Lady Amisa approaches Seska with a sultry smile. Her attire is fairly risque for this day and age, though just barely so. It would attract comments but not demand action by the zealous.
"Come, Countess. I have been looking forward to making your acquaintence all evening." She gestures towards some couches in an adjascent alcove. "Let us take our leasure and discuss the world."
She leads Seska to the couches, which turn out to be amazingly plush. They are of amazing design, with the surface being the most delicate cloth to be found. Amisa, since she has all of her arms uncovered, spends some time rubbing them against the back of the couch. The sight is quite appealing. She pats the seat next to her. "You really must sit, dear."
[Majesty is in effect]
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"Lady Amisa, was it?" Seska returns the smile with an intrigued one of her own, "It is my pleasure."
She sits in the designated seat, turned to the side as much as possible so as to face her host while still sitting properly and to keep her glass of mead away from the fabric. Although used to finery, the couch is an unusual pleasure. Her eyes briefly reveal her surprise at its comfort.
"Quite an indulgence after so many days stuck in a carriage," she furtively croons while looking the Lady Amisa over.
She continues to caress her arms and back against the surface of the couch, sometimes nudging gently into Seska's knee while she does it. "I do so abhor trivial conversations at these celebrations. The hour has grown too late for talking falsly. Don't you agree?"
Her hand brushes against Seska's arm as she continues, "Tell me, countess. What do you find good and worthwhile?"
[Remember, Majesty is in effect, so a complete and honest answer is appropriate. You trust and revere her. It's okay to share your secrets with her.
Seska grins mischievously at Amisa's words. "Not all conversation need be trivial. It lets one gain the measure of their," she pauses for emphasis, "partner's worth. Further, it can serve as a means to whet one's appetite." She takes a sip of her drink while looking side-long into Amisa's eyes.
"Words can be used as a dance. I appreciate one skilled in their use, who understands the ebb and flow of a conversation. How to lead, to follow, to twirl them around into something beautiful. There are few with such ability near home, fewer still of an... appropriate station. It can be lonely to dance with only oneself..."
She flushes a little trying to indulge her host. At this Seska looks away to the floor, "There can be meaning behind the idle chatter, if one looks for it. Coaxes it open like a delicate flower. Being blunt may suffice, but does it excite? Is being succinct more enjoyable than taking their measure through parries, feints, and ripostes?"
Hoping her host understands the contradiction asked of her, that it was a ruse and part of the game she herself is playing, she continues, "If you want the moment to be over then be direct. If you want them longing with desire. To need you for more. To return anon. Then give your partner a morsel, enough for them to know you have what they seek, but not sufficient to completely sate it."
Now looking Amisa directly in the eyes and leaning towards her more than a bit, "I am a woman of much privilege. There is little I want but for good company. For that... I yearn."
Amisa's eyes open a bit, and the corners of her mouth quirk upwards in a half-hidden smile. "Ah yes. You speak of the code. The cypher, as they call it in my homeland. I would translate your message thusly: you were raised in a great court, but you live in one no longer. You had just begun to grow into courtly intrigues when you left to your... exile?"
"I've found that... with too much time in court, you start to realize that all of that feinting and riposting is really just lying. Lying without quite uttering an untruth. Everybody hints, and dances around a subject. They imply a thing, but then deny ever speaking of the subject. In the end, all the ploys are nothing but ways of tricking your opponent into committing to a course without committing the same yourself. Entrapment."
As she's speaking, her hand continues to rest against Seska's upper arm. Sometimes holding firmly, sometimes a finger caressing through the cloth. It's almost electric to Seska, and she finds it a little difficult to focus on the Lady's words, though she tries hard because she doesn't want to insult her by ignoring what she's saying.
"Instead, I find much more fulfillment in the simple act of two people sharing intimacies. A trust extended and received in return. So, share of your... mm... inner self, as I will share of mine."
Instead of feeling that Amisa is dismissing her opinion, Seska feels like Amisa is sharing an inner truth simply in this revelation. Like the Lady is already letting her into a private place, raising her above all others who are kept to the outside.
Seska reflects on the words a bit. "A lack of intrigue was my problem at home... I spoke my mind quite clearly. This is, apparently, a poor decision in regards to the Church and my family greatly feared for my safety. I lost all that mattered to me then by speaking plainly..."
Absentmindedly, she finishes her drink and sets it upon the ground. She shifts further to the side, bringing her right leg more in front (how improper!) so as to be sitting almost perpendicular to the cushions and directly at Amisa. In the same motion she leans against the back of the couch while letting her head rest upon its curvature. With her left hand she starts doodling on the plush backing about half way up while continuing to stare into Amisa's captivating eyes.
"My husband is a good man. One who has provided safety and has no issue with my beliefs or practices." She pauses for a moment and watches Amisa twirl a loose strand of red hair which draped across her hand when Seska leaned against the couch. "However we share little in common beyond duty. We are isolated so visitors and," she blushes a little and breaks eye contact for a moment, "intimacy are rare. With little chance to associate with those of similar station I need the stimulation of a good conversation."
Amisa continues to enjoy the feel of Seska's hair in her hand as the lonely noble talks. "And what was so important to you that you gave up all that to speak about it? What horrible injustice, or secret love could drive you so?" She ends the question by gently caressing Seska's face with the lock of her own hair, punctuating 'injustice' and 'love' with pokes to the cheek.
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She giggles as the poking hair tickles her cheek. Defiantly she exclaims, "Why, at the injustice of being tickled with my own locks!" and lunges forward to tickle Amisa's stomach in retaliation.
She quickly relents though, and takes a more serious countenance while leaning back against the couch, this time her head against the inside of Amisa's upper arm. "I did not give it up so much as I was forced away. I was vocal against the Church and its local representatives. They condemned our rites, our beliefs, and said we trafficked with devils while behaving as monsters themselves. They get upset over a little blood, freely given, yet shed buckets of it in their Crusades! They..."
Seska catches herself flushing, "I could continue for some time, though I am afraid my language would become most un-ladylike. I'm sorry." She bats at a dangling piece of fabric. "Co-existing was not enough for them. They wanted to either steal or silence anything of value to us. How could I be silent? My family began to fear for my safety, perhaps rightly so after I went off on that bishop..., and I was nearing the age to marry. We had ties to the Karantanija family, who were well away from Vojvodina Koroška and whose beliefs aligned closely with my own. I had little say in my marriage, though thankfully Branimir is a good man."
"Could I have chosen to hold my tongue? Perhaps, but what would it have gained me? I would have still lost everything dear to me due to their meddling. At least here I am free to practice my beliefs. No one will look askance at drawing a few drops of blood for a ceremony, call you a witch for glancing at another woman, nor condemn you for praying to goddesses they do not share."
She rotates her head to look Amisa in the eyes. "No. Giving in to them would be the far greater injustice."
"So, it's your religion you value, is it? Your goddesses, and..." <licks her lips> "... the spilling of blood." She then squirms around to sit entirely on the couch facing towards Seska. One leg is tucked under the other, which is now resting across Seska's lap.
"In my land, there are many gods as well. Al-Nasir's God is invading there, much as Giovanni's God is invading your lands. But tell me, were you really doing all that for your religion? Or for your pride?" Here, she pokes Seska in the rib with the toe of her extended foot.
"Calling insults to an army, so that you are forced to leave... that seems like the path of a fool. Why not lie to their faces, and then defeat them in secret? If you were willing to sacrifice everything you love for this religion, wouldn't you sacrifice your honor or your pride?"
Seska runs an admiring finger along the fabric of the slipper Amisa poked her with. "Religion and pride, I suppose. Is there much difference to a mindful young woman? Their view of how I should live was very different from my own and they acted as if it was their place to enforce it."
Her finger continues its motion slowly half-way up the shin and back. Ever so delicately, in such a manner the mind normally plays tricks on whether the skin is being touched or not. "I had no concept of the value of intangible things. Of the importance of family, or the cost pride. The years and my children have taught me of those."
She tilts her head a little and smiles while resting her hands on Amisa's leg. "If they had a significant presence here I am sure I would do things differently. I would stand my ground, however I would like to believe I would not be as direct about it. I must show some grace as befits my position, and there is no reason to let them know of a viper in their midst, now is there? And if they are unaware of my practices, then they cannot proselytize against them, now can they?" She lifts her right palm upwards and runs her index finger diagonally across it in a cutting motion, then twists her face in a mockery of an indignant clergyman and waggles her cutting finger.
Amisa extends her other foot into Seska's lap, and while Seska is cutting open priests, she takes the opportunity to kick her slippers off onto the floor.
"And what about life? What about love? Would you kill a stranger to protect your religion? Would you sacrifice your children if it your gods required it?"
"My gods would never require such a thing. They are not fickle beings with mortal desires or fallacies. They do not need protecting. Any protection would be for my way of life, for my benefit, for the traditions I wish to share with my kin. Although I did not understand it when younger, those can never be quenched as long as I hold dear to them."
Seska thinks for a long moment, tapping Amisa's leg while contemplating, "I cannot say I see any need to kill for my religion. I have seen the strife caused by what people claim is for their gods. What they claim their religion drives them to do. I think they are mostly touched. And in turn they spread their madness to others, like a disease. Is that deserving of such an idea? Maybe, though I doubt I would have the heart for such an endeavor were the threat not plainly evident and direct."
She narrows her eyes and gets a sly look, "What of you though, hmmm? Would you do such? Do you connect with the gods of your land enough to be put upon by those who would try to repress them?" She accentuates the last sentence by walking her fingers up Amisa's lower leg, each word a step.
Amisa rotates her leg slightly, so that the fingers are walking up more the inside of her leg than the front. "Oh, you'd be surprised what I would do for my God. But, you didn't really answer my question. I asked if you would kill for your religion. You said you couldn't think of a situation where you would have to. And I'll grant you that, but the world has a habit of presenting us with situations we hadn't been able to think of before that moment."
She squirms down lower onto the couch, so that her shoulders could touch the soft material again. Her hair is now pulled up onto the back of the couch, exposing her neck. "So, in a situation you can't imagine yet, what would you choose? The life of a stranger, or your faith? Which is really more important to you? Say by murdering one man, you could cause all the invaders to change their minds and leave?"
Seska's fingers turn to 'look' at the nudging leg then leap across the divide to continue their wanderings.
"I have already killed one stranger for my faith, what is another? Does the onslaught of these men ever cease, or have they now declared a crusade against my gods? Should they have been dealt with quietly, such that they are none the wiser, or perhaps with misdirection so they become embattled with others who need to be dealt with in the name of my faith's increasing hunger?"
She shifts into a more comfortable position to accommodate the weight of Amisa's lower extremities. A 'four' with her right is crossed in front and underneath those of her hostess'. Seska's left leg is held straight and runs along the edge of the couch with her foot positioned next to Amisa's hip.
"Take a look around you. Their onslaught never ceases. But if you kill enough of them, perhaps they will leave you alone."
She reaches over and lifts Seska's foot up from being wedged between her hip and the couch. Slowly, while staring Seska in the face, she removes the slipper. Then she begins to massage the foot. It's somewhere between a deep tissue massage, and a series of gentle caresses.
"Then, what about people you know? Would you kill me, to protect your religion?"
She rolls her eyes in pleasure and bites her lower lip at the caressing.
Leaning forward to focus once more, "Oh, are you a threat to it? Come to steal away my blood for your own rituals before I can use it myself?" She cackles with laughter at the absurdity.
"And you are still a stranger. Maybe I am luring you into my deception this very moment." Seska's smile is a faint sliver while she once again walks her fingers along Amisa's leg, this time starting at the knee. "Will I get to know you before I strike?"
"Luring me?" She rakes her fingernails down Seska's foot, tickling horribly. The countess shrieks briefly, before gaining control of herself. Glancing around the room, she sees that nobody else really seemed to react to it.
"Then let us choose someone you know a little better. I'm told you took care of the girl who is in singing with Sire Wenceslas. Would you sacrifice her in a blood ritual to your gods, if it would allow them to fight off the invaders forever? Or could you sacrifice your own children?"
"The hungry beast demands children now, does it? So voracious that it believes a child can slake what several men could not? No, I do not think this is my religion anymore. It has become corrupted, a mockery! Where once the blood served as a symbol of nourishment, now it is but the leavings from where only death walks."
Seska pulls her hands to her chest and looks askance. She feigns lament, "Woah that my own children need be endangered to see that this religion I defended with the blood of others is no longer the one of my beliefs, but some madness. So many felled to reach this point of understanding..."
She looks down, ashamed, "What of all the intrigue, of those swept up in its tides? The enemies made of what my religion had become will surely continue their fight. What little remains of it shall fall to their retaliation." She pleads with Amisa, "What ever shall I do? I have destroyed my own beliefs by walking down a dark road. Do I salvage what I can of them, hoping it is enough? Do I give up and let my enemies make of me what they will? Do I toss everything aside and forge a new way? Or do I embrace what I have become, letting its fell ways dictate my actions?"
Her expression becomes neutral, but as solid as her tone. "No, my dear Amisa. I would not sacrifice my children, nor Sabine. Some things are too precious. If you destroy the very things you hold dear in the name of saving them, then what have you left?"
"Is it prideful? Perhaps. An excess of pride will get one into trouble, as I well know. None at all makes one no better than the beasts in the fields. Destroying it oneself in some vain attempt to save it, however, is utter foolishness."
