Here it is the answer to the question: Who's the Daddy?
Thanks to Steve150177 for his relentless pursuit of perfection. I think you all have seen the difference it has made.
English is in italics when it appears.
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Enjoy! DW
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I had a free morning while my men worked in the sorting room. After I cleaned our apartment, I finished another blanket for the child. I talked to my unborn and sang to her all morning. Later, as I often did nowadays, I took a late morning nap.
My naps were restful, but they were full of dreams. My connection with my family was strongest then. It was like I spent that time in the sorting room learning more about the ore and whatever else was on their minds.
Anything they thought about while I slept, I absorbed. If something was interesting to me I felt them concentrate on it. The experience made for strange, vivid dreams. I often woke confused, because I'd thought I'd been wherever I was dreaming about.
As usual, Evan's lips on my temple woke me. I had been deeply asleep.
"It is very strange," he informed me, "we find that when you are tired, we are also. Once you have fallen to sleep, we no longer feel tired. Your sleeping clears our bond of that influence."
I stared up at him as confused as he was. It was clear to my men the way we bonded wasn't normal. They were an amalgamation of one mind. Despite our obvious connection, I was still separate. It was very strange, but it wasn't like any of us understood.
"We are hungry," he told me as my own stomach rumbled.
After lunch Nu-reeh had me sit with she and her Sisters while Damien and his Brothers worked off her debt to another family of women.
"They are fierce," Dinah purred watching my men battle and get fucked by the women.
"They are happy," Nu-reeh said and laid a clawed hand on my back.
"Your owners are valuable when they are like this, slave," Nu-reeh told me. "Men that are unhappy wither and die."
"Yes, Mistress."
She continued with the odd lesson. "Some men are happy here in the mountains. Rue and his Brothers will be happy here because they are allowed to learn new things, for instance. They will do well here. Other men are happy because they are allowed to enjoy us physically more frequently."
Nu-reeh pointed to my family. "There are times when you will find a family will not be happy here, no matter what. Those men cannot be kept here in the mountains. Their anger infects the other men. They start fights. It is very disruptive."
"Yes, Mistress," I said remembering things I hadn't known.
In my mind, I saw that Damien and his Brothers had been trouble makers when they were first here. Until the first time they saw me, they had been very difficult and sullen.
"I foolishly used them as payment, so I could not send them back immediately. It was a mistake," Nu-reeh said. "They found a way to make themselves happy, though, so I let them continue to visit with you. I had hoped it would be a permanent solution."
Dinah snorted and growled, "They were never like this, though, all spirited and happy. Their energy is from a good place now. They will stay strong like this. However, I can barely tolerate having this slave near me."
"Damien and his Brothers need to be back at the compound, so they can be with their slave," Tosu said and the other women agreed. "This is what makes them happy."
Dinah snorted looking disdainfully down at me. "If Damien and his Brothers must keep her, at least let it be out of our sight."
The talking ended as a woman down in the ring speared Kein with a wing tip. He had been trying to play with her breasts. Dinah's disgust with me barely registered and I grinned at my men as Nu-reeh went down to protect her property.
I continued to knit quietly as the mating went on. What Nu-reeh had said was interesting, but the collective was busy fighting and fucking. All I could really think about was what my men were doing down in the ring.
After the mating, we were excited. My Men knew a great deal about the stars. Their memories of how to use them were powerful. They could help tell you time of year or guide you across great distances. Showing them to me would be fun.
We had permission from Nu-reeh, Damien had asked, so we could stay out all night. My men loaded up bags they carried on their backs and we set off. We had everything we needed, so we wouldn't have to return until morning.
The sun was setting as we got on our transport. Kein drove and we zipped away from our mountain home. My men had to control themselves. Cheering as they rode away would be dishonorable, but it's what they wanted to do.
We were going to their favorite lake. In the morning we may swim in the water. Tonight we would watch the moons rise together. It was going to be a wonderful night.
"No women!" Bane said smiling.
I patted my gravid belly and looked up at him.
"Well, you don't really count, Ciara," Kein told me, musing my hair. "You aren't like them."
No, I wasn't like them. I was female, but I wasn't what they considered a woman. I was different.
We made it to their spot in record time, at least according to them.
Evan and Christof set up our camp site while Damien, Kein, and Bane checked the perimeter. There were dangerous things we had to watch out for. I knew what most of them were thanks to Nu-reeh. Luckily the area around this lake was not usually inhabited by things that were troublesome.
Kein bounded back to us with a dead animal slung over his shoulder. We would eat it the way they enjoyed it tonight, roasted on a spit over the open flame. I watched curiously as my men prepared the carcass and set up the fire.
"I only camped outside a couple of times when I was younger," I told them as the fire started to gain momentum.
I remembered staying at a camp ground a couple of times with relatives. We'd stayed in a
trailer
, so we didn't even really stay outside. We brought
canned
food and cooked it over the
electric stove
inside. There were bugs outside, so we sat inside and watched
television
. It was really like staying at home, only more cramped.
My men experienced my memories with me and grunted in amusement. The idea of a traveling lodging was funny to them. They'd never seen anything like that. The rest of it was just weird Earth culture. Sitting and talking around the fire was so much more enjoyable than what I described.
"This is much better," Christof said coming to sit beside me.
I grinned at him and pushed at his shoulder with my own. Christof grinned and pushed back, bumping me against Bane. The physical contact was always reassuring. No matter what we were doing, we preferred to be together.
"You're missing the stars," Bane laughed pointing up.
He was right the sky was slowly darkening and the first glimmers were appearing in the night sky. Leaning back I watched as the first of the three moons rose.
"We won't see the ringed moon start it's journey into the night sky," Evan told me. "It happens beyond that mountain over there. It will appear in the sky above that ridge after a third of the night has passed."
From their minds and memories I had a sudden knowledge of the moons. My men timed the night sky by them. When they kept watch, they used the progress of the different moons to know how late it was. It was the setting of the ringed moon that woke Evan up every morning. They were so in tune with them, they felt them even when they couldn't see them.
I thought about the moon on earth, it hadn't been nearly as predictable. The sun was useful and we timed our days off of that.
"Weird," Kein commented wrinkling his nose.
The meat was cooked and we ate heartily. They told me about the patterns they watched in the speckled blackness. Evan knew it better than anyone and his mind guided mine. I watched with fascination as the night sky unfurled before me.
Eventually, we ended up on our backs. My men set up their sleeping pallets so our heads were all together in a circle. I watched as they pointed out all the interesting things they knew about the glittering blackness.
The way the stars looked and the way they moved in the sky was predictable to my men. They told me all about it. Evan had spent hours learning the sky.
"I wonder," he said, "where my breeder came from, the slave many generations back?" he whispered.
We all wondered and none of us knew. I wondered what had happened to her.
"Why do you think she tasted things?" he asked. "What was the purpose of my gift where she was from?"
Evan's mind was full of questions. He couldn't imagine a world where they were all like him.
"You sound like Ciara," Bane teased lightly, but he didn't mind.
The questions were valid and they all wished they knew more about their Brother.
I lay quietly watching the sky. Bane had stretched out on one side and Christof on the other. After a long while, I drifted to sleep. Vaguely, I was aware as the blankets were pulled over me and I was snuggly wrapped.
When we slept outside like this someone always kept a watch. They each took a turn during the night. Through the eyes of my men as they protected their family, I saw every subtle change in the shimmering stars and changing moons. It was like I watched the sky all night.
The memories of my men spoke to me. I saw the countless nights they had sat and watched the beautiful vista. By morning I understood the way they tracked time and what subtle changes in the moons would mean.
Evan woke me with his enthusiasm. As the ringed moon disappeared and the sun rose he was filled with the usual boundless energy.
"A swim this morning?" he asked stripping.
