Born of Aether by A. L. Knorr

Author:A. L. Knorr [Knorr, A. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 35053615
Publisher: Intellectually Promiscuous Press
Published: 2017-06-02T05:00:00+00:00

15

As soon as she was finished dressing me, Miyoko told me I was free to go to the castle and join the party already underway. Instead, I went back to the dressing room to find Chiyoko. Only a few girls remained, putting the final touches on their makeup. Chiyoko wasn't there. I thought she must have headed to the party and turned to leave. I opened the door just as she was coming in.

"Wow," she said. "You look amazing." She scanned me from wig to platform shoes. "You clean up well."

"So do you," I smiled.

Chiyoko was dressed in a pink kimono with a dense pattern of bamboo leaves reaching up from the hem. A green belt cinched her in at the waist and a wig similar to mine covered her real hair.

"Ready?" she asked.

"As I'll ever be," I said.

Chiyoko gestured to a couple of other girls in the room. "Toshiko, Yuko, are you ready to come down?"

"A few more minutes," waved the one in the bright green kimono. "You go ahead."

Chiyoko nodded and hooked a hand under my elbow. We made our way across the courtyard together to the castle.

"Any last minute tips?" I said, my hands and feet clammy from nerves.

"Try not to let your head bob up and down when you walk, take smaller steps," she lowered her voice as we passed two men standing on a patch of grass and smoking cigarettes. They nodded to us and Chiyoko lowered her eyes and her chin toward them. I did my best to mimic her.

I shortened up my steps and tried to make my gait smooth. "Like this?"

"Better," she said. "Don't make any fast movements. Everything should be slow and graceful. When you have to open a door, always go to your knees first. Slide the door open, get up, go through, kneel again, and slide the door closed."

I closed my eyes, committing her words to memory. "Okay, what else?"

"Always serve them first. Whatever they're drinking, make sure their glass is always full and don't take a drink of anything until they've had a sip first. Don't be loud, no matter how much they make you drink."

"Right." I hadn't thought about that. Of course there was going to be alcohol here, and of course I was going to have to drink. I had never had more than a few glasses of hot sake in my life. At less than a hundred pounds and with no tolerance whatsoever, having my judgement clouded by alcohol was a very real danger.

"If the conversation stalls, suggest a drinking game," Chiyoko said. "They love drinking games."

"Great." What was a drinking game?

We ascended the stone steps to the fortress and nodded to more men standing outside and chatting under the torches. Chiyoko lowered her voice even more. "Laugh at their jokes, but not too loud. Make them feel like you're falling in love with them. After dinner, I can guarantee you that a beautiful girl like you will be asked to go upstairs."

I swallowed hard. I wouldn't let it get that far.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.