Life and Times of a Priestess: Ch.5: Cultural Exchange (Part 1: Paul's Books)

Chapter 5

Cultural Exchange

     Part 1 : Paul’s Books

It was morning.  Danella had taken her turn in one of the baths drying herself with her towel and had slipped her gown on to return to the main dormitory.  It was past the time when their customers began to arrive, but half of the priestesses were still in the process of eating in the kitchen and dining room or of cleansing and preparing themselves.  Most soldiers were on duty at this time of the day and it was only those who were on leave from war duties who might be able to ‘visit’.

       Danella returned to the dormitory.  A couple of soldiers had arrived and had picked two priestesses each and were engaged with them in the corners of the room behind the screens which Roger had introduced to allow some privacy to the soldiers who wished it.  Evidently it was normal practice for Vanmarians to take their sexual activities privately and it was only because of the urgency of their needs after the fighting that they consented to have sex, as the people of Pirion so often did, publicly.  The priestesses had found that some of the soldiers performed badly where others could observe them.  They were easily embarrassed by being watched.  Nonetheless it was something which could excite them very much.  Some enjoyed being ‘humiliated’ while others watched, observing others engaged in sex at the same time as they performed.  The priestesses had found that the men could accept sexual activity without privacy when the dormitory was busy and most of the priestesses in the room were ‘working’, but if the felt they were at the centre of attention they feared the sex as an ordeal and were not happy.  Some soldiers actually revelled in the public act, as most Pirionites would, because they enjoyed being the centre of attention.  The knowledge that in Pirion Priestesses and the other sections of society did this often and considered it normal made them able to do it when the Priestesses tried to persuade them.  Generally, as this morning, when the place was not too busy, they put up screens in certain corners for the sexual participants.

       After the first week some officers had requested certain Priestesses of their choice to return with them to their own lodgings for their pleasures.  Roger’s initial request for Sreela to spend some nights with him had been the first, but other officers had followed suite, either for nights, or more usually for quick half or full hour ‘sessions’ or for evenings.  It seemed that only officers were able to do this, but when Danella realised how much the soldiers were being charged she understood that the officers must be paying more for these privileges.  She had been taken by a number of different officers, always officers, on quite a few occasions to their lodgings, usually alone, but sometimes in small groups with other priestesses where they had conducted orgies in some sense which she had enjoyed very much.  These private orgies were initially suggested by the priestesses themselves.  Few of the soldiers had evidently considered them to be possible before they had come to Dalos.  Of course small groups all cost more, she now realised.  Only officers normally afforded them.

Danella came back to her own bed and sat in the chair next to it.  She had recently acquired a book from an officer who had taken her back to his lodgings through the city.  The man’s name was Paul.  He had been friendly and interested to talk to her before and after the sexual communion as soon as he realised that she was able to speak some basic Prancirian.  To begin with he had asked her whether she came from Dalos.  When she told him about Shanla, he had asked her where that was, and then why she had come to Dalos.

“I came to Dalos because I was bored with my life in Shanla.  I wanted to see the world.  I wanted to find out about other lands and other people,” she said. 

He had nodded and looked interested.  “And did you find what you were looking for?” 

“Not exactly,” she replied.  “I found a war which none of us wanted.” 

“But you found us Prancirians,” he said following her thoughts.

“Yes, I wanted to find out about Vanmar and its nations.  Instead of going there you came to me.” 

“And have you found out much about us?” he asked.

“Yes, a great deal.  I found out how you fight wars and how you ‘make love’, as you call it.  But there is much else which I do not know about you.  I do not know how you live at home.  I do not understand you.  I don’t know why you fight wars and seek to dominate.  I do not understand why you have wives who may make love to their husband only.”   The man continued to listen.  He must have been rich she now thought, although at the time she had not really appreciated that he would have paid the guards for her time.  Like General Polad he seemed interested to talk as well as to ‘make love’.  There were men from Vanmar, as well as in Pirion, who were willing to listen and to entertain a Priestess.  They wanted more of her than just her body, as if in listening they could savour more of her before they took her and by so doing the sexual event would be deeper and more meaningful.

She continued as he seemed to want to listen for the moment.  “I collected and borrowed some books when I was in Shanla to find out about the world.  I had a book about the history of Vanmar.  I learned much about your nations from that.  It told me about your wars and your religions and your ideologies.  I did not understand all of it but I found it quite fascinating.  We have nothing like that in Pirion.”

“I have books with me here,” he had said.  “They are written in Prancirian, but you seem to be well on the way to mastering our language.  If there are any here, apart from my own favourites, which you would like to borrow you may do so.  It will aid you in understanding our language.  The script is the same as in Pirion so the sounds of the letters are the same.  You should be able to understand many of the words already.”

“You are very generous sir, may I look,” she said.  She was shown a drawer which contained a handful of books, not as many as General Polad had owned, but this officer was a long way away from home.  He only brought a few books with him where he was stationed.  She looked and he picked one or two of them up to show her. 

“This is a novel by Luc Rubespon.  It’s called ‘The Homecoming’.  I have read this one.  It tells the story of a man’s adventures as he leaves home to find a living and has many adventures throughout Vanmar.  He meets his wife and they marry, but the nation is torn by civil war and then by invasion and he is forced to leave her to fight.  It tells how he eventually finds her after the war.  A good book you will enjoy it.

“Or these.  This is about solving a murder case, another novel.” 

“What is a ‘novel’ sir.  It is a true story is it,” she had surmised from his description of ‘The Homecoming’ that it was a true story, as a person might write the story of their own life, like a diary. 

“No not at all,” he laughed.  Of course she did not yet know the word in his language. “Do you have them in Pirion?  A novel is not a true story.  It is what we call a fiction.”  Seeing that she did not understand the word fiction either he went on, “A pretend story.  Many writers observe real events and lives, but they create pretend stories using ideas from the real world.  Made up events or stories are often more exciting than reality.  Many people in Prancir and the rest of Vanmar read these novels.  They keep us entertained and allow the reader to reflect upon the lives and viewpoints of the real people of the world.”

She began to understand.  “Of course,” she said, recognising what he meant from the fiction of Pirion.  She was reminded that not all that came from Vanmar was bad.  They had fictional stories in Pirion.  They were taught in the schools to the young, legends, fiction, and true stories of the past.  The novels of Vanmar were probably quite different from any she had read in Pirion.  As she had often wondered in Shanla, why were there so few books in Pirion, why did so many people not bother to read much.  People seemed to have so little curiosity about the world around them.  Of course there were some like herself and Polad who took great pleasure in books, but many people she had known did not read greatly.

Danella already thought she knew the answer.  There was no need to earn money so no one needed to write books to earn money.  There was plenty of sexual worship for everyone, so people gave little priority to anything but the needs and enjoyments of everyday life.  Most people were not curious about other lives because they had everything they needed in their own.  They did not need to read books because their personal lives were filled with adventure of the sexual kind.