Miss. Sutton looks at me with a mischievous smile and chuckles: "Just checked in the first participant. Lighten up Ludwig, it's going to be alright! Isn't it exciting?". I suppress a smile and keep my head bowed, but Miss. Sutton's charm is irresistible, she comes up to me and and grabs the red satin ribbon around my neck and whispers: "Relax my boy and look at me when I address you. - Yes that is better, good puppy.", while she softly strokes my cheek. Nervous, on the verge of trembling, I try to smile and look her into the eyes, but a radiant beam of green, intermixed with reddish and bluish hues, blinds me and I lose myself in a sea of a thousand freckles, while Miss. Sutton draws me closer and breathes: "You know what is happening during the initiation and you'll tell me, won't you Ludwig!" I feared that one day my loyalty would be tested like that. The ravishing inquisitive red-head on one hand, a decades maybe even centuries old organization with a strict code of conduct and plenty of skeletons in the closet on the other. I falter, my mouth wide agape, not able to utter a word, while she grabs me by the shoulders and says: "After the ceremony, the west wing, in the attic, I'll be waiting. Don't you dare to jilt me. .... Ludwig, hello Ludwig, look at me! The wrath of a red-head is not something to be trifled with." Worried about the attention we are drawing amidst the pre-ceremony hustle and bustle, I'll immediately give in and whisper: "Your will, is my command, Miss." I bow and slowing recede into the antechamber of the stair entrance to the basement complex.

Two guards check anyone who comes up or goes down. All member IDs and maid implants are scanned and thus the system knows exactly who entered and exited at what time. The reason for these heavy handed security measures during inner circle events is of course subject of much controversy amongst the uninitiated. Due to the nature of the ritual a leak is intolerable and drastic measures are taken even if the suspicion arises. I contemplate on the fact that Miss. Sutton is with us for only a little less than a month and does not seem to have grasped the severity and seriousness of the situation. Hoping Miss. Ferguson will intervene in time and save my skin, I'll proceed through the check-point, downwards to the maze of the underground complex.

While the majority of participants think of the sisterhood as a social club, geared towards the needs and desires of successful dominant women, a remarkable combination of social networking, hedonistic debauchery, and high-falutin discourse, in sooth the sisterhood is so much more with a long and winding history and tradition. If recruits and fellows are privy to ten or twenty percent, I might have insight into a third of what constitutes the behemoth that is the sisterhood. After years of exceptional service, I met Madame only once, the day I was appointed head-maid, and Ms. Bettina only summons me once in a while, when absolute discretion is required and instructions have to be given in person.