Instructing the Novice Read online

  Only in a dream would I be dressed like this and having the kind of inappropriate relationship with my assistant that I’ve been having since we got to the Tower, she thought.

  As she thought that, they came around a curve in the corridor and Lizabeth saw another one of the large wooden doors bound in bronze. But this one had a lock on it and a yellowed paper sign that looked tattered and old was hung from a string on the knob.

  “Silence please—meditation in progress.”

  “Oh, what’s that room?” Lizabeth asked in a low voice, pointing.

  “The Meditation Grotto,” Joren answered promptly, but in a normal tone which made Lizabeth wince and hope they weren’t disturbing whoever was meditating.

  “Don’t worry my dear, the only one in there is Mistress Goldahh and she hasn’t emerged in five cycles,” Mistress Anarrah said.

  “She’s been meditating for five whole cycles?” Lone frowned. “Isn’t that a long time?”

  “Well, I suppose it is.” Mistress Anarrah looked sad. “But you see, she decided to take a vow of silence and locked herself in there after her Novice died rather suddenly. I suppose she’ll come out when she’s ready. Only the Mistress Superior is allowed to visit her—she brings Mistress Goldahh’s meals herself and councils her daily.”

  “That’s…very kind of her.” Lizabeth frowned. The Mistress Superior didn’t strike her as the caring, supportive type. But maybe she was just prickly until you got to know her.

  “Yes, most kind. Mistress Goldahh came from Yonnie Six to stay with us for just a little while —she’s one of the richest women on the planet you know. But then she decided to give up her glamorous life and make a life-long commitment to the Tower—as so many of our Mistresses do,” Mistress Anarrah remarked.

  “Oh?” Lizabeth said. “And why is that, do you think?”

  “Well, it comes down to love, really. You see, there are so few places on the Yonnite home world where the relationship we have here between Mistress and Novice is understood and tolerated,” Mistress Anarrah said.

  “They don’t believe a Novice should penetrate his Mistress,” Joren put in helpfully. “Not with his shaft, anyway. Though they do allow penetration with the tongue.”

  “But sometimes a woman just needs a shaft inside her—don’t you find, my dear?” Mistress Anarrah said to Lizabeth.

  “Um…” Lizabeth’s cheeks grew hot when she remembered the terrible need she’d had the night before and the way Lone had fucked her with the thick black phallus to ease her desire.

  “And love between a Mistress and Novice is strictly forbidden on Yonnie Six.

  Mistress Anarrah went on, thankfully not making her answer. “They believe that males aren’t fit to be anything but bodyslaves. But you and I know this isn’t true—males are worthy of love and devotion too—don’t you think, my dear? At least the right male is.” She gave Joren a loving look and her Novice returned it, his brown eyes shining with devotion.

  “Absolutely.” Lizabeth nodded but found she couldn’t meet Lone’s eyes as she spoke. “I think that’s very true.”

  “Well—here we are,” Mistress Anarrah said brightly, saving her from having to find something else to say about the subject. They had gone around another curve in the corridor and arrived in front of yet another bronze-bound, wooden door.

  “Let me get that for you, Mistress,” Joren said quickly. He opened the door with a flourish and waved them all inside, smiling.

  “Thank you, my darling.” Mistress Anarrah trailed her fingers over her Novice’s cheek in a sweet caress as she entered the room and Lizabeth and Lone followed her.

  “Wow,” Lizabeth breathed, looking around. The classroom was actually a huge library with leather-bound books of all sizes from little ones about as big as Lizabeth’s palm to large ones bigger than her torso. They ran from floor to ceiling in rows upon rows that filled nearly every single wall of the room.

  There was one exception—at the far end of the classroom was a long, rich wooden table with comfortable, leather-padded seats and reading lamps every few feet. It was situated in front of the one wall with no books because it held a massive fireplace instead. In the grate, a flickering fire of gold and crimson flames was burning brightly and crackling quietly to itself.

  “I’m afraid I have one of the few rooms in the Tower that is only partially warmed by the underground hot springs,” Mistress Anarrah said apologetically. “It gets a bit chilly in here—especially on bare feet. So I make sure to have a fire going all the time here—or at least, Joren does.”

  “Yuh, that I do, Mistress. I’ll throw a bit more fuel on now.” Her Novice went to the fireplace and began tending the leaping flames.

  “I am sorry—I do hope you won’t mind the chill too much,” Mistress Anarrah said.

  “Please don’t apologize—this is wonderful.” Lizabeth looked around in awe and breathed in the spicy scent of real books and leather and wood. “Are all these Yonnite law?” she asked, motioning to the rows of volumes.

  “Oh my no, my dear! Yonnite Law seems complicated to an outsider but actually it’s quite simple once you master a few basic principles. No—these represent my life-long study of all kinds of legal systems. I believe I have books here from every known sentient culture in the galaxy. It’s by no means my complete collection—most of it I store electronically, of course. But these are the books I simply cannot do without—I like to hold a book in my hand when I’m learning from it, don’t you know? Not just view it on a screen or have it fed into my brain with a neural jack-in.”

  “Um, you can do that? Feed information directly into your brain?” Lizabeth remembered joking about something similar with Lone but she had never dreamed it would be an actual possibility.

  “Oh my, yes!” Lizabeth said. “But only if you’ve already got a jack installed. See?” She lifted her silvery hair and showed Lizabeth what looked like a tiny, pin-sized port located just under her right ear. “Do you have one?” she asked. “It would make the transfer of information much easier.”

  “I’m afraid not.” Lizabeth shook her head. “Can I get one here?”

  “At the Tower? I’m afraid not.” Mistress Anarrah sighed regretfully. “It’s a special medical procedure you can only get done on U’la Prime. It’s very expensive but worth it, in my humble opinion.”

  “Ah, well…” Lizabeth shrugged. “I’m afraid I’ll just have to learn the old-fashioned way.”

  “That’s all right, my dear. I’m happy to teach in any style that suites you.” Mistress Anarrah smiled. “Very well then—let’s get started, shall we? Please come have a seat at the table and tell me which parts of the Yonnite law are giving you trouble.”

  Lizabeth was more than happy to do so. She wanted to dive right into her studies here and make up for the time she had lost studying because the needing had been so bad for the past two weeks. Lone sat quietly beside her and before she knew it, she and Mistress Anarrah were deep in the intricacies of Yonnite law…

  * * *

  “Very good, my dear! You’re grasping this beautifully!” They had worked through the morning, had a simple, flavorful lunch which appeared to be the Yonnite Two version of sandwiches, (though the filling resembled purple lunchmeat and turquoise slices of some kind of fruit,) and continued for several hours after lunch.

  It had been a long day’s work but very enjoyable and most illuminating, Lizabeth thought. Also, Mistress Anarrah seemed very happy with her. She beamed at Lizabeth who smiled back.

  “Thank you. I’ve been studying law most of my life—it’s my passion. But there were just some strange parts of the Yonnite code I didn’t understand. Now that you’ve explained, I find that it’s much clearer.”

  “I’m so glad it’s becoming clear to you. Now, there are a few gray areas you should be aware of—especially if you’re prosecuting well-connected Mistresses and the plaintiffs in this case are males, as you say. Hmmm…now where is that book on Yonnite tort reform?”

&nb