As usual, Nie took the family coach to the Massagist Guildhall in the Middle City. He didn’t need to watch the rolling estates of the nobles in the Upper City for long; being at the bottom of the ranks also meant being at the lowest point of the Upper City, the estate even bordering the wall over the steep cliffside separating the two tiers of Remeh.

The Middle City was the main hub of commerce in Remeh—the Central Market being considered the Jewel of the Mountain. There was even a massive glass statue cut to resemble a jewel that sat atop the fountain in the Market.

The coach let Nie out here, at the main Massagist Guildhall in the Central position. Nobles working in the profession were rarely assigned to the smaller Massagist Halls found throughout the Middle and even Lower City, and only those with the Guild Rank of Master worked at the Upper City Hall. Still, requests came through the Main Hall first, no matter the requester, which was why even those under the rank of Master could have noble clients.

“Nie, I didn’t see your name on the roster,” Wahlem, one of the receptionists, greeted him cheerfully.

“Because it’s not there,” the human sighed, “Is Lehma in?”

Wahlem chuckled, “That’s never good - what do you need to see her for?”

“I’ve recently gotten engaged,” Nie replied, seeing no reason to be coy.

Wahlem blinked several times, then chuckled again and asked, “No, really?”

“I understand your disbelief,” the human smiled, “But I really am engaged.”

“Oh,” the receptionist snorted, “Well, congratulations?”

“Thanks,” Nie said.

“Lehma’s in her office. Can’t wait to see what she has to say abou—”

“WAHNERA!”

Wahlem and Nie covered their ears at the booming voice of Grameh, the Guildmaster.

Nie looked up to see em leaning over the second-floor balcony, scowling as e ordered, “Get Lehma and get in my office! Now!”

“What was that…?” Wahlem muttered as the Guildmaster stormed away.

Nie sighed, “I suppose I neglected to mention my betrothed is Grand Duke Abuin Nehma.”

Wahlem stared at him, then sighed themself, “That would do it…”

“Nie!” Lehma ran over from the direction of her office, “What was the Guildmaster on about?”

“Good luck,” Wahlem said.

“Thank you,” Nie replied, then turned to his supervisor, “I’m recently engaged to Grand Duke Nehma.”

“By the Six,” Lehma whined, rubbing her temples. Then she shook her head, “Fine. Let’s just… get through this.”

They walked together up to the Guildmaster’s office on the third floor, but Nie let Lehma enter first.

“Take a seat, the both of you,” Grameh waved a hand, pacing one side of the room.

They did, bracing for whatever booming speech e[1] [2] had prepared for them. Nie was only sorry he hadn’t had more time to forewarn Lehma.

They were not prepared, however, for the Guildmaster to take out a masterage seal and toss it at the human.

“That,” e said, “is long overdue. Congratulations, you are now officially a Master Massagist.”

“But-” Nie started, the rectangular seal feeling like a hot iron in his hands. He didn’t want to be promoted just because he was marrying a higher court member. That was hardly the right way to go about things.

As if reading his mind, Grameh took out a stack of papers and slapped them on the small table in front of Nie and Lehma’s seats.

“Do you know how many requests Lehma and I sent up to the Masters’ Board for you, Wahnera?” e said, resuming pacing, “Your skills are uncanny for someone your age, and you should have been made a master five years ago. Anyone else would have been, but those fogeys thought your presence in the Upper City Hall would be too disruptive, so they kept denying the bid.”

Nie looked through the papers in shock, glancing between Grameh and Lehma. Neither had said a word about submitting him for masterage before. A request could be sent every six months for the biannual Masterage Board to consider, and ten rejected requests were indeed present.

“But I still haven’t-” the human started.

“You succeeded where all thirty-six active masters failed,” Lehma cut him off this time, “That should have been proof enough last year.”

The request was just the start, of course. Once it was accepted, the senior massagist would transfer to the Upper City Hall and train under the masters for the next six months, culminating in a skill assessment conducted by one of the twelve board members.

“What I would like to know,” Grameh said, “is why the Upper City Hall sent me that seal first thing this morning. Wahnera?”

“... I thought it was why you called me up here,” Nie said, studying the masterage seal and still unsure it had been earned, “I’ve… been recently engaged to Grand Duke Abuin Nehma.”

“By the Six,” Grameh groaned, finally sinking into the chair behind eir desk, “Of course, they didn’t want to explain denying a higher court member masterage.”

“When did this even happen?” Lehma asked.

“Yesterday,” Nie sighed, setting the seal on the table for now. Then he sighed again, “Why can nothing about this be simple?”

“You’re the one marrying into the higher court,” Grameh huffed, “Six, I should be questioning you about that, too.”

Lehma shook her head, “The Grand Duke claimed fault in breaking contract a month ago; the Guild’s reputation will be fine.”

“And what happened that caused him to break contract?” the Guildmaster asked.

“Well,” Nie rubbed his face, “Apparently, I unintentionally put him in a state.”

“What kind of state?” Lehma asked.

The human felt his face heat up as he replied, “A state of arousal?”

Grameh groaned, “And how did that lead to a proposal?”

“His Grace hadn’t realized I was another noble,” Nie sighed, “We ran into each other at the debut balls, and I suppose he decided that was the best way to handle his attraction.”

“And who would say no to marrying a Grand Duke, really?” Lehma sighed, slumping back in her seat, “I take it you have yet to set a date?”

“The former Grand Duke won’t be back in the country for a fortnight,” Nie replied, “We’ll probably do most of the planning during the family dinner.”

“You’d do better to research merchants in the meantime, so you’ll be picking between options rather than anything too open-ended,” Grameh suggested, then waved him off, “Well, I’m done with you then—you have enough to contend with otherwise.”

“Sorry for the trouble,” Nie said, hesitating before picking up the masterage seal as he rose, “I hadn’t thought it would cause such a fuss.”

“I imagine you didn’t,” the Guildmaster sighed, “The higher court must be in great favor of this wedding.”

“They are,” Nie agreed, slipping the seal into a pocket before taking his leave with a slight bow.

“Since I have your ear, Guildmaster…” Lehma said.

E waved her on.

Nie left the office feeling as unbalanced as he had when Abuin had started asking about his prospects only two nights ago. He waved to a few colleagues who greeted him on his way back down to the lobby and saw one more leaning against the front desk.

“Hey, Nie. I hear congratulations are in order,” Rahle grinned. They had wavy silver fur and hair, which they wore pulled half up into a bun.

“Yes, thank you,” he sighed, trying to put his thoughts in order. Looking into merchants and venues for the wedding did seem like good advice, and as he had the rest of the day free, now would be as good a time as any to look into it.

“Since I’m pretty sure you and your betrothed haven’t been courting,” Rahle added, tail swaying, “I wanted to ask if you’d thought about an intimacy course before the wedding.”

“I haven’t considered much of anything, really,” Nie sighed again, “But now that you mention it, it would probably be a good idea.”

“If you’re free, we can go to the Intimacy Branch Lobby and I can refresh your memory on it,” Rahle offered, “No need to rush to a decision, after all.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Nie said, and he meant it. It would, at least, be one thing he could focus on without worrying about the rest for the moment.

“Excellent,” Rahle said, leading the way back, “I have pamphlets.”

Nie snorted, waving to Wahlem as he followed behind them.

The Intimacy Branch was the specific part of the guild that included care of sexual organs during a massage—though these services only involved the hands of the massagist, with a few specific exceptions. Of course, many of the massagists would take their skills to work in brothels and were perfectly welcome to do so, provided they weren’t passing those skills on to non-guild members, in any case.

Like all guild members, Nie had taken lessons about the various specialties within the guild but had decided on Full Hand for his own. He and Rahle had started as apprentices at the same time and maintained a friendship even after their paths diverged.

“Nie! What are you doing in our neck of the woods, eh?” Ilmah, another Intimacy specialist, asked as they entered the lobby.

Rahle slung a lower arm over the human’s shoulders, “Nie here is engaged!”

“What?” Ilmah laughed, “To whom?”

“Grand Duke Abuin Nehma,” Nie replied, allowing the contact.

Ilmah laughed, then paused, “Oh, you’re serious.”

“Indeed,” Nie snorted.

“I suggested an Intimacy Course,” Rahle explained, giving the human’s shoulders a firm squeeze before releasing him, “Could you pick an alcove while I grab my pamphlets and gear for an explanation?”

“Of course,” Ilmah nodded and led Nie to one of the inset seating arrangements. He pulled the folding screen in front of the entrance closed after a brief congratulations, and it wasn’t long before Rahle returned.

“So this is the basic pamphlet,” Rahle explained, “And the formal contract is under it—I have a copy for your betrothed to review in this folder here.”

Nie nodded along, eyes scanning the overview on the single-page pamphlet and more than a bit curious about the bags his colleague had brought along.

“It’s a six to twelve-week course leading up to the wedding date, with one meeting a week,” Rahle went on, “Mostly depending on whether or not you and your betrothed intend to include knotting on the wedding night.”

Nie flinched in surprise, then cleared his throat, “Sorry—”

“I know,” Rahle laughed, “Not usually brought up so casually—especially in noble circles.”

“Right,” Nie smiled wanly, “What makes the difference?”

His colleague took several items out of the larger bag—rather, the same item in different sizes, arranging them from smallest to largest.

“Since you and His Grace wouldn’t be able to conceive a child anyway, I’m not going to push the knotting courses too heavily,” Rahle said, “But if it’s something you think you might be interested in, the twelve-week course would include six sessions with just you and me,” they waved, “Or another massagist if that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go to anyone else,” Nie snorted, “You are the resident expert on humans, after all.”

Rahle laughed, “Those merchants do seem to like me! In any case, the first six sessions would just be me helping you work your way up,” they waved a hand up from the smallest object to the biggest one, “To something approximating your betrothed’s size. Best to get a trial in, in my opinion, these can come out at any time, but you’ll be stuck for at least thirty minutes during the real event.”

Nie nodded, vaguely concerned about just how large the biggest tool on the table was, before continuing, “And the last six sessions?”

“For the first three, the first half of the session will include your betrothed,” Rahle said, “Mostly with getting accustomed to platonic physical intimacy both clothed and nude—you’ll keep your small clothes on, though. The second half will be more of the previous sessions’ work.”

“And the last three?” the human asked.

“The first two of those will have the two of you getting more accustomed to sexual intimacy,” they said, holding up a finger, “Nothing genitally penetrative in the Guild Hall, though you’re welcome to try anything you’d like in your personal time with each other.”

“Right,” Nie chuckled dryly.

“For the second half of those sessions,” Rahle went on, “your betrothed will remain as an observer—I’ll give him any advice for making the process as easy on you as possible during that time.”

Nie felt his face going red at the thought of being in that kind of vulnerable situation with Abuin’s intense amber-eyed stare. He cleared his throat, “And the last session?”

“Similar to the previous two, but His Grace will be in control of the tools,” Rahle said, leaning back, “The goal with these kinds of sessions is twofold—one, so that you can both explore and establish boundaries in a safe, monitored environment with an experienced professional nearby,” they flashed a grin, “And second, so that no one is overwhelmed by desire and goes into a state on the wedding night. That rarely ends well, despite best intentions.”

Nie rubbed at his temples and gathered himself to ask, “And if someone has already gone into a state?”

Rahle stared at him and seemed hesitant to ask more.

The human held up a hand, “He didn’t do anything—honestly, I didn’t even know it was a state of arousal until I was told by his valet later.”

His colleague relaxed with a sigh, then chuckled nervously, “In that case, I highly, highly recommend this course so that it doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes,” Nie sighed, flipping through the contract with his face on fire, “I thought you might.”