Each and every kingdom in Adara was built upon its own ideologies, resources, and of course, gold. And Skerryness was no different. There were eight provinces in all, eight nations that formed the grand and prosperous land of Adara.
For there was Skerryness, and Cavandare, whose duke- to the scarring of Doe's memory- had visited several weeks earlier. There was Fort Dongannon whose swamps and vineyards grew such rich and fine grapes that its wine was distributed between the eight lands and beyond. Glenahull ran the finest steelworks and armouries around, and supplied Castle Coe, who boasted the greatest military of Adara. Anouish was famed for its healers and medicine, and Deepharbour, the province on the edge of the land, operated the largest fishing industry in the known world. Lanara, tucked away in the shade of the Axebone Mountains, was not a place to find oneself lost on a moonless night, for bandits and crime rings were said to stem from the cellars of such a city. And the main export of Skerryness, of course, was in satisfying the carnal desires of biology.
Not that sex was an export in itself. Skerryness was not rife with brothels and redrooms. In fact, it was rare for any but the king or queen to engage in such transactions of politics. For Skerryness did indeed have things to sell. It was endowed with fine industries in wool and cotton. Its land was fertile, and large enough to grow crops and house livestock. Through its rivers leapt salmon, and through its earths ran ores of iron, corundum, and several other strains of powerful metals seldom found.
But such things were useless if they couldn't fetch a price. Trade was the infrastructure of Adara, and getting a good prices, and sealing contracts with the seven lands, was a true mark of stability. And it was those contracts which often involved a voluptuous facilitation, a persuasion of nature intimate that might convince a tradesperson to send an extra hundred soldiers, or offer a larger percentage of the harvest. Sex sold, and that was the unwritten law which had been at the heart of the Skerryness Empire for generations.
Doe's first lessons had started, as any king or queen's lessons started, on her eighteenth birthday. She still recalled Sir Molgrim and her mother discussing it with her. And then, to her horror, her mother remaining with her throughout the ordeal. Being consoled by her parent as she was rammed by a knight was not the way she'd hoped to be celebrating such a milestone.
But it was no less than the Queen had been through at her age. Or her father before her. It was the place of a royal of Skerryness, and she had quickly come to understand that.
* * * * *
Alfred showed up for the next two nights. He wasn't Doe's favourite teacher, but he was a long shot from her worst. She didn't even bother complaining to her mother about him. On the third night he'd even suggested flipping her over and taking her from behind. What she did draw the line at was when, mid-session on all-fours, his fingers had begun to prod and poke dangerously close to her rear end.
"What are you doing?" she said still impaled, coming to a halt and twisting her torso to look back at him.
"If it is something you do not wish to try, then we shall not. But it is something you shall have to get used to soon enough. Your mother-"
"Yes!" Doe snapped. "I'm sure my mother at my age was taking cocks up her arse like there was no tomorrow!"
"Do you mind if I ask if you've ever-"
"Yes, I do mind! Now start fucking me properly and keep your fingers away from my arsehole. By all means imagine shoving your dick in there if that's what gets you off, but that's all you'll be doing."
The night after, however, she felt a flutter of excitement when, at the usual time, there came a knock on the door. But this knock she recognised. Sir Elinor was back.
"Look who finally decided to show up," she said, opening the door.
Whether he really was more handsome, or whether she was just accustomed to him, Doe didn't know. She also hadn't decided if she had any feelings towards him other than their evening ravages. She was glad when he showed up, more than any other teacher, but that may just have been down to the assurance that the sex would be better. That didn't mean she liked him, she reminded herself. Although it also didn't mean she didn't. She had to partake in these sessions. He was just... the best she could make of the situation.
Sir Elinor was taller than Alfred, and older. Doe liked that. But with the age came a rugged look, a weathered look, and on days like this, when he'd not had the time nor effort to neaten himself up, to flatten his locks, to shave three-day's stubble, Doe could've thrown herself at him.
"Missed me, eh? Was my substitute that bad?" he asked, pulling her into a short embrace.
"I've had worse," she said, wiping the growing smirk from her face. "Where were you, anyway?"
"My battalion was called to meet a unit from Castle Coe at Four-Rivers Bridge. I'm afraid my nightly duties cannot come before my daytime ones."
"Well I'm glad you're back," she said with as much resentment as she could muster in such a kind sentiment. "Alfred wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable as you."
"The point isn't to enjoy it," he laughed. "The point is to be good at it. You're nearly twenty-one. You'll be facing the trial soon. And I bet if I demanded, right now, that you show me what you've got, it wouldn't be any different to a mistress I might hire in Lanara."
"He was only here for three days," she blurted. "He wasn't bad bad. But three days, and he was already trying to put things where... where... I don't even let you put things up there. Not often, anyway."
"Well you might be faced with clients in the future who want... unorthodox experiences, on very short notice. At the end of the day, it is their preference you are here to satisfy."
"You mean I shouldn't enjoy it?"
"Of course not," Elinor said. "But your role, like your mother's, is about business, and the welfare of the kingdom. That means your focus should be on pleasing whoever needs pleasing. And if that nine times out of ten they enjoy it more than you, then that is the way. It is your responsibility to slacken their brains, and then take advantage of them with a deal they would never, without all that dopamine, consider. But I'm surprised by Alfred," he grinned. "I'd never have believed he had it in him to try such a move."
"Try, being the key word," she glowered.
"Well," he smiled, removing his shirt and beginning to undress. "Might I try?"
"You may try," Doe sniffed. "But you'll have to try hard."
"I haven't seen you for over three days and you play coy with me? We can't be having that, can we?"
"Oh, can we not?" Doe said, smiling now and beginning to remove her own gown.
"I think you need to be readied for some of the more... niche clientele. It's not all going to be as vanilla as lying on your front or back. There are some politicians, many I could reel off, who have very specific wants in the bedroom."
"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"
"I am a knight," he said, as though that explained everything. "It is my job to know the business of other kingdoms, and the rumours that surround the people in high places."
"Like what?"
