Page 6 of Temple

“Sure. What’s involved?”

“Well, it will increase your bond.”

“Naturally.”

“You will have to take extensive pleasure courses.”

“Well, if I can make it work and not a hobby, that’s good, too.” Sage smiled. Despite what the trainees here thought, life at the Temple was easy.

The matron nodded. “Also, you need to learn two instruments and take women’s combat training.”

“Now, you have my full attention. Combat training?” Sage grinned.

“There are women’s combat techniques that are helpful when you are an expensive companion. They deter those who would kidnap you for their own benefit. If you can’t stop them, you can mark them.”

Sage clapped her hands together. “Excellent. Done. Great. Where do I sign?”

“Just like that?”

“Like what? I am alone in this universe. No friends, no family. No world. Anything I can carry within me, like knowledge or training, is what I own. Nothing else. I am always willing to add to my hoard.”

The matron grinned. “We will organize your education and add the fees to your bond. If you train any of the other young companions, you will get an educator credit and funds you can spend on anything.”

“It seems my farming has changed its crop.” She smiled and bowed gracefully.

“Excellent. Oh, you do need to be tested again.”

“That’s fine. No one can afford me now anyway.”

The matron laughed the careful and cultivated laugh that she had been trained for. Sage grinned. There was an actual laugh under that laugh. It was nice to hear.

Six months flew by, and Sage was in the Temple gardens, showing some edible flowers to two new recruits. “So, if you are with a new patron who has mouth contact on his mind, you can use these as breath fresheners as long as your patron does not have allergies. Please verify that he does not have allergies if you want to use this method.”

A young woman with buttery yellow and soft, velvety skin raised a hand. “What if our patron is a female?”

“Same applies. One mouth leads to another, and you don’t want to injure them. It’s bad for business.”

They all smiled and laughed. Across the gardens, some of the male companions were getting similar educations.

Sage looked around and saw the mountains in the distance. The Temple was a sparsely populated facility guarded by nature. They were in a mountain basin, and the atmosphere crackled with energy that defied all but the most insulated of vessels. And they had a steady trade in trained companions.

She smiled at her novices. “Now, ladies, let’s refresh our skills at a slow walk through the gardens. You need to seem happy, dreamy, and enthralled with the plants that offer their petals to you. This portion is another type of performance.”

They walked slowly and lazily through the gardens. They looked at blooms, compared the scents, and slowly passed by exotic species that didn’t grow anywhere else.

Sage reached up and gently touched the bottom of a bloom with her fingertips. She smiled slightly. It smelled like fruity cereal.

The yellow novice gasped. “Mistress, you looked so lovely. How did you do it?”

“I was thinking of a memory from my home world. Something I consumed as a child smells like this flower.”

“Oh. Well, it gave you a soft and dreamy expression.”

“Thank you.” Sage smiled.

There was a delicate chime from inside the Temple. “Ladies, with me.”

They glided together like a mother duck and her two ducklings. The matron was waiting at the doorway and nodded. “Novices, please go and have a meal.”

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