The Rite of Spring: The Princess

The Rite of Spring: Fragment 26

The Princess
in which Aonan takes a bath, and how her sleep was disturbed

I will confess that the interview with the bridled woman terrified me. At the end of it I felt little better. I felt that I had avoided defeat, I did not feel that I had achieved a victory. The man Tan returned to the chamber, but remained beyond the bars. The woman, Kiara, said to him

"I'm sorry, I've tried everything I could think of to persuade her, but I've failed". He thanked her gracefully, and then turned to me.

"Aonan, would you like to bathe?"

It was tactfully put. I had not been able to bathe for some time, and I fear he could tell. I said that I would be most grateful, provided that I could bathe alone. He said,

"if I take you down to the bathing room, will you undertake not to try to leave, and to come here afterwards?"

I said that I would so undertake. Kiara said

"Tan, she is a Rhiconicfhear..." in a warning voice, as if our Clan were not trustworthy. I prepared a hot reply, but Tan simply unlocked the door.

"Aonan is a guest in my House", he said,

"and she is entrusted to my care. In any case, it is not her people in whom I must place trust, but Aonan herself."

They escorted me first to a wardrobe room, in which there were clothes of many sorts, many most fine and beautifully decorated, and made of luxurious stuff. However, few were such as a modest person would choose to wear. After some searching I found a skirt of shiny black stuff which was more or less opaque, a sash and bodice of a deep green, richly embroidered with gold, and a blouse. The blouse was the best I could find, but so flimsy as to be quite inadequate to conceal one's arms from view; but it was delightfully soft on the skin. Also, the embroidery on the bodice depicted such scenes as I had come to realise were customary in that place. Still, it was clean, and one must make the best one can.

I was then escorted to a bathroom, where I was shown how to run hot water and cold, offered an array of cosmetics such as I had never before guessed at, given an enormous soft towel, and left alone. The bathroom was a small chamber, with tiled walls, decorated in a fashion I shall not have to describe. A small window - too small to use as a means of egress - commanded a view out over the river, and looking out I could see that I was still two or three manheights above the ground.

The bath was sumptuous, and I lay in the steamy, scented water for a long time. I had no notion that washing could hold such pleasure. Eventually I emerged, clad in my new finery. I was surprised to find the corridor deserted. I struggled for a moment with my conscience. If I were to break my given word, I should save both my honour and my Clan. But I realised that there was more than one way to be dishonoured. I went back up to the prison. I passed no-one on the way. In the cell, I found that the cage was now equipped with sumptuous bedding, and soft carpets and cushions covered the floor, both within and without the bars. Two lamps burned in the outer part of the room

Feeling at once both noble and foolish, I re-entered my prison, pulled the door shut, and, reaching through the bars, turned the key. I prepared myself for bed. I found that an almost transparent shift had been left for me to sleep in. I did not wish to sleep in my day clothes, so I disrobed and donned the shift, before settling under the quilt. As I prepared myself for sleep, Tan returned. He came up to the gate, and I had a momentary fear that all this apparent trust and luxury had simply been intended to cause me to lower my guard.

He said

"if I leave the door unfastened, will you give me your word you will stay?"

I said that I could not do that. He said

"very well", and took the key out of the lock. Then he retreated to the other side of the room, where he took up a stringed instrument and began to play and sing softly. His voice was good, and his playing skillful. I listened, and drowsed.

I was not conscious of when, or how, Kiara returned. The next I remember is a half sleeping vision - I knew that my eyes were open, and that I was not dreaming, but I was not fully awake. Tan was sitting as he had been, against the wall. On his lap, as the instrument had lain, Kiara lay, naked but for her bridle. He was playing on her just as he had played on the instrument, and he was still singing softly. It seemed to me in my half dreaming state that the instrument and Kiara were one. The sounds which the gently plucking fingers in her groin wrung out of her seemed a continuation of the music. I must have drowsed some more. The next scene I remember, Tan was naked also, lying face down, while Kiara, kneeling astride him, slowly massaged the muscles of his upper back. Later again, I saw him standing upright, facing me. She was kneeling before him, so that her back was to me, her arms resting loosely about his waist. He gazed down upon her with a look of adoration and wonderment. His fingers were tangled in her hair, and he was very slowly pushing her head back and forth. I knew without knowing how that his generative organ was in her mouth. I cannot express how magnificent they both appeared, a pair of beautiful animals, finely made, absorbed, tender, gentle. Last of all I remember her lying on her back, thighs spread wide, while he lay upon her, his head nestling in her hair, her hands resting on his buttocks, both sleeping peacefully. When I awoke in the morning, I found that they were gone. I felt hot shame that I had not averted my gaze, or turned my back on them, and more when I discovered that the shift was tangled about my breasts, and that my thighs were flooded with sticky effusion.

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