A Conversation Between Two Turian Free Women

"Preposterous!" the Lady Philomena of Turia exclaimed.
"By the very beard of Kamras, I swear it is all true!" the Lady Melpomene, also of Turia, averred.

The two free women were seated in a public garden, attended by rather chastely attired hand-maidens, delicately sipping at juice beneath their veils. The afternoon was warm, but breezy, allowing them a modicum of comfort in their weighty garments. Both were of High Caste, one a Builder's companion and the other, Melpomene, the daughter of Warriors.

"Right there, on the table, in that establishment?!" Philomena asked again, not certain she heard correctly. Surely, she did not hear correctly.

"Apparently, the brute was taken with his sleek, worthless, little beast. Something she said or did, I do not know. Perhaps she provoked him?" Melpomene guessed. "Men are disgusting! So taken with their trivial, meaningless, base desires!"

Philomena gasped, setting aside her juice. Her hand-maiden, who was called Neela, sensing the mistress' discomfiture, opened a fan and began fanning her. Not wishing to seem weakened, Philomena pulled back her gloved hand and slapped Neela across the jaw with her knuckles. The girl, though she was not struck very hard by Philomena, managed to fling herself appropriately to the side as if she were run down by the cart of a red fruit vendor. She remained there, flung to her side, chastened, for several moments before righting herself into a meek tower, her eyes turned down.

"My dear, it was terrible," Melpomene continued. "The girl eagerly invited the rape! It is unimaginable!"
"What did you do? Surely you did not stand for such behavior in such a reputable establishment," Philomena asked.
"Certainly not!" Melpomene exclaimed, as if this were obvious. "I called for the proprietor to hasten, to remedy the situation. While I am above such...meaningless couplings, such...filthy urgings, I do not wish to witness it. No more than I wish to see the ruttings and such of tarsks or verr!"

"And the proprietor, of course, hastened?" Philomena asked. "He hurried to remedy the situation?"

"Of course he did!" Melpomene answered. "He placed several of the serving sluts of the establishment around that table, obstructing other patron's view of the debauchery taking place."
"That was very...solicitous...of the proprietor," Philomena nodded.
"Of course, it did little to disguise the sounds and scents of the whole disgusting affair," Melpomene despaired.
Philomena gasped, her breath catching, before she spoke quietly. "Why do men lust for women such as that? Surely, there are men which would prefer a chaste woman, an austere woman, a woman of gravity and propriety? Surely, there are men which would prefer an equal, someone not concerned with such base and crude stirrings?"

"Certainly," Melpomene lied.
"Oh, good," Philomena answered, a twinge of disappointment in her voice. "Then there is hope for women such as I."
"Women such as we," Melpomene corrected her.

"Women such as we," Philomena agreed.