Power and Obedience [18+]

— “Sit up straight.”

Alys obeyed at once, her hands smoothing the creases of her skirt over her legs as she did so.

— “Listen, accepting the conditions of your existence in this world isn’t easy and I appreciate that. But understand this: everything I teach you is for your survival. For your benefit. Do you understand?”

Alys nodded quickly. She did not dare doubt the Major, though her severe manner often made the girl’s chest tighten. Trust was rare but she gave it freely to her guardian, perhaps out of gratitude, perhaps because she had no one else left. The girl’s reflection in the window beside them caught her eye. She was young, too young for all of this. Her hair hung in a dishevelled braid, her face still holding the softness of adolescence that hardship had not yet stolen. She was pretty, pretty in a way that made her survival even more precarious in a world that fed on weakness.

— “Femininity is a weapon that I shall teach you to wield”, the Major said, as though delivering a field order. “Men and women are not the same, but that does not mean you’re helpless.”

She paced slowly before Alys, her boots striking the cracked concrete of the barracks floor. Rain drummed against the corrugated metal walls, sending the candles on the altar flickering wildly.

— “Understand this”, she continued. “Men will underestimate you. They will think beauty means vulnerability. Let them. Your charms can be sharper than a blade, if you know how to use them. A woman’s charm can even decide who eats and who starves.”

She stopped in front of Alys, close enough that the girl caught the faint scent of perfume mixed with the jarring iron tinge of old blood on the officer’s coat. Slowly, almost unexpectedly, the Major reached out and brushed a loose strand of blonde hair from Alys’s braid, tucking it behind her ear. The gesture was gentle, motherly, at odds with the harshness of the world outside.

Without warning, the Major’s hand slipped to the side of Alys’s face, and she drew the girl toward her. Her lips pressed against the girl’s with sudden force. Authoritative, not tentative. Alys froze, her breath catching. Her cheeks burning beneath the Major’s touch. She did not resist, she couldn’t. The world seemed distant for a moment, leaving only the Major’s intense presence, and the sharp rush of blood to her face.

—“You must learn to master this power, Alys”, the Major said, her eyes locking onto the girl’s with hypnotic intensity. “You must not be prey.”

Alys’s pulse raced at the Major’s gaze, her chest tightening with anticipation. The Major stepped closer, her hand brushing along Alys’s arm in a deliberate, lingering sweep.

— “Every gesture, every glance, every action you allow to be seen can be a weapon.”

Alys shivered with excited nervousness, but she did not pull away. With deliberate care, the Major’s hand moved lower, pressing against the curve of Alys’s breast, eliciting a sharp intake of breath. Alys felt the heat rising through her chest as she pressed slightly into the Major, welcoming the touch. The Major’s lips brushed against her ear.

— “This is power”, she said, her hand firm. “To command and to be commanded, to take and to give. You must feel it fully, so that the world cannot bend you. You have a role to play but you have your own power.”

—“Now, on your knees, and kiss my boot. Show me you know your place”, the Major commanded, firmer now.

Alys hesitated for a moment before lowering herself, the scrape of her knees against the cold, dirty floor grounding her. Her lips pressed to the leather, she felt small but startlingly alive. When she looked up, her eyes met the Major’s, and though she remained bowed, the fire in her gaze spoke of a nascent authority and perhaps the power to command in time.