Tying Loose Ends
The following morning, most of the guests had returned home. Aurelia and Marso were staying with us for a few days, and Varuni was going on a tour of Tamriel with Isobel, once they had an itinerary planned. The six of us went out to the front courtyard to get breakfast.
Other than Aderene, I hadn't noticed any of the front-of-house people joining in the festivities, but apparently they'd had some kind of party of their own. The other two women had adjusted their outfits to something more revealing, but not unlike their usual attire. Nuzimeh had swapped her top for a bandolier. Keldora's blouse was no longer covering her breasts, either. Aderene was just wearing her thigh-high leather boots, and a thong.
Tythis was dressed in an Alik'r merchant outfit, "for the baggy pants," he informed me.
They'd all been doing their usual business with naked guests, all last night, and this was the compromise they'd reached. You still knew who was the banker, merchant, barkeeper, etc. but the party mood wasn't lost, and they could have some fun themselves.
"If this is too distracting, we'll cover up again," Nuzimeh offered. "But it is more comfortable like this. It's cooler, at least."
Tythis might not agree with that part about comfort, but he wasn't complaining, either.
"I wonder how long this will last," Seryn mused. "We'd get a lot more visitors if they keep it up."
Aurelia wandered over to the outfit station, to see if she could find something more comfortable for herself. Her usual dress was cool enough at the top, but she could do with less around her legs in this weather.
"If she could get away with it, she'd just wear ropes," Marso laughed.
"Yes, what is it with her?" asked Isobel. "She always wanted to be tied up when we were kids, and it's taken on a whole new aspect recently."
Marso and Aurelia looked at each and nodded. "We should give them the whole story," Aurelia decided.
"Yes, I do like getting tied up, but I don't like staying tied up. When we were young, I was being untied right away as part of the games we were playing. Getting captured by bandits, and left immobile, while they went looking for something to eat, wasn't the same thing at all. Marso understood that, and when he told me about Yokudan rope-art, it was just what I wanted.
"You're familiar with Breton lace, and Nordic knitwear, which are the small end of decorative knot-work. The Yokudans developed a more transient art-form using ropes, and a naked woman as canvas. It's less well-known, because it's performance art, rather than producing a lasting result. All that's left afterwards, is possible sketches, or descriptions in books.
"The thing that interested me was that they developed a simple spell for the woman to release herself when it was all done, or sooner if it got uncomfortable. With that, I could have fun getting tied up, without worrying how I'd get out again."
Marso picked up the story. "As a sailor, I had a background in knotting ropes, so it was easy for me to learn the techniques, once we'd found a source. That took a long trip around the bookshops of Hammerfell before we found one in Abah's Landing. The release spell was mentioned in it, but it couldn't teach it. We learned that from a member of the Hew's Bane Thieves Guild, as a reward for helping her. Obviouly, it's a useful one for thieves to know, too."
"Go get the ropes, and we'll show them," Aurelia announced.
Aurelia fetched a bar-stool and perched herself on top of it. Marso returned with the ropes, and started weaving a pattern around her torso and upper thighs, with knots wherever the ropes crossed.
"There are lots of different arrangements for this foundation part," Marso told us. "Nothing that I've done yet restricts movement in any way. It's there to anchor the ropes that do so. It should be comfortable enough that the woman can be lifted off the ground by the ropes if the performance requires that."
"And there's a lot of fun you can have while you're swinging from a rope," Aurelia added. "Positions you couldn't sustain any other way."
"Bending the limbs at knee or elbow, and wrapping a rope around ankle and thigh, or wrist and upper arm, will not completely immobilise them," Marso continued. "But adding ropes that go around those, and connect to the torso ropes, will do just that." He demonstrated what he meant, showing us how that let him position Aurelia's limbs at whatever angle he wanted.
"The texts describe ways of binding the head, and making rope gags, but that would prevent the commentary," Aurelia contributed.
"And there have been times when I was tempted to use them," laughed Marso, "but since she knows the release spell, it's pointless trying."
"You've forgotten a part," Aurelia reminded him.
"Oh, yes. Aurelia likes to have me wrap a rope around each breast. Pass me that one, Clark, it's softer than the others."
"I like having them squeezed, and hands get tired, but ropes don't," she explained. "It may not be everyone's choice, but it's what I prefer."
"Mine are smaller, and more pointed, so the ropes would just fall off anyway," Varuni remarked. "But if I can learn the release spell, I think I'd like to try the rest. I'm sure it's going to feel different than anything I did last night, and I should make sure it gets recorded."
"Is that your only consideration?" I asked.
"What do you think?"
Aurelia giggled, and the ropes dropped off her, as if they hadn't been knotted. "I'll teach you the spell right away!"
"I want to try that swinging thing, too!" Varuni added. "Can we arrange that?"
"I think so," I replied, looking up at the balcony over the front door. "I'll go fix a rope up there, and let the end down."
Varuni hopped up on the bar-stool, and Marso got to work. A different pattern of loops and knots, this time, to ensure more support. "Let's lift you up and see if you're comfortable when you're suspended," he told her. "I won't tie your legs and arms just yet. Oh, good, Clark's given me a choice of ropes to use. If I use more than one, you won't just spin round, and I can adjust them so you're level."
I whispered in Aderene's ear, and she went over to her station to collect the item.
"How does that feel?" Marso asked her. "Just relax and let yourself hang freely, and then I'll get you to move your arms and legs to see how that moves you around."
"Take my hands, so you don't swing," I told her. "Then we can start on the rest of the ..."
"Ow! who did that?" she shrieked.
"It didn't hurt, did it?" I asked.
"No, but I wasn't expecting it, and ... I like the way it tingles, now. Is that what you were setting me up for? A new sensation to record?"
I confessed to that, and asked if she'd like Aderene to do it again, and if so, where.
"Isn't the surprise part of it?" she asked. "If I tell you, won't that spoil it?"
"It will change things, yes. But anticipation is another factor, isn't it?"
"Let Marso finish what he's started while I decide," she told me. "I need to process one new thing at a time."
It didn't take her long to decide. "Seht needs to know what I feel, not how I feel about it, if that makes sense. My preferences don't matter, because it will be Luciana doing the feeling at the end of all this."
"If he succeeds," I reminded her.
"Of course he will. How could Sotha Sil not succeed?" she retorted. "You have no faith! That's almost blasphemy!"
"Everyone has limits, even the Tribunal and the Daedric Princes," I told her, "Seht is not reticent to test his own limits, without knowing if he'll achieve what he wants to, or need to adjust and try again. And whatever he does will be an improvement, so I suppose it's more a question of \i how\i0 successful he is."
"Well that's better, but you still have more doubt than you should."
A little later - "I shouldn't have let Aderene do that! Now I'm tingling all over, and it feels TOO good! Do something, Clark!"
Fortunately, I knew a Calm spell that wasn't on touch. Or not. That may not have been what Varuni meant by 'something'.
I think she found it reassuring to put on her usual medium armour at the Armory station. Now she could go have some ordinary adventures with Isobel and the Undaunted, at a much more modest level of fun.