I should be dead.

Instead, light filtered through the thin cloth on the small porthole in the cargo hold, separating the interior from the ocean spray of the small boat. With the light came noise. More than usual, for a boat was never truly silent. Now voices shouted and footsteps ran back and forth.

The room was separated from the deck by another cloth and a short staircase. I blinked to adjust to the brightness outside. We had slowed down, now I saw why.

We have arrived at port.

The captain was calling to the man on the dock who was trying to direct the boat into a spot between two other boats just like it.

The process took long enough for me to get bored.

I had no possessions to collect only a small knapsack that settled on my shoulder. I got off last. The captain bowed carefully, making sure I got off his boat and walked away. I ignored the fear in his gaze. He was only doing what he was told.

I stood at the edge of the crowd in front of me. I had gotten used to the smell of the ocean but the smell of rotting fish and people crowded too close together blended with the smell of saltwater making a stench that threatened to empty my stomach.

Consciously breathing through my mouth, I dove into the crowd. People jostled, knocking into one another, sometimes pushing people out of their way. I had never encountered so many people in one place. For a moment I forgot my training. My life's work gone from my mind like a picture rubbed out of sand.

Then the people became my partners. The cruder their dance, the more graceful mine had to be.

I moved through the crowd with ease.

Soon vendors of fish gave way to everything else: from jewelry to cloth to swords and armor. I only stopped when I smelled food other than fish.

"Fresh pork on a stick," the vendor shouted and that's exactly what he had on his fire.

"How much?" I asked in the common tongue.

"Five coppers," he smiled a salesman's smile. I dug in my rather light purse but his eyes looked behind me and widened.

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"Y-your Lordship, m-may I interest you--"

"I don't want any of your dog-meat."

I turned to look at a boy no more than sixteen with a sneer allotted the rich and spoiled. Two guards flanked him.

He turned to me, "I've been watching you." He pulled away my cloak, looking me up and down. "That's very revealing."

I hadn't paid attention but now I saw women walked around in floor length gowns, arms captured in sleeves. Their necks, faces and hands the only parts visible. My dress was nothing so modest.

"I suppose in your culture it would be," I answered. The guards pretended not to look.

"Are you a whore then, where you come from?" The sneer deepened.

"A priestess actually, sworn to celibacy." I wondered how far the child was allowed to take this. The guards didn't look like babysitters.

The boy laughed, "Not likely. Come on, I can pay handsomely."

"I'm afraid you will have to let me be, for I am serious." Which way will they dance? I wondered, watching the guards.

"Are you telling me what to do?" He made a grab for me but this dance would not favor him. He stumbled when he touched empty air.

"I'll be leaving now." I made to walk past the guard to the left. He stepped into my path.

"I'll tell you when you can leave," the boy motioned to the guards.

Three partners then. I adjusted the knapsack as the two pulled swords. So tasteless to draw steel to help a teenager get bedded.

I prayed to Mauta to give me the power of her six arms. One guard made a grab for me but I danced out of reach. Realizing I wasn’t intimidated by the show of weapons, they put them away. Or perhaps they realized in the crowd the swords would actually be a disadvantage.

Now they relied on their strength and build. That is not how one danced.

When the second grab came, I danced quickly. I slithered close, pulling his arms around me, jabbing the sensitive stomach and neck before breaking his nose with the heel of my palm. He doubled over, I stepped away. The second guard went down with a sweep of my leg. He started to roll up but it only worked to my advantage as I flipped and landed on his back with enough force to push him back down. I stepped on his neck, twist of my leg and cut the air circulation.

The boy stared, making no move. The man beneath me was turning blue. Twist of the foot and air flowed back into his lungs.

I walked away, still hungry.

People stared at me. I pulled my cloak closer around me.

I stopped in the first inn I saw, paid for dinner, a room and water to wash with. I wondered if I should try to find clothes more suited to this world. After drying myself I took the soap and began washing the dress. Sleeveless, it closed around the neck with a chain; below the thigh the skirt was cut into strips for ease of movement. Designed to show that we were chained to the Goddess and open to show the beauty of Her dances. My Priestess robes, the last of my life.

I ignored the tightness in my chest.

Hanging the dress to dry, I lay down and sleep claimed me quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke to the door being smashed open. Men with swords rushed into my room; too many partners. They surrounded the bed, not sure where to look when they realized I was nude.

A man in his late thirties walked through the circle, threw my dress at me. “Get dressed, you are to appear in front of Lady Allison for attacking her son.”