Chapter 38

Even though I thought I knew what was coming I was mistaken. This would be a large mating, day after tomorrow, but it was not going to be like any other I had witnessed. Oh, Kally and I got a little time to walk around and be alone but it wasn't much. My mates commandeered her after about an hour and took her away.

They weren't the only current wives that separated their man from his new intended either. It took a little thinking but I figured it out.

These women, or girls really, didn't have the benefit of being in the Calak they'd grown up in. They didn't know anyone here and knew nothing about the specific ways we did things, even though I'm sure they had a general idea. The other women were giving them a crash course in who was who and what was what, and where the twain should meet. After catching the hint I was surprised at how well it seemed to be working out.

The new arrivals and the women catching them up on things weren't the only busy parties. Everyone was doing something. We had a hell of a feast coming and there would be plenty of cooking and other preparations to make. The good part was I didn't really have to do a damned thing about any of it. In fact that was the good part for several of us and we drifted into a group and fucked off together.

Even though the mass mating ceremony worked most of the camp's women hard, they lived over it. Not in fine fettle though. The celebration was hard on everyone that got started on the liquid refreshment.

I'd assumed that Matatu's stock of the alcoholic beverage he seemed to be making almost constantly would run out before anyone got really shitfaced. Wrong. Apparently he had more saved up than I imagined. In fact everyone that even drank it was completely out of their mind before they quit, and quite a few thought it was just grand.

The next morning they weren't doing so well, but it was always that way. It seemed it was even worse this time too. They were able to pull themselves together and clean up last night's messes but only by the hardest. It was fully two days later before all the laying around, pissing, and moaning died down.

It didn't really matter much. Our new camp was well sorted out by now and most of the building was completed. We were well on our way to being ready for winter and things everywhere seemed to be going as they should.

On the other hand things seemed different for me. It was nothing I could specifically point to but I had a feeling something was missing. A presence that I'd never really been specific about seemed to be gone.

Since I'd come to Margata via whatever magic brought me here I'd had the feeling that something was keeping tabs on me. I didn't have that feeling any longer. In fact I felt alone in my head now, even though I'd never felt like something else was actually in there with me. It was hard to explain.

Finally I came to the conclusion there'd be no more gifts when I woke in the mornings and went to check out my things. No more wagon wheel rims, no more saddles, and no more handy medicine. Somehow it didn't really distress me. I'd already received so many valuable things to help me, and the whole Calak really, and it would just be bad manners to complain about having the tap turned off.

When I joined my mates and Lanita in the furs that night they were eager to have at my body and I didn't mind if they did. Kally didn't get with the program like the others but it was understandable. She'd been insatiable since the ceremony and was sore from her excesses. I found I was still able to give all of them all they wanted but I didn't feel slighted that Kally thought she needed a night off. I didn't have a damned bit of trouble falling asleep.