Must one be submissive in order to serve?

The castle was cool despite the season, meaning Lady Liliana's chambers were a welcome respite from the heat of the day. Dim and quiet, as her fourth-floor room did not catch the afternoon sun, there was nonetheless a sweet smell of honeysuckle in the air. Whether it had drifted in from outside on a lazy breeze or been coaxed inside by her attentive aide was unclear. With a great, satisfied sigh, the lady knight sat at last, her heavily-armoured form putting strain on even the sturdy wooden chair. Following her into the room, she heard her squire place her heavy helm down with a clank and approach, his footsteps even and measured as always.

Strong, sure hands began working deftly at the straps of first one pauldron, then the other, unfastening the heavy metal plates one by one from Liliana's broad, powerful shoulders as she sank back into her chair. Her fiery red hair was a sweaty, tousled mess as she reached up to tug it out of its tight, but frayed bun, but a hand gently gripped her wrist.

"Not yet, my lady," the young man standing behind her said gently, pushing her hand away. "You'll get it caught in the cuirass again."

Smiling faintly as she gazed out the window, Liliana wondered how many squires would chastise their lord or lady so. Servants had been slain for such comments, but she found it instead oddly… warming. "Perhaps, but it makes my head ache so," she grumbled, but she sat obediently still, only leaning forward to allow him access to the fastenings at her back.

"I'll take care of it," Alec promised, flashing her a reassuring smile as he moved around to her side, unlacing the pieces of her gauntlet and placing them aside one by one. "You did well today, my lady. I think His Majesty and his lords are really starting to warm to you."

Liliana scowled. "Pigs, the lot of them. What sort of king requires twice-weekly jousts at a time like this, anyway? He'll have no fresh men if the Aranites invade before the leaves fall."

"I'm sure you'll cut them all down like wheat before the sickle, my lady." Alec's tone was dry, but he smiled as he finished with her other gauntlet, glancing up from where he knelt before her chair. He rapped lightly on her leg plates. "If you'd stand now, I can get you out of these."

It took another couple of minutes for Alec to systematically remove the rest of Liliana's armour, leaving her in her gambison and breeches. At long last, he stood behind her chair once more, fingers tugging expertly at the pins holding her hair in place. Wound tightly to fit under her helmet, as she had stubbornly refused to have it cut short, it eventually tumbled loose into a sweaty but well-kept shoulder-length mane. "Gods above," she groaned, letting her head fall comfortably back into Alec's secure hands.

"I'm not sure why you insist on keeping it so long," he commented as he began combing it out with his fingers, massaging Liliana's scalp as he worked through her fiery locks.

"You told me it was pretty," she grumbled quietly, folding her arms and looking away.

Alec was silent for a moment. "...It is," he said at length, his voice soft. "But impractical, no?"

Scowling, Liliana twisted in her chair to narrow her sharp green eyes at her squire. "Are you giving me cheek, boy?"

Unbothered by her outburst, Alec simply quirked an eyebrow, gazing back down at her from that fair, slender face in a way that made keeping eye contact very difficult. "Of course not, my lady," he said at last, inclining his head in a slight bow.

"Oh, drop the rubbish," she sighed, turning away once more and closing her eyes as she submitted to his head massage. In truth, it was making her vision go fuzzy as she felt his strong fingers tug her head around. "I said you don't have to call me that when we're alone. I hate it."

"Lili."

She yelped as Alec's hot breath brushed her ear, having bent down to whisper close. Flushing a little, she managed not to leap from her chair, instead just glaring at him again. "What?!"

He smiled as he backed up, once again the picture of professionalism. "I sent word to have the castle servants draw your bath. Would you like me to wash your hair for you?"

Liliana's breath caught in her throat for a moment. "Yes. Yes… I think I'd like that. And once I am clean and rejuvenated…"

"...what then, my la- ahem, Lili?" Alec corrected himself.

Feeling her heart skip at the prospect, Liliana nevertheless found herself unable to verbalise it. "Did you not say to me that a good squire always knows what his knight needs at any time?"

Alec scratched at his ear absently. "I did, but I'm afraid you have me entirely at a loss."

Grimacing, Liliana stood from her seat and brandished a mocking fist at her squire. "Damn you, boy! If you think you're going to play coy and make a lady say something so uncouth, you can go back to running errands in the stables or whatever you used to do. Is that what you want?"

Satisfied with his teasing for now, Alec snapped his heels together and executed a crisp bow. "I am ever at your service."

I hope the fairly specific dynamic between the two characters comes across here. It's not a typical femdom prompt, nor a typical 'cheeky guy turns femdom on its head' prompt either. Alec is a gentle, caring, occasionally teasing type, and Liliana (or another name if you prefer) has a bit of space built in for you to give her your own spin, but generally speaking she's a little unsure of herself, struggling with the conflict between her femininity and her role as a soldier, her own dreams and her duty. The two are a surprisingly good match, as Alec takes the role of a sounding board, a gentle word of reassurance in her ear, and a competent servant all in one. He certainly pushes his luck much more than any other knight would let their squire get away with - but only ever when he's alone with the asocial knightess, so she lets him get away with it a bit.

Naturally, since this is DPP, the two are in something of a casual(?) sexual relationship as well. We can discuss exactly what form this takes - I wrote another 1000 horny words to this prompt before I realised it was getting unforgivably long, but suffice it to say I have some ideas. I'm keen to hear yours, too, as well as where you'd prefer to start: with an established relationship, or the first time? Is it completely pragmatic and platonic, or are there feelings involved on one or both parts? Etc.

Kinks: Massage; body worship; service that is neither submissive nor obsequious, but born from deep respect and care; blurry/unimportant lines between sub and dom; frequent reversals and counters; teasing; face-sitting; excessive cum, cum play, creampies and one-man bukkakes (lumping it all together because, well); squirting; big strong ladies who could (and would) throw me over their shoulder and carry me away for their own debaucherous pleasure; praise and reassuring, almost affectionate dirty talk; fingers in mouths and hands on faces; fingers tangled in hair, pulling hair; a bit of roughness is grand when it's asked for and warranted.

Limits: butt stuff, cruel stuff, painful stuff, the word 'snu-snu.'

Drop a line! As I said, this is fairly specific; I'm open to Liliana changing a bit to suit the sort of character you'd like to play, so long as she's big and strong and the broad strokes of the relationship stay much the same.