Previously: Amber (later known as Zhou Yu) has been trained at a slave school in the ways of a pleasure slave. Sold into the house of a feudal lord named, Gaius, she has proved useful in enlarging his fortune; but at the cost of enraging the emissaries of the Seven Gods who have promised to chasten her. She disappears suddenly from Gaius' villa in Albion, and awakes in Thamud where she is sold into the royal household. There she meets her Master and learns of his "secret."
Chapter 7 - My Master's Story . Another Old Friend
As with many of the medieval kingdoms of Ki, Thamud had long practiced male-preference primogeniture.
By the time, the Queen, had given birth to her fourth child, a daughter, my Master was already a child of seven and already showing the stature which his father's side of the family was known for.
He had, of course, been born a girl and was brought up to be the First Princess of the land. He had his first moon cycle at the age of thirteen and bloomed into one of the most beautiful young women in court. At least from all outward appearances, he seemed to enjoyed his girlhood under the loving care and tutelage of his mother. He did not seem to disdain the beautiful gowns he was made to wear, nor did he completely resent the buds which grew on his chest in due time. He was brought up to be an obedient child and that was what he was.
Yet, there is little doubt that he took surprising delight in activities thought solely the preserve of the designated male heir of the line – of which there was none as yet. He excelled at swordplay, the bow, and horsemanship, and would spend hours hunting in the woods with the trackers. It was clear he preferred the loose shirt and baggy trousers worn by the stable hands to the usual finery expected of female royalty. In secret expeditions outside the palace, he would wear a thawb and head cloth to disguise his blossoming figure.
It is hard to say when he started thinking of himself as a young boy but it was clear that he was acting the part of one.
The first sign of any trouble, his mother recalls, occurred during a courtship ceremony when he was fifteen. He wore a beautiful green dress in the style of Talosian women and dutifully danced with a number of boys that night.
Only when the Queen praised him later that night, gushing that he would make a wonderful wife and mother, did a faint sign of resentment cross his face. He knew that to be married and bear his husband's children was an essential part of his function as a princess of Thamud; if only to solidify or forge new alliances. This was his lot in life and he was, as noted, obedient.
Soon after, he could be found in the palace library looking into any text concerning the Great Scouring and of the original concoction which transformed the most manly of men into the most feminine and subservient of women. The treasury of Thamud was stocked with a small selection of these, all with the permission of the emissaries of the Seven Gods; but they had not been used for decades.
When my Master's father had ascended the throne he had decreed that the serum would never be used again as a tool of punishment but instead be reserved for those of Thamud who wished to live life as one of the other sex. Having made this announcement, the King promptly erased the edict from his mind, and neglected to establish any mechanisms for the proper use of those alchemical wonders. The duty he owed to his people was one of fairness in justice and not to encourage their fantasies – or so it seemed to him. It was the Queen who felt that the serum denigrated the place of Thamudian women in society – as if it was a punishment to be attractive and vivacious. But, like her husband, she seemed altogether less interested in those who desired to experience everything that she had enjoyed since her birth as a baby girl.
The scientists and alchemists of An had long since distilled and recreated the original serum so that new formulations no longer engendered overwhelming female libido. Further, they had crafted antidotes and sera which could turn a woman into a man with all the characteristics of her family line. There were precious few records of any women who had been injected with this “Anti-Vanorian.” No one could tell what manner of male would emerge upon its use, or what effect it would have on the the recipients personality. Would they retain a love for men or would their tendencies gradually gravitate towards women. The original serum was once seen as an instrument of discipline; a method of turning strong, aggressive, and dangerous men into helpless damsels eager to spread their legs. Would they also turn women into strange caricatures of the male sex with hyper-aggressive tendencies? And what conditions would need to be in place for the lords of the land to use this serum on a female – when was it a punishment to become a male in the patriarchal world of An?
It is telling that the Thamudian judicial system almost never punished women in this way. What reason would there be to give a female criminal the chance to become a much more formidable and dangerous man?
There was one recorded instance in Thamud of an actress who worked her maid servant to death and who was transformed into a man, and sent to work in the sulfur mines in the east. The hard labor had lasted 15 years before she was deemed rehabilitated and released into society. She had once been a handsome man in keeping with her genetic potential but the years in the mine had damaged her physically and she was now plagued with an assortment of bony and respiratory issues. Now, thirty years later, he worked as a stage hand for a traveling troupe of actors. On questioning, the now elderly stage hand, it seemed that the once pristine beauty had taken on most of the characteristics of a man of Thamud. There was not an ounce of daintiness about him - he scratched himself distractedly while he was being questioned and was not particularly concerned about his personal hygiene.
During their conversation, he swore unceasingly, and thought nothing of threatening violence against those who annoyed him - this was completely understandable considering the deplorable conditions of the labor camps. The once beautiful young woman had learned to protect himself over the decades – and he still appreciated the sight of the young male actors he served. Yet his countenance became more solemn when he saw the young actresses prancing about in their costumes. My Master could almost hear the stagehand whispering the lines of the ancient plays to himself probably in memory of what could have been. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that the serum had largely preserved the actress' mind in the body of a menial laborer. This merely confirmed what my Master knew from the start, that the use of the serum as a form of retribution should never be allowed.
My Master was now faced with a simple choice - to continue living a lie, or gamble with a largely untested serum. Of course, he chose the latter.
My Master has desisted from describing his adventures following his transformation for fear of causing me offense and envy. He is right in so thinking for I am indeed as jealous as the Seven Gods, and he knows this. If he desires the company of another woman – and why shouldn't he, he has an entire harem of idle women at his disposal – then I insist on being there together with her pleasuring him.
In light of this, I prevailed upon him to purchase and send for my old friend Eumelia from Gaius' household, thinking that a new life in the palace would be preferable to one of endless toil in the fields of sexual avarice. My Master was eager to acquire her once I described her attributes.
As I have previously intimated, she was thoroughly callipygian and had the immense bosom of a typical barbarian maiden. Her flesh was that perfect blend of softness and firmness, and her pudenda exceptionally well sculpted. The distance of a few months, made it apparent to me that there was now little trace of the solider I once knew, but she was still my friend and she still remembered aspects of her old life as if they were daydreams.
While I was once her servant girl, I now stood several stations above her as my Master's favorite (and soon his imperial consort). I soon realized that she gained great relief if she was made to perform household chores for myself or my Master. It was not as if she could not be my friend but the serum had made service an erotic activity in itself. When the slave urges were upon her, she would be uncomfortable in anything but a position of obeisance. I knew that a cure for her ills might be found in the serum vaults of the kingdom of Thamud but my status at the time was not sufficient for me to access it with impunity. But even this seemed beside the point.
I had thought to spare my old friend a life of sexual servitude but this was not to be. She had told me in no uncertain terms that she had no wish to be a man ever again; and wondered why I sought to punish her in this fashion when I merely suggested a return to her old form. She was almost inconsolable and I dared not bring the matter up again. I could understand her desperation but only if I thought first and foremost of my Master.
Notwithstanding my earlier suggestions concerning my Master's mischievousness as a newly made young man, he had in truth retained a conservative attitude towards marriage and courtship; a vestige from his days as a young woman taking instruction at the feet of his mother. This was compounded by his unparalleled affection for Talosian courtly romances in which the hero remained devoted to his virginal bride through various perils – clearly always seeing himself in the knight gallant who was strong, immovable and loyal. His watchword to this day is fidelity.
I am sure some of you are wondering whether I found it especially humiliating to sexually acquiesce to a man who was once a woman. To be sure, all forms of submission were alien to me.
It is only with my Master that I find it absolutely correct that I should submit. I had somehow found my place in this world, or at least in his bedroom. I have told him in no uncertain terms that there is no comparison between being made love to as a woman, and making love as a man. Unlike him, I had experienced both and the former was far superior in every respect.
[Scribe's Note: Here the imperial censors have been at work again, preserving the reputation of Lady Zhou for posterity; not taking into account that these journal entries are foremost a love letter to her husband the King Idris II of Thamud.]
At first, I kept Eumelia as one in an ivory tower, shielding her from the men of the court. My Master would not touch her without her explicit permission, but I soon realized that she was in no position to offer it.
The familiar scene which I once observed in the slave school now repeated itself again in the bedchamber I shared with Eumelia. She had not been with a man for two weeks when the signs first appeared. The frantic rubbing at night when she could not be distracted was the least of it. She would beg to worship my feet and suck my toes, and after some hesitation I agreed to this. She was truly beautiful and irresistible to both men and women.
I could not resist squeezing her soft white breasts and kissing her pink teats, but this only made her more hungry, and her tongue made its way to my nub bringing me to orgasm after orgasm. All of this I did with my Master in attendance. I finally begged him to take her and quell her needs, which he did. He, of course, dominated her utterly. I stroked her body even as she was being penetrated, ensuring that her eager tongue still had access to my cunt. In short, I made sure that she was satisfied in every way to make up for my mistake. Her screams of contentment must have been heard across many hallways that night.
Henceforth, I did nothing to deprive her and we would share our Master's bed together at least once a week.
It was only too easy to forget that this was my old comrade in arms. Eumelia would reminisce with me about Ki in the tongue of the Qin, recalling places, people, and most of all the food. She would recollect all of this and even prior acts of murder, and then slip quite easily into her obsession with men. This was all of her being - my friend had not disappeared, she had merely emerged into this new form; like a colleague not seen for many years now much changed.
From my Master's statements and the histories I have read, I have come to the conclusion that both Eumelia and I were given only mildly altered versions of the original serum. I was meant to be, in every way, a helpless supplicant to any male who took command of me forcefully. This was obvious from the way my body moved reflexively whenever I was distracted or heavily intoxicated. I knew even then that the slave girl deep within me would dominate my entire being if ever I forgot who I once was. That path was easy, pleasurable, and instinctive; the other less traveled one which I have chosen more winding and treacherous.
Months later, when I left my beloved for the first time, I chose as my parting gift the elixir to reverse the slave urges in Eumelia. I would not see her again for almost three months.
Now as I write before the warm fire in my room, I can say that I have done all I can for her or at least as much she will allow me to. The woman who received me at the gates of the palace three months later still invited envious stares but was now a keen swordswoman. When sometimes she drank and caroused with the servant girls, I could still see aspects of the man I once knew on Ki. Her love of finery and seduction had not abated but I could see that some of her athleticism had been rekindled. She never lost her taste for submission - it had taken root firmly in her.
My final duty as a friend was to find her a partner who could care for her as she deserved. My Master is not a petty man and thinks nothing of letting others plough where he has sown; I being the sole exception to this rule. In the end, she was given to my Master's third sister who had always admired her from afar.
This evening, before I retired to the tower to write this entry, I saw them leaving through a side gate for a ritual at the Temple of Ea. They had promised to return with a tincture of holy water from the priestess that I might anoint myself and the life that I carry. They held hands and kissed thinking no one was about them. They made a handsome and very loving couple.
