Song woke to the crow of her Uncle's rooster and soft sunlight peeking through her bedroom shutters. She had almost grown used to waking with the sun, just a week after moving into her aunt and uncle's estate. This sabbatical from The Institute of Glorious Companionship was supposed to be her opportunity to live among the common folk of the province and learn from her elders but her experience was anything but common.
Back at the institute, attendants woke Song and her roommate long before the sun broke for morning exercises and meditation. In the first days at her relatives' home, she could feel a phantom hand poking at her side and was surprised that there wasn't a small silent woman with a shaved head holding a lantern over her bed. The beds here were stuffed with fresh feathers, not old straw. She had her own small room for her chamber pot and a servant even emptied it regularly. She was not living like the common folk like most of her classmates but she figured the institute had a reason to let her visit her wealthy extended family.
Sitting up in bed, Song let her soft blanket fall to her waist. She looked to the mirrored glass on the wall and inspected her pale tan-colored skin. She could see why she garnered so much attention at The Institute: her full perky breasts sat high on her chest. He stomach was thin and toned but not overly muscular. Her skin was pale enough to attract men with a penchant for women from the West but maintained enough yellowy tan pigment to fit in with the local noble women. Her big brown eyes were topped by long full lashes.
The blankets fell off to Song's side as she stood and felt the breeze pass through her open window. The puffy groomed patch of pubic hair that sat just over her bare vulva, manicured in a style popular with the lords of the Empire, was beginning to grow outward. Weeks had passed since the grooming staff at the institute applied her last waxing and she could feel small stubble forming on her dark vulva lips as she passed her fingers over its surface.
While training at the institute, Song regularly was encouraged and even instructed to explore her sexual preferences and to allow herself to experience orgasms from many different positions and partners. She felt guilty about masturbating in her aunt's guest room, though, with her brother and cousins in adjoining rooms. She had not allowed herself a release in the week since she arrived, and her privates ached for attention. She knew she could easily make an excuse for her delayed arrival at breakfast, though, so she allowed herself to gaze out the window over flowing pastures while her fingers slipped between her thin wet lower folds.
Birds dotted the landscape in front of the sun's growing rays and Song meditated while she took in a long look between the shutters. After several minutes enjoying the feeling of her own fingers against her clitoral bud, she could feel a thin stream of fluid dribbling down the inside of her thigh. She sighed and sat back into her soft bedding, leaning backward until her clenched stomach muscles encouraged the coming orgasm. She bit her lower lip as a wave of ecstasy rippled from her toes to the top of her head.
When the sensation passed from her skin, Song rose and used her fingers to wipe up the stream of fluids inside her thighs. She circled the bed and opened the sliding door that led to the small room with her chamber pot, made her morning water, and then crossed her bedroom to the western style armoire that held her clothes.
Mei-Ling, Song's mother's sister, insisted that Song could not wear the "rags" that the institute issued to its trainees so, instead, she had filled the armoire in the guest room with a variety of outfits she found suitable for her niece. Song picked out a tight fitting doudou, the apron-style undergarment that had been popular among high society women for many years now, and tied it behind her neck and bare back. It flattened her perky breasts slightly but she liked the tight feeling against her chest. She found a flower patterned red dress that fastened just above her clavicle and then brushed out her mid-back length hair. Inside the small chest of drawers next to the mirror hid the perfumes and makeup that Mei-Ling and she expertly applied both to brighten her appearance and her aroma.
"Are you feeling well?" Mei-Ling asked when Song joined her family for their traditional breakfast, a soup with noodles, eggs and shrimp.
"Oh, I'm fine. Just some... stomach issues. Fine now..." Song said apologetically to her aunt.
"I see," Mei-Ling responded in a suspicious tone.
Song's younger brother, Ren, chuckled as did Mei-Ling's daughter, Sook.
"What did I miss?" Sook's older and slower brother, Jin, asked looking up from his bowl.
"Nothing's funny. Go back to your breakfast," Mei-Ling sternly corrected the giggling young adults at the table. They quickly returned to staring down at their breakfast and eating in silence. As Song had learned in her short time in her relatives home, her aunt ruled her house with strict discipline.
Song took a moment to look over her relatives gathered at the table. As a young child, her mother died after giving birth to Ren. At the age of thirteen, Song's father was convicted for corruption and and her family lost its wealth and high standing in their village as a result. It was determined that her brother would go live with Mei-Ling and her family but Song desired to rebuild her family name. She convinced her aunt to let her join the institute, a prestigious school for a children. It allowed her to graduate into the Institute's academy at nineteen and continue her education while learning the ways of the world so she could one day serve as bodyguard and courtesan to the Empire's elite lords. Now twenty two years old, Song's sabbatical was one of the final steps toward finding a placement with a lord and leaving the Institute.
The long years away from her relatives meant that Song's brother and cousins were more acquaintances than family. She had only spent a little time here at her aunt and uncle's impressive home for a few days over the last several years. She took note of how her brother's thin nose ended in a little bulb like hers and the his underlying skin tones reminded her of her own. When she looked in the mirror, she felt like she was seeing an older, more feminized version of her pretty nineteen year old brother.
Jin was broad and burly like her uncle, Jeong. She could hear his weight fall into the wooden chair next to her as he sat. His thick arms reached forward and a muscular hand gripped the serving spoon and delivered nourishment from the large communal bowl into the table into his own wooden bowl. Song couldn't help but feel safe in the presence of her twenty year old "big" cousin.
Next to Ren, across the tale from Jin, sat Sook. She wore a silk purple dress with little white birds decorating it. Like her mother, Sook struggled to hide her buxom breasts, much as she tried to bind them. She sported a full head of silky black hair like the other women in her family and a rounded face like her brother and father. At eighteen, Sook had already filled out into her full womanly form and Song had already heard Mei-Ling chastise her daughter for wearing dresses that fit too snugly on her full hips and behind. Sook couldn't help it, of course, since she had inherited her form from her mother.
The group ate breakfast at their own pace and excused themselves as they finished. After eating, Song walked with her cousins and brother to the family's market stall in the wealthy section of the village. The storefront's sturdy frame was built from wood felled from the ancient trees in a nearby forest. Bamboo lined the walls and hooks displayed exotic animal pelts from all over the Empire and the lands beyond its borders. Heavily locked cases stored precious metals and stones.
It was the younger generation's duty to learn about their family's business so that they could take over when Song's uncle, Jeong Zhang, grew too old to manage it for himself. For now, they each worked at a task in the market stall. Song's pretty younger cousin, Sook, stood outside the stall to flirt with passing men and attempt to lure them into the large stall.
"Once inside, customers are greeted by your brother who convinces the men that they can build favor with their courtesan companions if they purchase an exotic pelt with which clothing can be made," Sook had explained on Song's first day working with the family. "But, If they purchase a pelt, they might make their wife jealous. That means they need to purchase an even more expensive gemstone for their wife."
"Jin might not pick up on social clues but he is a genius with math. You see, our payments can become complicated," Sook had continued. "Payment is not taken directly at this stall because we do not want vagrants or thieves hanging around looking for a free lunch... and we do not want to tempt a family member into corruption. Servants of our customers take payment directly to my father's office just outside his mine. Jin keeps track of payments that were made or missed by customers and then he uses his size to... encourage customers to keep up with payments." Sook's tone became stern with her final statement. "When a sizable payment is missed, Jin arranges for an enforcement squad to go recoup the expenses or to make an example of the customer."
