. 03

Chapter 15 : The Group Grows : Part 3: Philippe

Danella asked Valery to host a small dinner party at his house in two evenings time. The guests were to be Jeanette of course, and Philippe. Her plan was for Valery to take Jeanette upstairs after the meal, at which time Danella could continue her persuading of the man she so prized. She knew if she had made Ravelleon 'betray' his wife and could persuade the reluctant Mireau to 'perform' in front of friends she would surely persuade this sensitive lawyer to drop his trousers. He was attentive to her all evening, more than to Jeanette thought Danella. Knowing that she was open to him must be affecting him. She seemed confident with her, knowing that she desired him. She noted again what good it does to a man to make him feel desired. When Valery took Jeanette upstairs without any pretence about the pleasure they intended to achieve Philippe must have known what Danella intended. Indeed the whole evening's conversation had been concerned with sexual matters. Valery had commented on the sexual allure of Philippe's female secretaries, asking him what he knew of their private lives. One of them was unmarried and unattached. Jeanette had suggested that someone should initiate her into the experience of love before she grew older and lost her freshness. Valery suggested that if she had been his secretary he might have offered to instruct her before now. Danella had talked again of the ways and habits of Pirion, stressing how contented and soft her people had been until the recent invasions.

"Surely your people can feel no commitment towards one another when they take lovers so randomly," said Philippe. "Surely a quality relationship is one in which both parties are important to each other. They care for each other and the relationship is more meaningful."

"You accept two meaningful relationships, with your wife and with Lady Arabella, why not more?" said Danella.

"Two is a lot less than you Pirionites have," he commented.

"We care for everyone, and are free to express that sexually. But a more committed relationship may be found with a partner or with anyone we feel naturally inclined towards. We accept people's desire for variety and their need for change. Commitments and feelings of closeness inevitably change over time. We reflect that in the way we live," she said.

"I can imagine that your ceremonies and your carefree lovemaking may become very tiresome after the initial excitement," he said. "All those liaisons with strangers must become dull after a time, and surely you feel obliged to perform with people who mean nothing to you."

"That is my point Philippe. We can have both, the committed meaningful relationships and the pleasant distractions alike. We are free to choose."

"But you were a Priestess. How free were you to choose the relationships you wanted?"

"You have a point of course Philippe. Being a Priestess does carry obligations. I admit there were many times towards the end of my time in Shanla, and even in Dalos, when I desired to retreat from the communions I was expected to participate in. I felt the fullness of 'meaningless' participation, it is true. I am not saying we do not have those feelings for I have certainly felt them although many did not seem to. A Priestess's obligations are not forced however. At any time we can retire from the Priesthood, and may return when we are ready. I do not say that we should make love to strangers if we do not wish to. But in Pirion given the choice, most do choose the path of sexual variety. It is in our nature to choose variety, maybe not all the time, but at least occasionally. I agree that many of the deepest relationships are the most fulfilling but to deny yourself the opportunity to have more than one or two of these is to deny yourself, and to deny yourself the opportunity to enjoy variety and adventure is to deny yourself an easy and harmless pleasure. What does it matter if a pleasure is not the deepest love. That is not a sufficient reason to resist it."

When Valery and Jeanette had gone Danella waited expectantly to hear what Philippe had decided. He said nothing, perhaps he was still undecided. He must be in no doubt that her offer still stood after such conversations.

"Well Philippe are you ready to take a third lover or do you prefer to wait until I have persuaded you further?"

"You made me feel guilty. I did not intend this, but you leave me no choice. How can I refuse. Your body tantalises me whenever it is near me and your face draws me to you. I cannot resist. And yet you are not just some foreign whore from the streets. You want nothing in return. I can see little reason for your generosity to all of us. I know I am the last to resist your charms and even I cannot resist any longer. I did not want a mistress who would share her body with so many of my friends. I would never have thought before that it was possible to share any woman with so many. And Valery is more than my friend, effectively he is my boss. He supplies me with most of my work. I would never before have believed that it were possible to make love to a mistress of Valery Valsivar without harming my career. I would never have attempted such a thing, but tonight he offers me one of his woman and takes another to his bed. It seems that fantasies I had entertained only in my dreams have become real possibilities."

She had begun to unfasten her dress already, impatient to end her expectation. Politely he came to her and they began to explore each other's beauty. When they were ready she drew him up the stairs to one of the bedrooms where she massaged the well proportioned muscles of his body and he hers. When he could hold back no more he entered her and they shared the ecstasies of lust.

"Will we meet again?" said Danella after their lovemaking. "Or will you go home to your wife and forget all about me? That is what you're supposed to do here, it's expected, your little adventure."

"No," said Philippe, lying there on the bed, his head against the wall, looking up at Danella as she leaned on her elbow, her breasts hanging to the side. She stared down into his face.

"Are you so sure," said Danella. "I am not. The ordinary world of Vanmar is out there. We have exchanged love, giving each other something so simple, so easy, so beautiful. But love cannot survive long here. It is not useful, it does not produce anything except babies. It cannot, in your world, be allowed to dominate. No, you must cut love off and go out to your duties. Your work is more important than your love. I see you are confused, you are a good person and you feel guilty for betraying your wife. But you have already betrayed her with Arabella, and now with me. You must not think of love as betrayal. You can have as many lovers as you want. They cannot harm your wife. She will not even know of them if you wish, and you will be made more refreshed and whole than you were before. Your desires are strong or you would not have come with me. You do not know me so well yet. I could be trying to make you guilty or trap you and ruin you career. In Prancir I know that is possible. You know only that I have had many lovers, more than even I can count and a significant proportion of the Prancirian army in Dalos also. But you know now that I have a body you can understand, which can thrill you and give you pleasure. I was a stranger to you but that did not hold us apart. You have found that often the best love is between people who do not know each other very well.

"In Prancir you are supposed to know everything there is to know about each other before you are given permission even to touch each other. So often it seems that after months of wining and dining, operas and concerts, plays and dances, the final act of love comes as a great disappointment. You Vanmarian men spend so much money and probably even more precious, your time, which is limited, trying to attract and persuade the women. So often you find you have wasted your money and our time. The woman decides she does not like you enough and you part without ever having touched her. Or you do eventually touch her subject to her whim and you find to your despair that the action of love was not as great as it should have been. Perhaps she is unkind to you and expects your performance to be superlative. She of course may not be very experienced, so most of what she knows is what she imagines from her romantic fiction, which of course is not real. So your coupling may be a disappointment to both of you and you find that you have wasted six months of your short lives."

"Which person can ever be more interesting than ourselves. Why should we need to find out so much about another person. Who could ever love yourself as much as you. Why do so many of you look for someone who can love you so much to drive away your loneliness and fears. That person can rarely exist, but collectively we can all support each other," she said.

"I don't think so," said Philippe, "surely there is always someone who can provide the support that we need. You may be a relative stranger to me but you have given me love I needed. If you will continue to be my lover you will drive away my loneliness and fears. I do want to know all about you. You have me now."

"Do you really?" she asked. "I don't think so, you want my body and my support, but you don't want the whole of me, just as I do not need to know the whole of you, but draw what pleasure and comfort from your fine body. You Vanmarians demand too much of the relationship of love. Be content with what we have, and with what you have both with your Arabella and your wife."

"I think you agree with what I say. Already you do not believe in the imprisoned love of Vanmar. You have taken not just one lover, but you have taken me also, and I urge you to take many more, as many as you desire. Do not be selective with your love. You can bring joy to many women. Why make only one or perhaps two women happy with your beauty. Why not make as many women as you desire happy. I am a woman, though not Prancirian. I know that deep down all the women of Prancir and Vanmar want to enjoy their secret lusts, only they will not allow themselves. You could be a dream come true for them. Most of them will love you for your body, and you should spread your favour liberally amongst them."

Days later Danella led Philippe through the streets of Dumis. Danella pulled him onwards and he went willingly, trusting that she was taking him to a safe place where they could be alone. It must be near her, he assumed. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"It's not far," she said. They were not far from Philippe's own home, only a few streets which could be walked easily. He was pleased to find she had an accommodation near him. It would make future meetings easier. That there would be many future meetings he had no doubt. Maybe the way she had mauled him and rubbed her crotch against him was still affecting his brain, but he felt confident mainly because of her persuasive manner to him. He knew from their meeting that she wanted him again tonight in the fullest sense. He liked it when women gave strong messages, it gave him confidence. He knew where he stood. He could behave in the way he felt instead of hiding behind polite conversation, trying to find subtle ways of reaching understanding with females unwilling or unable to reveal their thoughts. As they walked she placed her arm around his waist. The dark of night protected them from the glances of other street walkers. They were like any other couple returning from an evening in the city. He was now unsure where they were going.

They walked along one road in one direction, only to turn a different way again. Philippe began to think that the Priestess was lost, but she seemed certain of the way. She asked about his wife. Where was she tonight and would she notice his lateness.

"I am often out in the evenings, she will not worry."

"Where are we going then? You said it was not far. Should we get a carriage after all?"

"I want to walk here in the darkness. There is a mood about your city at night which I enjoy," she said, perversely refusing to answer his question.

"But you won't take me here in the dark street. So where else is there around here. Have you got another flat or have your hired a room?"

"We're going to meet some friends," she declared.

Philippe was offended, "I thought you wanted me now. I thought we'd left behind all our friends. Can't we just go home together. We can meet friends on some other occasion."

"You sound like Mireau," she chided. At the sound of his rival's name Philippe wondered again why he was here. To take another man's lover was wrong he had always been taught. But she wasn't just Mireau's. General Ravelleon who had brought her here had an even greater claim and he knew she had recently shared the bed of Valery on at least a few occasions. He had his own wife who might have been all he needed for comfort in his life until Arabella had entered his life. And now Danella entered his life even more rudely than Arabella. He had no defence against the onslaught of a beautiful woman. Arabella had proved it and now he was about to give his body to another wondrous female predator. Who was he to refuse a pleasure so freely offered. He half expected her to lose him in some dark alley and run off like a common whore, leaving him unsatisfied.

He was not used to women using such overt tricks to win him to their beds. Usually since he had married he resisted them. But most women were not predators at all. Truly he knew many women liked his looks. He had seen the effect his good looks had on them many times over. When he went to parties even in the company of his wife he could not help but notice the looks they gave him, and the flirtations which most other men did not receive. When he attended parties without his wife the ladies were even more forthcoming, but few women were willing to determinedly make his acquaintance. They would talk a little, their eyes would reveal much, but the slightest sign of disinterest or distraction by him would usually end their efforts. He often wondered that if men were as half hearted in their approach to women as women were to men no one would ever marry or be bedded. Many of the women were married and few of those were looking for a real lover, but even the unmarried ones seemed to believe it to be wrong for them to make a strong effort to find a lover they liked. He observed so many attractive women, for example, who settled for a husband who was not as attractive as they could have had. He had long since concluded women were not very confident about men, and were not completely aware of the power they had over men. Danella and to some degree Arabella, were different. They were strong confident women. Arabella had not rested in her efforts to bed him, and now this Priestess seemed to be more aware of her sexual power than any woman he had ever met. There was no question of resistance from such an onslaught. He knew his looks and health would not last for ever. He must take his opportunities while he had them.

"No, these are special friends and we're expected. You want sex don't you. Well I am offering it, but I am not offering a traditional marriage of loyalty. I am not like that. I cannot offer loyalty because sex is too important to me. I need my freedom. I think you want the same. You don't just want me. You want the whole female race don't you, or as much of it as you can get your hands on". While she said it she held him close and looked straight into his eyes. Previously she had showed certainty. Now she showed that she was not sure he would understand, but she wanted him to agree with her.

He was taken aback. This was not what he had expected. What did she mean? How was she offering him sex if they were going to meet friends? He could appreciate that she didn't want a loyal relationship. His own attitude to sex consisted of the hope that he could lead as sexually active a life as possible with his wife whom he loved, but also occasionally when offered with other attractive female partners.