Royal Palace
Lordinax
Lothian League
Marian Hegemony
The Periphery
26 February, 3150
Freyja descended the few stone steps as the door closed behind her. Grand Mistress Logan waited for her, having changed into a robe trimmed with a rich fur that matched the color of her hair almost exactly. She hadn't been exaggerating about the underground caverns. The engineers and designers had managed to somehow build around and into a vast system of caverns, shafts and caves which were variously filled with steam, water, and glistening displays of crystal and rock structure. She had walked by a mammoth pool where hundreds of people could likely swim, and gone down a series of hallways and passages, each carved and structured, until she had been led through a small door to this small room.
It was dark, the only lighting being artificial, augmented by a few torches which cast alluring glows and shadows throughout the room. The walls and ceiling were cared into a deep blue rock, speckled throughout with silver like crystals that reflected the light like jewels. The floor was brief, little beyond a few ledges down to the circular pool of water that gleamed perfectly still until the occasional droplet of water created an artful series of ripples. The room was damp, but in a warm, inviting way that almost swallowed a person up.
"You were not exaggerating, Mistress, this place is gorgeous. It's like something out of a myth." Freyja said, almost awestruck.
Claire stood beside her. "It is amazing, isn't it. It took my grandmother years to construct all of the amenities down here. She wanted something that would surpass the old Logan palace back on Lothario. The caverns are almost all natural, excavated and expanded of course, reinforced and linked together. Everything down here is powered by the geothermal energy of the planet. There are saunas linked to salt steam vents, there are mud baths, heated pools, all regulated with the underground steam and water. This here is my personal bath, I can have the water anything from frigid to bubbling hot. When you feel the mineral rich water, it's as if the years are soaking out of your skin."
Freyja took it all in, marveling in the beauty, all the while aware that the Grand Mistress was watching her reaction. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble, Mistress, this is beyond words."
"Nonsense, it's no trouble at all," she stood behind Freyja, a few inches taller than her, and spoke over her shoulder. "You seemed dreadfully tense back in the throne room. I dare say I blame you, this is all a lot to take in. But I wanted to discuss things with you somewhere that we could be more casual and relaxed, just two women, albeit powerful ones, talking about the world.
Claire drew out her words like art. At the words casual and relaxed, Freyja felt the other woman's fingertips tracing the base of her neck. By the time she reached the word powerful, she had started unzipping Freyja's corset ever so delicately. She hadn't anticipated this. Sure, the Grand Mistress was a beautiful woman, and one who exuded power and confidence, but Freyja had cast the powerful allure out of her mind as simple playful fantasy.
She turned her head to the side, "Mistress, you don't have to do that," she halfheartedly protested.
Mistress Logan paused briefly. "I know that, my dear. This is my private domain, I don't do anything that I don't want to, and I certainly don't do anything that I feel I have to." She slowly resumed her gentle pull on the bodice's zipper. "Don't feel intimidated either, dear. It also goes without say that you do not have to do anything you don't want to down here. You are totally safe with me here, and you can go whenever you like. It will have no bearing on the decisions I make for out there."
She finished speaking just as the zipper reached it's bottom, releasing the final bindings of tension that pressed in on Freyja's top, leaving the corset held up only by the fact that Freyja's arms were at her side. Claire stepped around Freyja and took one step down to a lower ledge, untying the cord that held her robe tight and letting the garment drop as gracefully as if it were a stream of water in one of the surrounding caverns. She spun as she took the next step, displaying with an alluring pride a body that most women across the Inner Sphere would kill for. She had curves in all the right places, and if there was a flaw anywhere on her skin, the haunting light of the room certainly did not reveal it to Freyja's eyes.
She stepped down and back into the water, sinking to her shoulders and sending ripples across the pristine surface of the water. She softly floated back until she reached the back lip of the pool, and then she leaned back, lifting her arms out of the water to hold her up as she fixed Freyja with her gaze. "Stay or go as you like, dear. But I promise this will be worth it."
Freyja hesitated for a moment, but before she could let her mind posit too many consequences and problems, she stepped forward and let her corset fall. She unzipped and removed her boots, then her trousers followed slowly and deliberately, all the while she tried not to blush as she was fully aware of being under the complete gaze of the Grand Mistress. When she had totally disrobed, she took a step forward, then sunk a foot tentatively in the water, which was pleasantly warm. Finally she stepped off completely and let herself sink slowly beneath the surface. She felt stone beneath her feet as she focused on testing the depth of the water. Her feet could reach the bottom if she tried, but it was not so shallow that she couldn't let herself float.
She leaned her head back slightly, and smiled broadly as the warm and almost effervescent water engulfed her body. She let out a deep breath. Claire Logan had not been lying. The water was warm enough that it seemed to wrap her in safety, but there was also an ever so delicate tingling sensation that practically drew the stress from the pores of her skin. "This is incredible, Mistress. I've never felt anything like it, even back at Castle McCarron."
Claire smiled warmly. "You can see why it's my private retreat. When I'm soaking here, I can let the outside world's pressures melt away and let my mind simply float."
Freyja shot the older woman a coy smile. "You mean to tell me you don't entertain all your guests down here?"
Clair laughed delicately. "Oh dear god, no. I wouldn't have the beauty of this place spoiled by having some rich, fat Marian envoy plopping down like a whale in it. Only beauty and serenity allowed down here, dear."
Freyja blushed slightly. "There you go flattering me again, you must be buttering me up for something."
Claire smiled disarmingly. "Not guilty, I assure you, my intentions are sincere."
Freyja laughed playfully. If the Grand Mistress was trying to disarm her, it was working. She felt unexpectedly safe and free. "Beauty and Serenity? My Grandmother was named Serenity, you know. I never knew her. And my mother's name is Temperance, and a less fitting name you probably couldn't find, so I don't know what that's worth."
Claire tilted her head thoughtfully. "And you are named Freyja. A Norse Goddess, if my memory serves me. Quite fitting, I would say."
Freyja bit her lip. "There you go again with the flattery, Mistress. I'm starting to get paranoid."
The Grand Mistress shrugged delicately. "Come join me over here dear, and we can discuss things."
Freyja paddled softly over to Claire's side of the pool. She started to move to sit beside the other woman, but Claire lifted one of the arms she had resting on the lip of the pool and directed Freyja closer to her. Then she gently twisted her by the shoulders until she was floating in front of the Grand Mistress with her back facing her.
As she spoke, she began to gently and delicately unbraid Freyja's hair. "This pirate business has been both a blessing and a curse for me. It has made quite clear something I've known for a long time. I have inherited a realm with a critical weakness. We struggled for our freedom for decades, and while we have gotten it, I find myself leading a collection of 6 weakly held together worlds. Lordinax and Lothario are united enough, I suppose, but you've seen firsthand what a lack of central authority has done to your world."
Freyja nodded. "It does seem rather slap-dash. We had a hell of a time pulling together resources with such disparate principalities and fiefdoms"
"Precisely. In order to stabilize and grow my realm's power, I have to first stabilize the parts. You saw how hard that was even with a pirate threat breathing down your necks. But, that means we have an opportunity on Lummatii. Your world is at a critical time where it may be ripe for solidifying under a single authority. You have helped bring that about with the force you have forged, and with your victory. So it's only fair that you weigh in on my decisions, don't you think?"
While part of her was wildly excited with a beautiful, powerful woman playing with her hair, she was also beginning to feel surprisingly relaxed and clear of mind. "I see your problem, Mistress. What options are you considering?"
Claire had completely unbraided Freyja's hair by now, and was gently massaging her scalp with her fingertips. "Senator Ghant wants me to expand the power of the Senate. As it stands now, each of my six worlds elects three Senators who come here to advise, but they hold little real power. Mr. Ghant wants the senators to function more like a governor, with each planet effectively having a ruling council of three Senators. It sounds dreadfully complicated to me, but what are your thoughts, dear?"
Freyja leaned back slightly more into the Grand Mistress. "I am thoroughly unimpressed by Senator Ghant. He didn't have the balls for a fight, but now he's trying to ride the coattails of our victory. He's a politician, not a leader."
Claire Logan chuckled softly. "That was my assessment as well. He's good enough of a politician to control the council, and bad enough of a leader that it would be more harm than helpful." She started gently massaging Freyja's shoulders. "The simplest option, and one that I broached the subject of earlier with Count Logan, is to simply elevate Gunnar Logan to Duke, and make him planetary leader. I know you two have formed something of a power bloc. So let me ask you, is your alliance with him one of the head," she paused and slid her left hand around and gently cupped Freyja's breast as she spoke in her ear. "Or an alliance of the heart?"
She felt her heart race slightly faster. "I'm not sure I know the answer to that myself, Mistress. I would be lying if I said I don't have feelings for Count Logan. But being honest, I can't deny the practical points of having such an ally, especially having just freed myself from servitude. So i don't honestly know."
"I understand. Let me ask it another way," she slipped her other hand around and traced it gently over Freyja's abdomen. She didn't know if it was the water, or simple human chemistry, but Freyja tensed and tingled with the older woman's touch. "Did you intend to conceive his child, or was that simply an accident?"
Freyja jolted back to reality and spun around to face Mistress Logan. "How did you find out about that? Who?"
Claire gently caressed Freyja's cheek. "Relax, dear. I only had suspicions. Well, that is, until your reaction."
Freyja clenched her jaw. She would have made a terrible poker player.
Claire continued. "I'm quite good at reading people, that's all. Just like I felt things would be so much more productive down here, just the two of us, instead of that stuffy old throne room. You're drawn to power, like you're drawn to Gunnar, and to Me." Freyja glanced down at the water. "Don't take it as a criticism, dear. You're drawn to power because you're a woman of power yourself. You wouldn't be here with me now otherwise. You just need to learn to use and embrace it."
Freyja forced herself to relax and fall back into the bliss of the pool. "I didn't plan it. I didn't even know about it until after the battle."
Grand Mistress Logan thought for a moment. "No, that wouldn't be your style, would it, my dear."
Freyja leaned back into the Grand Mistress. She was terribly enthralled by this woman, and she didn't know why. "Why are you so interested in my relationship to Gunnar. Are you planning to make him a Duke and you want me to be your tool to keep him in line and steer him, is that it?"
Claire Logan inhaled deeply. "I have no doubt you could manage that, but I'd never ask a woman like you to be a simple....tool. And the fact that you've as much as told me that you didn't conceive his child as a means to power shows me that manipulation is not your game. No, my plan is something entirely different." As she spoke the next few words, she gently slid a hand between Freyja's legs. "I plan to elevate you to a Duchess"
Freyja gasped, a combination of shock at what she had just heard and pleasure as Mistress Claire had teased her. She gently tossed her head back onto Claire's shoulder. "You're not serious."
"Why not? I am entirely serious. It's perfect. You're at the peak of your popularity, and your power. You can't even admit that you want the power, so that curbs your ambition. You're smart. You're an outsider so you aren't enmeshed in all the baggage of family history around here."
Freyja blinked back surprise. "But, a month ago I was a slave. I'm not even twenty years old. An entire planet? That's insane."
"I told you, my dear, I'm good at reading people. I know you're the right person for this. And I know you're going to say yes. Because you can do it, and you can make a difference. And because you're drawn to power. That's why you accepted my invitation, It's why you didn't walk out the door, and it's why you'll come to my bedchamber when I invite you tonight and we'll work everything out."
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