[ WP ] In a world where the longer you are a virgin the luckier you are , but whoever takes it gets that luck instead . You 're turning a hundred soon and people really want that luck .

`` It's madness that it's gone this far,'' says Melissande, her dainty feet pacing the courtyard stone. Grass grows sweet between the paths, raising kisses to the shell-bright sky. Amidst the lilies, ninety-nine year old Tersus sits, lost in thought, radiating the manifold blessings of his virginity. It had been raining not moments before he stepped outside, but now rainwater sluices harmlessly through the dirt around him, carving out a miraculous patch of dry grass. `` Sheer temptation,'' Melissande says, pulling at the starched front of her dress. `` A dozen daemons over the past few weeks, I'm fending succubi from the windows with a broom! And now news of warlord devotees riding a path to our temple, would-be seductresses posing as maids-'' She throws up her hands. `` This is a perversion of the twin deities! This amounts to a declaration of war!'' 
 
 Her brother Lisander leans casually against the birdbath and comes away with a wet sleeve. He shakes it off and grimaces. `` You sound bitter, Lissa. You do n't respect dear venerable Tersus any longer? Have you no faith in the blessings of Dian?'' 
 
 `` It's a perversion of blessings!'' she snaps. `` It's little more than greed at this point! Dian and Dyonus are n't meant to be opponents! It's a mutual relationship, to withhold and to take.'' Her hand comes up unconsciously to the spot on her dress where a blood-red brooch would go. `` He should have given up his virginity decades ago, honestly, to a mutual virgin, more or less his age. It's the only moral way to go about it, obviously. A mutual exchange of favor, rather than all this this open conflict!'' 
 
 `` It makes for terrible sex, though,'' Lisander says. 
 
 `` Lisander!'' Spots of color burn bright in her cheeks. `` What's one... awkward coupling when we can share with each other the blessings of the deities? You have the rest of your life for sex, honestly!'' 
 
 `` We put honey on the tongues of babes to welcome them to the sweetness of the world,'' Lisander teases. `` Imagine if, instead, we clumsily fumbled and bruised their lips with the spoon-'' 
 
 `` That's enough!'' Melissande says, and then folds her hand and bends her head low. `` I mean it, Lisander. He's brought us to the brink of war. They'll rape him, if they can. They'll destroy him. If you're not ready to defend him-'' 
 
 `` Of course I'm ready!'' Lisander scowls and his hand goes to the sword by his side. `` But you're making yourself sick with this, Lissa. You think some rapist lord is going to beat his path to our door, unimpeded by the city watch? We're as safe as we can be here, daemons not withstanding. It's a Temple of Dian. Dian protects us. The Sealed Vessel, potent and whole. You need to have a little bit of faith.'' 
 
 `` Faith,'' Melissande says bitterly. `` And yet do the Dyonian cultists not have that same faith? Dyonus, All-Consuming and All-Penetrating, the Open Mouth, the Probing Tongue-'' 
 
 `` Lissa-'' 
 
 `` I do n't understand!'' she says, and her palms come up to press into her eyes. `` It's so simple! Virgins exchanging virginities! What could be simpler, more beautiful that that? And yet all this conflict, all this violent acquisition-'' 
 
 `` Lissa,'' her brother repeats, and encircles an arm around her. `` It's a balance, that's all it is-'' 
 
 `` No it's not!'' she shrieks, and glances guiltily at the old man, still lost in his appraisal of the clouds. `` It look him a lifetime, it took him near a hundred years to build up that favor. And someone could take it from him in a second. He is the most blessed acolyte of Dian that I know, and yet someone like the Prince of Lovers, the Whore of Babylon, are a dozen times more powerful! We only have our own lifetime, Lisander! And yet they could take for themselves dozens of lifetimes, hundreds of lifetimes -'' 
 
 `` Children,'' comes an aged voice, and Tersus is there, his eyes bright and beaming down at them. `` How lovely it is to see you.'' 
 
 `` Master Tersus!'' Melissande stammers, and makes to curtsy, and Lisander bobs and bows and hits his own calf with the flat of his sword. `` Master Tersus!'' he says. `` I've come at my sister's request, to guard you if need be-'' 
 
 `` That will be fine, that will be fine,'' Tersus says, and moves his hand in a blessing. He moves as lightly as the lilies in the wind, unencumbered by worry. `` My dear girl,'' he says, and touches Melissande's cheek. `` You worry far too much about me. I have long devoted myself to Dian, and they have blessed me accordingly. I shall be entirely fine.'' He shifts and creaks his bony back. `` Will you help me inside, my dear girl? I should like to prepare for the night.'' He smiles with wrinkled lips and lays a hand on Lisander's shoulder. `` And you are a good lad, to come reassure your sister.'' 
 
 `` Of course,'' Lisander says, and bows again, and stands at attention, eyes darting towards the courtyard gate, as his sister helps Tersus inside. 
 
 *** 
 
 `` I overheard much,'' Tersus says in the candlelight, as she kneels down and unlaces his sandals, prepares to bathe his feet. `` You fear the path I have chosen.'' 
 
 `` Oh, oh no, Master Tersus,'' she says, the jug of water shaking in her hands. `` I did not - I did n't mean, I would not presume-'' 
 
 `` Listen now,'' he says, and strokes her hair. `` I understand your faith and find it worthy. You have communed with the twin deities, and learned their doctrine most deeply.'' She pours the water over his knobbly and muddy toes as he sits on the edge of his bed, watches the deep rich earth fall from the wrinkles and cracks. She massages his feet, feels the motion of the bones beneath the skin, her head bowed before him. `` But tell me this, Melissande,'' he says. `` Would you soon leave Dian's order? Exchange your virginity with another's? I expect nothing from you,'' he says, holding up a hand before she can speak. `` But for you to follow your own heart. Tell me, and tell me true, Melissande, will you soon be breaking from my path?'' 
 
 `` I-I intend to, soon,'' she stammers, lifting his feet from the basin. The water has grown murky and dark, and she splashes it out of the window for the bushes to drink. 
 
 `` And is there a virgin you have in mind?'' he inquires with a benevolent smile. 
 
 `` N-no,'' she says, and feels her lies like solid lumps of coal, dark spots left in his radiance. `` That is to say-'' She bends forward, touches her forehead to his knees. `` I'm scared, Master Tersus. I understand what is right, I understand what is required of me to keep Dian and Dyonus in balance. But - I've never - I've served Dian since I was a child, and the thought of...'' She wonders what happened to her certainty, the stern assurance of theology. It is as if the deities have retreated from her. 
 
 `` I understand entirely, dear child,'' Tersus speaks, and his hand close on her shoulders and lift her to her feet. `` Let me tell you, that you are right and true and good in your reasoning.'' He bows his head and shakes it sadly. `` I was a mad old man, relying on your youth to defend me-'' 
 
 `` Oh, no, Master Tersus,'' she says quickly. `` Not at all! I was - I was simply worried for you, I did n't think when I spoke-'' 
 
 `` You were right entirely,'' he says, his fragile hands running down her arms and raising goosebumps. `` I should have traded off my virginity a long time ago, before it came to this. I have come to regret quite a bit in my old age.'' He meets her eye with an impish smile. `` Would you like a blessing, my girl? A blessing of Dian such that no one will ever be able to take it from you?'' 
 
 He is bone, and atop that bone he is flesh and blood and she blushes and feels his heat. `` N-n-no,'' she stammers. `` M-Master Tersus, what are you saying? You're -'' Too old. Arthritic and creaking and rhuemy, a smile of gums and missing teeth. And beyond that, the potent, pulsing power of his blessing, saved for a hundred years. She feels as if it will blow her apart. `` You ca n't,'' she says at last. 
 
 `` Would you rather keep living in fear?'' he says, and his hand traces the straps of her dress, ghosts the curve of her breast. `` For yourself and for me? You said it yourself, my dear girl. It would be perverse to do otherwise.'' 
 
 No, she wants to say, but the word sticks in her throat. She has bathed him, helped him to the bathroom, seen the knobs of rib and spine. And how long has he seen her back. His hand pulls open her dress, and the chill air touches her chest. Her throat convulses. No. No. No. No. 
 
 `` My dear girl,'' he whispers, and snuffs out the candle. `` I will make you divine.'' 
 
 Out in the courtyard, Lisander touches his hand to the hilt of his sword and puffs out his chest, and stands alert to guard against the gathering dark.
