I met her at the passage to Taxachai, and beheld a quiet beauty to her form. She sat upon a high backed seat beside an old table, and held a cup of brown tea in claw. The bitter scent of tana leaf was present, and she sipped it with a moment of thought, her lips stained brown against the quiet sandy yellow of her snout.

"Ambassador?" I hesitated to ask. Her garments were well maintained, the red thin feathers of her crest and brow contrasting to the smooth dark oil-cloth on her slender frame.

"I am." She raised one green eye up and observed me. "Are you the one who I sent for?"

"I am." I said, bowing my head down and pushing the dancing garb over my shoulder, to bare the three looped marks on my blade. I was a dancer, trained in the arts of the Ran-Tan, and had been sent for, to entertain the Lady Ambassador. "Did you desire a dancer this evening?"

"No." She said, after a moment of thought. She looked along the under-road, a quiet passage between the city proper, and the underside of the Ziggurat which the lady held a preference for being in.

"Your gender mystifies me. Are Humans monogender, like my own?" She asked, after a moment. I looked at her with a momentary confusion, then laughed softly.

"No, madame. I am Male. The females bare young, males impregnate them."

"Strange." She said, sipping her tea.


"They say males are the brutish ones. Or the graceful ones. It depends upon gender. But you seem quite graceful to me, by how you move. Not as graceful as one of my people, but pleasent enough to me."

She stirred her drink with a silver spoon, and once again looked at me. I was bathed in a shifting roll of purple and red and green, which flickered from a glowing orb set in the mouth of a small dragon statue.

I gave her a look, and laughed softly.



"No, my lady. Generally, the females are far more graceful, but males can be, if we work hard."

"Do you work hard?" She asked, gazing over me while I began to dance for her, slowly and with a gentle care. She observed with her inscrutable face telling nothing. I could read many of my clients. Her, I could get nothing from.

"Yes, Ambassador, I do. I have worked at this for many years, as have all of my guild."

"Excellent. You may entertain me for my stay here."

"Thank you." I bowed.

"Though, may I ask why you desire a dancer, and not one of our guides or archivists, or one who tours the city?" I questioned. She indicated me to kneel beside her, and I did so, her hand coming to rest on my shoulder. Her flesh was cool, but not unpleasent, on my bare flesh.

"They use flowery language. You are more direct with what I would wish to know. I am not very loquacious with your language." She replied. She finished her tea and stroked her fingers through my hair. I felt like a feline being rubbed. "Nor am I interested in their words. Your words - one not trained - should be more interesting."

Interesting enough to be roused out of four hours of sleep to fill the needs of a lady of the sands and jungles. Right. I kept my face neutral, with a bit of a smile,while watching the shadows dance from the color change of the light. The intensity altered with each shift.

"I am a dancer and musician, and enjoy entertaining. I will do the best I can." I said, after a moment. "I do recall seeing your delegation being drawn in by large beasts, and you sitting in the middle of the group. I also danced at the welcoming ceremony."

"I recall." She spoke, stroking the dusky skin of my arm. "You will stay with me, and work for me, until I deem your services rendered."

"What are the terms?" I hesitated. This could be a long contract.

"Until I am no longer in the borders of your empire, you are mine."

I gave a dull nod. The guild had agreed - to not do so would be an insult to the Empire, and an affront to the Dwellers of Sand and Jungle, who had been assured that needs would be met.

I bowed my head once. "Of course, my lady."


From the tunnel to the ziggurat, I was lead to her chambers. Great cloth sheets hung along the wall in crossed patterns of green and red, while a large raised divan held her sleeping platform, which was dipped and bowl like, and lain with a thin coating of fine grain sand. Small chests lay about, holding garments, as she required, as well as a large grouping of documents she had read through on a large desk. Light gleamed from the ceiling from glowing bulbs, soft in shade. Lastly, a great carved opening let in a fresh breeze, which helped abate my claustrophobia.

Somewhat, anyway.

She settled upon her divan and lowered her robes, the smoothness of her body showing across the scales, and I saw that she was golden-brown with small stripes of orange running across her chest and belly. Her body was androgynous, even to her belly and lower. I quickly averted my eyes, and looked at the stars twinkling out beyond.

"It is a strange view. So many buildings are erected, layering perhaps one or two stories, but never down but a single floor down. There is much to gain by building into the earth, least of which is space. And yet, so many towers, and castles so grand. Yours is a strange empire."

Empire. Their territory counted a hundred leagues more than our 'empire', and their might and skill was greater than that by many more. They controlled vast cities that grew into the earth, carved into what patterns they desired. I had seen one, in my youth, and been at awe and sought to emulate their manner for a time.

I still did.


"There is still a pattern to what we do. We did not have the benefit of a guiding hand in building this city - it was once a fort, that grew in population. What few decorations we have are because of the few artists we produce." I approached the carved window, and looked out among the people, who slept, as I wanted to sleep. I looked down upon the temple of Igngola, the feathered prince of war and justice. It was a gem. "This fort was built in the years between war between our people and yours, you know. Two hundred years ago, I believe it was."

"I recall." She said, her body stretching out onto the sand, and she laying skyclad. She was among the few I could look on and feel nothing, in such a manner. Not that she didn't have exotic appeal, but, she was as curvaceous as a young lad, and I did not know the anatomy of her inner thighs enough to feel even a twinge. I looked away from the red dipped color. Old habits.

"War breeds interesting things. But so does peace. But a few years ago, I would be sliding my claws into your back. Now, I only wish to see your unblemished flesh dance. So dance for me."

With a hint of a smile, I did.


When I had finished to her interests, which was some half an hour different and the sky from the dying embers of the long sunset to the twinkling richness of dark, she bid me sit with her, and I did.

I would have cared for a towel to dry off the touch of sweat on me, but if she was disturbed by it, she was too polite to not say anything. No, polite was the wrong word - they were a very direct species, cutting through the dance of words - they merely noted when things were best left unsaid.

I noticed her scent, this close. It was dry, yet oddly pungent, a hint of oil and vegetation. Not unpleasant, but odd enough to be noticed.

"It is in debate among my own, as to why so much is worn. While we all agree that flesh is weaker than proper scale, the curiosity as to your aversion to completely bare flesh is what drives some arguments. Are you ashamed that you have no scale?"

The question caught me off guard. I cocked my head and rubbed behind an ear, into the long hair that touched to mid back. I was one of the few men who could get away with long hair - the auburn color was a rare pleasure that some of the lady clients enjoyed. And male clients, at that.

"Ah. Modesty? As to why we keep heavily clothed even in the hot weather is because we do not want to get burnt by the sun."

"The sun rejects your people, then?" She asked? Her own kind enjoyed a long siesta in the sun, savoring it like I would savor a cool bath at the same time.


"No, the sun welcomes us. But if we stare too long into the glory, we suffer for it. We cover, to avoid offending the spirit of the sun, so he will not burn us with his anger. Unlike your kind, our pacts with the sun are different. He feeds us, and warms us, but we must remain humble."

"I see." She said, sounding unsure. "Then suppose why you wear so much inside of your homes and temples and palaces. Why the taboo of bare flesh is still in effect."

"I cannot say. It is just that none wish to see the naked flesh of another." I said, after a moment. I was unsure. "That the Gods prefer humility from us, so that we may better serve them. If we are distracted by breasts and genitals everywhere, we would be too busy mating instead of working."

"Fascinating." She said again, her head cocked. "Mating is a strange concept. That you must be stabbed with the flesh of another to make another, instead of forming it from your own flesh and birthing a continuation of your line."

I flushed.

"We cannot all be so blessed." I hesitated.


"I have mothered three daughters, as my mother had created three, as her mother had. I could draw more, but each time requires much energy and makes me incapable of continuing my work, as it reduces my effectiveness. Of course, I reduce my temperature to instill live birth in my young, as I follow the way of meeting the mammals with word, not aggression, and wish to have some things in common with your people." She stated, stroking my thigh with a hand. It was an affectionate gesture, I supposed.

"You can control your birthing?" I asked, after a moment? "I thought your kind laid eggs in creches."

"We do. Many of us do. Our first is always lain in creche, so that we may remember our ancestors and their pains to improve and evolve from the mud and swamps. We recall the ancient legends and meditate upon their past actions, before laying egg and asking it be strong. It is always warm, and pleasant there."

I nodded again. She worked at my belt and drew it off of me, then began to push my clothes from my body. I hesitated, thought to argue the point, but her touch was not meant to stir. She simply wanted to know.

"The other births are at our choice. I chose live - to understand. It is painful, much more painful than egging. It is cool, it becomes difficult to meditate, but it must be so - that the child be born into an understanding of your people. It makes those of us born into cold understand better, and be more resistant to it. I share birthing with you, a pivotal moment of creation and life. I take first breath shortly after I leave my mothers cloaca, as you leave your mother."


"Uh, humans don't have cloaca." I said. She looked on me, investigating me with sight, though not touch. I was bare, my hands tight at my side. I wanted to cover up. Thankfully, blood was confused, and did not stir me too much.

"Yes, a shame. You would make a beautiful companion if you did not have that hanging between your legs." She murmured, then gestured me to turn. I did so, letting her study. "And if you had a tail. I wonder."

"Ah. Humans birth exclusively. We need two, one to birth, the male to quicken her belly. And so he can guard her in her weakness."

"Yes. There is a weakness in being a mother, even if temporary. I have had lovers of my kind, but it is only a hold-over. They say we had males of our kind long ago, but they died in a sacrifice to protect our species."

"Really?" I asked, turning to face her again. She gave a nod, and gestured for me to step into the bathing pool, where she joined me after a time. "I did not know that."

"We have it documented, with mural. They died, to the male, and did so to ensure that we would survive. We nearly didn't, until the first mother began to grow heavy with young, and taught us the secret of parthenogenesis."


"Really?"

"Yes." She said. "You ask that often. Am I so untruthful?"

"No." I said. "I am just not sure. I do not know much about your kind, nor do I think I have a great understanding of your people."

"No, you do not. You are forward in admitting your ignorance. I can admire this fact. It is an aspect of shared culture. I believe there is a gradual blending, as do many of my colleagues."

"Blending?"

"Like your reproduction. When one culture is forcibly joined by another, there is first the hard penetration of one by the other, the submission of the one who is weaker, and then the sharing of essence. In this, we are the penetration, and we have shared our essence - the name of our spirits are on the tongue of your priest, the colors of our scale are on eyes and painted into flesh, and our methods of education and discovery permeate the learned places."

I could not help but flush, even as we bathed. I found the stone too hard on my skin, but she had prepared with a softer one, that smelled faintly of the desert roses. I washed at myself, still hot at cheeks and chest, but it was fading.



"I am curious. Why are you telling me all of this?"

She was quiet for a time, thoughtful. She did not give off signs that I could read, nor could I make understanding of her expression or tail - she had great control. She said nothing until we had finished bathing, and she had drawn a towel around me, to dry me off, and take me to the divan.

"Because. It is a manner of courtship."

"So you are courting me? You understand you do not have to, as the guild..."

"...has no say in how I prefer to do things." She murmured, almost sounding sleepy. "We are incomparable, but I find you have a sharp mind. Your eyes calculate and you listen to my ideas, with a touch of comprehension on your face. You understand what I say, and you take stock of the world around you. You are an intelligent and graceful creature. I find this attractive. Were you one of my kind, I would have drawn you to me from the start." She stroked my hair.

"Thank you."

"Of course, little sister." She said. "Sleep now. In the morning, I would have you join me for a tour of the palace. You will be mine for a great deal of time, and I would have your understanding in these things."

"Yes, uh... my lady."

"Sister. Big sister. It is the term of affection you would use."

"Alright. Yes, Big Sister." I said.

I slept surprisingly well, in her arms. She was comfortable.