Court of Love

Chapter 1

Loera was a piece of coal amidst diamonds. In Oden City, capital of Oden and under the rule of King Maddock, there were many exquisite things and Loera was not one. From the glorious stone castle in the middle of the city, seen from every corner and every alley of the city, to the ritzy alcoves of the Market, Loera didn't even live near the wealth and the beauty that bustled around. Instead, she hailed from the shadows of Seventh Avenue, aptly nicknamed Seventh's Slums. But luckily for Loera, she did not live near the pig sties and the filth of the Slums. Instead, she slept in a cupboard in the kitchen of the Dragonskeep Brothel, one of the few shining buildings in the area. 

The brothel itself was actually beautiful. It was built at the end of the Slums, like a treasure hidden among filth. In the front was a court yard, usually alive with dancers and painted escorts. In the center of the court yard was a stone fountain with a marble statue of a beautiful dancer reaching towards the stars, water falling from her palms. There were two more stone platforms a few feet away on either side of the fountain, both with slender and twisting trees that produced the most beautiful purple and white passion fruit blossoms in the spring. The cobblestone was worn smooth between the two paths that led to the many slender arches, where a multitude of customers and guests found themselves wandering. Above each arch was a window on the second floor, rooms that held secrets of affairs and adulterers and forbidden lovers. Underneath were the beautiful barrel vaults, each arch intersecting with the next and undulating with curves. The ceilings were painted with twisting, naked bodies of passion, hinting at what lie inside, but overall a spectacle by itself. 

Loera often loved walking under the beautiful paintings and weaving around the court yard when she had free time. Although, that time was hardly often at all. Loera was often busy in the mornings stripping dirty bedding and replacing it with clean linens for the next night of use. After this duty was done, she was to wash the dirty linens and to hang them to dry on the roof. When this task was done, Loera reported to the kitchen and would help prepare meals and bring up the beverages from the basement. The head chef would always sneak Loera and the other works bread and cheese for lunch, pretending to scold them if any of the Mistresses brought a watchful eye to sweep for any ill doings. 

The Mistresses all reported to Madam Luestro, the owner of the brothel and keeper of all of debts. While some people--like the head chef--worked for Madam Luestro, the majority were indentured servants trying to pay off their sentence and debts. Workers like Loera, plain mortals with sentences longer than their life, became masters of the shadow work to be done at the Dragonskeep Brothel. The main attraction came from the diversity of demi-fae who were bought to work for a minimum of fifty years. Fifty years, which seemed like a long time to Loera, was simply a decent fraction for the majority of the demi-fae. Although not immortal like the Fae, the demi-fae still had long lifespans. Fifty years to them was similar to ten years for Loera. 

But time was time, and debts had to be paid. 

Of course, there weren't a lot of mortals that worked for Madam Luestro. Loera found herself in the minority within the brothel's walls, and was constantly reminded of her plainness. She did not have the beautiful, slender body that most demi-fae females were gifted, nor did she have the sharp features that both male and female often wore proudly. Rather, Loera's face was simple. A simple nose, thankfully straight and small. She had blue eyes and dull blonde hair and could've been considered fair had her skin not been roughened by hard work and many hours under the sun on the roof. 

But luckily for Loera, she had a dancer's body. Not the delicate kind that men feasted after on the stages within the brothel, but rather, the athletic kind. Madam Luestro, having maybe been feeling generous when Loera was ten, had her trained in a new type of dance in hopes to see if it would become something later taught to the more beautiful dancers of the brothel. The style of dancing was introduced to Loera as ring-dancing, and required a large, sturdy ring that was roughly three inches taller than her. Due to the investment, Madam Luestro took the liberty of adding the cost of a custom ring to the debt that Loera was to pay. Although Loera's debt was in terms of years, Madam Luestro also took the liberty of calculating how much a year was worth for a servant such as Loera.  Madam Luestro also added the cost of lessons from a foreign instructor to Loera's contract, quickly racking up years.