Flying Arrow's aunt and surrogate mother assumed control of the Water Matriarchy when she was only sixteen years old. From a loose network of perhaps a tenth of all Eastern women, Bubbling Water built a tightly-reined hierarchy. Upon her death at fifty nine, the Water Matriarchy included almost half of them and extended into all four Empires. So avidly did she barter hers and her daughters' pleasures that her enemies called her “the Imperial Whore.” She withheld those pleasures for equal gain. She was the archetype of wanton female sexuality that instills so much fear in our male-dominated society today.—The Women, the Power, by Shriveling Stalk. * * * “Why did Snarling Jaguar summon you?” Healing Hand rocked back and forth with the gentle swaying of the richly-decorated palanquin. “I wish I knew, Hand.” Sitting opposite him, Bubbling Water glanced through the thin curtains, watching landmarks as they passed them. Warriors marched in ranks three-thick beside the pair of palanquins.
