Chapter 1: Celebration

October 1962

It was the happiest day of Gina’s young life. She wanted to be the wife of “Tall” Carlo since their earliest days as children. There had been some ups and downs along the way, their dear mutual friend Valentina almost distracted Carlo several times. That is the way of things. But this morning Gina’s dream came true. In a public ceremony they exchanged their vows of service to the children of colony under the Patron. (They made the usual vows for the community, which are unique and quite unlike typical religious wedding vows.) The Patron said the words of binding as he wrapped a soft rope around the couple’s joined hands. He then introduced Gina and Carlo as life partners. Now the celebration was going on, it had continued all day.

Family tales said that they were destined to wed. Gina and Carlo were neighbors born within hours of each other. Gina insisted on arriving unexpectedly a week before her due date, crying out at 10 minutes before Midnight. They said that when Carlo’s mother heard Gina’s first cry next door she started giving birth to Carlo, who was a few days late. He made his answer to Gina some time after Midnight. They next day the two infants shared the same bed for their nap.

Some said that Carlo was born a true gentleman, since from the start he was always, “ladies first.” Others said that the truth was when Gina first called, Carlo came as fast as possible, even then. Still, any would agree that they were in love.

Tonight Gina’s body was primed to make a baby, she had scheduled her wedding for her first fertile day after her 18th birthday. Starting tomorrow they would spend a honeymoon week in the Patron’s highland cottage that was very private, at a cooler area up in the mountains. Gina had promised her husband that she would undress when she entered the cottage and would not cover her body again until they were ready to leave, so he would be inspired to enjoy her as often as possible. She also promised to never be in a bad mood “when naked and dripping.” He was to take her in her sleep if he was so moved, she promised to thank him for waking her so sweetly. It was clear she really wanted a baby from this fertile period.

Expanding the population via childbearing was a core value in the colony since its founding, it was taught from an early age so all accepted it as a high priority. Every mother kept detailed records of their periods and their couplings, which they passed to their daughters. There was abundant good land to support the crops and herds of the colony, all they needed was more hands working under the Patron’s direction to improve life.

Because the cottage was some distance away, the couple would spend the wedding night in the Patron’s hacienda. As was the custom. Gina had spent the last week there as a guest.

The honeymoon in the cottage was a boon granted in recognition of how well each had done in school. The colony was founded well before universal education was common in Europe. Most children of the farm attended school partial days for only four years, until they were 10. After that most worked in the fields or learned some other useful trade and began to apprentice in the career of their choice.

Carlo and Gina followed a different career path from most of their peers. Gina had a head for numbers and both were born with the gift for languages, so it was the previous Patron’s pleasure that they learned much more from the books in the library. He saw a special mission for them. Their last day of school was some English and math exercises the day before their wedding. Mostly they studied reading, speaking and writing in both modern Spanish and English. It was fair to say that Gina had read every printed word in the colony, including a 10-year old 20-volume set of encyclopedias. Carlo was not far behind. The previous Patron Raul had a plan and when he died his son Patron Rey continued that plan.

Now, with a few minutes alone as the day-long festivities wound down, Gina had a few moments to wonder about her wedding night.

The ancient tradition of First Night, also called droit de seigneur, or jus primae noctis or prima nocta, was the medieval right of a lord to bed the bride on her wedding night. The colony was formed in medieval times. Locally, the tradition started with the first lifelong marriages in the colony, when the dark, half-indian first children born to the settlers came of age and were married. Since they were innocents, the Patron instructed the bride in the bedtime ways of a marriage. Usually one or more experienced women instructed the groom. Over 400 years the colony had grown and the right had evolved. They now called it “The White Scarf,” and it was considered an honor, although one which had not been exercised for some years.

The previous Patron Raul had not given any bride the White Scarf for more than five years; he was an old man, and his wife did not approve of him taking young brides to his bed, where she claimed “the bride’s opportunity and the Patron’s strength are both lost to no good effect.” A year-long mourning period following Raul’s death ended just over a month ago. Patron Rey had allowed some marriages in the year since Raul died, but those were second marriages of widows and widowers; the White Scarf was not used for those. (Without the White Scarf, a bride and groom were instructed as needed by their parents.) Gina and Carlo were the first couple who were younger than the new Patron when he married them.

Gina saw how the handsome, charismatic young Patron looked at her. She had been told by many, including the Patron’s wife, that she was the most attractive virgin who would marry this year, so she had cause to hope.

As a Prince, Rey had been appointed to honor a few virgin brides in his Father’s place, but the last of those was 6 years ago. It was common knowledge that he had not had a virgin since then.

Gina’s mother had been given the White Scarf by Patron Raul at her wedding. She said that her night of instruction in the Patron’s bed was delightful and very helpful, even if it did not bear fruit. Instruction was also given to Gina’s father the same night. He often spoke of how, while his wife was with the Patron, he had been washed by the Patron’s wife, who was older than he was. She then led him to three younger but experienced women, all experts in the arts of the bedroom, who instructed him all night, accepting pleasure from him as they taught him how to please his wife. Both of Gina’s parents insisted their marriage was better for the lessons.

When the Gina and Carlo asked his permission to wed the Patron said their wedding would make an excellent excuse for a party and celebration shared by all, which further raised Gina’s expectations. Gina moved into the hacienda a week before. The Patron’s wife Eve treated Gina like a favored sister; they worked together in the kitchen and in the sewing room, chatting non-stop. They shared meals together and Carlo joined them for a simple dinner with the Patron each night. Gina knew this degree of openness was not typical.

In Eve’s presence the Patron made subtle comments to Gina that suggested he was interested in knowing her as a woman. Private comments were also made to Gina before the wedding ceremony, to gauge her willingness. Gina was flattered and showed she was favorably disposed to the Patron’s “special blessing.” As was the custom they all checked the records in the library and saw that blood was not an immediate issue; the closest common ancestor for Gina and the Patron was six generations back. For Carlo and the Patron’s wife the distance was seven generations.

There had been one lesson for Gina already - Eve instructed her. On an unseasonable hot day during the week before, Eva and Gina worked in the garden. Afterwards they took their ease together. They stripped, washed, and then resting their naked bodies on cool, smooth bed-like stones in the hacienda’s basement cool room.

Gina noticed that Eve was shaved bare below. She could not help but look. She dared not ask, but Eve anticipated a question.

Eve mused, “When a man is attracted to a woman’s body, he naturally has the urge to kiss her in many different places, including some that might not be obvious. But while the desire is there, he will hesitate to visit his lips upon some desires, out of fear or embarrassment ... he does not wish to offend, or cause her to think he has unusual desires. So if a woman wishes to accept kisses upon her lower lips, shaving provides a wordless invitation. A woman might also wish to return such a favor ... after the man does a good job of pleasing her. Would you like me to shave you for your honeymoon?”

Gina’s first question was about the nature of such kisses, as she had never seen one. But Eve said some things the couple must learn by doing upon themselves.

Then Gina complained that she could not ask such a service of Eve. But Eve reminded her that all the women of the colony were sisters. Eve had been opened prior to her wedding by the same polished silver toy that opened Gina’s mother, it was a tradition of womanhood. The toy in question was crafted by the Incas over 500 years before, it was plundered from the Neo-Incas and passed through the female line. Gina’s older sister Gwen had also used it before her first martial wedding. But some time in the last year or two it had been lost or misplaced by one of their female cousins. Eve was working on a stone replacement, but that was not ready yet.

Gina knew their blood relationship, she had seen in the Book Of Births that she and Eve had been fruits from the same womb just four generations earlier. With that reminder Gina agreed to have Eve shave her entire pubic region, thinking that Carlo would be delighted. When the deed was done Gina had to admit her lips looked sinfully tempting down there, even if she considered the look less womanly. Since then the look grew on her, so Eve shaved her again this very morning. Gina returned the favor, to show she had learned.

But now, on her wedding day, Gina wondered if it was the Patron, not Carlo, that Eve had prepared her for. While staying in the hacienda Gina had witnessed how Eve was happy to usher other women into the Patron’s bedroom before she retired to her own bed, and then in the morning Eve made pleasant conversation with her husband’s lovers over breakfast, when their hair and clothing testified to an active night under the Patron. Having many experiences lovers was the Patron’s right; he often entertained widows and even (with their husband’s knowledge) the lonely wives of men who were away for an extended period.

As she considered the possible honor Gina thought her Patron was a very handsome man, and considered that becoming a woman under him, with his cock piercing her virgin body, was the stuff of dreams, even if it was only for one night. But as bedtime grew closer, she began to have disquieting feelings. She was an inexperienced virgin while the Patron had a wife, and had fathered children by several woman. Gina had counted her days hundreds of times, she was sure she was primed to make a baby during her wedding night or a day or two after, and she wanted Carlo to father her child. But she also knew her first time would involve pain for both. An experienced lover would make things easier. If Carlo was her first he would never be able to forget the pain his desire gave her.

The tradition of the First Night was accepted as the Patron’s (or, for an older Patron, the Prince’s) natural privilege. The tradition dovetailed into the farm’s need from the very start, to grow in population and to bind the community together with interwoven blood bonds. All accepted it as part of the tradition; it was all they knew.

Cut off from the outside world the children of the settlers knew nothing of the learned emotions fiction and society presented. There were no copies of the “Canterbury Tales” or Shakespeare in the colony, or any other Italian-based stories that spoke of cuckolds or infidelity - so those concepts simply did not exist. (The colony was chartered by King Philip II of Spain, who sent the Spanish Armada against England, so English literature was not a priority when items were sent to the colony.) The most pervasive tale of the colony’s founding was of the dozen indian maids, survivors of the first two tribes that were wiped out. Those maids would have died, but instead they chose to bind themselves to the first wave of settlers, who cared for them. The men built a house for each of these women to live. Then the two dozen male Spaniards took turns living with the women for a few months each. They called these temporary marriages, it was something they learned from the Muslim Moors. Those women were literally the mothers of the colony, after almost 4 centuries every member could trace their bloodline through the Book Of Births to virtually all twelve women.

The colony’s general reading material was mainly childhood fables and religion-based works selected by monks in Europe after the printing press became popular. Books were selected that met the minimal education of the children. A frequent childhood tale featured a Prince who was brave and handsome, sharing time with a ordinary girl who loved him, sometimes for just one night as both were committed to their other duties and obligations. An early history of the colony was also printed, and reprinted, and was read by all in their fourth year reading class.