Lady Sally spent most of the night in the gondola watching the descent of the airship through the storm, taking time out only to release the slaves from their bondage and send them back to their quarters. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning, after they had left the storm behind, that she retired.
Thanks to Captain Wyndham's skill and determination, they'd survived the ordeal. Once they were safely into Austria, he caught up with much-needed sleep, allowing his automaton co-pilot to take the controls until they neared their next destination, the palace of Schloss Schmegmabaum on the outskirts of Vienna. Lady Sally was visiting the Princess Maria Labiastein, the consort of the Crown Prince to the Austrian Emperor, and an old friend of her deceased mother.
Lady Sally's maid was still traumatised by the fresh encounter with lightning.
"Really Victoria, pay attention," she scolded. "I need help with my wardrobe. The Princess was a friend of my mother. We've never met before, and I want to make a good impression. She lives in one of the most splendid palaces in the whole of Austria."
Lady Sally gazed into her wardrobes, at the section dedicated to extravagant ball gowns. She was undecided on whether simple and elegant or flowery and flamboyant would be proper for tea with the Princess.
"One would like to make an impression," she commented on choosing the most outrageous dress she could find in her wardrobe. It was pure silk, the material decorated with large roses, with a huge bustle and a bow at the back, accompanied with a massive bonnet.
After the airship docked at the mooring mast, Lady Sally disembarked with her slaves as her attendants, dressed in silk knickerbockers and extravagant wigs. Her transvestite maid, dressed in her French maid's uniform, was also in attendance. The captain was relieved to be left behind to supervise the crew who were checking that no damage had been caused to
The Corseted Domme
by the storm.
Lady Sally was met at the tower by a horse drawn carriage. It would be unfair to describe the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the time as backward, though it certainly wasn't as technologically or industrially advanced as her neighbours, the Prussian Empire or the British Empire. That the Princess still used a horse and carriage, rather than a steam-powered one, or motorised charabanc, like Lady Sally's, was clear evidence of this.
The Empire possessed an airship fleet, but it mainly consisted of discarded Zeppelin class dirigibles not required by their more advanced northern neighbours. They would certainly not have seen anything as spectacular as
The Corseted Domme
, which was, of course, at the vanguard of airship technology. This was where Lady Sally wanted to place herself in this meeting, as the young, technologically aware lady of devices, to impress her older, aristocratic rival.
The park was exceedingly grand, Lady Sally had to admit, though she did not care for the formality of the gardens compared to the more naturalistic aspect of Rudston Hall. The palace was huge, and magnificent, a product of centuries of building work by the Crown Prince's ancestors. The entrance hall was in the grand baroque style with richly decorated gold carvings and embellishments. Victoria gasped in amazement at its dazzling richness, commenting to Lady Sally on how magnificent it was. But then, as she noted, her maid was easily dazzled by a bit of 'bling', that and large, latex coated breasts of course. Lady Sally's tastes were more delicate, and she considered the palace over the top, too lacking in the taste and refinement of an English country house like Rudston Hall, for her liking.
They were met in the grand entrance foyer by the Princess Maria Labiastein. She was a tall and thin, middle-aged woman with a haughty look. She was also dressed in magnificent gown and was accompanied by a coterie of attendants.
The footman introduced the party, "Princess, let me introduce The Right Honourable Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester of Rudston Hall, England."
The two women faced one another. There was an embarrassing silence. The two women still faced one another, the Princess obviously waiting for her younger visitor to curtsey. Lady Sally was having none of this. She was Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester, English gentlewoman, businesswoman extraordinaire, mistress of devices and premier dominatrix of the age. She expected everybody to submit to her, and she was not about to defer to anybody, even an Austrian Princess. They stared at one another, and Lady Sally was an expert at staring people down, as her piercing, blue eyes had an uncanny ability to bore through those of an adversary.
In the end, it was Princess Maria who relented, saying grudgingly, "Velcome to Schloss Schmegmabaum, Lady Sally."
"It's a pleasure, Princess Maria."
"Vot a delight it is to meet you at last. Your mother used to write such amusing letters to me, saying what a wild, wanton and disobedient little girl you were, and now look at you..."
Victoria rolled her eyes. This had not started well.
"Let me introduce you to my submissive gentlemen," said Lady Sally, deliberately intending to provoke, as she introduced the duke, bishop, judge and banker, "and finally, my transvestite maid, Victoria."
"Ah yes, ze English and their strange vays, ya."
They were led through several ante rooms, the ballroom, the dining room, the library, the yellow drawing room, the blue drawing room, and the pink drawing room, before ending up in the red drawing room.
"Schloss Schmegabaum is ze most magnificent palace in Vienna, if not the whole of Europe," boasted the princess.
Lady Sally turned her nose up, "Yes, indeed it is moderately opulent, but not to my taste. Do you have any steam-powered water pumping systems like Rudston Hall?"
"
Nein
,"
"Or aether-driven electrical lighting systems?"
"
