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Celeste emerged from Karly’s office wearing an expression of puzzled concern. She began to head to the kitchen, then stopped and pulled out her phone. Two paces on, she put the phone away and stood a few yards from Mimi’s desk, boxed in by bafflement.
“Everything ok?” said Mimi, serenely. She unboxed some new staplers and notepads.
“Whuh? Yeah, yeah, it’s fine,” said Celeste. She didn’t want to discuss this with the bitter bitch on Reception.
“OK!” said Mimi with a smile, as she continued organising her space.
Celeste wandered out of the building to get a coffee. Something very weird was going on. She’d come in this morning and gone straight into Karly’s office to invite her to a perfume launch event in the city’s tallest building (“perfect for networking”), but it looked very different to her last visit.
“You like it?” Karly had twirled around the office, holding a stuffed bunny.
“Um, babes, it’s…really…pink. Like, really pink.”
“Right?” Karly had said. “I can, like, 110% feel it.”
“Me too,” said Celeste, wrinkling her nose. Fluffy-topped pens sat gathered in a desk tidy, cuddly toys lolled on chairs, and as her gaze travelled upward, she noticed what looked like a cot mobile hanging from the ceiling.
“Is this, like, feng shui?” Celeste had asked.
“Please,” Karly scoffed. “Paging the ‘90s! No, it’s Mahri Pow – ”
She stopped herself. Celeste was just as ambitious as her. Truth be told, their friendship was mostly one of mutual surveillance. If Celeste learned about Mahri Powers’ methods, what was to stop her wrangling an audience with the master, overtaking Karly and stealing her job?
“I mean, it’s my own method, sort of drawing on…Hari Krishna,” Karly corrected herself. “All about rebirth.”
“OK,” she said. “Aright. Care to share?”
“I’m…still working on it,” smiled Karly, brushing her Mahri Powers leaflet into her shredder. “I’m thinking I might offer an online Girl Boss masterclass once I’ve ironed out the kinks, but it’s all super hush-hush for now.”
“Hari Krishna,” mused Celeste. “Who’s that? Some kind of influencer?”
“Yeah, kind of,” said Karly, as casually as she could.
“How do you spell that?”
The desktop alarm pinged for Karly’s mentoring session.
“Sorry,” said Karly, bundling her friend out the office. “Really dull meeting with all the international account managers. The literal worst. Promise we’ll catch up later!”
Celeste frowned. Something was being kept from her and secrets drove her mad.
“I see,” she said, then beamed sweetly. “Well, catch you later, babes.”
“Later! Love you!”
“Love you!”
Karly sat in her office, concerned. Celeste suspected something. Ugh, and she was so good at forcing her way into exclusive spaces. How many times had she snuck them both into parties at stately homes, simply by dressing expensively and acting like a moneyed bitch? Mahri’s course might be full, but if she wanted to, Celeste would somehow blag a spot. Karly would have to redouble her efforts and maintain her lead.
Her alarm pinged again and she signed onto the video call.
“Karly, my glorious alpha predator, how are you?” said Mahri.
“I am, like, so good,” said Karly. “Check out my space. I put up all the things you sent, I’m chanting. I am feeling it.”
Mahri breathed in deeply.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, eyes twinkling. “That’s power. That’s energy. It is a rare pupil that commits so truly to their ascent. Keep going like this and nobody will be able to catch you. Now, shall we chant?”
Karly nodded and they began:
“Ba Ba Ba Da Da Da Ga Ga Ga…”
Karly sat alone in her pink office, perturbed. The pink stars of the mobile above her head swayed in the air con breeze.
The session had begun well. After the week’s anticipation, she had finally been allowed to open the box Mahri had sent.
“Your new armour,” said Mahri, as Karly fiddled with the sellotape.
Karly salivated, imagining a Gucci suit with sharp lapels and Liberty-print lining. Maybe asymmetric and plunging, like Molly Vex’s outfit in the music video for Power Lines.
Inside the box, swaddled in tissue paper, was an empire-line dress in Karly’s size. Puffed sleeves and a plastic beaded collar topped a white embroidered bodice that ended just below her bust. A pastel-pink ruffled organza skirt frothed from the box.
Karly stared at the flouncy princess fabric in her hands, then considered her own outfit for the day: an immaculate heather-grey power suit with a chic cravat blouse and Jimmy Choo heels.
“Any questions?” asked Mahri.
Karly squinted at the dress.
“Is this…for me? To wear?”
“It is.”
Karly frowned. The dress looked like something a three-year-old might get forced into as the flower girl at a wedding.
“I…” she pursed and unpursed her lips. “I don’t know if it’s quite my style.”
Mahri blinked impassively at her and a silence descended. Karly felt her pulse rise. Oh God, what had she said?
At last, Mahri spoke. She smiled with her mouth, but not her eyes.
“You’re right,” she said, “It’s not your style. This is the dress a winner wears.”
Karly gulped.
“I’m glad we performed this test,” said Mahri sadly. “It is better for me to embrace disappointment than to deny its inevitability.”
She clasped her hands and closed her eyes, continuing:
“To bring together raw womanity and sophisticated leadership, a dramatic statement is needed. This gown is unconventional. It demands attention. It displays radical femininity. Only a powerful woman would be confident enough to wear this dress. I wanted to show it to you to gauge your response. This way we can both understand how far you have to go.”
Karly was stung.
“I…you said I was committed…”
Mahri sighed. “I did. But it seems there are limits and I am sometimes overoptimistic. I’ve had so many pupils fall at this hurdle – why would one more surprise me? Of course, there are the rare ones who pushed forward, past reservations and insecurities, and shone.”
She waved a hand, wearily.
“Put the gown away please. The moment has passed.”
“But –“ Karly spluttered.
“The moment has passed,” said Mahri, firmly. “Nevertheless, we can go back over some of the exercises we tried last week.”
“I –“
“Please do not worry about returning the gown,” said Mahri. “I customise each one personally with herbs and affirmations. This is no good to anyone else.”
Karly put down the box, flailing. She was losing her mentor. She couldn’t let someone like Celeste dart in and bump her back down the ladder.
“It’s just…it seems a bit…”
“Innocent?” said Mahri.
“Sort of, yes.”
“This is the next and hardest lesson to absorb. Contrast.”
Karly leaned forward, pen in hand.
“That a leader adopting the guise of innocence,” said Mahri, “will find their experience and wisdom appear greatly pronounced. Do you understand?”
Karly nodded. The sage went on.
“Just as a warrior who shows vulnerability reveals their might, and a chieftain who appears to relinquish control shows their faith that real control is always at hand, and something that cannot be wrested from them.”
She laughed: a rich, sonorous wave.
“It seems illogical, does it not?”
Karly bit her lip.
“It is absolutely fine to disagree with me,” said Mahri. “In fact, this is a good example of me relinquishing control while remaining absolutely centred.”
She breathed in deeply, then breathed out and farted.
Karly gasped for a second. Mahri smiled knowingly, and suddenly they were both laughing.
“I shall tell you a secret,” said Mahri. “The day I realised that powerful men never apologise for breaking wind was the day I began to succeed.”
Karly nodded.
“Keep the dress,” said Mahri. “If you feel confident enough to adopt it, do. If its power is too great for you, I will understand and amend the level of our program for the remaining sessions. It may be that you are best suited to management and not executive roles. We must all know our natural fit.”
Karly nodded, both relieved and anxious.
“Your assignments this week are ones of reinforcement,” said Mahri. “When you feel pressured, nervous or in need of your inner bear, I want you to chant. It should become a recentring reflex, in sync with your heartbeat.”
Nod.
“Keep your power animals with you at all times.”
Nod.
“And I want you to incorporate some speed-nutrition into your working day. Fruits and vegetables are obviously paramount to health, but preparing them takes away valuable focus and time. I will send you some organic, wild-sourced meal-smoothie preparations from my Gaia range. They are designed to nourish you fully and evacuate any toxins that could be impacting your performance. These are ordinarily £50 per jar, but they are included in the cost of this course.”
Nod.
“Finally,” said Mahri, “I want you to consider today’s lesson on strength in vulnerability. If something frustrates you, do not be afraid to let it erupt. As long as nobody else is injured, most forms of emotional expulsion are entirely healthy and perceived subconsciously as signs of dominance and power. Should you reach boiling point, I encourage you to let it out. Roar like the bear you are.”
Karly noted down her homework. The pair signed off and she found herself looking at the mass of pink fabric in the box.
Later that night, in the apartment her father had bought for her 21st birthday, Karly’s curiosity got the better of her. She had brought home the box and parked it in a corner of her lounge. Now she went to it and withdrew the dress, holding it against herself in the mirror.
Her pulse crept up at the thought of wearing it in public, and she remembered Mahri’s instructions. Closing her eyes, she began to chant:
“Ba Ba Ba Da Da Da Ga Ga Ga…”
Awesome new chapter. You’re building a great story. Keep up the great job!