They sat on a small table out on a deck that overhung the sea. The breeze ruffled Tanyth’s hair so that they were haloed in strands of ocean blue. The sun had just disappeared below the horizon and the sky was not yet dark.

They ordered petite glasses of wine, commiserating that they were both lightweights, and talked easily.

It felt like a date.

The best date that Linza had ever been on.

Tanyth hung on her every word, but it didn’t seem fake or contrived. 

Linza did her best to convince herself that it was just part of Tanyth’s job. They were showing her the ropes, after all. She expected a breakdown later of conversation tactics.

Maintain eye contact, smile early and often. They twirled their hair. They touched their fingertips to Linza’s wrist as she relayed one of the worse memories of her time at university.

At their touch, the memory had fallen away, her mind had gone so blank, that Tanyth had needed to remind her what she had been talking about.

They shared a chocolate cake, and then all too soon, the night was over.

Linza was relieved to find that she didn’t need to pay for the meal — and Tanyth didn’t either. Staff had an allowance of free meals and Linza would get her own once she was on the schedule. That was an extra element of compensation that she hadn’t considered — and she supposed it behooved the estate to have staff who knew the other offerings well. Did the same logic apply to ‘experiences’? She hoped so, but she was too shy to ask yet.

Linza floated through her next day at work and could not wait to return to the estate.

Even though Tanyth had been waiting for her by the central fountain, exactly where they had said, Linza almost didn’t recognize them except for their light blue hair.

They were dressed in a trim suit this time, not unlike the madame’s assistant. 

Linza realized that while the lilac robes had emphasized everything that was soft and round about Tanyth’s face, this emerald suit did the opposite and emphasized everything angular and sharp.

“Linza!” they said as she arrived. “How was your day?”

Their voice was distinctly masculine, this time. Still the same underneath, still them. Linza realized then that they had remarkable control over their intonation. She heard learned some of the basics, since the arcane language of spellcasting was tonal and required precise pronunciation. She knew just enough to appreciate how much practice they must have put into it.

When they took her hand and kissed it, their grip was stronger. Tanyth showed her a different eating area, a balcony that overlooked the central street of the estate where bards played jovial tunes.

Linza had realized that Tanyth had gotten her talking all about herself the previous day, and she was determined to return all their questions today.

Whether it was their more masculine mood or that turnabout was fair play, Tanyth was happy to answer all of Linza’s questions. They regaled her with the details of their job, some gossip of the house, a complete explanation of the wines they sipped, and so much more.

They themselves were a cleric, faithful student of the healing arts. They didn’t know any illusion magic directly, but had successfully coached other illusionists before. They had held nearly every other role at the house in their time there, but they’d cut back to just their two favorites — serving tea and classic sex — to afford them more time to train newcomers like Linza.

Linza worried for a moment that they might be decades older than her, but managed to infer that they were only about five years her senior. They’d started at the house at the same age that Linza had shipped off to university. Tanyth didn’t brag about it, but Linza picked up on the fact that they knew the madame well and lived at the estate. 

As closely as she listened to their answers, she also watched their mannerisms, which were now subtly different. Their laugh was more like the wind that moved the chimes than the tingling of them. 

When Linza accidentally said unironically that she loved sausages, they didn’t press their fingers to their lips. Instead, they smirked with knowing eyes.

Despite the day over day contrast in their appearance and mannerisms, nothing about them seem forced or fake. There was still, very distinctly, Tanyth within it all. Linza sympathized. The degree to which she related to her own gender varied day by day. Tanyth just swept a larger range.

For the next week, they simply kept meeting for dinner.

Tanyth shared about their first crush.

Linza blushingly reciprocated.

Tanyth confessed that they had been wildly nervous their first few months at the house.

Linza confided that she was grateful that Tanyth had given her such a comforting welcome.

And it was Linza who first broached the topic of what they liked when it came to sex. 

That day, Tanyth was dressed fashionably in wide-legged pants and a tight top, androgynous both in appearance and mannerisms.

“What else do you do when you’re not working or here?” they’d asked.

“I like to write.”

“What about?”

Linza didn’t even blush this time. “Well, mostly smut, nowadays.”

“Oooh, nice! Do you mind sharing what about?”

“Sure! Um… This idea originated with my friend, Wyn, but a recurring character lately has been an octopus mermaid…”

They had discussed word choice (cock or dick?) favorite themes (denial for Linza, forced orgasm for Tanyth) and preferred character types (roguish, blushing, etcetera) as easily as the weather.

“How would you describe your sexuality?” Tanyth asked.

“Well, I like both men and women,” Linza had replied.

“Just men and women?”

Linza was for a moment confused, and then understood. “Oh! No, not just men and women.” She put a finger to her lips as she thought. She hadn’t quite verbalized this before. With Wyn it had been, ‘do you like women?’ Any of her male suiters had just assumed she liked men. She was sure she could have concluded with ‘not just men and women’ and Tanyth would have understood, but she was starting to get the hang of ‘everything given’ and she took the opportunity to dig a big deeper. “And not just hominids either.”

The world did indeed include a few sapient species that were not hominids. Dragons were a common example, though they did not usually deign to even speak with humans. Merfolk were another example, though you had to travel quite far to meet any.

Linza appreciated that Tanyth permitted her this lengthy introspection. Finally, she said, “I suppose the best way to say it is that if the circumstances are right, variety is the spice of life.”

Tanyth had laughed, putting their fingertips to their mouth but with less of a blush than they sometimes did. “May I humbly offer, you might also say ‘pansexual’ and save yourself some time. But I really liked the way you explained it.”

“Oh! I think I’d heard that before. ‘Pan’ as in the root for ‘all’?”

“Precisely.”

“Well, thank you. This has been enlightening. What about you?”

“Well…” It was Tanyth’s turn to blush slightly. It was hard for them to hide, with how pale their skin was. “It’s a bit embarrassing… and ironic… but I’m mostly into guys. Masculine types, anyway.”

She had been sure that their question of whether she liked only men and women had been somewhat pointed at her. Fishing for whether she might consider someone like them. But the way that they so casually revealed that they were ‘mostly into guys’ made her second guess that.

And then, she felt a bit ashamed. How presumptuous she was being! Of course Tanyth’s charisma was a practiced part of their job, she’d been telling herself that the whole time.

There wasn’t anything special between them.

Obviously.

Then why… did she suddenly feel ill?

Linza took a deep breath and then did what she always did whenever she felt uncomfortable, uncertain, ill or in pain.

She forced a smile and pretended it hadn’t happened.

She leaned in closer towards Tanyth and propped her chin up on her hand. “Okay, so, you have to tell me who you think the cutest guys here are.”

The next night, Linza opened door number thirteen with a flurry of nervous excitement.

Tanyth was waiting for her.

Linza was glad that she had done her best to avoid imagining what Tanyth would be like, because there was no way she would have done them justice.

They were pale and slender and a bit shorter than her, with light blue hair caught up in a messy ponytail.

They had pointed ears and angular features, pretty eyes and elegant hands. They wore a skirt that sat low on their hips and brushed the ground, and a criss-crossing bandeau over their flat chest, both in lilac cotton.

Their pointed ears distinguished them as half-elf, rarer than half-orcs but not unheard of in the kingdom. Though other hominids tended not to be compatible with each other, most other species seemed at least partially compatible with humans. Children of inter-species parents were not themselves fertile, despite some folks best efforts at claiming residual elf or orc or seraphim blood. Part of the reason that the ‘partial blood’ myths were hard to stamp out was because half-humans could look very different from one another and land anywhere on the spectrum from one parent to the other.

Each community was different and some were more welcoming than others, but generally half-human children had difficulty fitting in. Cultures that valued fertility tended to see the half-humans’ sterility as a sign that they were cursed or otherwise deficient.

Yet, the very same traits that lead to those difficulties — their relatively exotic features as compared to humans and their sterility — made them welcome members of brothels and pleasure houses the world over. So, half-humans tended to be over-represented in erotic contexts, and the pleasure house was no exception. 

Worries of exploitation were valid, but this particular establishment had more of a sense of ‘refuge’ than ‘circus’. It helped that the founder herself was half-orc.

The little half-elf jumped to their feet with a clap of excitement. “It’s so good to meet you!” They surged forward and wrapped Linza in a warm hug.

Her cheek tucked comfortably onto the top of their head, and they smelled like jasmine and sandalwood.

They withdrew and took Linza’s hands in their own, which were as soft as she’d imagined. “It is lovely to meet you!” Their voice was distinctly feminine.

“It’s nice to meet you too!”

Tanyth lead Linza by the hand down to the bamboo mat and patted it, and Linza sat across from them. She surveyed the room a bit sheepishly, noticing that it had been put back into its original state in her last absence. “Sorry to leave it a bit messy, I—”

“Not at all!” Tanyth said. “I told you to make yourself comfortable, and you did! Great work.”

Linza blushed. “Did you… see?”

“Oh, heavens!” Tanyth put their fingertips to their lips. “Not at all. Rule number two. Nothing taken. And in the interest of rule number one, everything given, I must say that I would happily oblige such a scenario should you desire it. But! Only if you desire it.”

Linza nodded. She was starting to understand more implicitly what the rules meant. The terms of her employment had given a crisp definition, but it was like the difference between a sketch and the model. In real life, there was more depth to it.

“I will definitely consider that,” Linza said, and she meant it.

Tanyth grinned. “Perfect!”

“What’s… next today?”

“We get to know each other,” Tanyth said.

“Like… sexually?” Linza felt like a dope as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

Tanyth laughed, the sound like wind chimes in a summer breeze. They pressed their fingertips to their mouth again, as if Linza had said something naughty and yet delightful.

She supposed that she had.

“Everything given, I wouldn’t refuse,” they said. “But I’d truly like to get to know the rest of you first! Why don’t we go get dinner?”

Linza hesitated. She was going to have to mooch off of Wyn a couple more times that week as it was, so it didn’t feel right to spend extra on dinner out. Though, Wyn would never forgive her if she passed on such an opportunity, so Linza swallowed her pride and nodded. “That would be lovely!”

Linza blushed as she handed over the rumpled sheaf of papers that was her terms of employment to the madame’s assistant.

He was a slender and feminine man and she would have thought him half-elf, but his ears weren’t pointed. His skin was dark as ink, his hair braided back from his face in intricate swirling designs. The braids, each almost as slender as a strand of hair, where gathered into a neat silver clasp at the base of his neck.

His navy coat was angular and his face was soft, with a wide button nose and full lips. The whites of his eyes were like crescent moons. 

As he extended his hand to accept the sheaf, she noticed that his skin was lighter there, like the Milky Way. 

He was the moon to the madame’s sun. 

Reflecting. 

Nothing seemed to escape his gaze or the careful thought behind them. Yet, he said little. 

Someone who could not ‘see’ would perhaps have looked right over him, but Linza was as captivated by him as by the madame. 

He had already noticed the wrinkling of the papers, the smudging of the ink. 

Linza blushed. 

He must have noticed her noticing him, because he finally spoke. “I see that you signed with more than ink.” His voice was like the night wind rustling through leaves. He had a lilting accent, as if his native tongue were song.

She had prepared a fib, but she saw that it would be as transparent as damp silk to him. Better, then, the truth. “I am… very excited to join.” 

“Your pleasure pleases.”

Linza had been blushing. Now, she flushed with arousal. She hasn’t considered they might actually like what had become of her papers!

Would all the staff here be such forbidden fruits? Such avatars of fundamental nature? 

Linza both wished that they would be and yet knew her mind would break if it were so.

She could not break eye contact with him and his face seemed to fill her whole awareness until she saw a reflection of herself in his midnight eyes, her uncertain expression like the face of the moon. 

And then it was over, and she was back in her feet, though a little dizzy. He was too much taller than her and they were at too conversational a distance for what she had felt to have really happened. 

It must have been her imagination. 

Illusionists could do that to themselves, sometimes. 

And yet, did not his full lips wane into the slightest crescent smile?

“Your application is accepted,” he said, breaking the spell. Or, completing it?

“Your training will begin this evening, if it pleases.”

“It pleases,” she squeaked. 

She expected him to notice and laugh. 

He only noticed. 

“You may follow me there, if it pleases.”

Linza just nodded, afraid of embarrassing herself further. 

He turned and she followed him. 

His navy coattails were embroidered in silver with a motif of veil-tailed fish, which she recognized. Her history lessons returned to her as they walked. To the north was a great democratic federation. The island nation controlled much of the sea and touched all the rest of it. 

In the kingdom, the merchants had only recently risen to influence. 

In the federation, the merchants had held the power all along. It had its pros and cons, of course, as did every type of rule. Apparently, the nations were flourishing and there was little room left on the islands, so many of them emigrated. 

The kingdom was a particularly favored spot because it was still relatively close to the federation and it was, as Linza’s classmate had explained, ‘so charmingly quaint’.

Now nearly every one in five folks in the city were either immigrants or their children, distinguished by their dark skin, rounded features, and lyrical accents.

The veil-tailed fish was one the motif of one of the smaller but more prosperous merchant states, though Linza had forgotten the name. She was always bad with names.

She walked right into the assistant, her face suddenly between the lapels of his coat. He smelled like oak and myrrh and the ocean in the middle of the night. 

She gasped and stumbled back.

“We have arrived,” he said.

They were standing next to a simple black door. They were in an alleyway of sorts, but on the second story, on a walkway that ran between two close buildings. There were simple black doors like this one all along the side, painted with large, white numbers. They stood next to door thirteen.

Linza had totally lost track of which way they’d come.

“Is there anything else I can assist you with?”

Yes, Linza thought.

“No,” Linza said.

He noticed. “Rule number one. Everything given.”

Linza nearly panicked. What did that mean? Was she already breaking the rules?

“Peace,” he said, smiling fully. “I only mean, tell the truth.”

Linza gulped. “I-I’ve just caught myself not remembering which way we came.”

“Wherever you are on the estate, listen for the source of music. You’ll always find the main street.”

Did he always give directions like this? Linza was grateful. She’d have totally forgotten anything more specific. This, she would remember. Did he know? Had he noticed?

“Thank you! I’ve also… totally forgotten what’s first.” Her terms of employment had been very clear about what all of the stages of her training were to be. But those were now tucked in the assistant’s coat, and no longer in her hands.

“That’s natural. Tonight, you simply meet the room.”

Right. Okay. That sounded manageable. 

He stood quietly there for a long moment.

Linza realized he was waiting for her further questions. “T-that’s everything! Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He bowed, and then he left.

Linza stood next to door thirteen and gulped. 

It felt like her first day of university all over again.

She took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and opened the door.