Chapter 6

* Scene Nathan_Nora Take 1*

Needed approvals: Nathan, Nora

Action!

Nora was dressed in a form-fitting gown over flowing skirts. Only the artisan smith’s guild tabard made it clear that Nora was a craftsman. The outfit was impractical enough that Nora didn’t entirely feel comfortable in it. The only reason she might wear something like this would be if she had an arranged meeting with a wealthy client to discuss some project they commissioned.

She supposed that wasn’t far from what was going on. Nathan was a mage—wealthy enough certainly. As a whore, she supposed she would need to get used to dressing up for clients. She felt self-conscious. What did he want from her? He talked about wanting to know her, about wanting to know what to say to help her feel strong. So she dressed as sophisticated as she could given her wardrobe. She hoped he’d see through her accent and the difference in their positions. She hoped he would see her as skilled and intelligent.

Nathan arrived, dressed in his mage robes as usual. It must be nice to have clothes appropriate for almost any level of formality. “Wow, you look nice,” he said.

“Thank ya. Ya said ya wanted me to feel strong.”

“And I guess you draw strength from your craft.”

Nora thought about it. She decided she did. It would be easy to remember times when she had taken pride showing off her work—plenty of times her teachers had praised her skill. It wouldn’t be a stretch to remember how even bullies like Lisa who mocked her intelligence couldn’t quite bring themselves to directly mock her work as a smith. “Aye, right enough. As I said when we met, I gonna be better than pa some day, an he’s a master smith.”

“Can I see your work?” he asked.

She blushed. He was a mage. He could do more damage with his fire than she could ever hope to do with a sword. She worked to fight down butterflies and lead him to the forge.

Cut!

Nora was having trouble reconciling the part of her that was proud of her work as a smith with the part that was nervous confronted with a wealthy mage. It’s not like Nathan was the one she was crushing on—although he was fine enough looking, and there was no reason to close off any future possibilities on that account. Initiation was an intense experience after all. She reached out to Nathan’s meta to see if he had any suggestions.

“You could draw strength from showing off your work,” he said. “How would it fit if doing something like that gave you confidence even when dealing with me?”

“I like it,” Nora’s meta said. “Unless you need me to be nervous so we can use working through that to help build connection.”

“No,” Nathan said. “My back story will make it easier to work with someone confident. None of that is fixed, but it is coming together well.”

“Let’s try your suggestion,” Nora said.

Scene Nathan_Nora Take 2

Action!

“Can I see your work?” he asked.

“Aye, right this way,” she said. As she led him deeper into the forge, her confident stride returned. She knew what she was doing here. Nathan was the one out of his depth as her pa and the apprentices crafted. The chaos of the forge—the heat, the ringing of metal, and the hiss of the quenching oil—were about as far from the quiet meditation of a mage’s circle as you could get outside of battle. Not that their worlds couldn’t overlap: Nathan was used to the chaos of battle, and enchantment certainly had its place in smithing. But he was out of his depth here, and it was her place to make him feel welcome.

She got out her artisan blade. She hadn’t remember finishing it yet, but she had no doubt those memories would be filled with pride and accomplishment.

Nathan was impressed by the blade. Nora was pleased that he knew what to look for and how to judge a sword.

“Do you feel more confident as a smith than as a whore?” he asked.

Nora began to guide Nathan to her room. This was not a conversation she wanted in front of the apprentices. “I’m right good at sex. Ain’t like to have no trouble on that account,” she said. “But not like to be used to the princess or anyone of that quality.

“Even ya make me a mite nervous,” she admitted. “If some client I’m not like to see again’s gonna mock me ... I’m like to give them a piece of my mind an send them on their way. But if ya or Jonathan humiliate me, that’d be horrible right enough.”

Nathan squeezed her hand. “You must have put in a lot of work on your craft, and I noticed how the apprentices looked up to you.”

“Aye, right true.”

“When I look at that, I can tell you are smart.”

A grin crossed her face for a moment. “Jonathan ain’t like to see that none though. He’s right fine in his fancy dress, an he’s like to be all proper.”

Nathan nodded. “He’s a whore though—a master whore no less. He cares about his clients just like the rest of us. He was worried about Ariel. I can help him understand that you are smart, sexy, and brave.”

“Brave?”

“You were not afraid to put the princess in her place. Because you were brave like that, and because you were brave enough to make the cunt slops offer, we came together as a strong team. From my adventuring training, I know how important that is.”

Cunt slops brave? She guessed some would have been embarrassed to speak their mind like that. Perhaps saying things like that reinforced the bullies’ idea that she was stupid. Although she realized that she could remember how speaking her mind was a good part of how she stood up to the bullies. Once it became clear that nothing she did would gain her acceptance from that crowd, she had stopped trying. Yes, she could remember deciding that she was done caring what any bully might think of what she said. Nathan was waiting for her reply. She might be willing to speak her mind, but she was embarrassed admitting to a compliment like brave, so she deflected the conversation. “Ya say I’m right sexy. Ya could show me how sexy ya think I’m like to be.”

His smile filled his face. “You just can’t wait for me to eat your cunt slops.”

She shook her head. “I done cleaned up right good for ya.”

“Given how turned on you were when Ariel ate you out the other day, I thought you were as into being dirty as she was.”

Nora looked down. This was hard. He had said he needed to understand her though. “Aye, guess so. But ya are an important mage right enough. So, I got right fancy, leastwise as fancy as I’s like to get.”

Nathan smiled and hugged her. “I like that you think I’m important.

“I’m not though—not like the princess.”

“But ya are a mage. Ya must be all sorts of rich.”

“Ha! It would not surprise me if your family has more money. My father’s no master. I hope to be a master mage some day, just like you are going to be a master smith. Right now though, if I hadn’t been accepted by the guild, I’d need to go adventuring to try and make my fortune.”

Nora was pleased he remembered she said she would be a master smith. Other than a little enchanting, there wasn’t much magic in Nora’s life. She had fallen into the trap of assuming that everyone who did magic had it easier.

Nathan continued, “Besides, your initiation is about you. You need to be comfortable, and you need to trust me to keep you safe. Are you going to be able to do that if you are worried about impressing me?”

“Ya aren’t gonna mind how I’m like to get right horny being a dirty whore?”

Nathan chuckled. “I figure that’s part of the package. You speak your mind without shame. That’s part of what I like about you.”

“I ain’t used to holdin back none,” Nora said. “If ya show weakness, bullies find the cracks an mock ya. If ya are a little bigger than life, the bullies ain’t quite sure what to think. Sometimes their words are a mite off an hit the big shadow not the real you inside.”

“I watched you when Ariel ate you out. Offering your cunt slops wasn’t just some crazy thing you said so people wouldn’t know where you were vulnerable.”