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Sep. 22nd, 2009 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
framlingemTitle: Pressure and Heat
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
framlingem
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13 (Rated for violence and attempted rape)
Notes: Written for the Firefly drabble challenge at Where No Woman. Check it out - there are a bunch of great stories there. My prompt was #35: "Please, God, make me a stone."
Summary: On Orion, Gaila learns that there are different kinds of stone.
She is twelve the first time she sees the great courtyard of the palace; twelve and gawky, with a hint of grace. She is strong, flat-bellied and flat-chested, but she is twelve and she cannot stop the noise of admiration that escapes from her lips, just as she cannot stop the slap that follows it.
Discretion, Gaila. It is not seemly to be too easily-impressed. When you make a noise, do it for effect.
She nods, and agrees, and looks straight ahead, but she drinks it in anyway - the Courtyard of the Courtesans, where there are statues of the mistresses of kings, carved of marble and accented with gold and obsidian. The sun lights them in reds and ambers. Gaila studies them from the corner of her eye as she follows her teacher to the hall where she will be presented, and echoes their posture.
***
She is fifteen the second time she sees the courtyard; her face is painted, and the earrings and necklace she wears are like those adorning the statue of Konu, mistress to Tet the Second. Her teacher believes that like Konu, Gaila is destined for great things. Gaila has studied the life of Konu, and hopes her teacher is correct.
For the last time, her teacher takes her by the chin and studies the angles of her face, and then nods once, sharply, and abandons her beneath the statue of the woman whose jewelry she is wearing, with several other girls her own age. Throughout the courtyard, similar scenes are taking place - some of the girls are weeping quietly, but Gaila knows it is important to be in control.
Men come and talk with her, and she repeats what she has been told to say. This one is Gaila, she says. I am a dancer, and I can make kah'la beer, and I have been instructed in other arts, though I have not yet practiced them.. They nod and look at her appraisingly, and assess her physically. Her breasts are bruised by the time one of them nods twice and makes the appropriate signal. That night, she practices the arts.
***
Gaila is sixteen, and sixteen, and sixteen again when she crosses the courtyard to dance at the festivals of the palace; the man who chose her is a member of the nobility, and likes to show off his things. He likes to share them, too, and the days after, dancing is much more difficult.
It is an honourable thing, to be so prized, but the statue of Konu does not appear to be stiff, and has no bruises. From the courtyard, a few stars can be seen, unhindered by the glow of the lights. She keeps her head lowered properly, but she can see them through her lashes.
***
Gaila is seventeen when her man, still generous, lends her to a friend who has been bemoaning how lonely he will be while he is away from Orion. She is perplexed - it has never been for so long before, and she will miss her sisters in the women's quarters. The friend's craft is small, and she sits in the cockpit with him, in the only other chair, and listens attentively as he describes the many great beasts he has killed, and she makes noises of admiration. He seems to be pleased by this.
She is weary of his stories by the time they land. She offers him beer, and suggests that they retire, as she knows that he will want to give his all to the hunt tomorrow.
He grabs her.
She is on the ground before she knows it, and lets slip a protest - there is no art in this, will he not allow her to perform for him? He cuts her off with his fist - there is blood in her mouth, and something hard rolling around on her tongue, and dimly she realizes that it is one of her teeth. He is scrabbling at her clothes, confused by an unfamiliar fastening, and her hand finds a stone and clenches around it, and with all of her dancer's strength she drives it into his temple. He falls atop her and does not move again.
She runs for the ship. She cannot go back to Orion. The ship's voice speaks to her, and she asks it for somewhere far, and the helm complies. She is nearly out of air when the Vulcans find her, but she still nearly takes the captain's head off with the stone.
Author:
framlingemGenre: Gen
Rating: PG-13 (Rated for violence and attempted rape)
Notes: Written for the Firefly drabble challenge at Where No Woman. Check it out - there are a bunch of great stories there. My prompt was #35: "Please, God, make me a stone."
Summary: On Orion, Gaila learns that there are different kinds of stone.
She is twelve the first time she sees the great courtyard of the palace; twelve and gawky, with a hint of grace. She is strong, flat-bellied and flat-chested, but she is twelve and she cannot stop the noise of admiration that escapes from her lips, just as she cannot stop the slap that follows it.
Discretion, Gaila. It is not seemly to be too easily-impressed. When you make a noise, do it for effect.
She nods, and agrees, and looks straight ahead, but she drinks it in anyway - the Courtyard of the Courtesans, where there are statues of the mistresses of kings, carved of marble and accented with gold and obsidian. The sun lights them in reds and ambers. Gaila studies them from the corner of her eye as she follows her teacher to the hall where she will be presented, and echoes their posture.
***
She is fifteen the second time she sees the courtyard; her face is painted, and the earrings and necklace she wears are like those adorning the statue of Konu, mistress to Tet the Second. Her teacher believes that like Konu, Gaila is destined for great things. Gaila has studied the life of Konu, and hopes her teacher is correct.
For the last time, her teacher takes her by the chin and studies the angles of her face, and then nods once, sharply, and abandons her beneath the statue of the woman whose jewelry she is wearing, with several other girls her own age. Throughout the courtyard, similar scenes are taking place - some of the girls are weeping quietly, but Gaila knows it is important to be in control.
Men come and talk with her, and she repeats what she has been told to say. This one is Gaila, she says. I am a dancer, and I can make kah'la beer, and I have been instructed in other arts, though I have not yet practiced them.. They nod and look at her appraisingly, and assess her physically. Her breasts are bruised by the time one of them nods twice and makes the appropriate signal. That night, she practices the arts.
***
Gaila is sixteen, and sixteen, and sixteen again when she crosses the courtyard to dance at the festivals of the palace; the man who chose her is a member of the nobility, and likes to show off his things. He likes to share them, too, and the days after, dancing is much more difficult.
It is an honourable thing, to be so prized, but the statue of Konu does not appear to be stiff, and has no bruises. From the courtyard, a few stars can be seen, unhindered by the glow of the lights. She keeps her head lowered properly, but she can see them through her lashes.
***
Gaila is seventeen when her man, still generous, lends her to a friend who has been bemoaning how lonely he will be while he is away from Orion. She is perplexed - it has never been for so long before, and she will miss her sisters in the women's quarters. The friend's craft is small, and she sits in the cockpit with him, in the only other chair, and listens attentively as he describes the many great beasts he has killed, and she makes noises of admiration. He seems to be pleased by this.
She is weary of his stories by the time they land. She offers him beer, and suggests that they retire, as she knows that he will want to give his all to the hunt tomorrow.
He grabs her.
She is on the ground before she knows it, and lets slip a protest - there is no art in this, will he not allow her to perform for him? He cuts her off with his fist - there is blood in her mouth, and something hard rolling around on her tongue, and dimly she realizes that it is one of her teeth. He is scrabbling at her clothes, confused by an unfamiliar fastening, and her hand finds a stone and clenches around it, and with all of her dancer's strength she drives it into his temple. He falls atop her and does not move again.
She runs for the ship. She cannot go back to Orion. The ship's voice speaks to her, and she asks it for somewhere far, and the helm complies. She is nearly out of air when the Vulcans find her, but she still nearly takes the captain's head off with the stone.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 07:28 pm (UTC)Thank you very much! Your comment made me very happy when you made it, and still makes me smile today.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 06:03 am (UTC)and the ending is fantastic. I love that even though she's close to dying she still fights.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 07:30 pm (UTC)I love the Companions. I also like the Geisha concept, which is one of the things I drew on for Orion slave girl training.
Regarding the ending, Gaila's too tough to go down easily. *grin*
Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 07:31 pm (UTC)Thank you for your comment! I love having rythm and repetition in stories, and it's always nice when someone picks up on it.