Chapter 20: New Arrivals

Friday Evening May 30
The “Casa Grey” Mansion

With three indians on board, my Lincoln left Detroit on Wednesday evening, so they could avoid the busy traffic of Chicago. That city always seems to have the roads you need to drive under construction, and even when traffic is light the number of lanes seems to contract so it is slow going. After Chicago they made good time without pushing. They had stopped to eat at one place but otherwise the trio alternated driving. They arrived Friday evening and came straight to the mansion.

Kwit was driving the last leg because he knew the way. Along with him were Nia, a young woman a few months short of 20, and Vrir, a young man of 21. Both had arrived at Marta’s from the Andes in late January. Now they both elected to transfer to LA from Detroit.

Kwit was looking for a quick hour or two with Sam at her office before he resumed his duties at the Fort, so I let him go with just a few words. He mentioned that Nia was a very good driver, she had been at the wheel for half the trip. I mentioned that he and Sam both had jobs for me, and I needed both of them where they belonged. Also, Sam was not to know the location of the Fort, next door to where Kwit lived. She did know where the Mansion was.

With that said I allowed him until Midnight to be on post by the Fort; that gave him plenty of time to visit inside Sam twice - if he was up for it. For now, Courm was at the Fort, but with Kwit back he had the option of staying there or staying at the Batcave with his brother Brisk. Somebody was doubling up for now, but it would change soon enough.

Marta had called and asked me to set up a conference call when I debriefed Nia Friday. So I called Marta, then had Zar bring Nia into my office.

As soon as we were all settled Marta explained the reason she wanted to talk; it seemed Nia was pregnant, about 6 weeks. Marta had ordered the girl not to tell me when I interviewed her in Detroit. Marta said the situation required an explanation, and she wanted to make sure I got it right.

My first concern was about the father, girls from the tribe may be sexually free, but they only conceive children with their husband, unless their elder orders otherwise. Between them Marta and Nia explained that Nia was married six months ago, on the mountain, to Joj. Both were headed for Detroit. As usual, the marriage reflected bloodlines and was ordered by the tribe elders. The couple came to Detroit as man and wife together. “I did not love my husband, but we got on well enough as friends that we lived together full time after we got to Detroit. I was a dutiful wife every night we were together. We were both fully dedicated to providing the tribe with children from our union.” The marriage required that husbands and wives have sex only with each other during the wife’s fertile days, but that all other days sex was the woman’s choice of who they enjoyed. At Nia’s initiative she and her husband kept the same bed every night of their marriage, with two exceptions.

Joj died shortly after her fertile period; they had been very active sexually for the three days she was fertile. The next day he dropped dead at breakfast. Marta had him examined by a doctor, there was a weakness in a blood vessel of the heart. This time bomb had been present, undetectable, from his birth. The doc in Detroit said there was no way their sexual exercise caused the death, his time was just up.

As they were recently married, and there was no deep love between the couple, Nia mourned her husband for 2 weeks. When she was ready, Marta took the girl into her bed and taught her about sex with women. Nia took to it well.

The thing Marta said I needed to know was that Nia was a natural slut. Marta used the indian word, in English “slut” is pejorative but the word she used in the indian tongue is neutral, there is no more of a value judgment than saying “she likes apricots more than pears.” Before Nia’s marriage she had been with almost every male in the tribe under 25. Then, after her marriage her first exception to fidelity was her last night on the mountain; she spent that night with my grandfather, the chief. Meanwhile her husband “said goodbye” a female friend he was well acquainted with.

The second exception was the next night, their first night off the mountain. They stayed in the Patron’s hacienda, and they planned to take a flight out in the morning. The Chief sent along a letter to the Patron recommending Nia for his bed. The Patron invited her as the chief suggested, while arranging two other young women so her husband was also well entertained. Thus young Nia was with both of my grandfathers in the space of 24 hours! This was not unseemly in any way, and I have no doubts about their performance, but I was curious about the health of the pair. Nia and I would discuss it more later.