Chapter 25: Date Night

 

“Mmmm....” Shulamit submerged herself deeper in the tub of heated water and closed her eyes. “Is all that nonsense finally behind us?”

“Long day,” Aviva agreed, leaning over the tub. She trailed a few fingers through the water and brushed against Shulamit’s shoulder.

“Long month. I need to uncoil, and I don’t know how.”

“Are you hungry? I can have someone send up some mangoes or something. Hey, Rivka!”

“What are they arguing about?” Shulamit realized that far away, on the other side of the room, Rivka was arguing with Tivon through the closed door.

“I’ll go see.” Aviva hopped away, leaving Shulamit to soak.

Her departure was unnecessary – Rivka soon grew loud enough so that Shulamit could hear. “--a dozen angry farmers. I think I can handle a couple of dancers.” Rivka rolled her eyes.

“Three,” Tivon corrected. “I’m not even sure they’re really dancers -- they don’t have a musician with them.”

“We sing and clap!” shouted an affronted voice.

“What’s going on?” Aviva asked.

“There are some dancing girls out in the hallway,” Rivka explained. “They said Kaveh ordered them to dance for Shula.”

Aviva started to chuckle. “Manna falling from the sky... wheatless manna!” she added, bounding back across the room.

“What is it?” asked the queen.

“Dancing girls.”

“What? Actual ones or are you teasing?”

“Kaveh sent them. But Tivon is pulling his usual thing where every lady for hire could have a knife between her breasts, and he doesn’t want to let them in.”

“Like I care what he wants!” Shulamit was already out of the tub and toweling off. She pulled on a dressing gown haphazardly as she darted across the room, nearly missing a table and two chairs. “Tivon, let them in!”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” said a weary voice.

“If you’re that worried, come in and watch,” Rivka pointed out as she opened the door. She gestured to the other guard. “We’ve still got him in the hallway.”

“Fine.” Tivon entered the room, followed by three beautiful ladies in clothing that jingled and sparkled as they moved. The expression on his face clearly read Royalty... some want to bathe in wine, others love their own sex... while the rest of us have to work for a living. But under all that, Shulamit knew he did care about her welfare and would have protected her with his life if one of the dancers really did draw a weapon.

Shulamit, enraptured, didn’t know where to look first. One was in pink, the second in bright orange, and the third the deep, rich purple of a red onion. Their hair flowed long and shining over their shoulders, decorated with delicate strands of silver fastened to their headbands. Plenty of skin was showing in so many beautiful ways -- soft cleavage, sculpted stomachs.

Aviva took her hand and led her to some cushions where they could sit. Riv and Tivon remained standing, vigilant and detached.

“One, two, three!” With this cry from the one in pink, the ladies began to sing, dancing and clapping along with the music. The song had very frivolous lyrics, a combination of nonsense syllables selected for their musical effect and innuendos referencing every vegetable that even remotely resembled the male sexual organ.

“This is amazing,” Shulamit murmured into Aviva’s ear, a little overwhelmed. “Those words are making me feel like I’m not supposed to be here, though.”

“They could sing about melons instead,” Aviva suggested.

“They’re singing about what they like. I don’t exactly have melons.” She gestured toward her chest.

“Good point. Then they should sing about dates.” When she saw that Shulamit was making a face, Aviva added, “Don’t! Dates may be tiny, but think how sweet they are.” She sidled closer. “’You are slender like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of sweet fruit.’ See, it’s even in the Song of Songs. And you’re also like a date tree because you’re going to be hand-pollinated.” Shulamit lifted one eyebrow to the moon, and Aviva grinned wickedly. “You did know that, right?”

“Yes, my ‘book learning’ is good for something.”

When the song was over, the dancer in pink drew closer to them. “Your Majesty!” she said, bowing low. “We’re here to celebrate the glory of the female body. Let us show you how to feel more proud of yours.”

“But I already--” Then Shulamit realized the dancer was beckoning to her. “What do you mean?”

“If your Majesty accepts, we’ll teach you to dance so that you can move sensually for your new husband,” explained the dancer in orange.

With a wide-eyed look at Aviva, Shulamit stood and let herself be led into the clear area of the room amidst the dancers. She figured out pretty quickly from the things they said to her that the dancers had seen her body language -- her discomfort at the male-oriented lyrics, her gestures at her small breasts -- and decided amongst themselves that the reason Kaveh had sent them to her room was so they could teach her their craft.

Well, so what?

Two of the dancers started to sing again, clapping and moving around, as the one in pink instructed Shulamit how to sway and jerk her hips around. She was shy at first, feeling her awkwardness enveloping her like a cloak, but she soon realized the grin on Aviva’s face was for her, and that she must not look so bad at it as she’d imagined.

By the time the dancers left, she was feeling terrific and completely juiced up. Tivon returned to his post outside the room, and she was left alone with Aviva and Rivka again. She wished it was only her and Aviva, for obvious reasons, but Rivka was taking advantage of the discarded bath water and the privacy and was now scrubbing away the dust and sweat of the past few days.

Shulamit paced the room, burning to touch Aviva, to sink into softness and lock together like the petals of a rosebud. Seeking distraction, she picked up the package in which Kaveh had brought her wedding dress and chuppah. As she unwrapped it, she realized there was something dark like chocolate mixed up inside the pile of white lace and chartreuse clothing.

“Hey, Rivka! Kaveh accidentally brought your dress.” She rushed over to the bathtub, where Rivka had just climbed out and was drying herself off with a sheet of cloth. “From back when.”

“Oh, please, Rivka, please put it on!” Aviva clapped her hands, her eyes wide. “I’d love to see your other plumage.”

Rivka grunted. “Who says I’ll still fit into it?” She flexed her muscles.

Shulamit shrugged. “Can we see?” She was beginning to have an idea of how to get Aviva alone even though Rivka was technically off-duty and had nothing to do.

“No harm there.” The captain took the pile of brown finery and fiddled with it, looking for closures to open.

Shulamit and Aviva went back to the other side of the room to finish unpacking Shulamit’s wedding clothes while Rivka finished putting on the dress. They had just finished spreading the lace chuppah out on a table to admire it when they heard a rustle.

Rivka was shifting around in front of a mirror glass, looking at herself. She was bundled into the brown cloth like a bunch of fruit in a market seller’s tote, wet hair cascading over the bare skin of her upper chest.

“Wow,” Shulamit couldn’t help saying. “You look really good.” Aviva was also looking at her admiringly.

Rivka was moving around awkwardly. “I can still move my sword arm,” she observed. “But, oy. I can’t believe I sparred with Isaac in this dress.”

Perfect. “You should go show him!” Shulamit grinned.

“Oh, yes, Rivka, please let him see!”

From both sides they pressed in on her. “You look so pretty!”

“There’s a cloak over there -- just throw it over your clothing and surprise him.”

“It’s dark in the hallways anyway.”

“I love this pattern. I want a brown dress now.”

“I’ll tell Aba when we get back.”

“It won’t look as good on me as it does on Rivka -- with her golden coloring.”

“Oy gevalt, you silly creatures!” Rivka threw up her hands. “Fine -- you want I should go, and I’ll go.” But she was smiling.

Shulamit and Aviva helped bundle Rivka into the cloak, and then she tied her mask around her face as usual. “How do I look?”

“Like usual,” said Shulamit.

“Like a geode,” said Aviva.

Rivka lifted an eyebrow at that one. “Back in a bit.”

She opened the door. “Tivon? I’m supposed to go see Isaac and Kaveh about something.”

Tivon and the other guard moved to the side to let her pass into the darkened hallway and then shut the door behind her.

 

***

 

Rivka moved smoothly through the hallways, illuminated in some places only by moonlight pouring in through windows cut high into the red clay walls. She fit easily into the shadows and wasn’t noticed by many; here and there a servant passed her in the halls but she was cloaked and uninteresting, and if they were moving about this late at night it meant they had work to do and didn’t care who else was there.

Here was Kaveh’s room -- but where was Isaac? He should have been outside the door, standing guard. She tensed up, every muscle ready for whatever was to come. Even without her sword, she was still a formidable force.

She rapped on the door. “Isaac?”

“Mighty One?”

Relieved to hear his voice, she relaxed slightly. “Can I see you in the hallway for a minute? I’m alone.”

“You should come in. Kaveh’s not here.”

“What? Where is he?”

“Come in and I’ll explain.”

Rivka opened the door and stepped inside. It was a large room, flooded with silver light filtering through the white curtains that veiled every window. Isaac was at the far side of it, sitting at a small table eating something. She kicked the door shut behind her and approached him. “Where’s Kaveh?”

“At Mother Cat’s, with Farzin. Here I sit -- here I watch.”

“Farzin? I thought he left town with his mother?”

“She’s leaving before sunrise,” Isaac explained. “She had something important and private to do first, so she left Farzin with Eshvat so that he and Kaveh could see each other again before she takes him home. I didn’t know either, but a little while ago I was standing outside the door, and suddenly I felt a cat brush up against my leg.”

“Oh, you did?” Rivka smirked. “What are you eating?”

“She brought me a midnight snack.” Isaac picked up another piece of food and gnawed at it, but didn’t put the whole thing in his mouth.

Rivka drew closer and peered at the piece of leather that had held his meal, and now served as a makeshift plate. “Are those -- are those mice?” Even without the fur they were still unmistakable, and with their little intact paws curled up and their eyes shut they might have just been asleep.

“Apparently Aafsaneh repeated something Aviva told her about how I like to eat live mice when I’m a snake, and she... Don’t ask me how that woman’s mind works.” He returned the empty skeleton to the table. “You want to try one?”

“No,” Rivka said quickly. She still hadn’t taken off her cloak, and it suddenly occurred to her that they were alone. In a very large bedroom. She longed to take him in her arms -- even if he was eating mice.

“Were you looking for Kaveh or for me?” Isaac asked politely.

“For you,” she said. “Shulamit wanted me to show you something.” She opened the cloak and let it fall to the floor.

His eyes flashed, and there was an audible noise from his nostrils. “You were wearing that dress the night I first knew you loved me.”

“My mother saved it and brought it down with her. Not that she knew.”

“I remember seeing you, wanting you, thinking I had everything under control... that I could go the rest of my life without ever touching you but feeling you flavor my entire world... How arrogant I was.”

You’re still arrogant, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, Rivka thought. Then she noticed he was looking down at the table and playing with something small and dark and solid. “What’s that?”

“Nothing much.” An impish smile spread across his face. “Only a privacy charm Eshvat gave me to keep Jahandar from finding out Kaveh had left the building.” His gaze swept over Rivka’s body, then fixed squarely on her eyes. “As long as I have this, I control who can enter the room.”

His eyes might as well have been his fingers, his tongue, more. She felt him everywhere on her from just that stare, her body tingling with anticipation as she drew closer. “Kiss me, mouse breath.”

 

***

 

Across the city, Farzin lay sated against the dark-red cushions, a very naked Kaveh sprawled to one side of him and a very empty bowl to the other. Kaveh was munching on dried dates, which Farzin regarded with a wrinkle of his nose. “How can you eat more than one of those things? They’re so sweet!”

“You’re sweet,” Kaveh mumbled, staring up at the ceiling with a silly grin on his face. He had never experienced as much pleasure before as on this night. The muscles in the back of his legs were sore from unfamiliar exertion. Maybe it was a good idea to stretch before this kind of thing as if you were exercising...?

Farzin had picked up a date and was examining it in his hand. “So many people have to put in their hard work to make this little thing.”

“How so?”

“Not just whoever sold it to Eshvat,” Farzin explained, “but the worker who had to climb the tree to harvest it -- think how dangerous that is! -- and also the worker who had to go up there to hand-pollinate it.”

“Why do they do it that way? Why can’t they just do it naturally?”

“That way they only have to have one or two male trees for a whole orchard of females.”

Kaveh chuckled. “Sounds like some guys I know.”

“Count me out. Anyway, the female trees are the ones that bear the fruit, so it makes more sense economically to have more of them. Like with hens and roosters.”

“I understand.”

“So think about all those people... climbing up date trees, pollinating them, cultivating them, harvesting them, selling them... all for this tiny fruit.” Farzin rotated it in his hand, then popped it into Kaveh’s waiting mouth. “Everything we do, everything we accomplish -- lots of times, it’s with other people’s help, behind the scenes. People we don’t ever meet. I think about them a lot. Who raised the lamb we ate tonight? Who made those candles keeping it bright enough to see in here? We all need each other, and, ideally, we all keep each other going.”

Kaveh thought about the stranger far away, climbing the date palm, slowly struggling against gravity and up toward the sun to reach the fruit that would earn his livelihood. Or her livelihood. Suddenly, each date was so much more valuable to him. They were the product of human labor. So much was the product of human labor. He had never really thought about it that way before, and he vowed to take it to heart.

 

***

 

Love reigned across the City of the Red Clay that night. In Mother Cat’s Tavern, Kaveh memorized Farzin’s body, vowing to replace every tear and bruise from the prison with infinite kisses over the coming years. In the palace, Shulamit and Aviva quickly wore each other out and then lounged around naked talking about babies, while in Kaveh’s room, Rivka writhed joyously, her bare skin reveling under the alchemy of Isaac’s tongue. Even Eshvat was off somewhere in an alley, growling with pleasure over the shoulder of a young guard she’d found patrolling the river.

Only Aafsaneh was alone. Deep within the city in a tiny garden no bigger than two elephants side by side, she knelt in the moonlight before the simple stone monument that marked the grave of the old man who had taught her to perform magic. “Master,” she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks, “I’m home.”