Eventually, Mei’nin’sa cried herself to sleep. Tejara waited for her breathing to even out and be calm then scooped her up in her arms. She quietly and gently placed her in her large armchair, trying to not wake her. Tejara crouched in front of the chair and arranged Mei’nin’sa’s limbs until she felt certain she was comfortable and wouldn’t fall and rocked back on her heels, just staring at her. Somehow, she looked a little paler than normal, with tear stains on her cheeks. Tejara lightly brushed errant strands of hair out of Mei’nin’sa’s face.
Then Tejara got up and started moving through the room. She got out fresh bedding and laid it out before rolling up the soiled bedding. She cleaned up tea and snacks that had been overturned and straightened out the furniture, making sure it all looked perfectly normal.
She hoisted the rolled up bedding over her shoulder and left Mei’nin’sa’s room. It was quite deep into the night and as Tejara made her way through the halls she could hear the low murmur of conversations and the gasps and squeals of fake orgasms by the courtesans filtered through closed doors. She quickly moved from the glamorous halls used by the clients and courtesans to the simpler back hallways used by the servants. She descended the stairs and entered the furnace room for the bathhouse and threw the bedding into the fire.
As she waited for it to burn up, she felt a presence in the doorway. She glanced back and bowed her head, “Madam Minn.”
“I’m unsure how to reprimand you. You embarrassed a high profile client and beat his face bloody. This will absolutely cost the brothel far too much to smooth over... I’m not even sure it can be smoothed over...”
“I will submit to whatever punishment you think is fit...” Tejara answered with a strong, convicted voice, looking up at Madam Minn through her bangs.
Madam Minn leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed and face cold. For a long moment there was only the sound of cloth burning and then the Madam’s gaze softened. She whispered, just loud enough to be heard over the fire crackling, “thank you for protecting her.”
Tejara shook her head, finally fully looking at Madam Minn with tears pricking at her eyes, “but I didn’t. I failed.”
Madam Minn straightened up and smiled, “who knows. Maybe how much you rearranged that man’s face with just a few punches will deter anyone else from doing this again.”
