Part Ten

~~~~~~

Lady Dorothy Catalonia took the large, weathered brown hand offered to her from outside the carriage and stepped delicately down onto the grassy lawn. The green blades, still moist with the morning dew, were beginning to turn a light brown; winter would be here soon. A pretty, young attendant came out of the house then with a small smile and bowed, taking the lady's arm gently and escorting her inside the house. Lady Dorothy smiled back and allowed herself to be led into the bright, warm tea room.

Lady Relena appeared first, her growing stomach carefully hidden among the alternating shades of blue that criss-crossed the azure taffeta of her kimono, the clinging material bringing attention to her other physical assets. Her face had a healthy, natural glow under the carefully applied makeup and she had let her long golden hair flow loose, curling gently to the middle of her back. She smiled in greeting to Lady Dorothy and reached behind her to present the other girl. Lady Dorothy waited, hiding her amused smile behind one white-gloved hand.

Hilde stepped shyly into the tea room, clinging to Lady Relena's hand and keeping her eyes respectfully down. She had traded her beautiful kimonos today for a European dress of white Spanish lace, the bodice laced tightly in the back, pushing her small breasts up over the low neckline and enhancing the delicate curves. Her hands were encased in white lace gloves and her hair hung in a long, silky curtain to her hips, pulled back only on the sides with pins and laced through with white lilies. Her makeup was natural and modest today; the tiny wound on her neck was carefully hidden with powder. She looked every bit the Catholic schoolgirl on her way to church.

Lady Dorothy climbed to her feet from the small velvet pillow she had been kneeling on and smiled, opening her arms to embrace the courtesan as she approached her across the room. "Bella mia, you are absolutely beautiful today!" she said, kissing Hilde's cheek lightly so as not to mar the makeup. "Do you like the dress your dominara has bought for you?"

Hilde kissed her former mistress's cheek as well and smiled back, her cheeks coloring slightly. "Yes, Mistress Dorothy," she replied softly. "Although I feel a bit... cold. Especially for church."

Lady Dorothy and the other blonde woman laughed. "Prediletta mia," Lady Dorothy said, hugging the smaller girl affectionately. "But this is how the young European women dress for church! Now you are old enough to dress this way as well, you should be proud." She smiled and held Hilde by the shoulders, pulling back to look at her. "And you are beautiful, simply beautiful."

Hilde smiled and averted her eyes. "Thank you, Mistress Dorothy," she whispered.

Lady Dorothy gave her one last smile before turning around and glancing outside at the waiting carriage. The mass would begin soon. "Come, Lady Hilde," she said, snapping her gloved fingers crisply and picking up the long, white satin skirt of her dress. "We will be late if we do not hurry." She stopped in front of Lady Relena, who had been watching from the open screen leading out into the hallway silently, and kissed her friend's cheeks gently. "Grazie, sorella," she said. "I promise I will not keep her out for long."

Lady Relena shook her head, her lips curving in a smile. "No, you can keep her as long as you like. I am sure I will manage fine without her for a little while." She turned to Hilde and took her hands in her own, squeezing them gently. "Have a wonderful time, my darling. And please do not worry about me."

Hilde nodded silently and moved one hand to lay it gently on her mistress's stomach, feeling the slight stirrings beneath the taffeta and the silkiness of the ivory flesh. Lady Relena sighed softly and Hilde raised her eyes to the blonde woman, reaching up to tenderly push a strand of flaxen hair behind one ear.

"I promise to try, my mistress," she finally replied, squeezing the lady's hand once more before letting Lady Dorothy take her arm and lead her out of the house. Lady Relena silently nodded and followed the two women outside to watch their carriage depart down the small road leading into the village.

As the carriage disappeared around the bend, Lady Relena felt a prescence behind her. She closed her eyes as long arms taut with wiry muscles wrapped around her waist, laying strong hands over her rounded stomach. Nimble fingers undid the sash binding her kimono about her waist, letting the fabric fall open and baring soft, ample breasts and her abdomen, swollen with his child. Lady Relena sighed his name, moaning as he began to stroke her, moving his hands up to caress the sensitive breasts.

"Hisakataburi, Relena-chan." A whisper in her ear, sensual and promising.

"Hai... It has been a long time, Hee-kun."

~*~

"...In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen."

Hilde followed the genuflection along with the rest of the congregation as Father Maxwell ended the mass with the benediction. It had been a beautiful sermon; he had spoken in two languages, English and Japanese, perfectly fluent in both. Hilde was surprised at the large group of Japanese Catholics who had joined in the mass, wondering if they were Maxwell's converts. She wouldn't have been able to blame them if they were, she thought with a smile. Even when speaking religiously, Maxwell still retained the friendly charisma she had noticed when meeting him for the first time. And he was more handsome than ever, so passionate he was in his beliefs.

Lady Dorothy touched Hilde's arm beside her, bringing her back from her reverie, and the two women knelt forward on the small mats placed in front of each pew to pray silently on their own as Father Maxwell prepared the communion. An organ played a soft, melodic hymn in the background. An elbow touched her own gently.

"You were right," Lady Dorothy whispered with a smile. "He /is/ beautiful." Hilde smiled back and began her prayers.

She said a silent prayer for her master Lord Yuy first, giving thanks that he had "adopted" her and was thus far pleased with her, and also for her mistress Lady Relena, that her child should be healthy and that she should have a son. Making the sign of the cross once more, Hilde finished her prayers and sat back up on the pew. Lady Dorothy continued to whisper softly in Italian, genuflecting several times throughout her prayers. Hilde watched her with a small smile; the pale sunlight emerging from the huge stained glass windows surrounding the church on all four walls fell upon her, further lightening her long, platinum blonde hair and giving her the aura of an angel. An angel... Hilde raised her eyes back to the altar.

Maxwell had turned away from the congregation to ready the glass of red wine and the plates of communion wafers, helping the nervous altar boys arrange each item carefully on the table with smiles and whispered words of encouragement. He moved slightly then and Hilde glimpsed his profile, a perfect, chiseled outline against the bright luminescence emanating from the stained glass window before him. The saffron light caught the golden highlights in his long chestnut hair and sparkled in the endless depths of his violet eyes, lending them a luster that seemed to reflect all the colors of the rainbow when he turned back to face the congregation. Even the long ebon robes he wore couldn't hide the defined musculature of his arms as he raised one to signal the beginning of the communion. Hilde touched Lady Dorothy's shoulder to stir her this time, and the two women rose silently and filed into the assemblage of people on their way to the altar.

Maxwell bestowed the communion upon each person one at a time, giving a whispered blessing as each passed in front of the altar, keeping his eyes on the line as it progressed. He could see her still among the throng, a virginal, raven-haired seraph in white lace. She had peered at him shyly above her pew throughout the entire mass, a sweet smile playing across the cerise lips. He had thrown himself into the sermon to keep his thoughts from straying towards her; now he was forced to face her.

Hilde felt her abdomen clench as the line drew nearer to the altar. She could see Maxwell's face completely now, his smile as he blessed each member of his congregation. Her heart fluttered at being able to hear his voice once more; the rich, deep, friendly voice, accented so beautifully in the English tongue. It took all of her strength to keep the blush from staining her cheeks as she finally approached the altar. Lady Dorothy gave her a gentle push from behind and Hilde stepped forward, veiling her gaze from the priest's as she prepared to receive the communion.

Maxwell gazed down at the lovely courtesan, her head bowed respectfully, the piercing blue irises of her eyes hidden beneath the feathery lashes. His muscles tightened instinctively to stave off the attraction, gathering tension in his back where the flesh continued to throb from his own punishment. He flinched with the pain slightly and regained his composure. He found his voice and quickly began the blessing.

"With the power vested in me, I permit you to partake of His blessing..."

Hilde raised her eyes slowly to his at the sound of the lovely voice, tilting her head back slightly to receive the communion. Maxwell stared back down at her, taking the communion wafer given to him by one of the altar boys without moving his eyes from hers. She awaited the blessing, drowned in violet depths. The low hum of the assemblage in the background seemed to fade away; she was alone with him. Hilde took a deep breath, fighting to calm the beating of her heart, and opened her mouth to receive the wafer.

Maxwell's hand seemd to move forward on its own, approaching the girl at an excruciatingly languid pace. His vision began to haze over, his mind and body a maelstrom of heat and dizziness. He fought to steady the trembling of his hand as he watched the moist, ruby lips part, ignoring the swell of her breasts, glistening with a light sheen of sweat, over the low neckline of her dress lower.

"Feast on His body..."

Maxwell gently slipped the communion wafer into Hilde's wet, warm mouth, feeling her sweet breath on his hand as she sighed softly. Her eyes closed; the soft lips brushed against his retreating hand, then the light lick of her tongue, the barest of kisses. Maxwell pulled back abruptly, his body reeling with a thousand different sensations, all culminating in an unbearably intense ache in his groin. The altar boy handed him the goblet of wine.

Hilde's eyes flickered open then to gaze back up at the startled young priest. She didn't have time to think as he was pushing the ornate golden goblet of wine into her hands, finishing the blessing.

"... and drink of His blood."

Hilde raised the cup to her lips and took a long drink, swallowing delicately afterwards. She had kissed him. And meant it. Maxwell continued to watch her, lost in the conflicting emotions racing through his body. A crystalline drop of the scarlet wine clung to her voluptuous bottom lip; he stared, transfixed, as she seductively licked it away. Clear sapphire eyes met his; that same teasing smile curved her lips.

"Go with God, my child," he whispered, the words little more than a choked breath forced from his constricted throat. The tiny girl before him nodded and bowed, clasping her hands as if in prayer over her sweetly exposed chest, and smiled once more before continuing down the line. The next woman, a tall, icily beautiful blonde, stepped forward. Maxwell sighed heavily.

He would burn in Hell for this.

He was beginning not to care.

Part Eleven

~~~~~~

The autumn was slow to arrive, but winter appeared just as soon as the last withered golden leaf fell from the hemlock tree in the garden. The light, brightly colored silks and satins of the autumn kimonos and robes were put away in cedar trunks and traded for the darker, heavier cottons and cashmeres of the winter garments. The house was kept screened in at all times to keep the sharp, glacial chill of the winter out, and small steel braziers were lit throughout each hall and chamber to provide warmth. Lady Relena had reached the difficult middle stretch of her pregnancy and had to be attended to at all times lest she injure herself or the baby. The Spanish were still in Okinawa but operations had been temporarily delayed, or so Lord Yuy hoped. The commander Treize had not called him for an audience in three weeks. The village was peaceful.

Lady Hilde Schbeiker was unrestrained by her masters for most of her time. Lord Yuy was heavily occupied with his samurai training and speaking with his daimyos about the Spanish situation. They continued to spend the frigid nights together, though, and Hilde made sure that her master was always left completely relaxed when she crept back to her chamber at the first pallid light of dawn, hot and aching pleasurably in her nether regions. Lady Relena had her girl attendants to cater to her; only on rare occasions did she request Hilde's company, and only then to read monogatari love tales or practice calligraphy. Most of the days she was left alone. These were her happiest days.

It was on these days when Hilde, accompanied by one attendant or more often on her own, walked the short path to the village to visit Father Duo Maxwell. She had begun to do this some time after her first Sabbath, when she had kissed his hand, under the guise of praying or coming to confession, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Maxwell hadn't been as easily fooled as she had hoped, though, and soon he would come to meet her at the church doors and they would go for walks in the tiny grove surrounding the modestly elegant stone building. He had been terribly awkward at first, but she had finally won his friendship. With Lord Yuy and her loyalty to him, this had been enough.

Hilde slipped on a pale blue pashmina wrap that matched the wintry hue of the sky outside her window and crept slowly out of her chamber, making sure that her own attendant was safely occupied with other matters in the house. She could hear soft voices coming from the slightly parted screen of Lady Relena's chamber and quietly side-stepped past, sliding open the shoji screen leading out onto the shuttered veranda winding around the back of the house and silently slipping through.

There was no wind today, but the still air held a definite iciness that froze the breaths as they escaped from her lips and clung to the mascara on her eyelashes. A slight shiver running through her, Hilde pulled the wrap tighter around her slender body and stepped into her sandals. She checked once more to make sure no one saw her and then ran lightly down the steps, into the garden and out through the gated fence. The forest around her was silent as she made her way down the dirt path to the village.

Maxwell was sitting on the small step leading up to the altar when Hilde finally arrived at the church, a group of Japanese schoolchildren gathered at his feet on the floor, clutching small Bibles and frowning down at the scriptures on the pages as the priest read them aloud. Hilde smiled and slipped inside, the heavy wooden door thudding dully behind her.

Maxwell stopped in mid-sentence and looked up. The pretty girl smiled and bowed slightly in greeting, sliding into the back pew to wait for him. He smiled back and closed his Bible.

"Alright, you've won me over," he said to the children, who eagerly shut their Bibles as well. "We'll end our lessons for today, but when you come back tomorrow I expect you all to know the /entire/ Hail Mary, am I understood?"

The children groaned and Hilde stifled a laugh behind the corner of her wrap at the look of exaggerated hurt and disappointment on Maxwell's face. He sighed heavily.

"Alright, alright," he conceded, holding up his hands in defeat. "We won't meet again until next week, so you have the entire time to play." The children cheered and stood up, placing their Bibles into pockets and schoolbags as they hurried out of the church.

"But you had better know the prayer by the time you get back!" Maxwell called after them. The door banged shut and he sighed once more, shaking his head. Hilde didn't suppress her laugh this time.

Maxwell looked up and smiled. "I wouldn't suppose you would be interested in a religious lesson today, would you?" he asked as he approached her down the aisle, his eyes glinting mischieviously. He slid into the pew in front of hers, sitting sideways so that he could face her.

Hilde laughed again. "I do not think you would have much better luck with me than you did with those children," she replied. "The day is cold but it is so beautiful. I think it will snow later." Maxwell nodded silently, his eyes fixed on the lovely girl before him. She was even more beautiful when she laughed, he thought. They had done much of that in their times together. It still amazed him how they had become such good friends; that incident at her autumn communion seemed to have faded into the past. She hadn't pressed the topic of their attraction any further, making it easier for him to accept her friendship, however much a courtesan she was. He thanked God for her understanding, although from time to time he thought about how much he longed for her, and how much he longed to show her his feelings. But that was not to be; she had her own obligations to her master as well.

"Will we go outside today, Maxwell-san?" Hilde suddenly asked, breaking the silence and Maxwell's own reverie. He stood up.

"Oh! Hai, I think it would be alright if we walked," he replied quickly, stepping around the pew into the aisle and offering his arm to the courtesan. "Will you be so kind as to accompany me, fair lady?" he asked, deepening his accent and smiling chivalrously.

Hilde smiled, averting her eyes at his galantry, however imitated it was, and nodded, slipping her arm through his. They exited the church and started out on the small path that wound through the church grove. The oak and hemlock trees were bare, as were the honeysuckle shrubs lining the path, but the tiny enclosure still held a sense of beauty and peace in the graying light of winter. The icy blue of the sky was beginning to wane, giving way to dense, smoky clouds. Light, wispy traces of white began to fall gently; the first winter snow had arrived.

The two young friends walked silently, arm in arm, as the snow continued to fall, covering the sparse ground and making ripples in the small lake at the center of the grove, their favorite place to sit and talk. Hilde disengaged her arm from the priest's as they sat down on the gentle slope of the bank, tilting her face up to the sky and letting the snow kiss her cheeks and eyelashes. She sighed happily.

"I love the snow," she said, keeping her face upturned as she spoke. "It reminds me so much of my home, when the snow used to be as thick as the branches of the pine trees in our forest, and would pile up outside our shelter walls so that we couldn't get out." She smiled at the memory. "Then we would just stay inside until it ended, telling stories and helping the older women make the supper. The snow brought us together, the whole tribe. It made it seem as if we were the only people in an empty, white world... as if we /needed/ each other." She sighed again and fell silent, her head dropping back down into place as she reached up a hand to smooth her hair back into its neat twist.

Maxwell gazed at her silently, watching the expressions pass over her lovely face as she talked. He had only heard a little of her past as the daughter of a fearsome Germanic tribal leader and the tragic manner in which she had come to live in Japan, but it still thrilled him to hear her talk of her days in the wild countryside, clothed in leather trousers that hugged the curves of her body as she rode through the hills and dense forests of her homeland. He could almost imagine her world... and the pain at losing it, so similar to his own.

Hilde looked up then, her blue eyes catching the white shimmer of the snow as it glided softly around them, sparkling in the deep irises, and smiled, her momentary sadness gone.

"Is there snow in England, Maxwell-san?" she asked.

Maxwell tilted his face up to the sky as she had done, his face locked in an expression of deep thought. "Well..." he began slowly, his brows furrowing in concentration. "I'm not sure." He stuck his tongue out then and caught a snowflake on the tip. After thinking for another long moment, he looked back down at Hilde. "Well, it still tastes the same," he concluded with a shrug.

Hilde laughed and shook her head. "Did you eat snow in England?" she asked, holding up the corner of her wrap to stifle a snicker.

Maxwell grinned, more like a child than the young man he was. "Sometimes," he said. "Most of the time we drank it. When you live on the street, you have to improvise. And so in the winter we were lucky; all you had to do was pick up a handful of snow, wait for it to melt in your hands a little, and then drink it. It is actually the best water I have ever tasted." He grinned again and let his head fall back to catch another snowflake.

Hilde smiled back. Maxwell hadn't told her very much of his own past, as she had told him of hers. All she knew was that his family had been a group of children much like himself and that they hadn't had a home until the church had taken them in. She was still curious as to why he had never had a mother or father, why he had decided to become a priest: She wanted to know everything about him.

Smoothing the soft brushed wool of her kimono over her lap, Hilde asked delicately, "Did your parents not mind that you lived in the street?"

Maxwell looked back down once again and sighed. The light shining behind the violet eyes seemed to darken suddenly and he averted his gaze, focusing on the church building to the left of the lake. "No," he finally replied softly. "I have no parents. At least none that I know of."

Hilde looked away quickly, an embarassed blush coloring her pale cheeks, immediately sorry that she had asked. "Gomen nasai, Maxwell-san," she whispered.

Maxwell shook his head, more to clear his mind of the memories of his life as a small child in the London slums, before Solo and the "sweepers", than to admonish Hilde. "No," he repeated, his voice stronger this time. "Don't be sorry, Hilde. It was only a question that you did not know the answer to. Please." He reached over to grasp her chin, turning her face back towards him. "We are friends, right? We can ask questions." She brightened a little and nodded, raising her eyes shyly to his.

"Do you mind now if I ask you a question?" Maxwell asked gently, keeping her chin firmly in his hand. Her face was so close now; he could feel the light warmth of her breath against his own face, see the perfection of the makeup and the incredible beauty of her eyes, feel her body trembling slightly under his touch. The lips were so red, so full... He could feel his control slipping. She nodded in answer to his question then and he snapped back into the present.

"Are you happy living here in Japan?"

The question startled Hilde out of her own reverie, forcing her mind from the thick violet haze that had clouded it and bringing her back. She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully, her brows furrowing in confusion. "I am not sure what you mean," she replied slowly. "Am I happy in Japan? Or with my Lord Yuy?"

Maxwell flinched as if he had been struck; it had never occured to him that the question could be interpreted both ways, although he knew in his heart that he had meant for it to be taken as so. He kept his gaze even as he nodded. "Both, actually," he said. He still held her in his grasp.

Hilde looked away for a moment, thinking, before raising her eyes back to his. "I like living in Japan," she began slowly, the piercing azure of her eyes softening almost dreamily. "But I will always miss my home and I should want to return there someday." She paused for a moment before continuing. "As for my Lord Yuy, yes, I am very happy to be with him. He is a wonderful master and he has given me everything I need."

Maxwell listened silently, turning her words over in his mind. He decided to press further, going against his own better judgement; the priest in him shouted for him to stop, but the man in him would not be satisfied.

"But do you love him, Hilde?" The words escaped his lips in a desperate tumble before he could stop them; he gripped her chin tighter.

Hilde looked up at the priest, his large violet eyes imploring her, the set of his jaw determined. His face had moved even nearer to hers; his heavy, labored breaths tickled her cheek, stirring the long bangs that fell into his eyes, his moist, hot mouth positioned just inches from her own. She felt her sex stir, her abdomen tightening in the familiar expectation of sexual fulfillment. Her breath came faster. The snow seemed to fall heavier now, increasing the dreamlike haze.

"Do you love him, Hilde?" Softer, the hand on her chin relaxing. His mouth hovered ever closer. Hilde sighed, reaching one small hand down to touch his muscular thigh beneath the heavy black cloth of his robe. She trailed upwards slowly, her eyes trained on his, watching as the violet orbs softened at her touch. Finally she reached his sex, firm and stiff between his thighs; she stroked it tentatively. Maxwell groaned, his eyes closing. Hilde leaned forward, touching her nose to his.

"I love..." she whispered silkily. Her tongue flicked out to tease the handsome priest's lips open; his own tongue responded, catching hers. The church bell suddenly rang, announcing midday; the spell was broken. This was wrong.

Maxwell pulled away quickly, removing his hand from under Hilde's chin as the girl reciprocated the action, tucking her own delicately adorned hand into the long sleeve of her kimono. He was a priest and she wanted him. This was wrong. The bell chimed once more; Lady Relena would be expecting her for lunch.

Hilde stood up slowly, fighting the weak feeling in her legs and the insistent, aching protest of her sex. "I had better go," she said, pulling the wrap back up around her shoulders, keeping her eyes trained on the ground, watching as the light snow began to blanket the hard brown earth. "My mistress will wonder where I am soon."

Maxwell climbed to his own feet, making sure he stood carefully apart from the courtesan. He brushed the snow from his robes, nodding in answer to her words. "Of course," he said. Hilde bowed awkwardly and turned around, heading for the road leading back to Lord Yuy's estate. Maxwell cursed himself.

"Hilde!" The girl looked back over her shoulder, crossing her arms over her chest against the cold.

"I want to see you again."

Hilde stared back at the beautiful young man, his long braid tossing gently in the breeze that suddenly wafted through the grove. The violet eyes were large and bright in his pale face, darker in the depths where they promised the things she had dreamed of. But this was wrong, she reminded herself, shaking her head. She forced a smile. "Hai," she finally replied. "I will come back soon, I promise."

Maxwell continued to gaze at her, his eyes darkening further. "You never answered my question."

Hilde looked away quickly, biting her lower lip to keep from saying something she knew she would regret; it wouldn't take Lord Yuy long to find out her feelings about Maxwell if she told the priest himself. This was her master's village, after all. And she was also her master's.

Maxwell waited for her answer, watching as she seemed to go over a thousand things in her mind before finally looking back up. Perhaps he was wrong to demand an answer from her. Even if she did love him, they could never be. Not unless he renounced the priesthood and gave up his entire life. But then, what could he offer her? He decided this would be the end of it.

"Forgive me, Father."

The whispered words drew Maxwell out of his contemplation, and he looked up just in time to see the courtesan bow once more before blowing a kiss and hurrying back to the road that would lead her back to her master.

Part Twelve

~~~~~~

The snow continued to fall for three days after it begun, when Hilde had almost broken her vow to Lord Yuy and tempted Father Maxwell. On the fourth day it finally changed over to rain, melting the snow that thickly blanketed the ground and bathing the forest in dark, damp hues of green and brown that matched the eddying patterns crisscrossing the delicate cotton of Hilde's kimono. Lanterns were lit throughout the house to provide a muted light against the stark bleakness of the dully tinted sky, complementing the melancholy mood that seemed to permeate the air. Maxwell continued to stay on her mind.

Lady Dorothy came to visit for afternoon tea that day, and after quietly finishing a pot of steaming green tea, she, Hilde, and Lady Relena settled into the day chamber to practice calligraphy. Lord Yuy was in his own chambers, resting peacefully after the last strenuous days of council and preparations in negotiation with the Spanish. Hilde had already visited him earlier and they had made love slowly and tenderly, after she had massaged every inch of his body in scented oils and tended to his maleness with her mouth.

Hilde hoped that whatever it was the foreigners planned, whether good or bad, it would happen soon. Both she and Lady Relena were beginning to tire of waiting night after night for Lord Yuy to arrive home, wondering if tonight would be the night they would be forced to leave the estate and travel up to Kitakyushu, where Lord Yuy held a guarded manor just for that possibility of war. But Lady Relena was within full expectancy of her child soon, in only a matter of months now. Travelling across the country would not be in the best interests of the child, or herself. Hilde desperately hoped the Spanish situation would not come to war, but Lord Yuy would say nothing. She thanked the gods that she still had Maxwell, who knew as much of the dilemma as her master, to tell her what would happen. Maxwell...

The rain continued to descend softly upon the house, drumming against the tiled roof and the windows, the rivers of water that swirled across the glass of the skylights reflecting down on the sheaf of thin, silken paper propped against the wooden frame of Hilde's writing stand on the floor. The water caught the diffuse light of the lantern at her side, blending soft orange with the pale, silvery color of the paper and making the surface dance with water and fire. Hilde sighed heavily and dipped her sharpened cedar branch into the small well of ink on the stand next to her paper, pushing her thoughts away from Maxwell and focusing on the poem she was preparing for Lord Yuy.

"How are things in the village, Lady Dorothy?" Lady Relena suddenly asked, breaking the heavy silence. "My lord refuses to tell us anything. He must think it will upset me... Are things really so bad?" Hilde looked up from her paper, her thoughts finally distracted.

Lady Dorothy dipped her own cedar branch into a well of ink and brushed a long stroke onto her own paper. She had a certain flair as she did this, reminiscent of her days of fencing in Italy. She sighed and painted another stroke, this one shorter. "I only know what my ladies tell me, as I have not had a chance to meet with the commander personally," she replied. "His soldiers are very outspoken about the reasons for their prescence here, however. My ladies have told me that this port and the surrounding areas are very beneficial to the Spanish empire in defeating the English and the French."

The English... But Maxwell was English, Hilde thought, her brows furrowing in concern as she gracefully brushed a kanji symbol onto the blank sheet: Love. She closed her eyes.

"Why would the Spanish want to defeat the English if they have one of their priests with them here?" Hilde asked, opening her eyes and distracting herself by dipping a finger into the wet ink on the paper and smearing the delicate kanji into an intricate pattern, erasing the message.

"The port is very important to business," Lady Dorothy explained. "Both the English and the French have possession of many surrounding islands; the Pacific is very rich in natural resources and precious items. It is all for the glory of one empire over another." She sighed almost in disgust and re-inked her cedar branch. "Religion has just been thrown in between, but it is all the same. The Catholic Church desires domination among the churches as well. If it can acquire more converts than other faiths and spread its Word throughout the world, it, too, will have glory over the others. It is all for domination."

Hilde re-inked her own branch and touched it to the paper once again. Domination. That seemed to be a key in almost everything. Men desired domination over women, masters desired domination over slaves, empires desired domination over other empires. She thought of her old friend, Meiran. So she had only been a prize in the battle for glory. And so am I, Hilde thought. Lord Yuy's prize.

"So there will be a battle for the port then," Lady Relena finally spoke, looking up from her own papers.

Lady Dorothy nodded. "Yes, I believe so."

Lady Relena sighed tiredly and touched a hand to her forehead as if she had headache. "Treize," she said softly. "He has always been so persistent."

Hilde gazed at her mistress as she said this, taking notice of the emotion that darkened the clear aquamarine orbs at the commander's name. Lady Relena seemed to have a deeper connection with the handsome French expatriate than she was conveying. Hilde made a silent note to ask her more later; she knew Lady Relena would confide in her, if not in anyone else.

The screen leading out into the hallway opened and a trio of Lady Relena's attendants entered, bowing and whispering pardons as they approached their mistress and carefully helped her to her feet. Lady Relena bowed her head slightly as she allowed the girls to lead her to the open screen and out into the hallway towards her own chambers. "Excuse me," she whispered, and the screen slid closed.

Lady Dorothy looked at Hilde, her face clouded with concern. "Where is she going?" she asked. "Is she alright?"

Hilde smiled and continued brushing strokes of the thick black ink onto her paper absently, letting her mind's reflections flow down her arm, through the branch, and onto the paper. "My lady is fine, Mistress Dorothy," she replied. "There is no need for worry. She is simply having her bindings changed." Lady Relena had begun to bind her stomach in the fourth month of her pregnancy, when her abdomen had become noticably larger, to hide her "ailment" and to retain her shapely figure. She had the bindings changed at least three times daily to allow some time for her body to breathe before becoming constrained for the remainder of the day.

Lady Dorothy nodded and returned to her own calligraphy. "I understand," she said. "I only pray that that is not harmful to the baby. There are some strange customs in this country, ne?" She smiled. "Has Lord Yuy asked any exotic favors of his koishii, prediletta mia?" She looked back up, studying the courtesan's face as she answered, taking note of the light blush that crept into her carefully made up cheeks and the glint of mischieviousness that sparkled in the cerulean eyes.

"No, not yet, particularly," Hilde answered slowly, keeping her eyes down on the paper before her, tracing the long black strokes as they crisscrossed the thin material. "He has only asked that I pleasure myself sometimes before he takes me... But I should want to play the shasai ikkai with him. I am sure he would enjoy it." She smiled, the blush in her cheeks deepening at the mention of her and Lady Dorothy's practiced game of sensual bondage.

Lady Dorothy smiled back. "Yes, I think he would as well," she replied. "Especially after so much voltaggio with the Spanish, ne?" She sighed and shook her head. "I should hope this will all be over soon."

Hilde nodded and dipped her branch into the ink once again. "Yes," she replied almost dreamily as she refined the image of a human shape on her paper, tracing the long, straight lines of perfect masculinity. The robes that adorned the shape were black. She couldn't wait any longer, and Lady Relena would be back soon.

"Mistress, may I ask you a question?" Hilde said, carefully masking the urgency in her voice as the words tumbled from her mouth.

"Of course, Lady Hilde," the blonde woman replied, frowning down at her sheet and quickly brushing a stroke of concealer across the symbol she had just painted.

Hilde continued with her shape. "I know that you have told me many times about the church, and about priests," the girl began slowly, re-inking her branch to start on the most beautiful part of her creation. "But I still wonder... Are priests not men? Do they not ever wish to partake in the arts of love?"

Lady Dorothy laughed gently and shook her head. "Ava Maria, you still have so much to learn, little Hilde." She looked up and smiled. "Yes, priests are men. But they are men with obligations to a higher being, prediletta mia. And one of those obligations is to take a vow that forbids them to partake of the arts of love. Sexual relations are strictly forbidden for them."

Hilde listened silently, keeping her eyes on her painting. She had known Lady Dorothy would say all of that, she thought. She sighed and added the finishing touches to the beautiful figure on her paper. "Yes, I know that," she finally replied softly. "But what if he were to have relations... because he was in love..."

Lady Dorothy dropped her cedar branch. "You are not talking about any priest," she said softly. "This is Father Maxwell, yes?" She gazed at the courtesan steadily, watching her face as she answered, the blush deepening ever more.

The young German girl closed her eyes for a moment, sighing deeply, her hand straying up to her neck to caress her collarbone as she bit her lower lip to suppress a moan at the mention of his name. "Hai," she whispered breathlessly, opening her eyes to look down at the figure of Maxwell she had drawn, the long braid falling over one shoulder as he smiled mischeiviously up at her.

Lady Dorothy shook her head once again. "Do you think that you love him, Lady Hilde?"

Hilde raised her eyes to her former mistress shyly. "I am not sure," she replied softly, pensively. "But I want so badly to find out, Mistress Dorothy." She closed her eyes again, not bothering to suppress a soft moan at the memory of his tongue, probing ever so gently at her own, this time. "I want it so badly, and I know that he does, too."

Lady Dorothy whispered a forgiveness in Italian and quickly crossed herself. "Favore, Lady Hilde," she said. "Do not speak like that! I know that he is handsome, but you mustn't. It is forbidden within the church; he will be excommunicated if you have relations together. And what of Lord Yuy? You are his courtesan! Do you not love him as your master?"

Hilde opened her eyes once more and looked up. "Yes, of course I love my lord!" she replied desperately, hoping Lady Dorothy would not repeat this to him. "He is a wonderful man and I do love him. But he belongs to Mistress Relena... and Maxwell-san..."

Lady Dorothy held a finger to her lips, silencing the girl, as light footsteps approached down the hallway. "No more of this, Lady Hilde," she whispered. "You must not tempt yourself or Father Maxwell. It will be safer. Favore."

The shoji screen slid open and Lady Relena stepped inside with her two attendants before Hilde could answer, smiling in greeting. Hilde nodded in answer to her former mistress and returned to her calligraphy, turning her paper to the next in her sheaf and beginning again on her poem for Lord Yuy. She would invite him to play a round of shasai ikkai with her tomorrow. It would be wonderful to teach him- his strong, hard body entwined in silken ropes, delicately restrained so that she could have her way with him, as Lady Dorothy had had hers with the beautiful couretsan. She smiled in spite of herself and began the poem.

The paper with the smiling image of Maxwell was tucked carefully into the long sleeve of her kimono, saved for much later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~