Chapter 10

Morning came with the usual pounding on the bulkhead by Festou. Dent sat up and looked over to Nesho who was lying under the blanket naked, one leg sticking out. The sight of that long, slim pale limb started Dent to thinking about the previous night and what they had done and involuntarily he started to get hard again. Shaking his head to clear it he stood up and retrieved his small clothes from the deck where they had been thrown the night before and slipped them on. Walking over to the curtain, he pushed it aside and stepped out into the small passageway.

"Good morn, Festou," he said brightly. He noticed the boy was carrying a basket this morning instead of the usual bucket. "Is that breakfast for the ladies?"

"Aye sir, it is," he piped up. "Cook, he wanted me to say to Mistress Nesho that that salve she made him done helped his joints something great. He says he don't care if she is only a slave, that she gets good food from his galley from now on." Lifting the cloth covering the top of the basket Dent could see a variety of dried fruits, bread, meats and gravy.

"Well Mistresses Nesho and Sosho will be most thankful for his consideration I'm sure." Dent took the basket and started to turn back into the cabin. "Ah, they're not up just yet. Why don't you wait right here and I'll be right out. They had a kind of tiring day and I'm letting them sleep in a bit."

"Tiring day? Aye sir!" the boy laughed, "Them in the compartment here was complaining that the mistress was screaming with pleasure so loud she was going to wake the whales! Said it wasn't right you should pleasure them such. Might make the other slaves start thinking they should get some themselves!"

"Well," Dent's face turned bright red and he muttered, "a happy servant is a hard-working servant." Hurrying to hide his face Dent ducked behind the curtain and set the basket down next to the locker. Nesho was standing fastening the front of her blouse; she had already pulled on her skirt. Meeting his eyes she gave a slow sultry smile that about caused Dent's heart to fail.

"Good morning, Master," she purred coming over to give his cheek a slow sensuous stroke before turning back to the bunk where she started to fold the blanket, preparing it for daytime use.

"Ah, yes, well ah, good morning, Nesho," he stammered before quickly turning to retrieve the rest of his clothes. Swiftly he pulled on his trousers and while fastening his shirt he looked up to the top bunk where he found Sosho staring back at him. Right away he could feel his face burn; he was blushing again and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it!

"Good morning, Sosho," he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Good morning, Master," she replied. She was on her side, head propped up and resting on her hand. "You're blushing."

"Well it's just hot in here, that's all," he retorted. She had to know what happened in here last night, he thought. Glancing up he expected to see her look at him with revulsion, maybe disgust, certainly accusation, but there was nothing of the sort. In fact there was very little in her expression; it wasn't like it was vacant or barren, just normal, which really seemed strange.

"Yes, very hot," she said. "Almost hot enough to make you want to sleep naked, isn't it?"

He looked up sharply. Was that a hint of amusement in her eyes? Is she actually teasing me or is that condemnation? She should be furious, he thought. Well shouldn't she? He expected her to try to hit him with something, yell at him, denounce him as a sinful person, but she didn't. Shaking his head in wonderment Dent came to a realization, the same realization that usually takes a man a lifetime to learn, if then, that he didn't understand how the female mind worked and he wasn't going to be able to out-guess it.

Coward he may be but he didn't want to confront his cousin with the new relationship between him and her mother. Quickly he finished dressing and stepped over to Nesho to say goodbye.

"I had better hurry if I'm going to get some breakfast and get ready for practice," he said. He leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek but Nesho grabbed his face in both hands and gave him a long, deep kiss, a lover's kiss.

"Be careful, my Master," she said patting him on the cheek. Then turning she said in a voice almost too low to hear, "This very happy servant will work very hard today." She laughed as she saw him turn red again and then he grinned. He may have been the butt of the joke, but it was still a very good joke. Just before he left he swatted her on the butt and was rewarded with a surprised little yelp. He winked at Sosho and strode out of their tiny space.

"Festou, are you going to stay and eat with us?" Nesho pushed back the curtain expecting to see the little manikin waiting just beyond, but he wasn't, the passageway was empty. "Well I guess not," she said mostly to herself.

Turning back she saw Sosho slide down from the top bunk to alight on the deck. Humming to herself she smiled at her daughter, picked up the breakfast basket and set it and herself down on the lower bunk. Since the top bunk was still down she couldn't sit upright so she lay back, resting against the bulkhead as she rummaged through the basket.

"This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "I really must thank the cook for this. Sosho, you should see this, I think it's better than any we had on the Pinya!" She began munching on a piece of bread covered with gravy as she stared dreamily at nothing through half-lidded eyes. Sosho finished dressing, stepped up to clear and stow her bunk, sat down next to her mother and started rummaging through the basket.

"You seem happy this morning," she said after taking a few bites.

"Very happy," Nesho answered.

"And why is that?" Sosho asked innocently.

"I think you know why," Nesho answered still smiling.

"Was fucking Dent that good?"

"Good?" Nesho looked over at Sosho, "Good? No, my little bit, it was the best! I have never felt anything like that before."

"Then I can assume that he didn't force himself on you?"

"Ha!" her mother snorted. "Are you asking if he raped me? Oh no, my baby, I saw you watching us. Did it look like he was forcing me to do anything?"

"Ha!" Sosho snorted right back. "Even upside down it didn't look like he was in much of a position to do any forcing. If anyone was being raped, it was probably him!"

"Well I've always heard that you can't rape the willing," chuckled Nesho. "And our dear master seemed to be very willing once I beat it into his head that I wanted it as much or maybe even more than he did."

Suddenly she looked seriously at Sosho. "How do you feel about what happened? We talked about it before but I really didn't intend to put on a show for you; it just sort of happened and..." She gestured helplessly around at their small space.

"Well it was quite a show," Sosho grinned at her. "Sounds like some others may have heard it also."

"Yes, well," Nesho actually blushed and looked down at her hands. "I've never made that kind of noise before; it took me by surprise. To tell the truth I was so overwhelmed that I didn't know what I was saying or doing."

"I gathered that," Sosho replied dryly. Then her smile faded and her eyes searched Nesho's face for something she expected to see there. "When I first saw you," she said slowly, "you looked like you were hurting. Did it hurt? Did he hurt you?"

"I won't lie to you, baby," Nesho said looking over at her, still smiling. "Yes it hurt a little the first time I was taking him inside me. He is much larger than your father was and it's been a long time since I've done this. Yes, it hurt, but -- and I don't know how to explain this -- it hurt good! Really good!" She stretched her arms and legs out curling her toes as she did. Then she looked over at the younger woman with a bit of a smirk, "And the second time it didn't hurt at all!"

"The second time?" Sosho's jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide. "The second time?"

"Ah well, it's good to know we can be somewhat discreet." Nesho sat back up and searched through the basket for something else to eat. Picking a piece of the fruit and bread with meat she settled back crossing her legs under her while she nibbled. They ate in silence for a while, neither one looking at the other.

Finally Sosho set down what she had been eating and looked up at Nesho.

"What does it feel like?"

Nesho didn't answer for a moment or two. Then she also carefully set down her breakfast and met Sosho's eyes.

"I could tell you it's the most wonderful thing in the world. I could talk about the pleasure, the..." she took a deep breath, "the amazing feeling when you finally climax, and it would all be true, but it wouldn't be enough."

She remained silent until Sosho thought she had finished, but then she began talking again although this time she stared out into space not really looking at anything.

"I could tell you all that, but it wouldn't be enough. This wasn't my first time, of course, so I have something to compare it to, but I believe last night was the first time I ever really made love with a man. I mean really made love. I know it sounds silly but it felt like the first time. It's different when you're with someone you know loves you and you love him. You feel... complete, whole, like a real woman instead of just some mattress pad he's spilling his seed into."

"Oh," Sosho said in a very tiny voice, "Oh... So you plan to keep, ah, being with him? Even though he's your... you know?"

"Just try to stop me," Nesho growled. Then she sighed and looked over at her daughter. "That doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore. I am his woman. Even if he doesn't want me, I'm still his. Someday I hope you'll understand what I feel and why, but its not something I can explain. It just is."

"But it's just so, I don't know... strange," Sosho sat looking down picking at the tattered hem of her dress. "I mean last week you were his aunt, and now you're what... ? His wife?"

"Concubine, I suppose would be the correct term as I doubt Jeeval would recognize marriage to a slave. Maybe not even that, maybe I'm just his whore to them, but that doesn't matter either. The only person whose opinion matters is Dent's. If he thinks of me as his wife, then I'm his wife. If I'm nothing but his whore, then I'm his whore. If all he wants from me is for me to spread my legs it doesn't matter; he'll still have my love and devotion."

"But where does that leave me?" Sosho whined. "What am I to be? Is Dent now my father? Cousin? Master? Do I become his wife also?"

"Hmm," Nesho harrumphed, then she looked up with a wicked grin, "I'm not sure I want to share him just yet! But I think you can be sure he won't abandon you. What you become will probably be up to you for the most part. A part of his household for certain, but what part... ?

"I think that will be up to you. What do you want to be? Just another servant? I'm sure he would be fine with that. His lover? I don't know, I think you would have to convince him it's what you wanted. I certainly won't tell you not to. Do you think I would tell you because you're his cousin you shouldn't sleep with him? Ha! Even I'm not that much of a hypocrite. But I don't think you need to worry about it for a while. Let's see what happens in the next few weeks. Remember I became his lover because I wanted to, not because I had to."

"And," she said still grinning, "I don't think you need to worry about taking care of him like yesterday. I intend to cover that myself! I have a lot of empty years to make up for and all I can hope for is he can still stand up when he needs to!"

"And I suppose I get to listen to your sacrifice every night while I try to sleep up there," Sosho laughed as she pointed to the upper bunk. Nesho laughed with her but at least had the decency to blush a little when she did.

The morning went smoothly for Dent, which was both good and bad. He didn't remember eating breakfast although he must have as he didn't feel hungry and it was easier than most times to allow his body to run through the T'chi exercises on its own; his mind was far, far away. Everything except the scent, feel and thought of the women he shared his bed with seemed to slip away. He was elated! Empowered! And of course thoroughly confused. What did it all mean? Was it really what she wanted or was that just his wishful thinking? Would she want to do it again? Oh gods, he thought, she must! He didn't think he could live in the same room with her without being able to touch her again!

When the bell rang announcing the time to start the practice session, he tried to put those thoughts out of his head and concentrate on the job at hand. Not only must he do this correctly to keep his place but one small lapse and someone would bash his brains out and there would be no sleeping with anyone anymore!

The practice also went smoothly. He hadn't exaggerated the night before: Most of these men did know how to fight; they just didn't know how to fight together. His time was spent forming them into coherent units, demonstrating how to work in pairs to both attack and defend and by the end of the session more than one of the boarding party members was looking at him with a great deal more respect. It had already been established that he was a terrific fighter, better by far than any one of them, but now it was becoming clear what he intended to accomplish with them.

He showed them their weaknesses all right, sometimes painfully, but then he also showed them how to eliminate that weakness or at least shield it. The techniques were really very simple. The hard part was training the body and mind to react as needed during actual combat. The simulations he set up were realistic even if the weapons weren't and a jab from a wooden sword may not kill but it could sure bruise and hurt. Repetition, explanation, drill, drill and more drill.

Hard training wasn't something these mercenaries were particularly used to. A couple of hours a week hacking at each other usually met the minimal requirements Captain Vel had always imposed. After all, it wasn't his gut that was going to be split if you didn't practice, right? Wrong. Dent demonstrated what two men working together could accomplish. He would set two as individuals against a fighting pair. It didn't take long to become obvious that the pair killed the individuals in short order every single time. Then three against two, same result. Four against two was about even but Dent told them even that would change as they worked and became used to the new style.