1 Part 0: Foreward

Don't usually do this for my stories, but I thought a brief preamble would be useful for this one in particular.

To start, some content warnings! This story is marked mature, and for good reason. It contains graphic sex scenes. For those who are squeamish about such things, they're lesbian scenes. And for those who are still interested, the sex is entirely between our main character Zhao Lian, and a prostitute she avails herself of at the start of the story. I'd say you could skip the sex scenes, but it wouldn't make much sense if you did so.

I'd like to think that the sex is just a natural expression of the characters as they exist at the point in time described, and that removing it, ignoring it, or otherwise messing with it would do a disservice to the characters. And maybe that's true! But maybe I also just wanted to write some smut. Can't hate someone for that, I hope.

The sex also a useful example for the world I'm building. Sex is an integral component of all civilizations, and how it's talked about, policed, and experienced by everyday people is an important portal into the lives of those people. It's also something a lot of fantasy doesn't do a great job of in my opinion.

Anyway, enough babbling, you've been warned! Hope you enjoy.