11: Walk through forest and field

Ninth hour (15:09)

Tita and Elena approached the meeting tent and Zarina stood there to bid them goodbye. Elena shook hands with Zarina, who smiled grandly and looked far more relaxed than previously. She thanked Elena in Latin and made hand gestures that they would see each other later. Elena took Zarina’s hands again, gently squeezing them and kissing Zarina on both cheeks, thanking her and her troupe. Then she said more words in Bactrian Greek that made Zarina smile warmly.

Adza ran up to them and hugged Tita, then took Elena’s hand and bowed to her. Then he gave Elena two loaves of flatbread, noting they would get hungry going to Aurelia’s villa. Elena giggled at Adza’s sweet gesture and thanked him, adding they would see each other soon. Then Elena took Tita’s arm in her arm and they proceeded to walk back to the trail. Elena walked gracefully, smiling in a way that Tita found rather curious, as if Elena had enjoyed a secret pleasure, or was about to. Tita also noticed Elena’s earthy citrus scent was stronger than before, which left Tita completely perplexed.

As they walked up the grassy field and reached the trail, Tita looked back and saw the Bactrians were starting to collapse some of their tents. The scene reminded her of all the times they had decamped over the past two weeks. She remembered how she had helped Zine and Zina set up their tent and take it down. Tita also remembered how Hariti and Adza had taught her how to set up and take down sections of the much larger meeting tent. She remembered how she and Adza had a friendly competition with Hariti and Ardoksho to see which pair could set up the most sections of the meeting tent.

Tita smiled, imagining that she might get to do that again for them. Looking forward, Tita saw the trail entered into the forest that flanked the camp. Tita was happy for the shade the forest provided. She heard the occasional bird call and relaxed.

Elena gave one loaf bread to Tita. Tita thanked her, noting that the Bactrian bread tasted very good, since it was sprinkled with olive oil and rosemary. Tita added that the olive oil they used on their bread had pepper and another spice she had forgotten the name of. Elena took a bite and said there was pepper, a little garlic and a touch of black cumin in the olive oil, adding that the bread tasted excellent.

Tita agreed that their bread tasted very good. She realized she was hungry and started eating. Later she would have to thank Adza for his wise gift. Tita saw Elena chewed slowly and she slowed down her chewing as well to relish the taste. She did not know why she felt compelled to follow Elena. But it seemed like a good idea to eat slowly.

Pausing between bites, Elena quietly asked Tita if she had enjoyed her time with Zina and Zine. Tita blushed heavily, but she felt less embarrassed than earlier. She replied that yes, they had enjoyed themselves very well and they had all orgasmed. Tita added that she had orgasmed much more quickly than previous times. She asked if that was due to the build up of excitement.

Elena complimented Tita for her intuition and her ability to notice these things. Details like these would be very important for the sexual part of her work. Elena confirmed that excitement was always a key factor, and the more tension one accumulated, the easier and faster one was able to release it.

Tita also noted Zina and Zine had wanted to touch her vagina, but she decided against it since Elena had mentioned they would practice the vagina later. Elena complimented Tita again with a grand smile, kissing Tita on the cheek and squeezing her hand. She congratulated Tita on her ability to stay in control and make evaluations even in moments of intense sensuality.

Elena noted that after Tita met Aurelia, and Aurelia checked her vagina, then anyone could touch and caress her vagina, so long as they did not insert any fingers. Elena explained that after they reviewed and practiced the vagina and spoke about virginity in a few days, then Tita would understand better what was allowed or not allowed.

Tita was overjoyed that she could let Zina and Zine enjoy her body even more. But the idea of Aurelia seeing her naked and checking her vagina made her blush with embarrassment. Tita took another bite of her loaf and asked if Aurelia checked all the women, but then she realized she knew the answer.

Elena replied that yes, Aurelia checked everyone on a monthly basis. Aurelia checked primarily for health reasons, adding that Aurelia was very correct and good to do so. Because too often, women neglected their own health to their own detriment.

Elena noted that Aurelia’s main policy was that her women and men had to stay as clean as possible and keep their genitals in good health, since there were diseases that could be transmitted through sexual activity. This meant that sometimes they should refuse a session if they saw the client had a rash or lesion or something else that suggested an ailment. Elena took another bite of her bread, chewing slowly.

This was not the answer Tita was anticipating, but Tita remembered that Claudia had mentioned a few times during their talks together that Aurelia emphasized cleanliness and good health. Claudia had told Tita that Aurelia insisted that everyone wash daily and use oils and creams to protect their genitals and to immediately report any rashes, reactions or worse problems.

Tita asked if such diseases were always visible, and Elena finished chewing and swallowed. She noted that was an excellent question. Elena said that it was best to avoid sex with anyone having rashes or blisters or similar ailments, but she did not know if diseases were always visible. Sometimes a disease could only reflect as a fever and nothing else. So it was important to always ask questions before any sexual activity. Tita always had the right to refuse, since she was a freedwoman, no matter what the client said about her work.

Tita nodded, remembering that Claudia had said the same thing while they travelled to Massalia. Tita said Claudia had told her she had refused a number of times already, maybe once or twice a month, if she suspected the man or woman had an ailment.

Elena agreed, adding that Aurelia wanted to make sure that all her workers protected their health and that they be vigilant for disease. If anyone in the group got a disease, news of the girl’s infection could quickly spread through town and suddenly clients could cancel appointments with other girls out of fear that they may also be infected. Elena added they had significant competition in Pompeii, so it was important to stay healthy just to avoid loss of clients.

Elena said that in her long experience, if someone had gonorrhea, a disease that made rashes on the genitals or eyes, and that person had sex, then the other person could get the same disease. She did not know how this was possible, but she imagined that, just as certain features were given from mother or father to their children, the same thing could happen with two strangers.

Elena conjectured that Marcus Varro was right, that there must be tiny things not visible to them that could carry disease from one person or animal to another. It was really the only way to explain how contagious diseases spread, like plagues or herpes.

So she and Aurelia inspected everyone once a month, and sometimes twice a month depending on their activity. Elena emphasized this was not something to fear or to be ashamed of. But it was important to be checked for health and to be attentive and take proper precautions with the genitals. Tita should always feel free to refuse sex if she felt her health could be affected. Aurelia and she would always defend her decision if clients made complaints.

Tita asked who Marcus Varro was and Elena replied he had lived roughly one hundred years earlier and had written many, many works on a wide variety of subjects, including an encyclopedia on the liberal arts and a chronology of Roman history. He was a great scholar and polymath. Tita assumed he was a doctor of some sort, but Elena explained he knew and wrote about many different topics.

Tita thought about what Elena said for a while as they continued walking silently along the trail. She remembered her little sister and brother dying when they were very young. She remembered how much they cried in pain for weeks, and the pustules all over their bodies. She remembered how peaceful they looked after they died. And she remembered how much pain she, her mother and her brothers had felt when they died within a few months of each other.

She remembered when she had a painful red rash, with fever and vomiting. Claudia had had the same disease, but they both survived it. Tita’s father suffered pain in his bones, and her mother had constipation and stomach pains. Tita wondered if these things were also caused by these invisible things.

The topic of diseases brought back to mind the last time she saw a doctor, a few months before she had met her first love Uinda. She remembered the doctor vividly. His name was Artorius and he had been their doctor during her childhood. But the last time she saw him, she remembered how he looked and smiled with desire, how he touched and fondled her, and how she did not like it at all.

She remembered feeling some pain, though he had not penetrated her with his fingers. But mostly she felt disgust, shame and fear, fear of having to see him again. Tita sighed, remembering how relieved she was when she told her mother a few days later and her mother believed her. Her mother even fought with her father never to let the doctor see them again. And to her father’s credit, he eventually believed her also when she tearfully confessed the whole episode in detail to him. Now the memory just brought her sadness and she tried to force the memory out of her mind.

Tita saw the trail leading out of the forest and into an open field while the river curved away and back towards the trail in the distance. Now they would have the sun on their backs again. Tita took another bite of her loaf, chewing slowly. The bread did taste better when she ate slowly.

Tita felt relaxed to be alone with Elena on the trail as they walked arm in arm and ate bread, with nothing but a grassy field to their right and some farm land to their left. There was a gentle breeze coming from the direction of the volcano, and occasionally birds flew over head. Tita breathed in the air and sighed heavily, content to be with Elena, who was also thinking while glancing about the landscape, a slight smile on her lips.

Tita realized the sun was not as strong, but the heat was still oppressive and the air was thicker and more humid than earlier, which made her skin feel a bit sticky. She could feel the sun on her back and head and she felt her linen dress cling to her skin as she started sweating on her back again. She hoped she would have time to wash and change clothing at least before meeting Aurelia.

Tita sighed heavily as she returned to the thought of invisible things transporting disease. She trusted Elena’s knowledge, but the idea of invisible things carrying an ailment from one person to another frightened her. What about leprosy? she asked, a disease she was often accused of having. She took her last bite of bread, chewing more slowly to savor it longer.

Elena interrupted her thoughts and looked at Tita, saying she did not know. If such invisible things existed, be they tiny animals or something else, they could not study them except by their effects. So far as Elena knew, leprosy was not as contagious as it seemed. She believed many people who were accused of having leprosy actually had skin lesions or ailments from other afflictions. Elena stopped talking to finish her last piece of bread. After she finished eating, she continued talking.

Elena noted that biological characteristics were very detailed and specific. As they walked, she took Tita’s hand and hold it up next to her own free hand. Elena pointed out the subtle differences in skin, skin color, texture, patterns, shape of the fingers, fingernails, wrinkle lines, sensitive areas of the hands and so on. She noted how small and fine the skin texture was, how there were tiny crevices in the skin that made those patterns. And that in those crevices there were yet smaller and smaller things.

Elena pointed to the tiny lines, veins and skin variations one could see if they looked closely. There were a lot of characteristics, many more than what one saw when looking from further away. So Elena felt that the closer one looked at biological or natural things, the more one could see.

There were obvious common characteristics between their hands. But there was a myriad of tiny differences. Elena felt that tiny invisible things probably had very specific effects on biology. Only that they did not have the ability to study it and understand it. Elena let go Tita’s hand and stopped to drink water from her pouch. Then she handed the pouch to Tita.

Tita drank the orange tasting cool river water with relief and smiled broadly, thanking Elena and giving the pouch back. Elena smiled and took Tita’s arm in her arm again and they continued walking.

In any case, Elena said, the important thing was that Tita was healthy. Elena explained that she had asked Zarina about Tita’s health and Zarina had not heard Tita make any complaints about ailments or discomfort, except for their spicy food. Tita giggled at this but she remarked she got used to their spicy food and liked it now. She also noted that when she smelled the food odors in the meeting tent, she realized how much she liked it. Elena nodded, replying that smell was the most powerful sense.

Tita wanted to change subjects, since the idea of disease and death was depressing. She asked Elena about her idea for the dance spectacle at the arena. Did she think it was possible, and would Tita have to attend?

Elena remarked that years ago she had participated in such spectacles. They required hard work and a lot of training. But they were also extremely enjoyable and very satisfying. They were definitely worth the effort. Elena believed that dancing was the best activity the human body could do, and she encouraged Tita to join the effort. It would be good practice for her.

Tita frowned at this, wondering if she could ever be good at dancing. Elena replied that Tita loved music. Elena knew this because Zarina had seen how Tita was influenced and moved by the music the Bactrians made for dancing. Zarina had heard Tita humming the tunes that Zina and Zine hummed and memorized for their dances. So it was only a matter of practice Elena added. Tita had nothing to fear except loss of faith in herself.

Tita felt annoyed that Elena was asking Zarina about her and she bristled a bit. But she remembered it was Elena’s job to train her. And Elena had mentioned she wanted to find out how the Bactrians had experienced her. Prepare to be annoyed.

Elena lightly caressed Tita’s arm, smiling in a tender way, and Tita was surprised at how Elena sensed that Tita was being obtuse. Tita smiled back, giggling as she leaned into Elena, and apologized for her annoyance.

Elena continued, saying that Tita should have faith in her abilities and above all in her body. Her body had been the Bactrian’s center of attention for two weeks and Zina and Zine obviously loved her body as well. They loved her spots in a very strong way. If other women loved her body, she should too.

Tita stopped walking, dumbstruck. She had realized this before, but to hear it stated so simply from Elena gave it powerful clarity. She felt as if Elena had opened up her psyche. A wave of emotion built up inside Tita and then her eyes teared as she realized Elena was right. She should love her body. Her body was her best asset. She could not live without her body.

Zina and Zine, who were more beautiful than her, loved her body. They loved to play with and enjoy her body. She had been the object of love and affection from more than a dozen beautiful Bactrian dancers. They had all admired her body. She deserved her body. She should love it too. It was a gift from the gods, from her parents. Claudia loved it too.

All these thoughts raced through Tita’s mind as she sobbed heavily. Elena hugged her and Tita hugged Elena back, first gently, then tightly. She wanted to absorb Elena’s wise power into her. Tita felt Elena tense up in her tight embrace and she loved feeling Elena’s strength and muscles warmly embrace her.

Tita thanked Elena repeatedly. She could not stop thanking her. She sobbed a bit more, then saw she was getting Elena’s precious silk dress wet with her tears. Tita stepped away, apologizing, and used her shawl to dry her eyes. Elena gave her the pouch again and Tita took a sip of water to help calm her down.

After a while the emotional explosion had receded and Tita felt relieved of a huge burden, as if Elena had miraculously erased years of negativity and mental self-harm. She felt happy. She apologized again, then laughed, apologizing for apologizing so much. Tita said she had never cried so much in one day before. But she had to say she had never felt better. She felt immensely relieved each time.

Elena nodded, saying it was good to cry well. Crying was like laughing. Crying and laughing expressed what the body wanted to say and it was very important to let the body express itself. ‘Always let your happy or sad feelings express themselves’, Elena said, ‘no matter the context. There is no shame in showing those feelings, so long as you do not harm others. Today you are learning to love your body, and to realize how much you are loved. Love is good. Life is good. You are good. Your body is good. Be proud of yourself and be proud of your splendid body.’

Love your body, Tita thought. Love it for all it is worth.

Elena took Tita’s arm and they continued walking in silence. After a few moments, Elena continued talking in a very quiet tone, almost a whisper. Since Tita loved music, she could easily learn to dance. The key was finding a dance style that her body liked. And finding that style required a lot of daily practice. The more Tita practiced and experimented with dance, the more she would learn about her body and what her body wanted to do, what it felt it had to do, what it loved to do.

Elena emphasized that Tita had to trust and listen to her body, since it was her best asset, as she had just understood. So it was important for Tita to feel and sense and listen while dancing and let her body speak to her. In many ways, dance was the meeting of sensuality and sport. One had to be receptive, more than active.

Elena concluded by saying that Tita needed to remember that accidents happened when one wanted to do one thing, and the body did another. Clumsiness was a result of not listening to your body. Just as Tita trusted Claudia, Zina and Zine and listened to them, she needed to do the same with her body. Tita nodded. Now it all made sense.

The trail went into another forest as it flanked the river. The trees blocked out the hot sun and Tita felt relieved to be back under the shade. They continued walking for a bit and Tita noticed the trees thickened and the trail got considerably cooler. She saw the south riverbank was also thick with trees, and realized they were going through a bigger forest than the previous one. The river was empty except for some ducks wading in the water. A breeze blew along the river, rustling the trees.

Elena stopped to cool herself with the riverside breeze and took a sip of water from her pouch. Tita noticed the breeze made Elena’s light silk dress cling to her body, revealing her body’s curves. Elena handed the pouch again to Tita, who also drank a little bit. Tita thanked Elena again for the water, then took another gulp and gave the pouch back.

Elena took another sip and licked her lips, then sprinkled some cool water on her chest. The water made the light blue silk dress more transparent and cling to Elena’s dark skin, revealing Elena’s breasts, aureoles and nipples underneath.

The effect excited Tita, and she found herself quickly aroused. She paused for a moment, then surprising herself, Tita asked to take the pouch. Elena gave it to her and Tita splashed a little water on her own chest, so that her linen dress clung to her breasts and nipples. Tita laughed, shaking her head at why she did that, since the effect was not nearly as erotic as it was with silk. Enjoying the coolness of the water, she splashed a little on her face and on the top of her head to get her long red hair wet. She looked at Elena, who seemed to enjoy her wet appearance.

Elena took back the water pouch and let a small trail of water run down her neck, between her breasts and down her dress, creating a wet line that stuck to her chest, belly, abdomen and genital area. She smiled alluringly and walked over to lean with her back against a tree, arching her chest out. She used one foot to slowly raise the hem of her dress up her leg, then eventually took the hem up with her hand so that Tita could briefly see Elena’s flame-colored pubic hair again.

Elena quickly raised and lowered her dress a few times as she made cooing bird noises every time her hair was visible. Tita laughed at Elena’s play, but she found herself getting very excited. She was surprised since she thought that her episode with Zina and Zine would have satisfied her for the rest of the day. The Elena effect.

Elena stepped away from the tree and took off her wet silk dress. She nodded to Tita, asking her to do the same, that she wanted to see her spots clearly. Tita was shocked by this request, but realized Elena had just seen her naked in the river. Tita removed her shawl and linen dress, standing only in her sandals, feeling both excited and embarrassed, but also energized and free.

Elena stepped forward to take Tita’s clothing. She bundled it in her silk dress and laid the clothing on a patch of grass next to the dirt trail. She motioned for Tita to turn around slowly, so Elena could see her body. Tita did so, blushing strongly as she felt Elena’s eyes on her, observing her body in a sultry way. She also felt terribly excited to be outside on a trail by a river, naked, with no one around except some ducks in the river.

She wondered if she looked foolish. Elena started complimenting Tita with her low musical voice, saying she had been excited to see Tita’s spots in the river. But to see her full body like this was even more exciting. Tita’s spots were exquisite, and she had wonderful patterns on her back, legs and belly.

Elena’s low talking sent chills up Tita’s spine. Tita stopped to look at Elena, who started turning around herself so Tita could see her body. Now Tita saw Elena’s back and decorative marks more clearly. There was a thin blue line that started at Elena’s neck and descended all the way down her spine and disappeared between her butt cheeks. There were dots highlighting recessed dimples in her lower back. There was a pair of dark blue gentle vertical curves that followed the contours of her waist and hips. And in between her shoulder blades were a few curved lines that formed the outline of a butterfly.

Tita loved the marks and hoped she could get her body painted also. But Tita saw Elena shaking her head, saying that Tita’s spots were perfect and needed no enhancements. They were already wonderful art, a true gift from the gods.

Tita blushed at this, thanking Elena. Elena asked Tita to turn around again, so Elena could admire her back. Tita did so and closed her eyes, feeling that she could sense Elena making love to her with her eyes. Tita felt strange that she was getting excited after being excited with Zina and Zine. She hoped they would not be jealous. Tita wondered if this was good and proper to be excited by a teacher, though Elena was the most beautiful teacher Tita had ever known…