"In literature as in ethics, there is danger, as well as glory, in being subtle. Aristocracy isolates us."
-Charles Baudelaire
The slithering but sensual tail of a lamia snaked around the body of a lamius. To outsiders, the scene was intimate, but to House Sharpscale, it was simply an eccentricity of their new soon-to-be Mother Echidna. Indeed, the lamius was somewhat offput that he was not chosen as a suitor for the lady who made him a member of the house, but he respected her nonetheless. He had become a powerful man, and a trusted friend. So trusted in fact, that our current subject liked to sleep at his side whenever she was tired of her duties.
The sunlight broke in through the windows. It was midday, or afternoon. The lamia coiled about the lamius had been up late the night before, attending to her duties and repelling proposals. She was hounded by aristocrats and superficial romantics who believed in love at first sight, so she escaped, and when she finally got some sleep, she never wanted to wake up. As the lamius shifted, the lamia coiled tighter about him and shifted on her back. "Ma'am, it's midday..." the lamius said shyly. The lamia simply groaned and turned over, accidentally coiling tighter about the lamius. "Stella, wake up!" Another strung out groan escaped her throat as she turned towards him with hooded, violet eyes. "Just a few more minutes, Julianus..." "Stella, you must awake now!" She moaned painfully and loosened her coils about the lamius, and began stretching on the bed.
"Why are you so impatient?" "I have a job to do if you will not do yours, but I cannot get up if you keep choking me." Stella nearly giggled cruelly, but covered her mouth to hide her smile. "My apologies, then. I suppose we should begin our day?" The lamius sighed and his tail split off into a man's legs as he shifted out of the bed. "I suppose I'll begin my bath, then," she said, doing the same.
After the usual hassle to get to her own quarters, she ran her bath and sighed. She'd love to go for a hunt today, or perhaps participate in a friendly skirmish. Fighting was a source of relief for her, and the soreness of a friendly fight was worth it, while the haul from a good hunt made everything sweeter. She contemplated how she would go about the rest of the day while she spent a good hour in the bath, soaking up the moisture and softening her humanoid skin. It still had that righteously scaly texture, but it was smooth. The callusses on her hands and feet made obvious her love for the sword.
After her self-alotted time had passed, Stella hustled through the crowd of fools lined up at her chamberdoor and blazed a trail for the Room of Counsil, to meet up with her advisors and propose her schedule.
"That's not quite going to work..." "Why not, Hendrick?" "There's going to be a Clan Council meeting in less than two weeks. The Fete is also not far off, we need to plan a Clan exhibition, and rehearse it, if need be!" "There will be no need for rehearsal, there will be a series of friendly duels. I'll take all comers. An Ifrit could challenge me, for all I care, and if I lose to such an opponent, I'll be wiser for it. There's our exhibition." "But--" "I've made my plan. Now, tell me what this drabble about a Clan Council meeting is all about." The mage-born hesitated. It was well known that Stella's mother had once attended a few of these meetings, and the major subject was always the same, some big stink about what The Seer Asra would do about the great Tatari Kiseki. She was unsure how she felt about this man. He shambled about the city, offering to grant wishes in exchange for mage-born children and turn them into Axemi-lis. As a sensible - if slothen - woman, she figured he was alright for that, but something still didn't seem right about him, something metaphysical.
"It's about The Curse, no?" The mage-born nodded. His grandfather's uncle had become an Axemi-lis by the hand of a Kiseki, so naturally, he wasn't very found of the name, which is why she used his pseudonym. "Well, I don't know what we have to prepare about that. Do I have to rehearse my reaction to his absense or something?" "Nothing so paultry, ma'am." The future Mother Echidna smirked, laid back in her chair and stroked her hair. It was dried by now, so she figured she'd put it up into her battle-dress, a loose ponytail just tight enough to hold back her bangs. She tied it using a ribbon she kept in her dress pocket when she absconded from the bath.
"And what of the ball? I plan on using it as a chance to meet with suitors on more personal terms. How many aren't just swine looking to strike it rich, or lovestruck youth? Any honorable men? Kind-hearted soldiers? Perhaps I should wait until after my exhibition at the Fete, see who turns up at my doorstep. Hopefully, someone who can appreciate a strong woman such as myself." She sighed and slouched forward, to which the Mage-born nodded. "I don't suppose there'll be any problems with any of those plans. Other than that, I suppose, with that business taken care of, there is still the matter of what to do with the children."
"Don't we have an Axemi taking care of them? Julianus?" The children of clan Sharpscale were all raised in a comunal nursery to promote fraternity and unique generations. "Aye, we do, but from what I hear, he's feeling a bit hassled." Erpunthropic children are a andful, but normally, young, small Axemi-ter made great caretakers, as both sides were simply infatuated with the other, and it was easy for a juvenile Axemi-ter to establish themselves as an alpha mong children. "I suppose I'll have to stop by the Nursery, then. Should I arrive as a lamia, or a woman, Julianus?" "I would suggest lamia. They have all taken to prancing about as lamii themselves, so seeing their leader in the same form will strengthen their bond to the clan." "And I have to get married before too many of them come of age, don't I?" "Aye, m'lady, the pressures on. We have a few maturing a few days after the council meeting, and a small number of juveniles must go on their first hunt shortly after that." "I'm not likely to get married that soon. Engaged, possibly, but not married." "That should suffice for then. There's still pressure from your cousins, some of your more irrational ones have threatened mutiny"
"Arrange a few friendly duels, then. Whoever screams first loses, and the winner is named clan leader." That was how Stella solved most problems with insurrection. By establishing herself as an Alpha female, she managaed to stay at the top of the clan despite numerous threats of forceful takeover. Nobody would follow a weakling nor a fool, so she successfully opppressed the grouchy married cousins of hers. Naturally, she had to train a lot, but she didn't mind. She like whacking things with sharp objects. "So, now everything's handled. I wish to organize a Reptiljakt for this evening, at dusk," Stella finally said with a confident smile. Due to her zeal with hunting, the clan had become very rich, whereas her mother preferred only to protect the clan. "Very well, madame. I shall inform the clan." Informing the clan was a matter of telling the in-town clansfolk, and sending messangers to those hunting independently, and those from oulying villages. "Julianus, before you skitter off, tell me, have we any recent surveys for good hunting spots nearby? Are there any basilisk dens for as to trawl? Great lizards for a Storareptiljakt?"
"There are no official surveys, but I've heard word of a great serpent out on the planes, but I hear it's highly venomous as well. We'll only be able to send our venomous hunters out against it." "We must approach it with the ancestor Fafnir's blessing, then. Organize a survey so we have a better understanding of what we're doing." Julianus nodded and went off. So the entire evening was set up before her. By the end of a few more issues being resolved with Hendrick, it was mid-afternoon, and the sky was orange. She had to visit the nursery soon, and see how the Axemi-ter stationed there was doing.
"We are the only real aristocracy in the world: the aristocracy of money."
-George Bernard Shaw
