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When the line moved back into place, June took up her place as quickly as possible. She knew the city would be different from the farm, but she wasn't ready for this feeling of embarrassment. She had never felt so provincial.

The cart-man was too busy moving his own wagon to talk with him. June watched the guards poke the hay bales with their spears. She'd seen this before - tax collectors looking for contraband or prisoners or the like. Maybe the city wasn't so strange, after all.

And just like tax collectors, thought June, these guards were to be humoured, not trifled. When the cart sped away, she stepped right up, and cleared her throat. "Jejunia requests entry to Mestrapoli." She hoped the words came out strong, her throat felt strangled by fear and uncertainty.

The gatekeeper reminded her of soldiers back home. Thickly built, and wearing just the armoured shoulder-pads and sensible boots; the rest was just a common tunic. Full armour must be terribly hot and heavy, thought June. This guard had the sleek and well-fed look that was typical of the tax collectors - a mix of practical muscle and well-fed fat. This was someone who never skipped a meal. June became aware that she had been staring back at a blank stare of the guard.

Whiskers wiggling with consternation, the guard finally broke the silence. "You're a party of one?"

June frowned. "I'm not a criminal," she blurted.

The guard smirked. "That's exactly what an outlaw would say." She immediately felt remorse as she saw June's face droop with fear and hurtful mess that she wasn't believed. Provincials, sighed the guard as she rolled her eyes, and she gathered herself up for proper protocol. "Ahem. So you are Jejunia the Lone, who has no entourage, no one to speak for her, and forgive me if I over-reach, but I assume you also have no papers."

June tried to summon the confident voice that she had rehearsed. "I am a postulant of the Sedaoguery, and I request entry under clerical law."

The guard's eyebrow raised so high, it disappeared under the brim of her pot helmet. Surprise gave way to polite humouring. "I wasn't aware. Just present your talisman and you shall have free pass."

It was june's turn to be surprised. "I ... I just told you I was a postulant, why would I lie about something like that?" Her throat was tightening again.

The guard leaned on her spear. "Good Jejunia, I do not doubt your earnestness, your sincerity, or your claim. All can see that you have made a pilgrimage of many miles to be here, and no doubt you have suffered much to prove your devotion to your higher calling. I too, have a calling, and that is to serve the law of Mestrapoli. My mother taught me how to hold this spear to give swift justice to the lawbreaker. My grandfather did tell us of the closure given to the victims of their crimes. My great-grandfather gave us the wisdom when to show the right hand of justice or the left hand of mercy. I and mine have a legacy that goes back seven generations in service to Her Majesty the Queen, a record that shines impeccable with duty, with service, and with the law above all else. It is not I who makes the law, but is my hands which enforce it, and on the matter of passage, the law could not be any clearer than the sky above us. Without a talisman, chin, letter of marque, signet ring, royal seal, or any of the other 11 acceptable items for passage, you shall not pass."

Many times, as June walked alone with only herself to talk to, she rehearsed how she would act and what she would say when she finally arrived at the gates of Mestrapoli. But now that she was here, all words had left her. Should she make a show of bravado, and try to bully her way in? Should she fall to her knees and beg, sobbing and crying? Maybe she could take to her heels and run inside, hoping that flight would win the day. But she couldn't break the guard's stare. Despite that lean on the spear, the slump of the shoulders, the relaxed and lazy pose, June could feel the thoughts in that guard's brain. It was the stern resolve of someone who had seen it all and could anticipate any movement that some hayseed like herself could make. The sensible course would be to admit defeat and to come back with some forgery.

And yet, June couldn't bring herself to give up, either.Her stomach let out a loud rumble, so loud that it made the guard shift in her stance to something more ready.

"My shins and whiskers!" Came a lilting cry from inside the gate. "I've not heard boborygmus like that since the pie-eating contest five summers ago."

When the strange woman floated into view, June thought she might be the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her thighs were thick, a waist wider than her shoulders, Her dress, such as it was, were mere strings of beads, lacquered wood of a shiny black, that did little to cover her modesty. The thick brown cape that she wore did more for that. Her whiskers and cheeks were dusted with golden flecks, and when she spoke, the light played off them in a circular dance, round and full.

The guard look less defiant and more resigned. "Good Tanya," she said with familiarity, "It is a surprise to see you here. When I'm at my post. At work. In plain view of common folk." She ground her incisors.

When Tanya smiled, June could see that the rear morals were capped with gold. Her chest-fur bounced as she laughed with a carefree lilt. Now this, this was someone she expected to see in Mestrapoli: happy and well-fleshed.

June thought that Tanya floated like a cloud, the way her curves jiggled to a stop. This stranger wrapped her arm around the guard's waist and followed the contour of the muscled thigh with her plump fingers. Her claws were also enamelled with a shiny black. "My sweet Zara," she gestured towards June, who turned away to blush. "Tell me who this pitiful creature is, and why you will give them your stern and terrible justice."

Zara was not pleased to have her name called out like this, and it showed. "While I have no cause to doubt Jejunia's claims that she is a postulant of Sedagouery, she lacks a talisman, a letter, or any other evidence. The law is clear: to have entry, one must have a pass."

"Tut, you are severe. Look at the poor thing. Her feet are more callous than pad. Her cheeks are hollow and her stomach hangs like a gunnysack. What sort of person would inflict such misery on herself except for a pilgrim wishing to prove their devotion?

June's ears drooped. Did she really look so unpresentable? Listening to Tanya call out her haggard appearance was only making her hunger worse, as well.

Zara was having none of this. "Tanya, why do you trifle so? Everyone knows that the Sadogues are no aesthetic order but an excuse for unmarriageable aristocrats to become even softer and lazier than they already are, if such things could be." After a loud snort, Zara turned her head and spat at the base of the city wall. "Even more self-evident is that our good June here is neither blooded nor moneyed, and that it would be for the best if she were to find some stripling to take her hand, and she could grow fat and happy while birthing him a quiver full of strong boys and hardy girls. Just look at those hips of hers: wide carriage to carry the pups with just enough muscle to push them out. Somewhere there is a poor boy coming of age, head hung with despair that he will never know the joy of siring children, while this prime candidate masquerades as a nun."

This remark brought a low chuckle from a wagoneer behind them. "You'd do well to heed our good soldier's advice," shouted the man in hoarse tones. "You'd bring much happiness to the world: you would know the love of a good man, and this line would move forward so the rest of us should be in the city before we die."

June ground her teeth. She had been prepared to argue, all rage and bluster. She was not ready to be mocked like this. Were all city folk so cruel? Her heart thumped in her chest, and she had to curl her toes to keep from running back down the road, away from here. She hoped the pain of biting her lip would hold her tears at bay, because she knew that if she started to cry she wouldn't be able to stop. She was a woman now, no little girl; if she started bawling now she thought she might just die from embarrassment.

When a jovial round face like Tanya's turns from smile to frown, the transformation was most dramatic. "Zara, my friend, I should say we owe this poor woman an apology. I have found her talisman right here upon the ground. Here, I hand it to you so you might examine it closely." Plump fingers pressed something round and shiny into the gatekeeper's hand. June thought it looked more like a silver coin than some religious icon.

Zara cupped her hand to conceal the thing, though her expression was clearly not a happy one. A moment later, and Tanya leaned close to kiss Zara, not on the cheeks like some friend, but on the lips. Again, June was perplexed; were people in this city also so familiar?

Tanya giggled again, and it was as if the sun came out from behind a cloud. "No one is more familiar with Outer Mestrapoli than I. I will take this postulant with me straight away to the temple, by my troth. That is the law, yes?"

Zara's expression was severe. Looking once to the beaming Tanya and back to the quivering June, she let out a dramatic sigh. "By your troth, yes. Her Majesty accepts that Tanya will answer for Jejunia of parts unknown."

June was still chewing her lip, which was her habit when she was confused.

Zara gestured. "You can go, kid. Move! Make haste!"

June didn't need to be told twice, and she made some hesitant steps, before Tanya snatched her tail. June let out a squeak of surprise but didn't run. She may not know entirely what was happening here, but this Tanya was clearly helping her and she knew better than to ruin a good thing.

"Thank you so much," Tanya said with a curtesy to Zara. "I am sure June is better off with me than her own devices. But before I go, I have one question to ask."

Zara already turned away, but over her should she said, "No need to ask. He's not been through, and he won't be. You've got your mark, now get back to your work and I'll get back to mine."

Tanya giggled again. "Hail Mestra and her guards, who work without complaint."

It was Zara turn to laugh. "Why are you still here?" She hastened to deal with this wagoneer, who clearly had his entry chit ready and waiting.

Tanya gave June's tail a twist and a tug, in a way that June had never felt before. It wasn't painful or playful, but a mix between. It was as if June's legs weren't under her own control, and they were both several strides away. Now that drama was over, June could take in her surroundings: she was now in the city of Mestrapoli.

Between the outer wall and the proper buildings, there was an empty plain of a dozen paces or more: smooth sand and dirt, the tracks from the rakes that made it smooth clearly visible. Then there were the white plastered walls of buildings made of brick and wood. Slab affairs with thin slivers for windows. Every one of them was two stories or more, and some were as high as a barn. June had never seen so much quarried stone, a single hovel here might cost more than every building in her entire town. And then beyond that, buildings rose even higher. Six, eight, ten stories or more, with the boring white walls adorned with banners, carpets, streamers, anything to offset the drab. Past that was another wall, three times as tall as the one she just passed through, carved in such a way that June couldn't tell where plateau ended and where stonework began. She knew that to be Inner Mestrapoli, the home of princesses and princes, of flesh-pots and distilleries, of the finest cuisine in all the world. In the city proper, the air was warm and still, thick with the scents of sweaty bodies and standing filth, of still gutters and stray fewmets. But even stronger than before, there was that air again. The Mestrapoli air, that delectable odor with I hints of fresh honey, aged cheese, marbled fat and powdered sugar. Jane's stomach clenched so hard that she thought she might collapse in on herself, she thought she just might eat her own arm if she didn't get something substantive soon.

"Eyes as big as moons." The giggle of Tanya brought June back to this immediate world. "I envy you, Jejunia, to see this city as a fresh fruit, that first bite where you want to just take it all."

June groaned. "Please, let's not talk about food. Just who are you and why are you helping me?"

Tanya winked. "I'm here to make sure you don't choke on the pits. Welcome to Mestrapoli, poppet." Still holding June's tail, she led her charge into an alley so narrow, they couldn't quite fit. Their midriffs touched, and again, June wondered if Tanya was some sort of earth-bound cloud; her fur was soft as thistle down, over marbled fat that yielded as if it were smoke.

June hoped she could will the blood out of her cheeks, she was tired of blushing at everyone's familiarity and rudeness. This was Mestrapoli, the city, and she knew that she would have to be wise and worldly if she was to succeed. The farms had many strangers who would take advantage of the naive, and the city would have a class all to itself. This Tanya may look and feel like a dream, but even the juiciest fruit could have a rotten core.

"I'll not take another step until you tell me what you're on about." June focused on her hunger, something essential to keep her grounded.

By now, Tanya's giggle was playing false. "Sweet June, I'm going to save you from yourself. You heard our dear Zara, a soldier who never lies. The Sadoguery is a folly for the rich. Their parents give enormous piles of gold so that their children can be wet-nursed into oblivion, a dismal shadow of Our Queen's court, pretending to be some higher calling. Did you really think they'd take you in?" Tanya poked June, with the knuckle and not the manicured claw.

With the fluster draining away, June was sizing up this stranger. Town or city, any place had the darling pretty ones who assumed everyone was as vain and selfish as they were, themselves. "So what are you selling me? You know I've got nothing, not even a good pair of boots."

This close, and June could make out the filigree in Tanya's gold cap teeth, in that enormous smile. "I'm not selling you anything. You're an honest, working girl. You should be doing good, honest work."

June grabbed a handful of Tanya's side. The strong and calloused grip sank deep before Tanya let out a squeak of surprise.

"You're a whore," June said flatly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You allow others to have congress with you, for money."

Tanya rolled her eyes. "Tut, you are so provincial. I'm not a whore, I am a puffina, and one of the best of the Golden Rotunda, and you will show me respect." Lunging with a quickness despite her size, Tanya bit June's shoulder. Normally, a sharp bite from incisors like this would break a hold, but June was tough, strong, and more than a little angry.

"I don't want to fight with you," June was confident again; it was good to have some control. "Tell this country bumpkin what a 'puffina' is."

Tanya let go, smacked her lips a few times. "My whiskers, when was the last time you had a bath?"

"My birthday."

"Ugh." Tanya turned to spit. Her petulant expression made June think more about babies spoiled by their parents, again, but it was also clear Tanya was quick to fight, too. Already, the city was showing one thing while being another.

Tanya recovered her breath. "Your mud-farms and forsaken hamlets may have simple whores passed around like a faggot of sticks, but here in Mestrapoli, only the finest will do. We puffinas of the Golden Rotunda are princesses unto ourselves, where we want for nothing. We eat our fill as we recline on the softest divans! We enjoy all and want for nothing. As you no doubt can feel for yourself." Tanya leaned into June, pressing her enormous weight. June had never seen eyelashes as thick and fluttery, before. It must be some kind of makeup.

"And you're whores."

"Tch! And what of you? With your mad notions that the Sedaogues would take you in out of some greater good. They would ride you worse than a mile, blow out your hide, then slice your throat and leave you in the gutter. Get wise, poppet. In this world, there is no such thing as a free meal. Better to make people happy in the Rotunda. Let your light shine through."

June loosened her grip, she didn't want to bruise this strange woman. She marvelled that she could roll the fat between finger and thumb, she was almost like holding a cloud from a warm sunny sky. What it must be like to be so gloriously pampered, this Tanya must weight in at fifteen rubboes, maybe more. At least half again as June's scrawny self.

But to peddle her virtue like this? What sort of trials and travails would a prostitute have to endure? Disease? Violence?

June was an earthy, practical sort. What Tanya said about the Sadoguery had sense to it. Without indulgence or prospects, they would probably turn her away. And if they did take her...?

June sighed. "You've done me a kindness, getting me into the city, and I need to repay that debt."

Tanya beamed, it was like a lantern lifting its cover. "Think nothing of it. You're young and impulsive, it's to be expected. Now, let's put all this unpleasantness behind us. Come. They have a bed waiting for you at the Rotunda, with silk sheets and feather pillows."

"Your offer is very generous. But I have an appointment at the Sedaguery, and I aim to keep it. I will seek you out at the Rotunda after my business is done."

And just like a shutter closing, Tanya's smile turned to anger. "You moon-touched ronyon! I just told you that you are running towards a cliff's edge."

"Be that as it may, I promised someone very dear to me that I would go there."

"Who would that be?"

June smiled for the first time in an age. "Myself."

"Tch! You owe me! It was my money and my favour that got you past that killjoy of a gatekeeper!"

June pushed Tanya into the alley wall. (More than sixteen rubboes, easily, June marvelled.) "What do you want from me?"

"Just to come with me. See the Rotunda! Learn what joy might be?"

"... The masters of this place, they reward you for bringing in fresh meat, do they not?"

Tanya beamed. "Making you happy is my own reward!"

"Ugh," June rolled her eyes. "Good Tanya, I am thankful for what you have done, and I will make right. I will come to your Rotunda."

"Finally, you make sense!"

"After the Sadoguery."

Tanya shook with rage. June had never seen so much flesh jiggle like that before. "You are more trouble than a dozen Zannies! You're no good to anyone once they lock you in a cage, brand you with hot pokers, then cut out your tongue and pull out your teeth so they can work unknowable perversions upon your sorry form!"

This direct language of scare talk, June understood. But how could she know that Tanya wasn't leading her into a similar trap? Better to stick to her original plan, to plea to the Sadoguery first, and then the Rotunda second.

"I apologize." June awkwardly squirmed out of the alley, and Tanya's unfettered flesh fell free. "I will make this right."

Tanya hissed and snatched at June's tail again, claws out. June slapped Tanya's face, open-handed and without much force.

"Careful, now," June scowled. "You cannot win a fight with me. I cannot get any uglier," she brandished her own claws, "but you have a lot of pretty to lose."

Tanya huffed, the roundness of her waist billowing. "I will remember your name, Jejunia!"

June slowly backed away, watching Tanya fume and bite back a dozen curses that she avoided shouting, not to make a scene. Then June was in the milling crowd and in the street, filled with people and vendors and sights and smells.

After she had put some distance between herself and Tanya, June wondered if anyone could tell her what a "Zanny" was.