The night was still young enough in the city of Erette that business of all kinds was still being conducted. A fair number of merchants were still selling their wares. The restaurants would be open until later and the taverns would be open until later still, leaving only a few hours before dawn to close, clean, and for the people that made it all work to rest before starting the cycle again before the dinner hour the next day.
And there was the work that was best done at night or could only be done then, as prying eyes were at a minimum and had trouble peering through shadows anyway. The city looked quieter at night if one only bothered looking at the public places, but it was arguably more alive after the sun had set. It was certainly more passionate than in the daytime. In the light of day people were concerned about how they and the things around them were perceived, so they were often more aware of how they spoke and even how they moved.
With the cloak of night, those same people felt more free to be their true selves and let their feelings hold more sway. They could go and see to the passions of their true selves before the mask had to be replaced come dawn. A woman could watch the home of a once-suitor from the shadows to see who came and went. A man could get the liquids and powders he needed that made the horrors of battle go away enough so that his daylight mask was possible at all, and Men like Strannix could conduct much of the business that made him who he was in terms of a businessman and a man.
It also let Lenare Hoben want who she wanted and have them before she had to pretend she wanted someone else. She knew almost as far back as she could remember that her heart only truly fluttered for women. Her first childhood crush was a woman even before she truly knew what a crush was. Lenare only knew that Robyn was smart, and funny, and cute, and those doe eyes made her heart race.
At first, she told herself it was just because they had so much in common, but when she blossomed into womanhood, it could not be denied. There was something lovely in every woman. There was something to draw her to them in every woman. She knew that some of it was the awakening of her body, but, she could admit to herself that part of that might have been the lure of forbidden fruit, and those delectable sweets were certainly forbidden by her profoundly traditionalist family.
There was no room for anything that was not within their expectations. She and her siblings got the message early on simply listening to how they judged their relatives, friends, those in the Great Houses they'd heard rumors about, and even complete strangers that they passed on the street that there was a very narrow road that was acceptable in every fashion and deviating from that even in small ways led to endless scorn and derision.
Even putting themselves back on what their parents considered the right path never quite ended the issue because, for what seemed like forever afterward, there would be a cutting remark said as a joke reminding them how stupid or willful they had been. They had taken to playing the 'What if?' game with their parents, or making up something they claimed to have heard about some unknown other to gauge their responses before entertaining the idea of doing or admitting to having done that thing.
It was very clear early on that their paths were set. Her brothers would begin an apprenticeship in something appropriate, suspend that for a term of military service, then resume it afterwards, at which point they could go on with their lives as they saw fit with proper wives that their parents selected while Lenare and her sister wouldn't bother with the apprenticeship, though they would take the term of service for the benefits it would offer their eventual families, then marry the man chosen for them.
Her sister didn't balk at the plan because it didn't deviate much from her own anyway, though she'd rather have choosen her own husband, but it was easier just to go along. Lenare found that she liked the service. Given what life with her parents was often like, she couldn't say the discipline was completely foreign to her and she liked the people with whom she served, and she liked the purpose. She liked being part of something greater than herself and the respect people gave her when they saw the uniform. And it was a reprieve from the slow death that came with being with someone that she could never want until one of them actually died. She'd hide her desires from him, as she did from her friends.
But that didn't make them go away. Indeed, they clawed at her and whispered to her all the more when she tried to bury them. They rumbled under the surface until she had to set them free, even if just for a time. It was a vicious cycle, but one she'd learned to deal with. She couldn't bring herself to go to a brothel, lest she risk being seen and she couldn't begin to afford a courtesan who would see to her privacy, so she resisted as long as she could until there was nothing more to do but slink out in the dark and look for a woman of the night to sate her needs, something that was happening more and more often as she drew closer to the end of her commitment.
This was what she was doing now, moving down the street, seeking out those women that would meet her eyes and would linger in that unspoken introduction that translated to, 'I'm buying. Are you selling?' While she was careful as a matter of course, she was happy to have the experience of her service because she felt knowing what she knew at least made her safer. Even so, she didn't stray too far from home, though she didn't have to since she was starting from near her family home that her parents strongly suggested that she not move from, that sat not far from a string of lower middle class shops. So, where there was a little money, there were people interested in taking it in legal exchanges and not.
She passed several of those women as she traveled the blocks. She had used all of them at one time or another and had no problem doing so again if she found no one new, but there was, occasionally, someone she hadn't met yet. Sometimes they were part-timers and sometimes there were women trying to gain a foothold in a new neighborhood. They would come for a night or two, gauge their reception from the other women, and would stay or go depending on their welcome. Those women that she knew let their gaze and smile linger a bit as they called her by the name she gave them and she gave them a smile back as she passed by.
Lenare's urges led her to seek out the new and different, so it led her beyond her neighborhood and the next and to the limits of what she considered her familiar paths. She was almost ready to turn back when she saw a woman leaning under a streetlamp, seemingly marking time. There was no way to know for certain until the two ended up face to face, but Lenare's senses tweaked the animal part of her. The woman's pose said 'casual', 'unafraid', and 'whore.' From the bright pink skirt and top that displayed some midriff that she probably fashioned on her own out of a proper dress, as it was more risque an advertisement than most, from her heavy makeup and knowing grin, everything about her was come-hither. Even her small handbag matched the dress. She wanted attention and wasn't afraid to get it
She was almost as tall as Lenare with a smooth, medium brown complexion with gold undertones that seemed so rare and exotic, even for a cosmopolitan center such as this. Her eyes deep brown pools one could be happy to wade in for days and her full lips were painted dark, as were her cheeks and around her eyes. Her hair was long, thick, dark and cascaded over her shoulders in waves. She'd never seen anyone quite like her before. "Hello," Lenare said cheerfully.
"Hello yourself."
"It's nice to meet new people. I'm Lenare. What's your name?" She didn't know why she gave the other woman her true name. There was just something about her that made Lenare feel at ease.
"Mira," she said pleasantly with that smile appearing easily yet again.
She paused, being almost entirely sure of the situation, but almost sure wasn't certain, so her tone was accordingly tentative. "It's warmer than it's been in a while. Is that what brings you out tonight?"
Mira looked to her left and right casually but just as cautiously as Lenare was fished the waters with her words, both of them aware of the first movements of the dance. "It is a nice night, and that certainly makes hospitality work such as mine easier."
Lenare relaxed visibly and her tone lightened, "I haven't seen you here before."
The other smirked. "I usually like walking in the Upper Quarter. So you look for friends in the dark of night often?"
