Misty questioned the aptness of the phrase, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' to her current circumstance. Maybe it should go, 'the enemy of my enemy is happy to use me to get a one up on her enemy, but is in no way inclined to be my friend or even treat me as an equal'. Or perhaps, 'I've got a bad feeling about this', would suffice. Maybe it was because everything was going according to plan.
Ghoen, the master of the orc settlements muster of warriors, was proving true to her word. As agreed, she had publicly declared she was providing secondary sponsorship for Misty's citizenship. And privately, she had bent the rules in order to track down the human's missing lover, Roaji, who was still missing. Impressively, the orc had done all this before Misty had woken up the morning after she had fulfilled her end of the bargain.
The human girl's side was to provide herself for a night of lesbian sex with Ghoen and her partner Avelee. It had been moderately strange, mostly enjoyable and mildly awkward. She may have tried to avoid her language teacher and friend for a time had Avelee not spent the entire following day simpering at her. Misty was a sucker for puppy dog eyes.
In truth, though, Misty needed the companionship as much as Avelee needed to be accepted and forgiven for the crossed boundaries. The brunette decided she would rather focus on her initiation ceremony and her blonde friend was more than happy to comply. Sorting out her feelings would have to wait.
On the positive side, the induction ritual required very little from Misty. All she had to do was turn up and prostate herself in front of the of the village's female elite. She did not have to make a speech or host a banquet or anything like that. It should not even take half an hour to complete. On the negative side, she had to be tied down and stripped naked.
Orc were humanoid water elementals and as such their sacraments and magic revolved around fluids. To be accepted into the population, Misty had to voluntarily give of her liquids. Blood, sweat, tears, saliva and sex. Avelee comforted her saying that the ritual was not like an orgy or too invasive. The orcs would merely imbibe her fluids to symbolize her joining with the tribe.
Whilst Misty's former human peers would have most certainly considered her shameless and she had been well known for her proclivities towards enjoying multiple lovers, exhibitionism had never really been her thing. Especially not in front of a group of people who considered her their lesser. But, this was for Roaji, to legitimize her trade with Ghoen to aid him, and getting naked in front of strangers was well within what she was willing to do for him.
The problem arose when her primary sponsor and witness, Cetelia, considered Misty to be little more than an animal. Avelee's abbreviated biography of Celetia was that she was an extremely talented magic shaper, the best in the settlement and she knew it. She often spoke out against the Sibyl's commands and only the fact that she was nigh on indispensable saved her from severe punishments. Whilst the orc leader was interested in regional politics, Celetia desired seclusion from the distractions of other races.
The human knew she was just being used as a tool in order to undermine the Sibyl's authority. Misty recognized Celetia as the graceful orc who had helped her stand up to Enge on her first night she had spent in the orc village. Even then she was just being used in another power play. Apparently getting one up was more important to Celetia than her xenophobia. The enemy of my enemy and all that.
What got under Misty's skin however, was despite her reservations and fears, her scheme was proceeding uncontested. The human's feeling of unease lasted right up to her arrival at the meeting hall where her initiation would take place; where it was replaced with dread.
"What do you mean I 'have to leave'?" Avelee almost shrieked.
Enge was obviously feigning boredom, she replied in orcish, "You are not welcome in here, thing."
It was far more difficult to understand orcish when the speaker was not making any effort to be heeded, but Misty turned out to be a fast and studious learner. It helped too that basic orcish was easy to pick up due to the smaller number of nouns in its dictionary. Advanced meanings were derived from inflections that the human was still struggling to grasp, though not nearly as much as she was struggling with her pronunciations.
"I am here in place of Ghoen. She wants me here," the teacher argued.
"Ok," the orc grinned cruelly, "Bring Ghoen here to confirm that and you can stay."
"You know she isn't here."
"That is not my problem, it is yours."
Avelee looked about ready to explode so Misty quickly pulled her aside, "It's ok, Lee. I don't want a fight."
That was true; the last thing she wanted to have was an antagonized orc in charge of her bound body. Misty figured that her safest play was to be as passive and quiet as possible for the ceremony to help get it over with as soon as possible. Enge was a bully and craved reactions, so the human would simply not give her one and hope she bored quickly.
"Oh, it's not ok, Misty. I don't trust her," the blonde bit her lip in worry.
"I don't either, but I won't back out now. Don't worry, I'll be a dull meek little human. They won't get any sport from me tonight."
Avelee looked ready to argue some more, but stopped herself, "Fine. I'll be right outside, alright?"
"Thank you," the brunette smiled nervously.
The smaller girl leaned in to give her friend a kiss, but stopped herself abruptly in embarrassment. Misty laughed and responded with a quick hug, however still wondered when or if things would be relaxed between them again. She truly hoped so. As Avelee left, Enge gave Misty a smirk over her petty victory. Not for the first time in life, the girl wondered how it was that bullies always seemed to be the ones who held power.
Trying to appear as indifferent as possible, Misty strolled back to the Sibyl's second and said in orcish, "Let's do this."
"You dirty our language with your tongue," Enge grimaced, responding in kingish.
Secretly happy that she did not have to twist her lips into making orcish words, she switched back to kingish, "It will be my language soon, too."
"So you say," replied the orc in a disturbingly enigmatic manner.
Before Misty could make an attempt at eking out more information from Enge, Celetia appeared and rudely pulled the human aside. Despite her tactlessness she was still the most elegant person in the large room and easily weaved them both into a marginally more private corner. The lithe orc would even have been a beauty among humans and Misty could not help but feel a little ungainly in her presence.
Celetia looked down her perfectly pointed nose at the human and said, "You are here. You have not changed your mind."
"Should I have?" Misty tried to jest with her.
Ignoring or missing the attempt at humor, the orc sighed, "Perhaps. You humans are weak and unfit to stand beside the avatars of the gods, yet here you are."
"Here I am," the brunette chortled, the insult raising her spirits with its pettiness, "And here you are sponsoring me. People have agendas no matter their station."
"Very astute," Celetia yawned, "No doubt you will be a great asset to our people."
"Yeah, think of all the changes I could make."
Misty got a little thrill of satisfaction when the orc's eyes flashed, yet her ire did not reach her voice, "Take your place human so we may finish our business here."
The girl gave her reluctant benefactor an overly friendly smile and nod before sauntering over to the device she would be placed upon with a roll of her eyes. Next to it was a large barrel of water that she could not discern a purpose for. She was glad that her arrangement with Celetia did not involve them having to meet on any kind of regular basis. In fact, Misty had no real desire to interact with any of the women here, with the exception of Avelee and perhaps Ghoen. She enjoyed the company of the orc men far more. Some things never changed.
The contraption she was to be placed upon was made entirely of smooth, varnished wood. On closer inspection she noticed that rather than being crafted from several pieces it was a single, beautifully organically formed, creation. Misty was pretty sure it had been magically shaped and wondered why furniture like this was not more common if orcs were still capable of making it.
Was it a forgotten art? The 'chair', for lack of a better description, did look old. There were scuffs and abrasions on it too far ingrained to be further hidden by varnish. Or was it perhaps practicality. The orcs were forced into being nomads by the militarily superior dwarfs and transporting large amounts of furniture hundreds of miles on a semi-regular basis was unlikely to be anyone's idea of a good time.
Taldereht, Enge's manservant, was currently hunched over the chair-thing, wiping it with a cloth and adjusting its leather straps. The positioning of the wrist and ankle cuffs confirmed hers fears that she would indeed be spread open top and bottom, unable to cover or protect herself from what was to come. Misty shuddered and took a moment to steady her resolve.
A small cup o foul smelling liquid was thrust in front of her face, "Drink this," commanded Taldereht with a betraying stammer.
"Hi, Reht," Misty replied, ignoring the potion, but grateful for the distraction anyway, "How's things?"
The orc did not meet her eyes, "I need you to drink this."
"No small talk first?"
"I have been forbidden to speak to you on any matter except your ritual."
"Well, that's stupid."
"Please, drink this."
The liquid in the cup was murky and green, "What is it?"
"It is for your ritual."
"Uh-huh. What does it do?"
