My hair was a mess and my face blotchy and tear stained. My whole body was sore and my asshole ached. I was so exhausted.I drove home in a daze, my mi...d blank. Saturday and Sunday were a blur. I felt like I was drifting in outer space. I rested, sleeping like a dead woman. Monday morning I realized I was in no condition to go to work. Besides, I felt like what was happening to me was written on my forehead. I volunteered at a non-profit. I called my boss and told her I was taking indefinite. Though the part about pushing it where the sun does not shine might have been a bit over the top.So here I am, destined to do a full land tax survey of twelve villages during the rainy season when everyone else in the survey service is inside drawing maps from last summer's survey data.Thirty-fourth FridayOne miserable thorp in middle of nothing surveyed, eleven more to go. If I survive this ordeal I will make sure to transfer to some other county or duchy to get away from the. I shifted forward."Did that hurt?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice."Uh, no, no," I said quickly. "It's just ... what you're wearing and how you're sitting."I kept my eyes forward, barely winning the fight to turn to see if my brain had painted an accurate picture.I heard a snort then felt Liz's arms circle my waist. She kissed me softly between my shoulder blades."Sorry," she said. "I ... I put on the shirt out of consideration for you. I usually just sleep naked when I'm alone.. She squealed when she was dealt two blackjacks to the dealers fourteen and she picked up five hundred pounds!Ten minutes later her money was up to nineteen hundred and I was down to five hundred so I wandered over to the roulette wheel where I put the five hundred on black. It came up so I was back to my original stake money of a thousand. I left it on black and collected another five hundred, then I put a thousand on red and collected two thousand when it came up.We went to the bar then for a.