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In the shadows of ManSuang’s great hall, with its swooping cool blues and deep crimson reds, Mae Tubtim stands and watches the stage.Today she is a crimson thing as well, her shawl is knotted about her breasts, decorated with golden bakula blossoms, a straight, thin scarlet skirt wrapped around her waist, adorned with a golden chain. The skirt is in the style of the Lanna Kingdom but with a long slit added that showcases the gliding slope of a shapely leg. A pair of gold hair pins, offset with roses, scenting her dark curls and a golden disc around her neck, studded with diamonds - a gift from a devoted patron.
On stage, the new boy dances to the beat of a drum, going through the painstaking practice routines which will turn him into a god on stage. His hands stretch back as his arms move up and down, his head nodding gracefully in opposition and his feet stepping out a fast pattern.The sunlight reaches its searching fingers through the door and turns him golden as he moves back and forth.Truly, he is a sight to behold, no wonder then, that he caught Phraya Wichiendej’s interest.Tubtim narrows her eyes as she watches Khem make a controlled spin, one hand held high and the other turned out. Did that fair face conceal more than his outward image implied? Was it just a coincidence that the very same man who had put such fear into Khun Suthin that day had delivered the boy to their doors...Her thoughts are interrupted by a sneering voice.
“Pathetic! Call yourself a hero? More like a monkey!” The dancer, Thiang bristled from the side of the stage, an aura of hatred and envy surrounding him like a dark cloud. Well, Tubtim could hardly blame him for sensing that this new addition would prove a dangerous rival for his own position within ManSuang but it bothered Phikul that there was unrest in her group and so it bothered Tubtim as well.
“Shut up Thiang!” The Piphat leader snapped, from his place at the drum, one hand resting lightly on the rounded slope of his taphon and the other tapping restlessly against the dark circle in the centre of its right sided face.It would seem that the newcomer already had at least one ally, she noted with a knowing smirk.
“That’s enough!” The teacher called out but it was not the teacher Tubtim was looking for.“Khem, again,” the woman instructed, while Chatra beat out the introduction and waited for Khem to resume his position. The boy did but not before a frustrated, embarrassed glare was sent Thiang’s way and a slightly abashed glance returned his gaze to Chatra. He was cute in his earnestness, desperate to impress. Understandable. This was likely his only chance to escape the mire of abject poverty and if he should gain a powerful patron then his position in ManSuang would be almost unassailable.Tubtim watched Khem and Chatra, watching each other instead of the teacher.
Interesting….
Her footsteps took her up the stairs leading to the upper floor and towards Mae Kru Phikul’s rooms. As she approached, she could see two maids sitting by the door, like a pair of temple guardians. She motioned for them to remain silent as she drew close.Through the doorway she could catch the scent of a sweet and musky incense, lingering in the air.Inside Mae Kru Phikul was dancing, an older lady, who had arrived at ManSuang with Phikul, was clapping out a beat as Phikul bent her knees and dipped from side to side before leaning back into a lunge, one arm held fiercely forwards, palm facing out. A position of strength and power.Phikul was wearing a plum coloured chong kraben and a simple white cloth wrapped around her breasts. Her cream coloured shawl abandoned on a chair and sweat shimmering on the ridges of her collarbones.
Her hair, still worn in the traditional fashion, short, swept back with long wisps to frame her face, gave her an almost androgynous demeanor as she embodied the posture of some strong heroic warrior, the muscles under her skin rippling with tension as she created long and graceful lines with her body.She finally caught sight of Tubtim and stumbled to a stop.
“Oh, don't stop on my account,” Tubtim smiled at her, “I don't often get to see you dance.” She moved closer and watched as Phikul ignored her and grabbed a soft cloth to dab at her skin, reaching for a cup of water at her side.“Who were you being?” she asked, looking around the room which was austere compared to her own eclectic boudoir. Phikul glanced over at her as she drank, her throat eagerly swallowing.“Inao,” she replied after a beat, wiping her mouth where some of the water had escaped.
“For the new boy?” Tubtim tilted her head and waited.
“Mmm,” Phikul made a begrudging noise of confirmation as she reached for her shawl. Tubtim stepped forward quickly to prevent her, blocking the way with a cute little curtsy, her eyes full of warmth and maybe just a little mischief.“You're still unhappy with the decision to perform it then?” she said lightly.
Phikul looked over to her maid.“Prik, leave us,” she commanded.
The maid complied, although she took her time, slowly making her way to the door and closing it pointedly behind her.
“It feels sacrilegious,” Phikul confessed, rubbing at a spot on her neck. “Men dancing Lakhon Nai, they don't have the grace, the sensitivity, the beauty! Imagine if women performed Khon, ridiculous!”“Times are changing,” Tubtim soothed, knocking Phikul’s hand out the way to massage the sore muscles there herself. “Perhaps one day they will?”“Not necessarily for the better,” Phikul griped, although she melted under Tubtim’s confident hand and gave a little groan of appreciation.
“Your new boy is rather pretty,” Tubtim observed, “don't you think he'd make a lovely heroine?” Her thumb traced circles upon Phikul’s skin as she looked her full in the face, appreciating the sharp curves of her cheeks and the warmth of her almond shaped eyes.
“Khem?” Phikul looked at her in surprise. “His face is pretty enough to play an apsara certainly but he's far too tall Tubtim; he'd be towering over any of my other heroes and besides, the Phraya wants him for Inao as Chao Sua Cheng has made clear to me,” her voice was tight with lingering ire.“Too tall?” Tubtim looked thoughtful and Phikul found herself studying the tiny heart drawn on the Madam’s cheek before she caught herself and looked away.
“Only the prettiest, most petite and delicate girls are chosen for heroines,” Phikul said with a fond smile. “You really don’t know anything about dance do you?”“Where would I have had the chance to learn?” Tubtim challenged, digging her thumb in as a gentle reprimand. Phikul winced and caught her hand. “Well, boy or girl, heroines must be small, Phra Ram must tower over Nang Sida and Bussaba must look up to Inao.”“And you played…?” Tubtim arched a perfect eyebrow and trailed her finger down Phikul’s arm.“A hero, of course,” Phikul said proudly, ignoring the butterflies that fluttered low in her belly at the feel of Tubtim’s skilled hands on her body.
“I'd be far too tall to play a heroine then,” Tubtim mused, with a moue of disappointment. “What would I be instead…an ogress perhaps?” She laughed but there was little humour in it and she turned away as she spoke.Phikul caught her hand, trapping her in place.“Do you want to play a heroine Tubtim?” she asked softly.“Doesn't any girl?” Tubtim kept her face turned to the wall where a picture of Phra Lor, playing with his two wives was hanging next to a table where a couple of statues of the Buddha gleamed in the afternoon sun. She shrugged her shoulders and let the dark fall of her hair crowd around her face, hiding it from view. “Didn’t you ever dream of dancing Sida or Bussaba?”“No,” Phikul’s reply was instant. “I always wanted to be the heroic Ram or handsome Inao,” she turned Tubtim around as she spoke and brushed her ringlets back, her fingers lingering in the scented tresses as she did so, coiling around a strand.
Tubtim smiled, her crimson lips forming a heart shape.
“Yes, I can just see you in your hero’s costume now, red for Inao, right?” She swept her hands across Phikul’s chest, her hands brushing over the skin warmed breast cloth and resting on the dancer’s narrow hips. Phikul shivered under her fingertips.
“A collar here,” her hands swept back up to form a curve around Phikul’s neck, pressing down into her strong shoulders as she did so, her voice husky and low.“Your golden sangwan here,” she traced a cross back down, between Phikul's breasts, across her torso and looped her hands to caress the dip of Phikul’s slender back, still sweat damp and flower petal soft.“Your gauntlets just so,” her hands came to wrap around Phikul’s wrists possessively before she gave a coy little smile, full of tease and promise.
“Did I forget anything?” she dipped her knees and tilted her face up towards Phikul winsomely and gave a devastatingly flirty wink.
“My crown,” Phikul almost stuttered the words, her eyes fixed on the scarlet smirk that Tubtim was beaming at her.“Oh, of course,” Tubtim noted, her smile growing wider, revealing a flash of teeth. “... and a golden crown for your handsome head.”
She let go of one of Phikul’s wrists to reach up and pet the top of her head but Phikul caught her hand fast.
“Do you want to be my heroine Tubtim?” She asked, her voice throaty and her eyes full of desire.Tubtim suddenly felt unmoored by the change in Phikul from shy to bold. Called out at her own game, she faltered.
“I don't know the steps,” she confessed in a breathless whisper. Phikul smiled and pulled her closer.
“I'll lead you…” She promised.
Tubtim’s breath caught in her throat and a rare blush dusted her cheeks and she bowed her head in shy consent.Phikul leaned down to grasp her hands, tugging her to the centre of the room with a strength that sent a flare of excitement down Tubtim’s spine.“Bussaba has gone to the cave to seek answers about her fate,” Phikul’s voice is pitched low, as she pulls Tubtim down into a kneeling position. “Inao comes to her, he blows out her candle and hides her from the sight of her attentive aunt as he romances her.”
She begins to sing, her voice clear and bright…
Oh holy image of lord Buddha, your humble servant bows her head to you.
Divine being who dwells in the light of the candle, hear me,
As I consult you with reverential salute,
Through the merit and fruits of my deeds.
Moving to kneel behind Tubtim, Phikul placed her hands around Tubtim’s wrists and moved her arms up and down in a praying motion, forehead to chest, to thighs, to floor. Tubtim concentrated on bending her fingers back, as prettily as she could and tried not to be distracted by the warmth of Phikul at her back.
I beg that these may lead to the fulfillment of my hearts desire;
I beg for my wish,
As befits the truth that I have fixed as my goal;
It if should be that my love flourishes and grows, and we shall be united,
Let the candle instantly burn bright and clear, in accord with the words of my vow.
As she sung, Phikul shifted around, one hand still circling Tubtim’s wrist like a brand and urging her to move her own hand like a moth fluttering delicately in the dark while the other slid down to cup Tubtim’s right hand and mime lifting the candlestick as she prayed.
Tubtim could feel her heart pounding in her chest, she felt giddy as a girl, the girl she had never even been. Life having forced her to age as fast as possible.
Phikul changed her stance, shifting into Inao’s heroic posture as her voice deepened and she sang Inao’s reply to Bussaba.
Joraka is not of noble descent.
Inao and Bussaba both belong to those of divine family.
Still on her knees, she swayed from side to side, behind and around Tubtim, her straight backed hands gliding down to lay hot upon Tubtim’s thighs, the heat of her palms warming the cool silk of Tubtim’s flimsy skirt.
In the past they were certainly a couple.
Therefore have no doubt of his love for her.
Tubtim belatedly remembered that Bussaba was supposed to put up a fight and she raised her arms as if to push off her mysterious suitor. Phikul caught her left arm and then her right, moving them back and forth in a rhythmic swell, like waves lapping against a shore and Tubtim was helpless to resist, their movements gradually slowing from frantic to sensual as they moved as one together.
Now Inao has followed her to the mountain, because he loves her so much…
She felt Phikul lean her backwards until she could smell the sweet scent of Phikul’s favourite flower water, anointed in the curve of her neck as they dipped lower and lower and Tubtim imagined being spread out on the floor, like Bussaba in the cave, swooning into a bed of roses.
Frankly, she was ready and so felt a rush of surprise and disappointment when Phikul then swept her up into a standing position and placed her back into a prayer pose.She didn’t have time to be too put off by it though because then Phikul was back at her side, a firm arm around her waist and the other stretching out her arm as they continued to sway, their faces mere inches away from each others, so close their shaking breaths could mingle as they dipped from side to side like a pair of love birds.
They sank down together in a languid descent, Phikul pressed up close behind her, dropping a kiss to Tubtim’s bared shoulder and then leaning down to place a sniff kiss at the tender spot of her wrist as she rocked them to and fro.Tubtim, queen of seduction, had never felt so seduced before, she lay in Phikul’s arms, pliant as a doll, her body burning with desire as Phikul’s hand crept back to her thigh and lingered.Their faces turned towards each other, their heartbeats dancing in time. Phikul had long since stopped her song as they sat and breathed in the scent of each other.Tubtim angled her face a little more. Kiss me, please kiss me , she willed, feeling delirious before Phikul leaned down and placed her mouth against Tubtim’s; firm and sweet.
Tubtim opened like a flower beneath her, laying herself out for the adoration of the heated sun that was Phikul, over and around her, intoxicating her senses.
Phikul’s tongue fucked its way in sure strokes into the rosebud of Tubtim’s mouth while her fingers scorched the plains of Tubtim’s smooth brown skin, creeping beneath her skirt to dip into the gentle swell of Tubtim’s eager cunt, finding and teasing the spot that made Tubtim writhe beneath her in a desperate frenzy of too much and not enough.
One hand fondled the curve of her breasts, cupping them through the scarlet silk and pinching at her aching nipples as she sucked on Tubtim’s lower lip, smearing her lipstick between them.When she pulled away, Tubtim gave a feverish whine of protest and Phikul smiled at her, a wild smile full of joy and satisfaction.
She kissed her way down Tubtim’s overheated body, licking up droplets of sweat and tugging on the golden waist chain with her teeth before she finally buried her face between Tubtim’s thighs and brought her to ecstasy as she lapped into her with her talented tongue and crooked her flexible fingers until Tubtim wept from the seering overwhelming pleasure of it, again and again.
Later, when they had moved to relax on the rumpled sheets of Phikul’s bed, stretched out in the sunlight, feeling languid and content, Tubtim rolled over to where Phikul lay, staring at the play of rainbow light through a pattern of stained glass.“Where did you learn to do that?” Tubtim nudged Phikul with her foot, her chin resting in one hand as she gazed at her lover. “I thought I was supposed to be the experienced one.”
Phikul laughed at her, looking fond and indulgent.“I spent most of my life in the women’s only quarters of the palace,” she teased. “What do you think?”“Oh, so you were the palace stud huh?” Tubtim gave her a playful shove and then squeaked when Phikul grabbed her and tumbled them so that she was pinned beneath the dancer’s strong thighs.“No,” she held Tubtim’s wrists as she leaned down and nosed along her throat. “But I certainly never had any complaints,” she boasted, shocking Tubtim into silence with a provocative wink before she leant down and claimed her mouth again.