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When they finish, I have them sit on the lawn with me. I sit with my back to a tree, and I have each in turn sit in front of me and get a backrub -- this is a relaxed way to get them used to the touch of a man. As I rub their backs, I talk to them.
"Should you choose to live, you are headed for strange new worlds. There are lands where men are hard working, and very rich. These are new lands and their potential for wealth is immense. But the men who work there are very busy... so busy, that they have not had time to look for wives.
"Some, when they get rich enough, stop working and go home to look for a wife, and the women of their homelands are very happy when they do. But these new lands are far from the homelands, so other men would like to find a woman in the new lands, and that is where you ladies come in.
"I will be sending you to these new lands There you will find many young, strong men who hope to be rich one day, and those men are looking for women to take as slaves... and perhaps wives.
I am rubbing the back of Paltrice. Her head is bobbing and her eyes are half shut. When I grasp her dark hair and use it to move her head, it moves willingly. When I pull an arm behind her back to massage it, the limb stays until I move it forward. Her breathing is shallow. I am confident that Paltrice is developing a taste for man's touch -- she will not choose the dragon, and she will please some man highly.
"My lord, will you not keep us?" asks Anna. I motion for Paltrice to get up, and I have Anna sit in her place. Her wavy blond hair is in a loose braid that descends to mid-back. I undo the braid and start with combing her hair.
"I suspect you will serve a man well, Anna, but it cannot be me, or any of my people. There are two reasons. The first is the risk of discovery. I have remote holdings, but my people move around between them regularly. If you were discovered by the wrong person, it would bring scandal on your family, and mine. Wags would say I created and promoted Dragon Day just to lure maidens from my villages. It would be terrible.
"Second, you will do much better in the lands I'm sending you to. The men there are rich, which makes their wives rich, too. If you are of average luck, in years to come you will have some wealth at your command. This may seem wildly optimistic to you, now, but it is true. And, if you chose to support your family with your wealth, I will help you do that. You can send money to me, and I will see that your family benefits from it, without them knowing that you have sent it, or that you are alive. If you choose to help your family, you must do it that way, or there will be scandal."
Bringing up helping the family warmed up Anna. She was, afterall, being sacrificed to help her family and the village. She relaxed more as my hands moved around her back and arms. She was not as tangibly excited as Paltrice by my touch, but that did not mean she wasn't enjoying it.
I give Anna a couple thumps on the back. "Time for Chasta." I say.
There is just a moment's hesitation. She sits in front of me, but puts her ands behind her.
"You wish to be bound?"
"I have not given you permission to touch me. You must take that privilege."
I bind her quickly, and somewhat roughly. Her arms are held high up her back by a loop around her neck. I bind her knees, and press her head to them. The binding is quick. The massage leisurely. I ask questions of her body with my fingers and hands. "Do you like this light, brushing motion?" I ask her back. "Are you partial to long strokes up and down you?" I ask her thighs. Overall her response is muted. She still feels she is a soldier, and she still feels she must be strong. But she is submitting, which means there is hope that "chemistry" can come into play soon.
We return in the afternoon. I set out some common cloth dresses for the ladies -- scandalously short-skirted by their village standards, but clearly working clothes nonetheless. I also set out brooms, mops, cloths and buckets.
"I apologize, my ladies, for the mess this workshop is in, and I would ask that you spend the rest of the day cleaning it for me. While you are doing that, I will be working on my equipment."
The women understand this work, as well, and they take right to it. The workshop is large and filled with a year's worth of dust, so they will be busy for quite a while.
I spend the afternoon and evening preparing my dragon machine for storage until next year. I'm a modern mage -- I mix machinery in with my magic. My dragon-machine looks to be mostly machine, but there quite a few elementals and imps involved in helping it operate. These must be released from service and well rewarded if I hope to see the dragon operate next year, and the machinery must be broken down for storage.
Thus my ladies and I stay busy until long after sunset. At sunset I direct them to the kitchen. Most of the year this is used by the elfs, but when I have ladies in the workshop, the elfs stock up the larder, then stay out of sight.
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