Chapter 11

Building a Bigger Family (TY12-month 144)

When Cricket announced that a potential sponsor wished to interview Yindi, thirty-two people filed out of the pod and stood in four files and eight ranks. The four who stood at the front were the concubines and the twenty-eight behind them, arranged from youngest to oldest, were dependents.

“Yindi,” I said as I stepped up to the eldest of the women. She still didn’t appear to be much more than twenty-five. “Do you speak English?”

“We learn English in the teaching beds. We learn very hard,” she said. Cricket interrupted to tell me he could translate what she said via my implant.

“I have looked at your scores. Cricket recommends you highly as part of my family. Will you be my concubine and join Rose and Bae in my home?”

She looked a little lost and I heard Cricket translating through her collar. She bowed her head to me.

“I am honored by your offer,” she said after Cricket had translated the words to her. “I cannot be married to you. I have too many dependents.” Really? I hadn’t thought about taking all seven of the kids with her, but it didn’t seem to be that big a problem.

“I think we can offer all seven of the children a place in our home with you,” I said. Wow! Adding eight to a household of four? I must be crazy.

“Not seven children. All these.” She gestured to the rest of the pod residents, three concubines and their twenty-one dependents. “These are my family. I am mother.”

«Cricket, do I understand that she wants to keep all twenty-eight of them together in a single family?»

«That is correct, Niall. These are all children of the Yirritja moiety. The next pod is filled with members of the Dhuwa moiety. I believe Yindi expects all her pod to be married to the pod next door.»

«I don’t know how to handle this. Does she understand that she must become pregnant in the coming year?»

«Yes, but she also recognizes that the children will become part of their father’s tribe and will not be Yolngu.»

«I don’t know what to do.»

«Protect them.»

Right. That was easily said. How to protect them and the thirty-two Dhuwa in the next pod was another matter entirely. Well, I had Cricket working for me. We’d figure out a way.

“I am Adaliya,” the soft-spoken woman said in introduction. She was several inches shorter than I and may have weighed the same. She was topless, as were the others in her pod—boy, girl, child, and adult. They had all been painting each other’s dark skin with bright colors. “I will be a good wife and bring many children to my husband.”

She knew what this interview was about. From the looks of it, her pod had been quite successful in the adoptions and concubine placement. There were three concubines still in the pod, but Cricket had told me that two had come of age since the Kindertransport was first loaded, so three concubines had been placed from this pod. There were also only seven children left.

“Many of your cabin have been homed,” I said.

“It is our responsibility to see that our children are cared for and that we become good mothers for a sponsor.” Her attitude was very different than that of the two Yolngu pods we’d visited. Both those pods had all their concubines, plus one who had come of age since landing, and all the rest of the dependents. “Jenny and Happy each have two children. I have three. These children are with us because they are our children. The other dependents have all been adopted.”

“I see. You don’t seem to have the same outlook as those two pods,” I said, nodding toward the Yolngu homes.

“Our villages ... Our tribes, I think you would say, were separated by water and we had little to do with each other except occasional trade. Also, many refugees were moved to Tiwi. We got used to being with other people. We do not have the restrictions on who we marry the Yolngu have. A woman’s children are her children, not a man’s.”

«Tiwi clans are matrilineal, » Cricket helpfully pointed out.

“Would you be able to share a household with other women? Rose and Min-Bae are my concubines. If you came with us, Rose would be in charge but you would all three be responsible for the children,” I said.

“Our people have long been polygamous. It has been less in this era, but my mother was one of seventeen wives. It is why our children bear their mother’s name. Who could keep track of so many children with the fathers’ names?”

“That’s an interesting way to look at it. Rose, did you have any questions?”

“I wonder, Adaliya, if you would tell me about the paint patterns you are using to decorate each other. Is there a meaning?”

“We people have many ceremonial designs we use. This is symbolic of my status in the house among the other women,” she said, pointing at the marks on her face. “In Master Cho’s house, you would wear this design and I would take the design on Happy’s face to show that I have lower seniority. Min-Bae would have a pattern like Jenny’s showing that she is second in seniority. Are you a full woman, Min-Bae?”

“The Confederacy says I am of the right age to be a full woman, but my menses hasn’t come yet and I’m only starting to develop secondary signs of womanhood,” Bae said. “Perhaps you would have the second seniority symbol and I would have the third.”

“Truth is what is accepted by those who believe it,” Adaliya said. “I will believe what is custom for this home.”

“I like you,” Rose said. “If Niall asks, would you join our household?”

“My children and I would come to you gladly.”

«She is stating clearly that adopting her children is a requisite to having her as a concubine.»

«Absolutely!» I turned to Rose and Min-Bae and both nodded to me. “Adaliya, would you consent to be my concubine, bear my children, and share the responsibility of my house with my other concubines? I would take you and your three children to my home.”

“I will gladly bring my children and become your concubine,” she answered.

“Recorded and acknowledged,” Cricket said through the collars and my implant.

“Let’s gather your children and your possessions and go home,” I said.

Adaliya was a delight. And the children were incredible. Her little boy, Djalu, was instant friends with Lyle. They were within a month or two of the same age and were ready to play together at once. Darana was two years older but about the same size as her brother. The boys included her in their games with no hesitation. They ran out the door declaring they were going to the playground. Jannali, the oldest sister, looked around quickly. Cricket filled me in on her age as ten years old.

“I will watch my brothers,” she said, then turned to Bae. “Will you come, too, Sister-Mother?” She still was not certain of the relationship. Bae looked like a big sister but had been introduced as one of my wives. Bae took a quick look at me and then at Rose and Adaliya. Understanding quickly dawned on her face.

“I think that is a good idea, Jannali. We should go watch the others play and maybe we can talk Cricket into teaching us a new game. We’ll be gone at least two hours,” she said pointedly. The girls giggled and ran after the children.

As soon as they were out the door, Rose and Adaliya pushed me toward the bedroom.

“My sister Rose has your child in her womb. That child should not grow up without another near her age to play with. My Master Cho, please plant the seed that will grow into a strong friend and protector of his sister,” Adaliya said. I was summarily stripped of my work uniform and pushed toward the shower. “We must wash the paint from my body because I am no longer the senior among us,” she said. “I will teach my sister wives how to paint the designs of the Tiwi.”

“This is going to be so much fun!” Rose agreed. Both women joined me in the shower. Rose and I washed the paint from Adaliya’s body, taking great care to touch everywhere there was paint and anywhere near the paint.

“Sister, my people have been polygamous for many generations. I was one of seven wives before our husband was taken to fight the star creatures. But I know little of women giving women pleasure. Please teach me how to please you,” Adaliya said.

“I will teach you all I know,” Rose answered. With that, she kissed our newest wife. “To be truthful, Min-Bae is even better at it than I am. She is small but has studied hard. For now, let us join together in pleasing our man.”

“And with that said, Adaliya, I do not wish to be called your master. Please address me as either Niall or husband, as Rose and Bae do.”

“Then, Husband, take me to your blankets and show me more of how to please you.”

We enjoyed ourselves for the entire time the children were gone. As I kissed Adaliya’s heavy lips, Rose suckled at her breasts and stoked a fire between her thighs. As I moved down, Rose moved up to capture Adaliya’s lips. Adaliya proved an enthusiastic and apt student of love between women. I loved her body. It was a bit softer and fuller than Rose. I made a note to Cricket that I didn’t want her changed significantly in the med tube unless she specifically wanted something. I wanted her breasts firmed up slightly and any muscular support necessary in her back to support them without strain. I wanted to keep her shape as long as it was healthy and she was happy.

And I definitely wanted to keep the soft and welcoming feeling of her pussy. She had a thick black bush of hair between her legs, unlike Rose, who was bare below the patch of red fur on her mound. Adaliya seemed proud of her bush as a symbol of her womanhood. I was satisfied with that. Most of the concubines I had known, either in the brothel or in the Militia showers, were at least partially hairless. None had hair covering their lower lips. I felt this gave Adaliya an exotic look that would excite me for many years to come.

With both Rose and I working on her, Adaliya had several climaxes before I rose to mine. And when I came, she went off with an explosion and a long string of syllables in her native language. This would be something we repeated often.

Preparing for the Onslaught (TY13-month 145)

In two more weeks, we were down to twenty-seven concubines and 123 dependents in the orphanage. A little pressure on the eligible Militia comrades who had not yet selected a supernumerary helped reduce the number. New sponsors were given the incentive of having a supernumerary concubine if they chose a concubine from our orphanage with at least three dependents. Those concubines who accepted sponsorship were a little apprehensive as most new sponsors were leaving the planet to join the fight in either the Navy or Marines. Some concubines turned down sponsorship if the sponsor was leaving the planet.