Sharon Sharpe's Back Story Chapter 2

Sharon finished her first year full of confidence.  She’d gone in not knowing if she’d be accepted, being such a prototype, for COIL at least and come out the other end tops in most of her classes.  She also knew they had bigger plans for her from her talks various training staff, that art she was somewhat unsure of and told them she needed time to think about it. 

‘What are you going to do with your break time Sharon?’ Gina Perini, a first year trainee as well and Sharon’s closest friend asked.

‘I’m taking a trip to India,’ she smiled. ‘And you?’ she asked Gina.

‘Back to Milan, I want to take a few more fashion courses at the Istituto Marangoni,’ she smiled.

‘Unfair, when you come back you’ll occupy all of the top ten best dressed agents,’ Sharon laughed.

Gina was the best dresser of all the trainees.  She had that sense, the style and the confidence.  She knew what looked good on her and how to make that work in a room of beautiful women.  Sharon had asked and received a lot of advice from her, especially with regard to lingerie, which was Gina’s genius.

‘More yoga then,’ Gina inquired as she finished packing and closed her suitcase.

‘I had hoped to work some in, yes,’ Sharon said offering a slight upturn of her mouth in a wry manner.

‘They only way you’re getting more flexible is if they start removing some of your bones Miss Sharpe.’

‘There’s always room for improvement,’ was all Sharon could come back with.

‘Believe when I say this, ‘Gina said, coming close and placing her hands in Sharon’s. ‘There’s nothing to improve on your body,’ and gave Sharon a kiss on the cheek and hug.

‘Whatever you decide to do, have a good time and I look forward to seeing the new and improved Sharon Sharpe, if such a thing is possible, in four months,’ Gina said then left Sharon to finish her packing.

***

Sharon handed the Tuk-Tuk driver the address and he looked at her strangely.

‘Are you sure Miss, this is a less than prosperous part of Mumbai,’ he said the wariness in his voice more than apparent.

‘Very sure, I’ll pay more if that is the issue,’ she answered.

‘No, price is fine,’ he sad and left it at that.

Sharon climbed into the Auto-Rickshaw, turning her head elegantly so her giant white Sun Hat did not bump against the metal supports for the awning.  They was soon speeding through traffic and dodging people, as the streets became narrower and the building less ostentatious the driver slowed as they crept along until finally he stopped.

‘I can walk you down Bandra Alley to the number if you wish,’ he said looking around.

‘No thank you, I’ll be fine,’ she smiled handing over her fare.

‘This is much more than I have change for Miss. Do you have anything smaller?’

‘You keep it all, you’re the only driver who would take me here,’ she smiled, grabbed her bag and was off down the alley, her white semi-transparent crocheted pants revealing momentary flashes of lightly bronzed skin as the moved in and out of the light against her skin.  Her matching colour sandals where stylish yet practical the heel low for ease of walking.  It was the backless halter top that dared and challenged.  Every shift of her gate, shimmy of her hips or motion of her head set the exposed muscles in mesmerizing action making every looker wonder how the rest of her looked underneath her garments. 

Passing by discarding wooden packing boxes and pallets that had be repurposed for other uses, several piles of rotting garbage overflowing in a bin much too small to garden them, a few stray dogs that looked up from whatever meal they were enjoying and the unseen but overhead chatter of Rhesus Macaques till she found the place she desired and knocked on the door.

‘Miss Sharpe, please come in,’ said Nadira Chowdary.

‘Sharon hesitated for a second. ‘How do you know my name?’

‘Let’s see, I’m either a mystic or maybe a guru or maybe I have a computer, email and Skype for talking to my friends around the world.  Lesson one Miss Sharpe, never look at something and draw a conclusion right away, look deeper and most importantly think deeper.  Just because I choose to live in this location dos not mean I’m without means.  You could have seen that if you’d just looked behind me and seen the decorations on hanging on the wall.  Poor people do not have the money for such frivolities.  From that it would have been reasonable to surmise a few things, such as outside contacts.  Now having admonished you, please come into my home and be welcome.’

Sharon walked in and down a hallway populated with hangings of various Hindu Deities’ and intricate metal sculptures of women in various Yoga positions and into a modern kitchen.

‘Chai,’ Nadira asked and started the kettle as Sharon nodded as she sat down at the small kitchen table cover in an Oilcloth of brightly coloured flowers.

‘I can see Geeta was right about you.  She said you were unique and the best student she ever had.  High praise coming from the best student I ever had,’ Nadira smiled then returned to making the tea. 

‘How long do you have before you have to go back,’ she asked.

‘Four months.  So I assume you know then,’ Sharon inquired.

‘Oh yes, no secret, well a secret from a few people.  But within these walls, never secrets,’ Nadira said bringing the pot to the table while the mild steam. ‘Do you understand that,’ she added. 

‘Yes.’

‘Excellent, now I think since I know so much about you I think it’s only fair you know about me.  

First of all I was never a COIL agent.  I worked for various governments within the British Commonwealth before a long solo career where I got to pick my assignments rather them having them picked for me.  I’m semi-retired so there may be times during your stay where I’m not around I’ll let you know of course. I know enough about COIL that your training in Martial Arts is well along the road, standard for first years, mostly focused on fitness along with other basic skills.  What Geeta gave you I intend to improve and expand if you prove good enough and determined enough.  I think the best way is to show you,’ Nadira said taking Sharon’s had and leading her out of the kitchen back down the hall, turning right, then continuing down the main hallway that lead from the front door back, pointing out Sharon’s bedroom along the way, complete with her own bathroom, the living room, Nadira’s study and then she opened a door at the end of the hallway revealing a metal spiral staircase.

‘My upper sanctum, please after you,’ she offered.

Two revolutions up the staircase and Sharon entered a room filled with things she never could have imagined, a room that was about to change her life for a second time in a year.  She walked into the centre of the room.  It occupied all of the footprint of the first floor, she estimated 40x40 feet.  There was a main workout floor in the exact middle of the room that took up 30x30 covered in a beautiful cream coloured bamboo floor.  The outer 10x10 around was reserved for other things.   The entire length of one was covered floor to ceiling was book shelves filled with books, scrolls and some very old manuscripts that Sharon walked by and looked at, all yoga based and divided by styles and regions.  The wall directly opposite the staircase entrance was fitness equipment: a treadmill, Elliptical, Home gym and small free weights.  To the trainees right were a series of statues, stylized imagines of men, women, animals and insects.  They took up that wall and the wall behind her, they were the most intriguing and drew Sharon over to them.

‘Go ahead my dear, touch them, feel the curve and flow of them, everyone is different in touch, contour and of course purpose,’ Nadira offered and Sharon obliged. 

‘What are they all for,’ Sharon asked as at first one hand then both found their way onto each one.

‘Some are for stretching purposes, some teach technique others teach form and flow, the books offer illustrated guides and explanations,’ Nadira explained.

‘This not yoga,’ Sharon said, now with both hands exploring a marble statue of a Praying Mantis the same height as her.

‘Not the yoga you’ve been taught.  Although I will say in second year that will change, but even this will be exotic compared to those classes.  Come with me over to the books and I will start you on your journey,’ she said.

‘These will give you something of a history and a reference point,’ she explained handing Sharon three leather bound very old books.  I’m going to go shopping for something special for dinner, feel free,’ Nadira said a moved silently own the stairs.  Sharon looked at the titles on the spines of the books.

‘The Female and the use of her Body in Yoga. The Female: The Yogic Garden of Deadly Delights. Assessment, Application and Execution. The Yogic Female in Action,’ she said outload.  She also noticed the books where numbered as well, she had 1, 3, and 6.  Sharon quickly glanced at the shelves where Nadira has taken the books from but the missing numbers where not there not anyplace else on the shelves.

‘Well at least I have the first one,’ and settled on the floor in a Lotus position and open book number one. 

***

‘Oh! don’t seek up one me like that,’ Sharon said catching her breath from the start Nadira gave her.

‘I guess awareness is taught in second year.  I called you four times for dinner, I came concerned something had happened.’

‘Something has happened.  These books, there insane and a revelation.  Is this stuff even possible,’ she asked.

‘Second year is going to fun for you,’ Nadira smiled. ‘But come dinner is ready we can talk about it downstairs.’

Sharon closed the book carefully picked up the others and made her way downstairs putting in her room for reading later. 

***

‘Where did you acquire all of those books,’ Sharon asked by why of starting to conversation after dinner as they reclined on pillows in the leaving room.

‘From my teacher, it was her legacy to me, some I found and others, while let’s say I’ve acquired those over my career.  As you can see I do not all of that series and there are certain texts that have been lost or so it seems.  I prefer to think they still exist, we just haven’t found them yet.’

‘Can you tell me about some of those ones,’ Sharon asked really excited.

‘I can show you something better while you are here, but that is for another day.  Did you really get that far into the first book, looks like you’re almost finished,’ Nadira said sipping her tea.

I’m a fast reader and I have a very good memory, part of the reason I got through school so quickly. 

Reading however is one thing, actual practice is another,’ Sharon answered.

‘Ha, we come back to you and COIL and you’re struggle,’ Nadira smiled and shifted over to be closure.

‘What do you know of it,’ Sharon asked trying not to sound annoyed that her life was being played out to everyone like some kind of tabloid star. 

‘Don’t be upset my dear, it’s not hard to figure out, you’re not the first, you won’t be the last, but you are something COIL would love to have. A plus that in the vernacular, goes both ways.  You’d be a terrific and deadly asset, but you have to want it or put another way, your heart has to be in it.’

‘I must be wearing a sign or something that says it,’ was all Sharon could muster.

‘In a way yes you have been.  I see the way you’ve looked at me.  You’re curious about my age, you’ve seen my arms, neck, and you know I stay in shape.  You’ve check out my style, how I walk and you wonder what I look like underneath my Sari, does the entire package measure up to what can be seen.  It’s no shame, in fact it shows you’re becoming more of an agent each day, always assessing and evaluating.  Well, as I said, no secrets. I’m 58 and yes it does match which I will show you later when we begin training.  And speaking of that back to the question at hand, what do you want to do?’

‘I don’t know I’ve never thought about it much, but I can also say when I have it’s never been dismissed out of hand,’ Sharon answered.  ‘More always a thing to be kept to myself.’

‘Why so, I mean I understand the social ramifications, especially in this part of the world, but when you boil it down, it’s just affection for another person.  That is the normal way of the world, but inside our world it takes on much wider meanings.  I’ll tell you what, I want you to read the rest of the books, think out it, turn it over, give it good consideration then we can talk again when you are ready, but tomorrow morning we start training, there is lots I can teach you in the meantime,’ Nadira answered.

***

‘You bend impressively Sharon, but there is room for more suppleness and that’s what these statues are for in part.  They have other uses as well but for the present this will do,’ Nadira explained as they finished their warm up Sharon mirroring her teacher’s actions.

‘They were explained in the book, but it said nothing about alternative uses,’ she answered in an excited voice.

‘No, those are located in more advanced texts.  Since you have read the tomes and seen the diagrams let’s start with The Spider, show me the positions.’

Sharon approached the statue, a spider about 6 and half feet in total length supported by a base at the end of its abdomen suspending it about 3 feet of the floor. The trainee raised one leg up over her head in a fluid sinuous effortless motion her leg bending and enclosing around one of the legs.  Sharon pulled her body up off the ground suspending herself for a short time as her other leg raised and curled tight about another of the spiders legs.  She pulled up her torso bending her toned physique so her stomach was parallel to the floor.

‘Tah,’ Indira said as her fist slammed into the Sharon’s Lats felling her into an upside down suspended position.

‘What the hell!’ she said rubbing her side.

‘Language, now pull yourself up again,’ Nadira admonished and Sharon did as requested. 

Nadira hit her again and then again and several more times in the Lats and Abs but this time Sharon held firm, she winced but did not break the position.

‘You see this time you expected it, so your mind and your body worked in harmony to absorb the blow. The goal is to always be like that,’ Indira explained. ‘Now show me the second position.’

Sharon reached back and clasp her hands about her ankles and pulled herself taught. Indira stepped back to observe her form and looked at her. Every muscle curved and coiled, her body taut displaying its eye appealing curves. Sharon’s generous breasts where stiff, firm and perfectly formed, her pink nipples hard and protruding like darts. The trainee’s stomach smooth, hard and with just the right combination of visible muscle and sexy angles. Her arms sexy and inviting in their inflexible strength took most the of strain allowing her legs to rest.

Nadira walked to the back of the room and picked up a small bucket returned to Sharon with a smile.

‘You should remember to pull out hair back. It keeps it out of your eyes making the workout easier, but more importantly, much more importantly, its makes you look sleeker, sinewy and sexier, let me show you,’ she said touching a hidden button on a leg of the spider turning the panels on the supporting column of the statue about and into mirror’s so Sharon could see herself. ‘Stunning,’ Nadira added. ‘But with just a simple change we can turn this flaxen hair into something even more alluring.’

The teacher ran her fingers through Sharon’s hair, who found soft and tender touch not unwelcomed.

‘Tah!’ as a blow hit Sharon’s mound then more was several crashed her stomach and sides before a final two found her thighs. Sharon held solid but breathed heavily as Nadira returned to the bucket and pulled out a comb and tenderly began running it through Sharon’s tresses.

‘A combination of Sandalwood and Jasmine Oil, my own personal blend. Its oils cling to the hair, straightening it and making it glow a bit, like a burnished metal, the scent is also most alluring, don’t you agree Sharon?’ Nadira hummed as she worked.

‘You have very thick and wonderful hair my student, it almost seems a pity to do this but when you see the transformation I know you’ll be pleased.’ Nadira soothed as the comb caressed until it was smooth and glowing at which point Nadira deftly tied it into a bun.

She placed the comb back into the bucket and retuned to Sharon instructing her to return to the ground.

‘Look in the mirror my dear,’ Nadira said as she guided her student about showing her different angles. ‘Before was an alluring and dangerous woman transformed into an irresistible and deadly woman.’

Sharon looked in the mirror, it was only hair and oil, but the change was incredible even after all she’d been through before. Then she noticed Nadira had pressed herself against her back.

‘Are you trying to seduce me?’ Sharon asked.

‘My dear, if I wanted to it would already have happened. What I’m doing is showing you that as appealing as you are there is always more and in some cases less you can do. Just as one size doesn’t fit all, one look doesn’t either. The look and the situation do go hand in hand and you must remember and use that at all times. The two of us together is just getting you used to the close contact, you don’t seem tense which leads me to another lesson, feeling and adjusting to your opponent. The closer you are the more you can adapt to them, adjust what you do and force them into mistakes, but that is getting ahead of things. Now back up and this time I promise not to interrupt as you work through the routine. One final piece of advice. In yoga the mind and the body show work in harmony but went learning something it is sometimes best to let one have control over the other until that skill is learned, then harmony can be restored,’ Nadira explained.

‘So, let the mind be the boss,’ Sharon stated.

‘Not always, it depends on the person and the situation, you may find yourself switching about and that is fine, do what works best for Sharon,’ the teacher added releasing her hug.

The student climbed back on and executed the first two moves as before, holding each position perfectly before advancing. For the third position one hand released her ankle and secured around a leg, the fourth one allowing her other hand to find the third leg. Sharon pressed her body across the spider and parallel to the floor before her legs splayed and her toes closed around the spider’s legs on the opposite side. The strain on her face was evident, every fibre and sinew of her sexy form screamed for release. Sharon wanted to but refused remembering the words of Nadira she found her nirvana, her body and mind balanced as she reviewed the next position. Slowly and gracefully her legs pulled up and over the spider’s abdomen and pressed down against it body welding her to it. Next, she pushed her torso up and back freeing her hands as they search for her ankles slowly and painfully securing about them. The pain was everywhere, back, neck, legs, thighs, but Sharon held the position trying to calm her convulsing form as she searched for balance slowly finding it.

Her body was now covered her perspiration, dots of water dripped from her glistening body as she released her arms brought them down and around the legs again pulling herself up into a handstand crossing her arms over and lowering her shoulders until them were equal with the spider’s body again. A slow roll of her torso lay her back across the statues body before she bent underneath and reversed the previous position.

‘You’re stunning my dear, simply stunning, mesmerizing to watch,’ Nadira marvelled as she placed a nail on the side of Sharon’s left calf and began to walk her fingers up. ‘Perhaps more distracting than the punch, this is the soft side of the art, not everything has to be painful,’ she explained as Sharon tensed, her body alive to the touch, her nipples swelling to erectness.

‘You cannot resist forever, no one can, desire is desire and sexual stimulation is at the core of every person, we all seek it even when it can lead to bad thing. The trick is to enjoy it while not letting it control you or the outcome you want,’ Nadira soothed as the flats of her hands caressed Sharon’s straining splayed inner thighs.

The trainee’s breath was becoming shorter and shorter while her body undulated and shimmied her mind desperately trying to refocus itself on anything other than capitulating to pleasure. By sheer force of will be barely pushed it away and was rewarded with several ‘Tah’s’ from her teacher to her side and a double chop to the pussy.

The thud of pain helped her focus, she recovered and defiantly stretched her form further around the abdomen, her naked alive form bending as a snake encircling its prey.

Sharon languidly pulled herself up into a handstand, her slow progression allowing her to test every muscle and fibre as she went, her body responded perfectly and was still in the inverted position until she moved it into a split leg position across the body of the spider, her form lowering just leisurely as it had risen. She pressed herself up off the spider holding her form suspended straight out along the arachnid before sliding off and landing on the floor silently.

Nadira kept her face schooled, but inside she was stunned at how this girl of 20 handled the obstacles put in front of her.

‘Have you read far enough to tackle any of the others?’ Nadira asked as Sharon drank some water.

‘The Centipede and the Praying Mantis. I didn’t manage to get to the Cicada, Beetle, Scorpion or Cricket,’ she answered putting down the water and moving to the statue of the Centipede.

‘As you know, this is all about speed. Power is one thing and it’s useful, but speed is essential, marrying the two makes for a lethal combination. But speed without flow is disjointed, speed with flow creates harmony, suppleness and a hypnotizing form,’ Nadira explained.

The insect with its myriad of legs and length made for an exhausting journey from tail to head. It was a complex series of moves with no stops, constant fast motion. Sharon worked through the set once then reversed her pattern to return to the tail, this time Nadira struck with legs and fists. The trainee soaked up several blows but deflected others with her hands, arms, feet and legs all while moving as she worked down the sculpture and off at the end where she blocked a final strike.

Nadira could not believe it again, she improvised like a veteran, the Mantis was next.

‘The Praying Mantis is about flexibility and power strikes from positions of seemingly impossible weakness. The positions become increasingly more painful as you progress through the ten poses,’ Nadira warned.

Sharon drenched in sweat began snaking herself up into the mandibles then snaked her legs up and around the head of the Mantis her ankles crossing and locking as she released her arms slipped her body between the arms at the body and pulled herself up in a ‘U’ position. Sharon moved into the second position, her body was not being tested yet, she held and moved into the third, her body now a steaming and boiling from exertion. Sheened in a constant layer of moisture she worked her form into the fourth position then the fifth before straining for 5 minutes to get into the sixth and another 10 to escape it.

Sharon glissaded her figure, wiggling and contorting in slow sexy manner, her lithe ample form searching for the key to open the seventh position even as she was seared in pain. She corkscrewed her form into place, her torso twisted more than 180 degrees and stretched fully out. Every plane, curve, contour, valley and rise of Sharon was on display, her constant twitching only adding to the arousing picture.

Nadira circled about the woman before striking her between the shoulder blades.

‘Tah!’

The student convulsed then fell into the position deeper, her body screaming as she was turned more.

‘Oooh,’ she moaned.

‘Free yourself Sharon,’ Nadira whispered into her ear. “Or I will strike again.’

Sheer willpower forced her out of the bind as she moaned and grunted and into the eighth, her legs straight up her sides and her arms down her back she lay suspended in the Mantis’s Front Claws gasping for air until she managed to slow her breathing and still her racing pulse.

The ninth position inverted her body in the claws as she hung upside down, her hands grabbing the long neck of the Mantis and pulling her backwards until she clasped them around the back of the statues head, her back burning in fire.

‘Such a lovely paradise, why muscle control you probably have and don’t even know it, but all in time,’ Nadira softly said she traced a nail around Sharon’s well trimmed bush.

‘Ahhh,’ the suspended woman exclaimed more delight than torment as the nail traced closer in ever diminishing circles.

Sharon was near climax, she wanted to let go but she wanted success more, she could imagine the scene later and make herself happy, she told herself as she pressed on and into the tenth and final position. An hour of desperate pulling and tweezing inserted her into place where she was soon writhing in agony but unable to escape. 

The student’s torrid body struggled to escape the sarcophagus of the final position, her lungs fighting for air to feed her body, the scent of the sandalwood and jasmine no longer there to comfort her with their pleasant aroma.  She somehow managed to do it all in a controlled and elegant graceful fashion as one leg slowly lowered over her body and found the security of the floor, then and arm, then the second allowing her to unscrew her body and the last leg which she brought down, her foot pointed as it slide down touched the knee of her other leg, then the floor as she began to split them apart lowering her torso to the ground and bending it forward to press against the mat and complete the sequence.

Nadira tenderly rolled Sharon over then lowered herself to the floor in a Upavistha Konasana pose length wise along Sharon’s body. Sharon looked up at her, the student’s eyes opening and closing from exhaustion was all the movement she could muster. Nadira cupped the back of the stricken women’s head under in her hand and tilted it up to drink from a cool bottle of water. Sharon drank slowly as the two looked at each other eyes locked, each felt the connection only a mentor and student could have. This was the bond Nadira had been searching for her whole career, someone to pass her skills onto, everything she had learned and everything she had knowledge of but could not find or master would be implanted into this extraordinary young lady.

‘Easy my dear, your body temperature is dangerously high, you’re sizzling to the touch, relax all is well, you did magnificently,’ she said kissing her on the forehead.

Sharon got to her feet after a while, stumbled uneasily about before finding the wall and leaning against it then coming back for more after a short rest.

***

Sharon read and mastered the other statues, Scorpion, Beetle, Cicada and Grasshopper. She thought her body was strong when she came but it had gotten stronger but in a strange way. She noticed her body had leaned and lengthened out. She had become a little bit taller thanks to the intense stretching of her spine but there was more as she looked in the 360-degree mirror. She did not retain the steel hard look she had from before, her strength was greater than before, but her appearance belied that. She was still a hard body, but the surface was calm, smooth, slinky and supple, the real danger that never showed, until it was too late, lurked menacingly below that. Her legs look better, if that was possible, as did her arms, back shoulder and ass.

She’d also made a decision about her sexuality.

Her endurance levels were incredible, she was able to work through the insect statues one after the other just like her mentor who she watched carefully to learn from. Nadira would come through the drill lathered just as Sharon was, her body outstanding for her or any age. She was lean, but not thin, strong and sexy at every turn without trying to be, something Sharon absorbed fully. Some days she chose to wear her long black hair loose, it shining in the light, other days braided meticulously into a ponytail adorned with various golden hair clasps and still other days it was tied up in an intricate bun arrangement.

‘You are so far ahead of where I thought you would my dear,’ Nadira said one night as they sat in her living room while Sharon combed her teacher’s hair, it flipped over her shoulder, so they could face each other.

Sharon noticed she was always referred to ‘my dear’ and never by name. She didn’t mind it in fact she kind of revelled in it because Nadira always said it with such care and affection.

‘I feel a little guilty about this, but I’ve asked COIL through my contacts for more time with you.’

Sharon stopped combing and looked at her shock on her face but also joy.

‘I can see I made the right decision. ‘I can teach you all the talents COIL can and ones they can’t, secrets even they don’t know. You’re the best I’ve ever seen. I made a promise to my teacher that I would pass all she taught me and all that I acquired in my career to a worthy pupil and you must make me that same promise,’ Nadira explained.

Sharon’s hands quavered a bit as she put down the comb took Nadira’s hands in hers then bowed down touching her lips to each of Nadira’s feet a few soft tears falling on each one. Nadira place her hands-on Sharon’s head offering her blessing in return.

***

Being naked most of the time was fine, in fact it was liberating and saved time, but at some time Sharon had to go out. The clothes she’d brought did not fit her as nicely as before, she still looked smashing in them, but Nadira insisted on new things and new experiences that she said where all part of the training.

Sharon noticed immediately the people deferred to Nadira and by extension her as they walk about the neighbourhood. It was not fear, but respect and Sharon found much to her discomfort that she got the treatment as well.

Nadira paid it no attention, she waved off special service from store keepers, gave to several ladies sitting against buildings, stopping to talk to them, hold hands and kiss them goodbye.

‘You’re an important person in this community, but I’m not, this makes me uneasy,’ Sharon offered.

‘My dear, they respect you because you respect me, teacher and pupil, they can see it and you show it by being just a half step behind me whether you realise it or not,’ she answered.

As they walked they moved into a more prosperous neighbourhood. Bright shops with flashing signs covered the larger main streets drawing Sharon’s eye to the colours of the clothes in the windows.

‘Not there my dear, down this alley,’ Nadira said as the bright sun disappeared into shadowy luminescence down the narrow alley.

‘If you know where to go you get want you want, need and in this case something more,’ her teacher smiled opening the door to a Sari shop of bright colours and vivid smells.

The bell announced their arrival and seconds later a smile and a kiss on the cheek and a hug greeted Nadira.

‘You two have to be sisters,’ Sharon said looking at the resemblance.

‘My sister Indira and yes don’t bother we’ve heard all the rhymes and jokes,’ Nadira smiled as her sister greeted Sharon in the same manner.

‘New era, new generation, she sparkles already, but I want her to be on an unassailable level, like you did for me, but better,’ Nadira explained.

‘Lucky for the both of you I still have some tricks up may sleeve and some designs that have not been used for a long time. I’m thinking classic south Indian,’ Indira responded.

‘Maybe with a bit of Sri Lankan,’ Nadira added.

‘Yes, perfect. Come with me my dear and we’ll get you measured up.’

Sharon did as Indira requested following her into the anteroom as Nadira closed the curtain behind them.

***

‘So much of this is chance,’ Sharon said over tea in a nice shaded courtyard of a restaurant. ‘You know I almost did go to the cafeteria that day at school and if I hadn’t Catherine would not have overheard Sam talking about me none of this would ever have happened, really, even now I find it surreal.’

‘There’s nothing surreal about you. Was it chance or fate, who can say, those are bigger questions that you could parse out for an eternity and still have no answer and where would that leave you, right where you started. The point is you are here now, yes some of the rest of this will be chance, how much, depends on how good you are, not lucky, good, and good is preparation and not just in the things I teach you or that you acquire along the way, its cultivation. Create your world, do not let COIL create it for you, do not rely on them. Build your contacts, friends, locations and places, essentially have your own agency within the larger one and tell no one about it except those you absolutely trust,’ Nadira explained.

Sharon took it all in, just as she did the texts and books in the workout room as well as Mumbai. Always a quick study, she had picked up the language faster than even she had expected, mapped the city and found those places only locals could find, but it was the pursuit of knowledge that really drove her, specifically ancient female skills.

‘I’m surprised I have to explain this to you my dear. I thought you would have figured this out by now. The female body is the deadliest weapon ever created, both by itself and made even more so with certain add accoutrements,’ Nadira said in surprise to Sharon’s astonishment about an ancient Hindu text she had just read. ‘I see we can add reading Sanskrit to your resume of talents, excellent,’ Nadira added handing back the book.

‘Sure, I understand you can kill with your body, martial arts, strangling, and neck break. I took martial arts in my first year, but this, this is something else,’ an astonished Sharon exclaimed.

‘You would have taken the very rudimentary aspects of this in second year. I can imagine all the other trainees would have had the same reaction, I know I did when my mentor introduced it to me, but it is the truth, just not a well-known truth. How much have you read?’

‘The second and third books you gave me, then I really got into it as they just hinted at how to use it in combat. All the books on South Indian Styles including the biographies of the women practitioners through the centuries. Then I did the other regions, then Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi, all fascinating. I put aside books from the Far East for later, but they seemed from brief glance just as exotic and concentrated on finding out about Veda Pandey. Who is she, there is no bio on her, but she is mentioned as being highly influential in certain area, but no specifics and then she just disappears,’ Sharon asked.

‘How did you enjoy our outing yesterday?’ Nadira asked.

Enjoyable as always,’ Sharon answered, but she knew she should be looking for something more in that question.

‘What about the woman in the book shop, the accessory store, the woman next you at the hair salon?’ Nadira asked.

Sharon reviewed the day and as she collated the data her face changed to concern.

‘All were around your age, all beautiful like you, very well-spoken, refined and confident. And all much too similar a cohort for the sample size we saw yesterday,’ Sharon said. ‘We were being followed!’

‘More like you were being observed my dear, they know who I am their much for interested in you,’ Nadira smiled.

The surprised look on Sharon’s face told Nadira see could proceed.

‘These are the scions of Veda Pandey. They belong to an organisation called The Silkworms. A Maharaja with a small kingdom who had grander ambitions but lacked the army and the money to expand. His favourite courtesan was a woman by the name of Veda Pandey. She came to offer herself to the court after her husband died having nowhere else to go and no means to live independently. She was about 40 at the time, we would more equate her to being about 50-55 given the improvements in life span from that time to now. At any scale you apply she was beautiful and a very good dancer, so she found employment and eventually the Maharaja’s bed where her talents proved most pleasing. But it was in other areas that she served him most effectively. Veda, as said was an excellent dancer and beautiful, she would often dance for foreign emissaries and other important people. The more she was in demand the more she had to know so she began acquiring texts on dance to learn new routines. Somewhere along the way and the exact facts are lost to time Veda acquired a book that taught her something else entirely. Some say she deciphered a secret code she stumbled across, other a second book that was written in lime juice so invisible to the naked eyes but once exposed to light at a certain angle revealed itself, it doesn’t really matter, only the outcome does. As the story goes she overheard a plot to kill the Maharaja, told him and then offered to kill the plotter and with him dead he could take over the others territory and expand his kingdom. She assured him she could do it and if not, any blame could be pinned on her and not him. She told him she had a new dance, seductive and she would dance it directly to her target, seducing him to her and then when alone with her she would finish him. Her sexy confidence led him to let her try. The dance as promised did the trick and she was escorted to his chamber for the night, where she told him she had one more dance for him and before he could disagree she undid the pin holding the two ends of her Sari together and let gravity slowly pull it from her body as she looked at him hungrily. As the Sari slipped slowly from her body she entranced him further as she had prepared her form with Jasmine Powder, the slipping fabric wafting the scent into the air. Veda strategically covered sensitive parts of her body with her scarf as the Sari left her leaving her exposed but covered and stimulating him further. Then the dance began, she turning away from his lunging grasp with a smile and laugh as her dance began. A mix of slow and seductive mixed with frantic drove his lust up and his clothes off. Veda slowed her motion for the finally and came closer, her body hot and wet and smelling beautiful. He was so under her spell he did not even see the trap he’d fallen into.’

‘Her scarf,’ Sharon said.

‘Precisely, excellent deduction. She pressed her naked well-conditioned form against his as she turned about him offering the tantalising nip of her lips and playful tip of her tongue until her scarf had entangled about him like threads of wet spider’s silk. A finally toying tongue in his ear before she twisted her body capturing him in a lethal body strangulation, her toned form easily out matching his. 

It took only a few minutes before she relaxed having completed the job.

The Maharaja expanded his kingdom which included a previously undiscovered diamond deposit making him very rich indeed, a wealth he shared with Veda. Now able to afford an army he used Veda as a kind of ambassador and she used the position to help him expand his kingdom but more so to expand hers. The travel and the wealth allowed her to search for and acquire certain exotic long forgotten manuscripts as well has to seek out people who could give her other means to fulfil her assignments. Gradually she was no longer needed, brute force had replaced her silent skills but by then she was well on her way to setting up her own group of female assassins for hire. They only needed three qualities, be over 40, widowed and beautiful and in India there was no shortage. She chose the name Silkworm because it brought to mind the words, exotic, refined and deadly. A Silkworm is a highly poisonous insect as are these ladies. Those three women we saw today are all Silkworms, from a local Hive, as they call their structural organisation. All independent and self-sustaining but all belonging to a larger collective that exist throughout South East Asia. They’ve morphed over the years from just assassins for hire into a vast criminal organisation, but still they follow the ways set down by Veda,’ Nadira finished.

‘Why are they interested in me and more importantly why haven’t they come after you?’ Sharon asked.

‘They’ve tried and failed over the years, expending resources, I suppose now they figure to let me be and punish me by denying me passing on my legacy to you. But I won’t let that happen, so pay them no heed while you’re with me.’

‘And when I’m not any longer?’

‘When you meet them, kill them as they will do the same to you, but I warn you, they are highly skilled and seductively lethal. There training is passed down from the Hive Queen to each Worm in personal training, they add things when needed, but it is all very ancient material lost in time, just like their book.

‘They have a Training Manuel?’ Sharon asked.

‘Had, The Book of Worm, by Veda herself, a massive volume, said to contain secrets for those willing to look for and decode them, but the book was lost centuries ago. It would be priceless if found in more ways than one, but so far it has eluded capture,’ Nadira smiled. ‘Anyway, pay them no mind until you have to, think of them a side show until its time and by then I promise you’ll be more than a match for any of them.’

Sharon just looked stunned and said nothing.

‘The world is far more imaginative that even the best imagination can conceive, anyway back to your original question, the female form as a weapon. The simple answer is we’re designed for it. We’re extremely flexible, like a snake allowing us to curl about our prey and hold. We’re also extremely soft to hold allowing use to employ the soft weapon skill of kneading our bodies against another, the motion of a female dancing against its prey can be used to relax the victim rendering them useless to further talent, a good practitioner can even massage an opponent to death. Then there are all the eternal trappings, powders, oils, nails, hair scents, earring, rings and lipstick the list goes on and on. Al the books are up there, you just need to keep reading, but we will begin this portion of your training next week,’ Nadira explained.

Sharon beamed at this but Nadira put a damper on it.

‘Sadly, not against me, I have fellow sisters and brothers I use. Things can an often do get a bit sexual intense and the teacher /student relationship does not run to that kind of intimacy if we are to maintain your education. Tomorrow we begin intense marital arts training in some of the more exotic shall we say styles,’ Nadira smiled.

***

Sharon had read several books when she finally decided to call it night and rolled over in bed. 

‘Stinging Sari, Indian Female Serpent, Sri Lankan Striking Centipede and other fighting style rolled through her head until she finally managed to fall asleep. Tomorrow started another chapter in the journey.