Chapter Two – The gypsy's balm

Her Master had left the room without taking another glance at either woman and Soleil had followed meekly after the lady in who's charge her Master had left her. Her mind was full of questions but she dared not utter a single one. She had been prepared for the worst – would not have been surprised to be fed to a beast, or to be burned or starved or drowned. She was her village's tribute to the Tower - the place no one ever escaped from. She was a sacrifice. And now she was a stranger in a strange place with nothing in her experience that could help her as a guide to what was going to happen to her.

She found herself in a brightly illumined room, the walls and floors covered with pearlescent enamel, candles burnt everywhere; it was warm and humid.

"You may call me Clemence," The white-haired woman said with an ambiguous smile, "But in this house you only speak, when spoken to."
With that she stepped behind Soleil and untied her hands, which the girl quickly took to rubbing to alleviate the places where the rope had left her skin red and sore. "Thank you, Clemence…" She said softly, her voice still week and shaking, as though she hadn't used it for years.

Without haste or apparent gentleness, Clemence loosened the string that held her linen dress in place and then told Soleil to step out of it. Blushing, she obeyed and her hands hastened to cover her breast and her most private place. Clemence only chuckled, and shaking her head, impatiently slapped her hands away.
"You would do good not to do that in Master's presence…" she nodded to a corner, where vapour steamed out of a round wooden tub. "Stand in there."

She covered the few steps quickly and then, carefully, she let the toes of her right foot touch the soapy, foamy surface of the water and gasping, pulled it away. The young farmer's daughter had never bathed in water this warm or smelling this good.

"Go on, we don't have all day…" Clemence chastised and quickly Soleil gathered herself and proceeded to stand in the tub, facing the older woman, who picked up a sponge and proceeded to scrub Soleil's milky skin in silence. She scrubbed hard until her skin was pink from head to toe and the ordered her to stand back against the wall.
On the ceiling above her, a metal ring was worked into the enamel, ropes hung from it and before Soleil could protest, Clemence had already taken hold of one hand and fastened it to one of the ropes.
She felt shy in the presence of this beautiful, elegant Lady, who had such little patience with her. Growing up as she had, she had never been in a room this rich or among people of rank and standing. This alone made it almost impossible for her to rebel.

"Please…" Soleil whispered, scared of what was to happen but the older woman just scoffed.

"Nonsense, girl," she took hold of her other hand and tied it as well, and then proceeded to pull both of her arms high over her head. "You have much to learn."

She left and brought back a little wooden chest and a large iron pair of scissors. Soleil instinctively drew back but the older woman just sighed and drew a little stool closer to Soleil's naked flesh. "Spread your legs girl…"

Soleil tried, she did but it was too much – the scissors, the old woman so close to her private place and she couldn't, her muscles simply didn't obey her mental command.
"Don't be such a silly little girl…" Clemence reacted sternly and slapped her thigh hard enough to sting. "Or do I need to tie your feet apart as well?"

A little tear ran down Soleil's flaming cheek as she slowly opened her legs, baring herself to the woman's mercy. "Wider." Was the simple command and again, Soleil obeyed, burying her face against the crook of her arm, not looking at whatever was going to happen between her legs.

She heard the creaking of the scissors and felt an odd sensation of having her hair pulled. Finally giving in to curiosity, he looked down and saw how the older woman meticulously trimmed her reddish brown pubic hair. She couldn't watch the sharp ends of the scissors disappearing between her thighs but after a while she relaxed a little, trusting the woman's careful hands.

"Why… why are you doing this?" She finally dared to ask and without looking up, Clemence continued her work.
Finally, and Soleil had given up on an answer, she said simply. "Master wishes it so."

It seemed to go on for a long while and Soleil's thoughts drifted back to the hall, and her Master's touch that had confused her so.
"Keep still…" Came an impatient but amused command and snapped Soleil out of her thoughts. She realized that her hips had come to meet the woman's touch and she flushed deep red, looking away.

Finally the scissors were put down and Clemence stood up. She tied Soleil's hair up in a bun and picked up the little wooden box. "Master has a gypsy make this for him."
Eying the box curiously, Soleil frowned confused when, opened, the chest only seemed to contain a white balm of some kind. "What is it?" She asks sniffing the substance – it smelled oily, of herbs and earth.

"You'll see…" Clemence said almost gently now and begin to lather the young woman's skin in the substance. First her legs, her thighs, especially amply her cunt, then her arse-cheeks and all the way into the crack between them, all of which made Soleil gasp and squirm. But Clemence ignored her fussing, she wasn't intimately caressing the girl. It was a simple mechanical task that she performed, no different to her than sweeping a floor or taking a tray of tea to her Master's room. She worked her way up quickly and meticulously and after she had coated the soft place under the girl's arms, she lowered her ties until her hands where level with her neck, tied into a position of prayer and lathered her arms as well. Her face was left untouched.
Finally, she quickly washed her hands, placed an hour-glass on the little stool and left the room without another word of explanation.

Soleil watched her leave and then regarded the hour-glass. The sand seemed to run through it quicker than she was used to but she was unable to guess how long it might take until the it would run out. She tried to relax but soon, her skin began to tingle. She squirmed, rubbed her legs together and whimpered softly. What was that balm that coated her skin?
Another few minutes passed and the tingling had turned into a burning sensation that caused her rock her body convulsively, first stretching high on the tips of her toes, than hanging limply in her bonds, rubbing herself against the wall, her hips rotating, gyrating, desperate for release from this burning, burning pain. Tears swelled up in her eyes and loud wails and moans echoed through the room.
She had all but forgotten the little hour-glass but Clemence came back when the last grain of sand had fallen into the lower chamber. For a second, she watched the desperate girl and then took a bucked of cold water and splashed it all over the girl's chest. Gasping a little shriek, Soleil focussed on the older woman.

"Get it off me… please get it off me!" She begged, realizing that the water had supplied some relief.

"Patience…" Clemence advised but then dumped another bucked of cold water over her body and turned to scrub the balm off the squirming girl's skin. "Now, don't make such fuss…" She said almost mildly and her stern, impatient hands seemed to become gentler by the minute.
Finally, she untied Soleil and gently washed her face with a cold sponge, washed her tears away. Her skin was still sore, but the burning sensation had seized, her body was tired and limp. Clemence picked up another wooden box from a shelf and panic came to the girl's eyes.
"This will help…" Clemence said chuckling and then motioned to the enamel floor. "Look…"

Soleil focussed on the floor and finally saw many many tiny dark bits of hair on the white surface. She ran her hand over her lower arm and gasped in wonder at how soft it was now, and how there was nothing to obstruct her hand running over her smooth skin, it felt curiously fresh and nice.

"See… Master never lets you suffer without a reason." Sighing almost melancholy, she then began to apply the second balm, which true to her word felt soothing to her sore skin and smelled wonderful of jasmine.

Finally, she led her to the opposite wall and had her sit down on a stool before a full body mirror. Clemence massaged a balm into her hair, dried it, brushed it and brushed it again, curled it and fasted little white flowers into the tangles and braids and curls and finally smiled at the finished result. "You are a pretty girl…" She said softly with an air of sadness. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen…" Soleil answered and regarded the elegant woman's face in the mirror.

"I, too, was seventeen once." She said softly, "I, too, was a pretty girl…" But she snapped out of her moment of reverie and came to face Soleil. She quickly added a dash of red to her lips, and her nipples – again Soleil started, tensed and took a few moments to relax again. But Clemence didn't seem willing to explain anything and Soleil didn't ask.

"Stand up."

Again she did as she was told and didn't struggle when Clemence tied her hands behind her back again. "It suits you…" She says, "it makes your breasts look beautiful." Looking down her own body, Soleil realized how they jutted forward, and her erect, red nipples pointed upwards.

"Come now, Master is waiting for you."