There and Back - Chapter Three
Seeing that eating was the same here as back home, I followed suit and it was delicious. There were several different flavors in each mouthful. Osalet ate and spent a lot of time looking at me. When we were finished I helped to clean the cooking utensils and the dishes. Osalet excused herself to go to the trench. When she left the house, I quickly spoke to Izabe.
"My love, how do we do this tonight? That bed isn't big enough for the three of us. It's barely big enough for you and me."
"It is your mating night. I will sleep on the couch."
"But you're my mate too."
"I know. This is a special night for a girl. You should focus on her and your pleasure. If you can, give her a child like you did for me."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. It is the greatest honor and sign of commitment a male mate can show to the community."
Osalet came back in and it occurred to me that I wondered what people here did in the evening after a meal. There was obviously no TV or movie theaters. There were no books that I had seen. I thought that I should ask.
"Izabe, tell me what people do here after dinner and before we go to sleep?"
"I don't know about others that are mated since we have only been mated for a day. Before we mated, I would sit and plan the next day and recall the teachings of The Healer."
"Oh! Do you need to do that? I don't want to stop you from becoming a healer."
"I can do that while you and Osalet are mating."
"If she's as loud as you were, you'll be very distracted."
"I didn't follow my plan last night, if you'll recall, because an ookal broke into our front door."
"Our front door! I just noticed. The door is fixed."
"Yes, of course it is."
"But how. By whom?"
"A man who owed me because of a healing did the work today."
"Oh, that's good. I'm sorry that I didn't think to do it."
"It wasn't your job."
"It was! It's my house too."
"Yes it is, but he had a debt to me and this was how he paid it. It was necessary to maintain the balance of fairness. But tell me, what would you be doing if you were where you came from?"
"I would watch a machine called a television. There would be various things to watch. Stories and such."
"Stories on a machine?"
"Yes. I also have books. There are stories that are written down on paper."
"What is written?"
"Really?" I had to pause and recall the teaching I'd ignored as a student. "There are symbols that we put on paper and when combined in certain orders they form words and the words in a certain order tell me a story. Look here."
I went to the water room and got my finger wet. I took a second to think of the silliness of the English language, then on the table top I wrote the letters L-U-V.
"This symbol, we call them letters, is an El. It sounds like this." I made an El sound. "This is a "U' and it sounds like this."
After walking the two through the letters I said the word. I was going to tell them what it meant but they already had a good handle on that.
"I could put these symbols down and tell you if I was going to the hill or that I felt love for you or that I was going to see The Healer. The words when written are almost as good as the words we speak."
"Almost?"
"Yes. I can write the words, 'I Luv U' but it doesn't have the emotion like when I look you in the eyes and say, I love you."
"I see. I understand. Will you teach me this writing?"
"Of course, I will. You too, Osalet."
I looked over at the blue haired girl who was standing in astonishment at the education I was giving.
"That is so amazing! Pa-ul I never dreamed that something like this could exist. How much more do you know that we can't imagine?"
"I am going to guess that I know as much about things that you don't, as you know of things that I don't. For instance, this mating thing and The Healer."
"I'll keep teaching you and you can keep teaching me," Izabe said. "And along the way we can make children and share our love as it grows."
I hugged my now naked mate and kissed her. I even reached down and took her tiny ass in my one hand and gave it a loving squeeze. Izabe let out a soft moan before breaking the kiss.
"Good idea. Now Pa-ul, take Osalet to the bed and finish your mating."
I proceeded to take off my clothes and chuckled at the look on Osalet's face when she saw my penis.
"I know. You don't think it will fit."
"Oh no it will fit just fine."
Osalet reached down and spread open her blue pubic hair and for the first time I saw her pussy. It was the same size compared to the women I knew from my world. But it was huge for these small three and a half foot tall women. Last night and this morning I never looked at Izabe's pussy. I know it was tight when I entered her, but I figured that would be the case.
We'd taken it very slowly because I didn't want to literally tear her open. But looking at Osalet's pussy was a huge revelation. I picked her up and set her on the bed and put my face right into the lush blue fur between her legs.
"No! Don't do that."
"Why?"
"That's where things come out of me."
"Things?"
"Yes. Like the water that I spray in the trench and the stuff that comes out every moon season."
"But this is also where I will put my penis."
"Your penis?"
"This," I said as I lifted my cock in my hand. "In my world it's called a penis, among other things. What do you call it here?"
"The other girls call it the man's sword or his stick."
"And are the men here this size?"
"No. Not that I've seen."
"Osalet, do you trust me?"
"Yes," she replied carefully.
"You don't really, do you? Are you sure that you want to be my mate?"
"Yes! You saved me."
"But that's no reason to mate. At least not to me," I called out. "Izabe!"
Izabe came into the bed room, looking confused.
"Izabe, I can't do this. Osalet doesn't trust me and she doesn't really want to mate."
My mate looked at her friend.
"Is this true? You told me that you wanted this."
"I thought I did."
"Put on your dress, Osalet," I gently commanded.
I dressed quickly and when Osalet had her dress over her body, I took her by the hand, grabbed one of my swords in its scabbard and I led her out the front door. I clipped the scabbard onto my belt and proceeded to walk around the village. It was getting dark and the sun was setting over the yellow hill. I stopped and pointed to the sight.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes," she wasn't sure what to answer.
"Osalet, look at it. Look at the colors and how the light at the top of the hills splits among the flowers and makes the walls of the houses turn yellow. In my world people would sit for a long time awaiting the setting of the sun. On my world, the colors of the sunset were always different.
"Now I'm going to say something to you that you might not understand, but I'm still going to say it. When I look at the beauty of that sunset, I think that is the way I feel about Izabe. When I look at her I see her glorious beauty and I experience how that sunset makes me feel."
Osalet looked at the sun as the top of it slipped below the hill's horizon. Beams of light shot up into the dark sky above us. I put my arm around her little shoulders and pulled her to my side.
"I don't feel that way about you. And you don't feel that way about me. Mating here might be like that but for me mating has a special meaning. I believe that I have this thing called a soul inside me. You might call it a spirit. It shines out to others and causes them to like me or trust me or, like with Izabe, love me. Last night, when Izabe and I mated, our souls touched and THAT is what made the child inside Izabe. Our souls touched and joined into one and then split into three parts with the third part being the child."
Osalet looked at me and was crying. I knelt before her and wiped the tears off her face. I held her close and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm not going to take you as a mate. Not tonight. I would like you to live with Izabe and me and see what grows. It could be that you and I come to love each other like I love Izabe. If that happens I will accept you as my mate and give you a child. Will you stay with us?"
"I would like to but others will think it wrong if I am not your mate."
"I understand. There are those in my world that feel the same way but I would ignore them and if they said anything insulting I would be very upset. I will defend your honor."
She looked at me and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Let's go back to your house," she said.
"Our house, if you will live with us," I replied.
She smiled as though I'd given her a gift. I stood and she gripped my hand tightly. We walked back into the village in the almost dark. The house had the front door open unlike all other houses. We entered and were greeted by Izabe.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes, my love. Everything is fine. Osalet will sleep on the couch tonight. You and I will sleep in our bed. Tomorrow I will learn how to make this house larger or how to build a new one for us. Osalet is not ready to be my mate and I am not ready to be hers. At least not tonight. In the future it might happen. Until we know for certain that we can or cannot mate, Osalet will live with us. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Pa-ul."
"Do you agree?"