Author's Note: All errors are strictly mine.
* * *
In marked contrast to the previous night's initiation and consummation into the clan, the following day was relatively uneventful. Hearing the news that they were about to be rescued and would soon return to civilization, Aiko and Gerald were of two minds. On the one hand, they were reluctant to see their unusual adventure come to an end. On the other hand, they were anxious to get back home to their family and friends; they had jobs to do and their own life to lead.
Later in the morning, Gerald and Pedro were chatting with each other.
"We're enjoying our adventure among these people," Gerald told him, "and neither Aiko nor I would trade this experience for any other in the world."
The clan, both men and women, feel the same. They wish you could stay but you must leave for your own reasons, but also for theirs," Pedro said. "Scar and I talked about it. He believes you two are too used to your civilized way of life to be able to live like them for long. More important, you two don't have the necessary survival skills to live in the jungle for the long haul."
"Scar is a very perceptive man," Gerald observed. He is a good leader for these gentle and remarkably practical people," Gerald said. "We will miss them."
"I will tell Scar what you just said. The members of the clan will be very happy to receive confirmation of your respect and affection for them. Without a doubt, the clan will miss you and Aiko too. They don't expect they'll ever see anyone from the outside world quite like you two."
"We leave here on the day after tomorrow," Gerald reiterated just to make sure.
"Yes," Pedro confirmed.
"So what are we going to do until then?" Aiko asked. She had joined them just in time to hear Gerald express his regrets about the impending end of their adventure.
"You're supposed to relax today, Aiko, but tomorrow you can resume your duties helping the women with their chores," Pedro replied. "The clan will have guests tomorrow from a neighbouring village. Scar and one of the other men are leaving this afternoon to meet two men from a neighbouring clan at a pre-arranged place known to both clans and then bring them back here."
"What's the occasion?" Aiko asked.
"Apparently, at a previous meeting several months ago, they had discussed an exchange of adult age children. As you know by now, a child who has reached maturity has to leave the clan to join another clan. His or her new clan will then initiate them both as clan members and into adulthood. If all goes well, they will finalize an exchange of adult children, probably in about a month."
"So while Scar and the other two clansmen are away, what are the rest of the men to do?" Gerald asked.
"Rainbow will lead us on a hunting and fishing and expedition. We're obliged to ensure out guests have all the usual comforts of home."
"Then there's no time to relax," Aiko observed. "The women need my help. So it's time for me to get off my tired..."
"...but beautiful,' Gerald interjected.
"...butt and earn my keep by helping the women with what little skill I have," she concluded while smirking at her husband's interjection.
"Don't worry, hon," he snickered as she walked away, "I'm sure you'll have an opportunity to help the men with your other considerable skills."
Aiko hesitated, turned her head around and stuck her tongue at him.
A few minutes later, Scar and the clansman accompanying him started their hike through the jungle to their rendez-vous with the men from the neighbouring clan. They were expected to return tomorrow with their guests.
The remaining clansmen also departed, leaving the women and children to gather plant foods of various sorts and work on repairs to their baskets. The women talked to each other in their incomprehensible language while their children played. The elder had little to do; he was the only adult who relaxed.
Aiko rejoined the clanswomen. Work was pleasant, she realized, because it was integrated into their social life and no one was ever in a hurry. They worked to live; they didn't live to work. They found happiness in cooperation and their primitive equality. Unbidden, the concept of primitive communism came to her mind, primitive communism, a term coined by Frederick Engels to characterize pre-agricultural human society.
Her thoughts returned to the present. Unfortunately, this way of life was impossible in so-called civilized society. Aiko hoped that they would survive what seemed to be the inevitable onslaught of civilization.
The men returned late in the afternoon. This time they actually did catch a capybara without having to fight an anaconda. They brought back several fish as well. One of the men skinned and gutted the capybara. He handed it to one of the women who proceeded to prepare it for the evening meal. They would have enough for tomorrow's visitors too.
That night, wrapped in each other's arms, Aiko and Gerald had a long deep sleep.
* * *
Aiko woke up in the morning to discover that Gerald had already risen. She stuck her head out of the hut and saw that Gerald and Pedro were helping the other men repair their boats. The two men seemed to have become fast friends.
Aiko joined the women, helping them prepare for the arrival of their guests. As she worked on her chores, she remembered what Gerald had told her about Pedro: He had not been among her lovers on the night of their initiation into the tribe. He had been reluctant to exercise his rights as a new clansman because the civilized side of his mind told him he was their guide and had to act professionally.
It was difficult for Aiko to hear what they were saying but what she heard told what she needed to know.
"I've seen the way you look at her," Aiko heard Gerald tell Pedro.
Pedro looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I'm forgetting I'm your guide and responsible for your safety until we are rescued. Please don't take offense. She is an attractive woman."
"Yes, she is," Gerald replied. "And I'm not offended. Neither have I forgotten we belong to the same clan."
Pedro looked quizzically at him.
Her chores finished, Aiko decided it was time to join the men's conversation. It was also time for her to take the initiative in rectifying an injustice in the clan.
"I think Aiko overheard us," Gerald said as he saw Aiko approach. "Go ahead. Ask her. Maybe she's in the mood. From previous experience, she probably is."
But Pedro didn't have the chance to ask.
"I am a woman and mother of the people," Aiko said addressing Pedro. "We both have the right to ask, and we both have the right to agree or refuse."
It dawned on Pedro that Aiko was propositioning him.
"It is offense to these people for a wife and a husband not to consummate their marriage. As long as we are among these people, Pedro, you are as much my husband as every other clansman here, including Gerald. So I want you to make love to me," she said. "Take me."
