Chapter 17

We wintered well. I was much busier than I used to be of course, simply because thirty-four Ennahai had a lot more needs than fourteen ... well, thirteen, with the loss of Romulus. But we managed just fine. There were more of the new ones paired up in permanent bonds. As far as I knew, it was just Arrena with Jellico and Gilleena with me in our group.

Steve and Rosa were always willing to pitch in and help with whatever needed doing. Anna Belle, too. She grew to love the Ennahai, and Ninnith in particular, constantly expressing her amazement at the older woman’s breadth of knowledge of the healing arts. Ellana too, since she’d been more or less apprenticing herself to Ninnith for so many years.

But Annie being Annie, she had other more prurient interests as well, and she hadn’t paid us too many visits before she was openly flirting with several of the males of both clans and coaxing them away from the crowd to play house in some dark corner of the cave whenever she could manage it. Lothos in particular seemed to be taken with her and sought out any opportunity to spirit her off alone somewhere.

I wouldn’t say she was a slut exactly, but she was certainly generous with her favors. I took her new interests to mean my own efforts were no longer all that much in demand, and allowed myself to just fade from the picture. Annie was fun to play with, but I preferred to save my already overtaxed body for my dearest Gilleena.

Before we knew it May had rolled around and we were in the last year before departure. My list of possible candidates was firming up, but I still didn’t have a plan to get them onto the ship.

It was a member of our guest clan who put voice to the only possible solution to our dilemma. Gilleena and I were in the study looking over our latest inclusions on the list when Faenel limped in to work on the blog page and heard us agonizing over a solution to my problem.

“Jess,” she said, as she rested her hands on my shoulders and leaned over me to look at the screen, “Considering the restrictions put on you by the Travelers, there’s only one possible way you can do it.”

“What?” I asked, “Am I missing something obvious?”

She laughed, “Well isn’t it obvious that you can’t tell them ahead of time about being transported off the planet by aliens? It has to be a total surprise, and they’ll have to make up their minds about whether to stay or go at the last minute.”

“Yeah, well I actually came up with that idea a long time ago, Faenel. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to figure a way around it.”

“That’s my point, Jesse, there is no way around it. Now, what I’d recommend is to e-mail all the pre-screened possiblilities about two days before we leave. Tell them that we Ennahai are going to be leaving forever and invite anyone who wants to go with us to show up here at a certain time on the departure date. You tell them in the e-mail that those who volunteer to take the journey will never be able to return home again, but you don’t say anything about it being a space journey. You can add some enticement to it by telling them that only a hundred of them will be chosen. That ought to pique their spirit of competition. Faced with a flat yes or no, some of the believers who are true pioneers will take the leap, those who are timid by nature will beg off. If they opt out, they remain in the caves, at gunpoint if necessary, until the last shuttle leaves Earth for the primary ship. We ask those remaining to keep their mouths shut, but at that point, it doesn’t really make any difference who they tell, does it?”

I chuckled, “You know what, Faenel? That’s almost the exact same plan I came up with before.”

“Well then why don’t you go with it? It’s the only one acceptable to the Travelers, and they have the final say-so don’t they? You sure as hell don’t want to do anything to antagonize them.”

She had me there. I took a deep breath and bit the bullet, “You know what? You’re right! Why am I busting my ass and my brain to come up with some complicated scheme that’s never gonna work anyway? We screen the prospectives as best we can ahead of time, get them all together at zero hour and lay it on the line; either go or stay, make up your mind! NOW!”

Gilleena leaned over to kiss my cheek and said, “Now thank the nice lady for making your life and mine so much easier for our last year on Earth.”

I took Faenel’s hand and kissed it. “Tell me how I can show my thanks for your insight and wisdom, sweet lady.”

She looked pensive for a moment, then suggested, “Well, I suppose you could come spend the night with me. As you can see by my gimpy gait, I’m still in need of physical therapy, and I’ve been hearing lots of nice things about your skills in that area from a couple of my cousins.”

They both laughed at the sudden flush of color in my face. I said, “And as you can plainly see, I’m still not used to the freedom with which you people entertain each other. I can see that Gilleena has no objections, but Thoron might, and he’s not the sort of person I want to piss off.”

Faenel got this playful smile on her face and said, “In truth, Jesse, Thoron has been very interested and curious about Gilleena, and he’s been wondering how he could ask her to satisfy that curiosity without offending you. He already suspects you may not share our free-spirited attitude about sexual adventures.”

There was no way around giving her an answer. I looked at Gilleena and got a little wink and nod. I kissed Faenel’s hand again and said, “Tell my brother, Thoron, that my lady Gilleena would be happy to entertain him this evening at his convenience.”

“I’ll convey that message, kind Sir. What time shall I expect you for my therapy session?”

I’d be lying through my teeth if I said I had any regrets. Faenel, in spite of still feeling stiff and sore as a result of her terrible injuries, still had enough moves to satisfy the libido of a satyr.

I started off the ‘therapy’ session by giving her a really good massage, working on the muscles of her injured back and butt in particular. I worked hard at making her feel relaxed, ignoring my boner for the half hour I spent rubbing some fragrant oil into her skin. The oohs and aahs oozing from her throat told me I was doing something right.

I don’t remember if I mentioned before about that thing elven women can do with their vaginal muscles, that muscular roll they can do that feels like you’re being sucked off. Well, Faenel’s strength in that area was so well developed that, once we got past the groping and licking, and into the actual deed, I thought she was going to stretch my dick out another inch! When she got through with me the first time, I didn’t think there was enough left in me for another go, but she proved me wrong.

When we showed up together down in the kitchen the next morning for coffee and freshly-baked banana-nut muffins (compliments of Chiam), Gilleena and Thoron were already there, sitting at the table and laughing over something or other. When I asked what was so funny, Thoron said, “Faenel should have mentioned that Gilleena’s bed came with two occupants. Ellana got a little surprise when she saw it was me crawling into bed between them and not you. She adjusted well, though. It’s been ages since I’ve done a threesome, and I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for your strength and stamina, Jesse.”