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Other Memories confirmed this for Lucilla. Was this woman part of an isolated community preserving archaic ways?
"The lad should go now," Sirafa said. She gestured to the two remaining members of the escort. "Take him to the place."
"I don't like this," Lucilla said.
"We have no choice!" Burzmali barked.
Lucilla could only agree. She was relying on Burzmali's oath of loyalty to the Sisterhood, she knew. And Duncan was not a child, she reminded herself. His prana-bindu reactions had been conditioned by the old Bashar and herself. There were abilities in the ghola that few people outside of the Bene Gesserit could match. She watched silently as Duncan and the two men left through the shimmering curtain.
When they were gone, Sirafa came around the settee and stood in front of Lucilla, hands on hips. Their gazes met at a level.
Burzmali cleared his throat and fingered the rough pile of clothing on the table beside him.
Sirafa's face, especially the eyes, held a remarkably compelling quality. The eyes were light green with clear whites. No lens or other artifice masked them.
"You have the right look about you," Sirafa said. "Remember that you are a special kind of playfem and Burzmali is your customer. No ordinary person would interfere with that."
Lucilla heard a veiled hint in this. "But there are those who might interfere?"
"Embassies from great religions are on Gammu now," Sirafa said. "Some you have never encountered. They are from what you call the Scattering."
"And what do you call it?"
"The Seeking." Sirafa raised a placating hand. "Do not fear! We have a common enemy."
"The Honored Matres?"
Sirafa turned her head to the left and spat on the floor. "Look at me, Bene Gesserit! I was trained only to kill them! That is my only function and purpose!"
Lucilla spoke carefully: "From what we know, you must be very good."
"In some things, perhaps I am better than you. Now listen! You are a sexual adept. Do you understand?"
"Why would priests interfere?"
"You call them priests? Well... yes. They would not interfere for any reason you might imagine. Sex for pleasure, the enemy of religion, eh?"
"Accept no substitutes for holy joy," Lucilla said.
"Tantrus protect you, woman! There are different priests from the Seeking, ones who do not mind offering immediate ecstasy instead of a promised hereafter."
Lucilla almost smiled. Did this self-styled killer of Honored Matres think she could advise a Reverend Mother on religions?
"There are people here who go about disguised as priests," Sirafa said. "Very dangerous. The most dangerous of all are those who follow Tantrus and claim that sex is the exclusive worship of their god."
"How will I know them?" Lucilla heard sincerity in Sirafa's voice and a sense of foreboding.
"That is not a concern. You must never act as though you recognize such distinctions. Your first concern is to make sure of your pay. You, I think, should ask fifty solari."
"You have not told me why they would interfere." Lucilla glanced back at Burzmali. He had laid out the rough clothing and was taking off his battle fatigues. She returned her attention to Sirafa.
"Some follow an ancient convention that grants them the right to disrupt your arrangement with Burzmali. In actuality, some will be testing you."
"Listen carefully," Burzmali said. "This is important."
Sirafa said: "Burzmali will be dressed as a field worker. Nothing else could disguise his weapon's calluses. You will address him as Skar, a common name here."
"But how do I deal with a priest's interruption?"
Sirafa produced a small pouch from her bodice and passed it to Lucilla, who hefted it in one hand. "That contains two hundred and eighty-three solari. If someone identifying himself as a divine... You remember that? Divine?"
"How could I forget it?" Lucilla's voice was almost a sneer but Sirafa paid no heed.
"If such a one interferes, you will return fifty solari to Burzmali with your regrets. Also, in that pouch is your playfem card in the name of Pira. Let me hear you say your name."
"Pira."
"No! Accent much harder on the 'a'!"
"Pira!"
"That is passable. Now listen to me with extreme care. You and Burzmali will be on the streets late. It will be expected that you have had previous customers. There must be evidence. Therefore, you will... ahhh, entertain Burzmali before leaving here. You understand?"
"Such delicacy!" Lucilla said.
Sirafa took it as a compliment and smiled, but it was a tightly controlled expression. Her reactions were so alien!
"One thing," Lucilla said. "If I must entertain a divine, how will I find Burzmali afterward?"
"Skar!"
"Yes. How will I find Skar?"
"He will wait nearby wherever you go. Skar will find you when you emerge."
"Very well. If a divine interrupts, I return one hundred solari to Skar and--"
"Fifty!"
"I think not, Sirafa." Lucilla shook her head slowly from side to side. "After being entertained by me, the divine will know that fifty solari is too small a sum."
Sirafa pursed her lips and glanced past Lucilla at Burzmali. "You warned me about her kind but I did not suppose that... "
Using only a touch of Voice, Lucilla said: "You suppose nothing unless you hear it from me!"
Sirafa scowled. She was obviously startled by Voice, but her tone was just as arrogant when she resumed. "Do I presume that you need no explanation of sexual variations?"
"A safe assumption," Lucilla said.
"And I do not need to tell you that your robe identifies you as a fifth-stage adept in the Order of Hormu?"
It was Lucilla's turn to scowl. "What if I show abilities beyond this fifth stage?"
"Ahhhhh," Sirafa said. "You will continue to heed my words, then?"
Lucilla nodded curtly.
"Very good," Sirafa said. "May I presume you can administer vaginal pulsing?"
"I can."
"From any position?"
"I can control any muscle in my body!"
Sirafa glanced past Lucilla at Burzmali. "True?"
Burzmali spoke from close behind Lucilla: "Or she would not claim it."
Sirafa looked thoughtful, her focus on Lucilla's chin. "This is a complication, I think."
"Lest you get the wrong idea," Lucilla said, "the abilities I was taught are not usually marketed. They have another purpose."
"Oh, I'm sure they do," Sirafa said. "But sexual agility is a--"
"Agility!" Lucilla allowed her tone to convey the full weight of a Reverend Mother's outrage. No matter that this might be what Sirafa hoped to achieve, she had to be put in her place! "Agility, you say? I can control genital temperature. I know and can arouse the fifty-one excitation points. I--"
"Fifty-one? But there are only--"
"Fifty-one!" Lucilla snapped. "And the sequencing plus the combinations number two thousand and eight. Furthermore, in combination with the two hundred and five sexual positions--"
"Two hundred and five?" Sirafa was clearly startled. "Surely, you don't mean--"
"More, actually, if you count minor variations. I am an Imprinter, which means I have mastered the three hundred steps of orgasmic amplification!"
Sirafa cleared her throat and wet her lips with her tongue. "I must warn you then to restrain yourself. Keep your full abilities unexpressed or... " Once more, she looked at Burzmali. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"I did."
Lucilla clearly heard amusement in his voice but did not look back to confirm it.
Sirafa inhaled and expelled two hard breaths. "If any questions are asked, you will say you are about to undergo testing for advancement. That may quiet suspicion."
"And if I'm asked about the test."
"Oh, that is easy. You smile mysteriously and remain silent."
