The Baron watched the carriage depart the Estate with a soft sigh and turned back to his desk. The leather bound journal he kept hidden in the bottom drawer, pulled out and set atop as it always was after a chance encounter with the Greek. He had been keeping the journal for well on ten years at that point, noting each and every interaction, thought and reminiscent word for later appraisal and speculation. Such a layered creature she was, each element being peeled back like the layers of a sweet onion. He wished not to forget one thing about her, right down to the way she always bested him at Chess.
Some maintained an ill misconception of the word Courtesan, instantly deeming it of filth or blasphemy and while to some it was....to others it was quite the opposite. Maximillian had the pleasure of knowing Shai for many years, they had never touched physically, although he had a certain likeness for her dainty feet. The contact between them was more of the ethereal kind, the mental seduction that few could maintain for any long period of time. He was married many many years and while he yearned for the stimulation of a voiced debate or a competitive game of Mah Jong, he would never disrespect his vows....not in this lifetime, not in another by giving into a fleeting notion of tangled sheets and sweaty limbs.
So it remained. Shai's life had changed so much over the years, Maximillian's time with her unobtainable for months on end, then suddenly she would show herself out of the blue with no warning, lighting up the estate with her presence alone. The maids catered to her, the cooks urged her to eat, which she did without hesitation, testing and devouring each and every morsel they set out before her. The gardeners enamoured with her as she lounged, surrounded by their blooms and stems. In a word, the Greek was a delight and left a spark of light in the elder Baron's eyes that had not been there since his youth.
Hence, the reason for the journal. When it was opened and fell to the first page, the Baron smiled. August 19th, Sixteen Hundred Fifty Four. Yes, nearly ten summer's earlier.
19?me Jour Auguste, seize cent cinquante-quatre,
I have been blessed to have shared the company of the most intriguing creature, I have ever had the pleasure to meet today. It was over a Queen's piece, that dark eyes had uplifted and met mine in challenge, the exact moment I knew my life will never be the same, was only enhanced by her whisper. "A piece of advice, Maximillian....Never cross a literate courtesan." The journey has begun.
A fluent rhetorician, Shai taught political oratory as well domestic economics to both intellectual men and their wives. Much to the dawned scandal of many, as her true involvement with several husband's of democracy was revealed.
Born into a family of entertainers, her future was one that became well bred. As soon as she arrived at the age of youth, and was now ready for the world, her mother put her on the stage. Forthwith, she became a courtesan, and such as the ancient Greeks used to call a common one, at that: for she was not a flute or harp player, nor was she even trained to dance, but only gave her youth to anyone she met, in utter abandonment.
Her general favors included, of course, the actors in the theater; and in their productions she took part in the low comedy scenes. For she was very funny and a good mimic, and immediately became popular in this art. There was no shame in the girl, and no one ever saw her dismayed: no role was too scandalous for her to, accept without a blush. She was the kind of comedienne who delighted the audience by letting herself be cuffed and slapped on the cheeks, and made them guffaw by raising her skirts to reveal to the spectators those feminine secrets here and there which custom veils from the eyes of the opposite sex.
With pretended laziness she mocked her lovers, and coquettishly adopting ever new ways of embracing, was able to keep in a constant turmoil the hearts of the sophisticated. And she did not wait to be asked by anyone she met, but on the contrary, with inviting jests and a comic flaunting of her skirts herself tempted all men who passed by, especially those who were just reaching their manhood.
Once, visiting the house of an illustrious gentleman, they say she mounted the projecting corner of her dining couch, pulled up the front of her dress, without a blush, and thus carelessly showed her wantonness. And though she flung wide three gates to the ambassadors of Cupid, she lamented that nature had not similarly unlocked the straits of her bosom, that she might there have contrived a further welcome to his emissaries. Thus was this woman born and bred, and her name was a byword beyond that of other common wenches on the tongues of all men.
The sigh once again fell from the Baron, the book turned page by page, each passage read until finally a clear spot for him to pen his thoughts of the day was found. One thought looming, that he may never see Shai Vevea again. If this was the case, he would die a happy man knowing she had walked into his life in the first place.
Some maintained an ill misconception of the word Courtesan, instantly deeming it of filth or blasphemy and while to some it was....to others it was quite the opposite. Maximillian had the pleasure of knowing Shai for many years, they had never touched physically, although he had a certain likeness for her dainty feet. The contact between them was more of the ethereal kind, the mental seduction that few could maintain for any long period of time. He was married many many years and while he yearned for the stimulation of a voiced debate or a competitive game of Mah Jong, he would never disrespect his vows....not in this lifetime, not in another by giving into a fleeting notion of tangled sheets and sweaty limbs.
So it remained. Shai's life had changed so much over the years, Maximillian's time with her unobtainable for months on end, then suddenly she would show herself out of the blue with no warning, lighting up the estate with her presence alone. The maids catered to her, the cooks urged her to eat, which she did without hesitation, testing and devouring each and every morsel they set out before her. The gardeners enamoured with her as she lounged, surrounded by their blooms and stems. In a word, the Greek was a delight and left a spark of light in the elder Baron's eyes that had not been there since his youth.
Hence, the reason for the journal. When it was opened and fell to the first page, the Baron smiled. August 19th, Sixteen Hundred Fifty Four. Yes, nearly ten summer's earlier.
19?me Jour Auguste, seize cent cinquante-quatre,
I have been blessed to have shared the company of the most intriguing creature, I have ever had the pleasure to meet today. It was over a Queen's piece, that dark eyes had uplifted and met mine in challenge, the exact moment I knew my life will never be the same, was only enhanced by her whisper. "A piece of advice, Maximillian....Never cross a literate courtesan." The journey has begun.
A fluent rhetorician, Shai taught political oratory as well domestic economics to both intellectual men and their wives. Much to the dawned scandal of many, as her true involvement with several husband's of democracy was revealed.
Born into a family of entertainers, her future was one that became well bred. As soon as she arrived at the age of youth, and was now ready for the world, her mother put her on the stage. Forthwith, she became a courtesan, and such as the ancient Greeks used to call a common one, at that: for she was not a flute or harp player, nor was she even trained to dance, but only gave her youth to anyone she met, in utter abandonment.
Her general favors included, of course, the actors in the theater; and in their productions she took part in the low comedy scenes. For she was very funny and a good mimic, and immediately became popular in this art. There was no shame in the girl, and no one ever saw her dismayed: no role was too scandalous for her to, accept without a blush. She was the kind of comedienne who delighted the audience by letting herself be cuffed and slapped on the cheeks, and made them guffaw by raising her skirts to reveal to the spectators those feminine secrets here and there which custom veils from the eyes of the opposite sex.
With pretended laziness she mocked her lovers, and coquettishly adopting ever new ways of embracing, was able to keep in a constant turmoil the hearts of the sophisticated. And she did not wait to be asked by anyone she met, but on the contrary, with inviting jests and a comic flaunting of her skirts herself tempted all men who passed by, especially those who were just reaching their manhood.
Once, visiting the house of an illustrious gentleman, they say she mounted the projecting corner of her dining couch, pulled up the front of her dress, without a blush, and thus carelessly showed her wantonness. And though she flung wide three gates to the ambassadors of Cupid, she lamented that nature had not similarly unlocked the straits of her bosom, that she might there have contrived a further welcome to his emissaries. Thus was this woman born and bred, and her name was a byword beyond that of other common wenches on the tongues of all men.
The sigh once again fell from the Baron, the book turned page by page, each passage read until finally a clear spot for him to pen his thoughts of the day was found. One thought looming, that he may never see Shai Vevea again. If this was the case, he would die a happy man knowing she had walked into his life in the first place.