Light sparkles off the amber bangles as she dances. Torchlight, lantern light, all reflected from matching amber beads. Beads that sparkle among the filmy scarves hanging from her deep brown dance costume. The drums pull her hips to their rhythm, the elongated zither playing the traditional melody built from scales so unfamiliar to Clothilde.
But everything here is unfamiliar to Clothilde, for all that she has lived and danced here for six years. That women should be separated from the daily lives of men is something that never happened at Home. That men who kill without compunction, should pray five times daily, is beyond her understanding. That her hair, long and auburn and curly, should fall to her waist instead of being carefully restrained on her head as she wears a costume scandalous by the standards of Home, is another part of the strangeness. The most unexpected part is that the dances she has learned, sinuous and sensual, should be the reason that she is still virgin. And, of course, her eyes.
A man grabs at her feet as she glides between the groups of celebrants seated on patterned rugs on the ground.. His hand slides suggestively along her calf. Clothilde’s dance becomes one of invitation. She steps away, turning, hips still swaying. She leans backwards, and backwards, until her head is just above the ground, her arms held out towards her feet to keep her balanced. Her chest does the traditional sudden fast rhythmic shake, setting the beads sparkling in the light, and allowing her breasts to nearly leave her costume. The man, dark and bearded, leans forward to perhaps fill his hands with those breasts when he sees her eyes. She had been instructed to remove her veil tonight, and so her eyes, one brown and one hazel are clearly seen by this drunken fool. Fool, to think of touching the Pasha’s dancing girl, and fool to want a woman of bad luck, a woman with eyes of different colors. He has not had so much wine as to risk such bad luck, he pulls back, sheepishly, and Clothilde continues her dance around the tent.
Tonight, her life is strange, even by this world’s rules. This party, a celebration of victory, is larger than any her master has ever held before. The greatest room in the Pasha’s compound was not large enough to hold all the celebrants. A tent, the largest that Clothilde had ever seen, has been set up outside. Every pillow, rug and cushion in the entire palace had been placed in it to form a casual setting calculated to hide the lack of formal celebration space.
Although her knowledge of the language is still imperfect, Clothilde has gathered enough to understand that her master’s eldest son was saved during battle three days ago.
Clothilde understands that her master had to promise much to many, many allies to find enough men to win this war he has been fighting. Her master talks to her of such things, sometimes, always in secret. Her father had trained her, the only child, in what needed to be understood to run a Keep back at Home. Clothilde knows that her master is over-extended, and trying to keep his honor. She wonders how he will manage.
The loudest part of the celebration is around her master, and Clothilde brings her dance closer to him, listening carefully, hoping to hear more tonight. Her attention is arrested. There is a white man here! The cut of his hair, the trim of his beard, they tell her he is from Home. She listens carefully, trying to make out the words. He is the man who has saved the Pasha’s son!
But everything here is unfamiliar to Clothilde, for all that she has lived and danced here for six years. That women should be separated from the daily lives of men is something that never happened at Home. That men who kill without compunction, should pray five times daily, is beyond her understanding. That her hair, long and auburn and curly, should fall to her waist instead of being carefully restrained on her head as she wears a costume scandalous by the standards of Home, is another part of the strangeness. The most unexpected part is that the dances she has learned, sinuous and sensual, should be the reason that she is still virgin. And, of course, her eyes.
A man grabs at her feet as she glides between the groups of celebrants seated on patterned rugs on the ground.. His hand slides suggestively along her calf. Clothilde’s dance becomes one of invitation. She steps away, turning, hips still swaying. She leans backwards, and backwards, until her head is just above the ground, her arms held out towards her feet to keep her balanced. Her chest does the traditional sudden fast rhythmic shake, setting the beads sparkling in the light, and allowing her breasts to nearly leave her costume. The man, dark and bearded, leans forward to perhaps fill his hands with those breasts when he sees her eyes. She had been instructed to remove her veil tonight, and so her eyes, one brown and one hazel are clearly seen by this drunken fool. Fool, to think of touching the Pasha’s dancing girl, and fool to want a woman of bad luck, a woman with eyes of different colors. He has not had so much wine as to risk such bad luck, he pulls back, sheepishly, and Clothilde continues her dance around the tent.
Tonight, her life is strange, even by this world’s rules. This party, a celebration of victory, is larger than any her master has ever held before. The greatest room in the Pasha’s compound was not large enough to hold all the celebrants. A tent, the largest that Clothilde had ever seen, has been set up outside. Every pillow, rug and cushion in the entire palace had been placed in it to form a casual setting calculated to hide the lack of formal celebration space.
Although her knowledge of the language is still imperfect, Clothilde has gathered enough to understand that her master’s eldest son was saved during battle three days ago.
Clothilde understands that her master had to promise much to many, many allies to find enough men to win this war he has been fighting. Her master talks to her of such things, sometimes, always in secret. Her father had trained her, the only child, in what needed to be understood to run a Keep back at Home. Clothilde knows that her master is over-extended, and trying to keep his honor. She wonders how he will manage.
The loudest part of the celebration is around her master, and Clothilde brings her dance closer to him, listening carefully, hoping to hear more tonight. Her attention is arrested. There is a white man here! The cut of his hair, the trim of his beard, they tell her he is from Home. She listens carefully, trying to make out the words. He is the man who has saved the Pasha’s son!