A Compassionate Friend and a Jealous Bitch
Morena woke up to the sound of loud knocking, Alyssa's name being called and the realization that she was snuggled up to, and in the crook of the arm of, a big, well-muscled and sexier-than-hell Callunar male.
Must've been a hell of a night,
she thought to herself with a smile -- and then it all came rushing back to her, and she felt the burn of the blush creeping up her face. Doubly so, because on the opposite side of this mountain of a man, the Grey-eyed Lady was sitting up and rubbing her face and muttering, "What the fuck???"
Morena watched in awe as Alyssa erupted from the bed, disentangling herself from the covers and shouting, "JUST A FUCKING MINUTE!!" at the door. Then she bolted for the toilet and Morena could hear the sounds of Alyssa pissing like a racehorse. She also felt Steven -- she presumed that's who she was waking up with -- rustle slightly and she caught the glint of a pistol coming out from under the pillow.
"They're probably just my people, coming to look for me," Morena managed to call out to Alyssa as she realized the sun was up.
"I hope so," Steven said quietly, and she realized he was feigning sleep.
Alyssa wandered out of the bathroom in all her naked glory, through the bedroom and into the parlor, where she went to the door, looked out the peephole and then opened the door.
"Yeah?" she asked in a rather surly tone. It was Mistress Stella.
"Pardon me, Mistress," Stella told her. "I'm looking for Mistress Morena. She was supposed to meet me this morning and we can't find her anywhere. Do you know where she is?"
Alyssa just held the door open wide and motioned Stella in.
"Through there," she told her, pointing at the bedroom, then headed for the kitchenette to start coffee.
Stella cautiously made her way into the bedroom. What she saw when she entered stopped her dead in her tracks.
Morena peeked out sheepishly from the covers and waved her hand, meekly calling out, "Hi?"
Stella regained her composure very quickly.
"Mistress, we were supposed to be on the road an hour ago," she informed Morena. "We need to meet the train."
"The train can bloody well wait," Morena told her, starting to see which of her body parts would move. "It's always late, even if it's the bitch's private express... Ow..." She discovered she was definitely going to be sore sitting down for awhile.
She slid her legs to the edge of the bed to try to stand up.
"Ow..." She was going to have trouble walking for awhile, too.
Steven slid out of the bed on the other side and walked around.
"Would you like some help with the shower, Mistress?" he asked.
Stella felt faint.
"Goddess, Steven, that would be wonderful," Morena muttered, ignoring for the time being the fact that her number two was gawking at Steven's naked body.
So he picked her up and headed for the shower.
"Coffee in three!" Alyssa called out from the kitchenette. "Mistress Stella? You want some?"
"Um, yes... thank you," Stella answered, breaking the trance and walking to the parlor.
"No, we didn't break her," Alyssa commented to Stella without looking up from the fruit she was cutting up. "She's a glutton for punishment but she'll be right as rain in a few days."
"She needs to see the Matriarch tomorrow afternoon," Stella told Alyssa cautiously.
"Well, she may be a bit sore, but she'll do alright," Alyssa reassured her. "Cantaloupe?"
"Yes, thank you," Stella responded, a bit distracted by this young Procurer and her athletic body.
"We're going to have to disappoint her," Alyssa continued, still without looking up.
"How so?" Stella asked.
"She wants Steven to go along as bodyguard. Or at least, that's what was on her mind last night. He won't do it. He and I are going back today. You'll need to make do with your usual security staff."
* * * * * * * * * *
Between Alyssa, Steven and Stella, they'd gotten Morena showered, dressed, breakfasted and on the road in less than an hour -- and this time,
she
had the pile of pillows to sit on, not Stella. Shortly after that, Alyssa and Steven headed on out for the return trip to Vern's Dale.
Morena's coachmen tried to make up some time, but on the bumpy roads, Morena wasn't sure it was worth it. And besides, she was right. When they got to Bigglesby Station, the train wasn't there. In fact, although they were an hour and a half late, the train didn't arrive for another half hour after that, puffing into the station behind a huge plume of smoke and steam.
After the War, as the train systems began to be rebuilt, the engineers discovered that the diesels, diesel-electrics and electrics were too fragile to keep running. So they'd fallen back on building and retrofitting steam locomotives, running on coal or wood, depending on what was available. They did have generators driven by the locomotive to supply electricity for the cars, and the Matriarch's Express took full advantage of it. It was noted for its opulence. Between refrigeration and air-conditioning on the one hand and electric heat and lights on the other, it was the ultimate in luxury travel.
Morena rated it because she was transporting the life blood of the Matriarchy.
The Matriarch wasn't on the train. She would wait, ensconced in her throne room and surrounded by her sycophants, so that she could formally receive Morena with as much pomp and display of her power as she could muster. Instead, it was her assistant, Madge.
"Greetings, Mistress Morena!" Madge called out as she stepped down from the railway car. "It is truly good to see you!"
"Hello, Madge," Morena answered, a lot less energy in her greeting than in Madge's. "It's always good to see me when I bring high quality product."
"No, no," Madge protested with less gaiety, sensing something in Morena's mood, "I'm talking about
you
. And I'm talking about me, not the Matriarch. I really do enjoy seeing you."
"If you're not speaking for Her High-and-Mightiness, then yes, it's good to see you, too," Morena told Madge. She motioned to her two armed guards and they brought over a large and a small suitcase each for Morena and Stella, and a couple of smaller hard-cases which Stella took into custody. Madge gestured at the train and a couple of porters came over and picked up the suitcases, carrying them back aboard.
"Are you going to test them on the way in, or wait?" Morena asked, starting towards the train with Stella and Madge falling in beside her, and her guards flanking them.
"We'll wait," Madge told her. "The test equipment in the train's lab is on the fritz. As soon as we get to Capitol, I'll take you to your quarters, give you a chit for the product under Seal and take it to the lab there. The results will be in before you meet with Her High-and-Mightiness tomorrow afternoon." She winked at Morena.
One of the things Morena liked about Madge was her irreverence for the Matriarch and all things stuffy. She had a bawdy sense of humor when she was allowed to let it out, and had seen more than her share of strange and exotic behaviors in her tenure as Chamberlain to three different Matriarchs, responsible for managing the Matriarch's household.
