the small amount of food she’d consumed settled quickly, and suddenly her hunger ignited. However, Sarina’s blood sugar levels crashed, and she felt weak and shaky.

Harvester Michael grinned when Sarina gazed longingly at her bed and the bowls beside it. “Hungry and shaky?” He asked. Sarina nodded. “Good,” the harvester stated. He tugged the rope, and Sarina’s morning servant entered carrying a pot of green tea. Michael poured a cup and added a generous amount of honey before handing it to Sarina. “Drink this. Then, if you’re still feeling hungry, you may have another one or two mouthfuls of eggs or bruift.”

Sarina drank the tea, which alleviated her shakes, but she was still hungry, so she ate the remaining bruift. Harvester Michael favoured her with a small smile before saying. “You did well, Lady Sarina. I shall return in two haneurs with more soup and eggs. A walk in the sun around the Mansion’s grounds will do you the world of good.” He bowed and left.

“You heard the man,” Ella quipped mirthfully, offering Sarina a pair of soft leather moccasins to wear.

Sarina, who had lived in the Mansion for almost two yeurs and had not realised she was allowed out, took the shoes gratefully. Sarina put them on and let her two companions guide her to a side door on the ground floor and outside onto beautifully manicured lawns that snaked between carefully coiffed bushes. Similar to the statues inside, the bushes were shaped to imitate various mythical half-human, half-beast creatures copulating with other half-human, half-beast creatures or human females.

Ella and Elsa led Sarina past garden beds that blazed with colour and exuded scents that delighted their senses. They stopped when they saw Meester Andreas standing beside a naked male slave. Sarina gasped when light surrounded Meester Andreas and reached from him onto the unkempt bush before him. The Master glowed as he increased the radiance of his light.

Sarina watched, stunned, as the bush melted and reformed in the light. It assumed the shape of an anaconda-like snake wrapped around the leg of a wolf-woman. The snake’s tongue, which was a branch’s budding twig, stretched from its mouth to the wolf-woman’s pussy. The wolf-woman’s hands were in her hair, and her head was thrown back as if she enjoyed having the snake’s tongue delving into her snatch.

Seemingly unaffected by the effort of reshaping the bush through his mind and powers, Meester Andreas spoke to the slave. “Work on the woman’s arms and smooth out the gap between her elbows and head. They don’t look natural as they are. I’d also like to see a little more gap in her upper thighs so it’s more apparent that the snake’s tongue is in her pussy.”

Andreas walked towards Sarina and her companions; his eyes focused on Sarina. He stopped briefly to say, “Good morning, Lady Sarina. It is pleasing to see you out of bed and feeling better. Guān, especially, will be pleased. He is in the Masters’ training area if you’d like to see him practice his katas.” Meester Andreas nodded before walking towards the door through which Sarina and her attendants had exited.

“OMG!” Elsa gasped, almost swooning. “I think we know who wants our Lady after her time with Meester Guān is over.”

Sarina’s head swivelled to stare at the departing Master’s back. Meester Andreas wore a blue chambray button-up shirt over skin-tight moleskin trousers that clung to his taut buttocks and long, leanly muscular legs. Andreas’ feet were encased in dark brown, calf-length leather boots that resembled those worn by Earth’s horse riders. Sarina had the natural reaction a woman’s body has towards a handsome, well-built man, but she felt none of the desire she had for Dawid and now Guān. However, she suspected Elsa was correct—her affection would shift from Guān to Andreas when the time was right.

Andreas’ invitation to view Guān training held appeal, so the women made their way around the Mansion to the training pens. There, they saw Guān carrying a wooden fighting stave and wearing nothing more than a loin cloth, facing six other men who also held wooden staves. Sarina assumed the men were slaves by the iron collars around their necks and their nakedness, even though their shackles and chains had been removed.

“Remember,” Guān challenged. “Anyone who can land a blow gets a week off their duties and double rations for that time. Anyone who knocks me out will be released from their servitude and offered the chance to join the Master’s elite cadres. So, boys, give me your best shot.”

Sarina gasped as the six men blasted across the sandy ground to attack Guān en masse. She gasped again as her Master danced through them untouched. Guān’s stave flickered almost too fast for Sarina’s eyes to follow as it blocked, parried and thrust. Welts exploded across the slaves’ bodies where Guān’s strikes hit them, yet Guān somehow remained unmarked.

Guān turned back, his eyes widening when he saw Sarina with her attendants, but he quickly refocused on the four men still able to fight. Two men were painfully dragging themselves to the low benches around the arena. One had a broken arm, and the other breathed agonisingly through broken ribs.

Gliding back towards the remaining men, Guān twirled his stave in a blurred circle, deftly intercepting every strike from his opponents. He eased through the men to the other side of the arena, leaving two more men prone and holding broken bones and him still untouched.

Tossing his stave aside, Guān turned to the last two standing. “Slight change in the rules. If you land a blow to my body or head, you receive your rewards. Strikes that I intercept with my hands, arms, feet or legs do not count.”

Guān stalked towards the two remaining slaves, who nodded at each other and split, coming at him from two sides at once. The man on Guān’s right spun and faked a swing at the Master’s head only to alter the trajectory and strike at Guān’s ribs. The man to his left swung at Guān’s knees with a vicious underhand strike. The Master leapt nimbly over the low stave as he intercepted the second strike with his palm and ripped the wooden staff from the slave’s shocked hands. Guān landed on his feet lightly before snap-kicking the man who had attacked his legs in the chest.

Guān turned to the last remaining man and contemptuously tossed his stave back. The Master dared the slave to attack and quickly disarmed and dispatched him when he did. Smiling as more slaves flooded the arena to help the injured men to the harvesters, Guān said, “Looks like no one earned a week’s reprieve or their freedom today. Come, are there any more who would like to try?”

Paolo stepped into the arena, picked up one of the fallen staves and hefted it before spinning it in a tight circle before him. “It has been many years, Meester Guān. May an old friend try his luck?”

“Of course, Cadre Leader Paolo. It is always an honour to spar with a Cadre Commander,” Guān replied, picking up his stave and spinning it likewise.

What followed next remained with the three women for the rest of their lives. The two men danced—there was no other way to describe what they did. The grace, the minimal movement, and the swiftness of their strikes could only have been described in the terms of a dance. Too fast for the human eye to see, the fighters changed the direction of their staves and struck towards their opponent. One moment, Guān’s stave blurred around its circle, then less than a millisecond later, it somehow struck out at Paolo.

In reaction to Guān’s strike, Paolo’s staff altered its trajectory, intercepted the strike and prevented the stave from hitting him. Paolo’s defensive manoeuvre then seamlessly changed into an attack, which Meester Guān avoided with equal ease.

The men seemed equally matched, but after around fifteen minutes, even Sarina’s inexperienced eyes could see that Paolo showed more fatigue than Meester Guān. Paolo’s breath came in huge, gulping gasps, and sweat poured down his face and soaked his khaki shirt. Wet patches appeared under Paolo’s armpits, down his spine, and on his chest. Paolo’s stave’s speed seemed undiminished, though.

Meester Guān appeared almost untouched by the ferocity of their fight. The only signs that he fought a challenging opponent were Guān’s narrowed eyes and concentration frown. Small beads of sweat also gathered on the Master’s forehead and between his pecs, although Guān’s breathing remained slow and even.

Finally, Paolo stepped back and stopped his stave. He then dropped it to the ground and bowed towards the Master. “I thought I’d practised and improved enough to present a challenge, Meester Guān,” Paolo puffed. “I can see that I was wrong.”

Guān held his staff out to the side and returned Paolo’s bow. “You challenged me more than any besides my fellow Masters,” Guān acknowledged. He tossed his shaft to a slave and then clapped his hands together. A brilliantly bright white load formed around Meester Guān’s hands. “May I?” He asked.

“I would be honoured,” Paolo replied.

Now the men had stopped, Sarina could see the welts and bruises, many of which leaked blood, across Paolo’s hands, wrists and arms where his counter hadn’t entirely stopped Guān’s attack.

Guān stepped forward and took Paolo’s head between his glowing hands. The light flowed down Paolo’s body, enveloping him all the way to his toes before pulsing several times. Paolo’s mouth opened, but no sound came out because Paolo’s body locked into a rictus. The light pulsed once more before flaring out.

Paolo gasped and shivered as if he’d been doused with cold water, which, interestingly enough, was precisely how Paolo would have described the sensation. He gasped again when Guān released him and experimentally worked his neck, shoulders, arms and wrists. “No pain whatsoever,” he marvelled. “Even my older injuries from before today seem to have been healed.” Paolo bowed respectfully and said, “All hail The Defenders. May they live to protect us forever.”

Meester Guān returned Paolo’s bow before replying, “And all hail the Elite Cadres. May they serve The Defenders faithfully until The Light fails and beyond.” He patted Paolo’s shoulder. “Meester Dawid chose wisely when he selected you to lead Kingsholme’s Elite Cadre.”

“I am honoured above all others,” Paolo replied before nodding and striding away.

“There’s something more to Commander Paolo,” Guān muttered to himself. “I could almost see what it was when I washed his injuries and fatigue away, but he shifted something in his mind and blocked me. He should not have been able to do that. Not against a Master as powerful as I.”

Internally shrugging, the Master remained facing away from Sarina until he’d wrapped a gown over his loincloth. Then, smiling welcomingly, he turned back and took Sarina’s hand between his. Bowing over it, Guān kissed its back before saying, “My Lady Sarina, it is a pleasure to see you up and outside. I hope my barbaric displays in the arena did not upset you?”

“It was fascinating,” Sarina admitted. “I watched and wondered if I would ever be able to do something similar.”

“Possibly,” Guān smiled indulgently. Aetheria had many women soldiers, several of whom were skilled enough to be part of the elite cadres, albeit at the lowest level. However, he thought it unlikely that someone from Sarina’s pampered upbringing would survive even the first day of training. “I can have one of the female soldiers teach you some of the rudimentary first moves if you wish?”

“I think the exercise would be good for me even if I sucked, don’t you, Meester Guān?”

“We can certainly check with Harvester Michael if you want,” Guān hedged.

“Yes, we can,” Sarina agreed, taking Guān’s elbow in hers and walking towards the Mansion. “May I help you bathe, Meester Guān?” She daringly asked.