Glory Season

Dancers wove rippling patterns as they undulated before the central dais, waving filmy fabrics that also mimicked ionic displays. The troupe had been hired from Oosterwyck Clan, famed for their beauty and sensuality. Their success rate was well-advertised and only rich clans could afford their services at this time of year.

Censers emitted spirals of smoke, whose aroma was supposed to simulate the pheromones that best aroused males. Behind a veiled curtain, silhouettes told of the assembled mothers and full sisters of Lamatia Hold, watching discreetly offstage so as not to put off their guests.

Maia nudged Leie and pointed. "Over there!" She whispered unnecessarily. Since the music only reached them as a faint murmur, it was doubtful anything they said would be heard below. Leie turned to peer in the direction she had indicated. "Yeah, it's the Penguin Guild captain, and those two young sailors. Exactly the ones I predicted. Pay up!"

"I never betted! Everybody knew Penguin Guild owes Lamatia for that big loan the mothers gave 'em last year." Leie ignored the rejoinder. "Come on, let's get a better look," she urged, pulling Maia's arm, causing her to teeter precariously on the steeply tilted wall of the dome. "Hey, watch it!"

But Leie had already slithered to where a great piece of convex glass bulged from the arching roof. Maia heard her sister take in a sudden gasp, then titter nervously.

"What is it?" Maia exclaimed, sliding over.

Leie held up a hand. "No. Don't look yet! Get a good hold an' set your feet good. Got it? Don't look yet."

"I'm not looking!" Maia whined.

"Good, now close your eyes. Move a little closer and I'll move your head to see best. Don't open till I say so!"

It was one of those rituals that seemed so natural when you were three. Maia felt her sister's hand take her braid and maneuver her until she brushed cool glass with the tip of her nose. "Okay, you can look now," Leie said, suppressing a giggle.

Maia cracked one eye, and at first saw only a blur. The glass had several thin layers, separated by air pockets. She pulled back a bit and an image fell into focus. At least it seemed focused, remarkably magnified from this great height. Still, what she saw appeared more a jumble of fleshy colors — peppered with short black fur that was patchy in most places, but thick where one small pink appendage joined the intersection of two large ones. The latter, she realized, must be somebody's legs. The small one in between …

"Oh!" she cried, rocking back until she had to flail for balance. Leie grabbed her, laughing at her surprise. Almost instantly Maia was back against the glass, trying again to bring the scene back into focus. "No, let me in now. It's my turn!" Leie importuned. But Maia held fast and her twin grudgingly moved on to find another place, which she quickly declared to be "even better." Maia was too intent to notice.

So that's what a man looks like without clothes, she thought. The magnifying effects of the glass were confusing, and she found it hard to get any sense of proportion, let alone relate what she was seeing to those sterile diagrams she had studied in school. Where do they keep it while they're walking around? I'd of thought it'd get in the way, hanging like that.

Maia was too embarrassed by her next thoughts to voice them even subvocally. Fascination won a hard-fought battle over revulsion and she peered eagerly, hoping to see when the thing changed. Does it really get bigger than that?

A hand entered her field of view, and reached past the limp appendage to scratch a hairy thigh. Maia drew back so her field of view encompassed the arm and torso and head of the reclining man, resting on silk pillows as he watched the dancers. He turned to say something to another man, lounging to his right, who laughed, then straightened and leaned forward with a more sober expression on his face, as if trying to pay close attention to the show. By their elbows lay piles of food and drink. The first man picked up a wineglass, draining it. He did not seem to notice the enticingly clad woman who moved to his side to refill it, nor others waiting nearby, prepared to move in with privacy curtains, at need.

"C'mere and see the sixers!" Leie called urgently. With some reluctance, Maia tore herself away, leaving her perch to sidle near her sibling. "Over by the north wall," Leie suggested.

This pinkish pane was flawed by ripples, and the magnification wasn't as good as back at the clear lens. It took a while to find the right viewing position, but Maia at last perceived a covey of girls waiting off to one side, dressed in pale, filmy gowns. They were made up to look less virginal — and no doubt doused liberally to fool the male sense of smell. Naturally, men were more attracted to older women who had already birthed once or twice. But this ceremony was for sixers alone. It was their special day and the mothers had spared no expense.