Chapter 10: Koten

Well, if I’d been worried about how Tekia was going to react the next morning, I needn’t have bothered. Heleen and I were awakened the next morning by Tekia pouncing on top of us like a kid waking her parents on Christmas morning. “Wake up!” she chirped. “Is morning!”

As I blinked to wakefulness, I saw Tekia on top of the both of us, grinning from ear-to-ear as she bounced a few more times to make sure we were awake, and then jumped off the bed and began jumping and twirling around in front of the window. “Uesee fua, jon? <It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?>” she beamed as she danced around. “Kwedsa het pasu, jon? ”

“Yeah,” I groaned as I sat up and stretched. “Really pasu, Tekia.”

Tekia started eagerly hopping toward the door. “Kasfan ji tu fulal! ” she beamed, before disappearing out the door without us.

Heleen sat up, brushing her hands back through her rumpled hair and blinking the crusts out of her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this energetic in the morning,” I said, turning and placing my feet on the floor.

“She had much fun last night,” Heleen shrugged. “She is happy.”

“I’m sure we all had fun last night,” I replied. But we both knew it wasn’t the same.

After we each took a moment to fix our bed hair and Heleen put on her jewelry, we exited our room and started making our way down the pyramid toward the dining hall to catch up with Tekia. I started wondering how things would be when we saw Jazum and Doriki today; I’d never done anything like we’d done last night before, and had no idea what to expect. But I just couldn’t help worrying that things were going to be awkward as hell.

As it turned out, Jazum and Doriki weren’t there yet when we arrived at our table. We got there to find Tekia exchanging affectionate hugs and smiles with Kelez and Julu, who turned naughty smiles at us when we approached. Julu came sashaying up to me as I approached, and enveloped me in an embrace that was probably just a little too intimate, if in truth any actual boundaries were left now.

“Last night was wonderful,” she whispered in my ear. “We must do it again.”

I didn’t answer her. I could not overstate how uncertain I was about that prospect.

We all sat down to eat, and for a while no further mention of last night was heard among us, as we went on with breakfast just like any other morning. Finally, we looked up to see Jazum and Doriki coming to join us, looking as lovey-dovey with each other as any pair of lovers ever has. Their arms were looped around each other and their fingers were intertwined as they walked with their foreheads pressed together, constantly smiling and whispering sweet nothings to each other, repeatedly stealing little kisses. How they walked without tripping or bumping into anything, with the way their attention was so completely fixed on each other, I couldn’t imagine.

As they neared the table, they slowly peeled themselves apart, like someone peeling themself off of a leather seat on a hot day. Doriki came and sat beside Heleen and Tekia and across from Julu, greeting them all warmly, seeming unable to remove the smile from her face. Jazum, meanwhile, came up behind me, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I speak to you?” he asked, his tone suggesting that what he wanted to say, he didn’t want to say in front of the ladies.

Slowly I got up, part of me slightly nervous that this was about the fact that I had technically fucked his girl last night, despite the fact that everyone seemed to have been okay with that at the time. But he gave no sense of being angry, so I tried to push that thought aside. I followed him off to a corner, away from most of the crowds, where he suddenly turned and pulled me into a hearty bro-hug. “Whoa, okay...” I said, and patted his back.

And then he continued to hold the embrace. “Yeah, okay. Getting weird now,” I said.

He finally released the hug, but continued holding me by the shoulders as he looked at me and said, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

He didn’t answer that right away, pausing to put his hands down and take a breath. “I not tell this ever before,” he said. “I once have ... feeling for Tekia. Long time before.”

I blinked a few times. “Really?”

“When we very young,” he went on, “we once think we be married one day. One time we have pretend wedding, with friends to watch. But we grow up, and feelings change. She go on to other boys, I go on to other girls. But I still ... sometimes I think about Tekia, about ... to be with her...”

I leaned my head forward, looking at him pointedly. “Jazum, are you telling me I came in and stole your girl?”

“No, no!” he assured me, shaking his head vehemently and placing his hands on my shoulders again. “I so happy with Doriki! And Tekia so happy with you, I know. But, last night...”

He didn’t have to finish. I understood him now. “You got the chance to be with the girl you used to want.”

He responded with just a nod now.

This time I initiated the bro-hug. I still wasn’t sure if I had any desire to do anything like we had done last night again, and I was pretty sure that if Heleen had her way we probably wouldn’t. But more than ever now, I was glad we had done it at least this once.

Life returned more or less to normal in the days after that. Tekia, Jazum and I trained and hunted, while Heleen spent her days consulting with Geyla and her family. Julu continued to make advances at me, but rather than being unsettled by them, now I would just roll my eyes and continue on, secure in the knowledge that Julu was just being Julu, and nothing more needed to be read into it.

Kelez and Julu offered numerous times to take us back to the orgy den again. Since I wasn’t sure I wanted to take them up on it, and I was sure Heleen didn’t, I once asked if they ever considered inviting anyone else in our party to join in their sex games, instead of just fixating on us. They said they’d considered that; they had tried approaching Nanare and Attiya about it, but neither sister appeared to have any interest. Sabal and Lalia were a bit old for their tastes. And as for Patu, Julu admitted she’d hooked up with him once. She found him to be too much of a horn dog (I’m paraphrasing), and said she never invited him to the den because she didn’t trust him to respect anyone’s boundaries. I just had to laugh at the irony of that.

If anything was truly different, it was the fact that Tekia’s sex drive seemed to have been amped up a notch or two. It was not uncommon for her to suddenly grab me during the day, sometimes right while we were in the middle of training, and insist on sneaking away somewhere to scratch that insatiable itch she had. Most of the time I would try to talk her down, but every once in a while I relented, letting her drag me off to the privacy of a bush or large rock somewhere to have our fun. We only stopped doing that the day the kemkuva caught us in the act, and I was ordered back out onto the field while I still had a full boner on display. That was an experience I had no desire to repeat.

Every night, Tekia would be practically crawling all over me by the time we got back to our bedroom, eager as a child for ice cream to get busy. I couldn’t really complain, of course, especially with the way her excitement tended to rub off on Heleen, which meant I was having the kind of threesomes most guys only dream of pretty much every night. We ran through the entire gamut of positions possible for two girls and guy over and over again over the course of those ensuing weeks, from having one girl straddle my lap while the other straddled my face, to penetrating one of them while she ate the other out or while they sixty-nined, to alternating between them while they lay stacked on top of each other or knelt or lay side-by-side. And after nearly six weeks in Duzon, they had the art of double blowjobs down to a science.

And yet, I knew Tekia still wanted more.

Having participated in an orgy had whetted her appetite for that kind of fun, and she made no secret about her desire to take up Kelez and Julu on their always-open invitation for a return trip to the orgy den. But Heleen remained steadfastly against it. She’d tried it once, and she admitted to having even enjoyed it, but that was enough for her. Heleen was happy with our arrangement the way it was, and had no desire to add anyone else to it.

Tekia didn’t give up trying, though, no matter how many times Heleen said no. And Heleen continued to say no, no matter how many times Tekia gave her that pitiable pouty face that I think she hoped would get Heleen to change her mind.

One time Heleen almost conceded. But on a condition. She said that if Tekia and I wanted to go, we could, but she would not be joining us. Tekia seemed half-appeased at first, but when I gave a serious look at Heleen as she said this, and realized just how much she did not like what she was offering, I stepped in and put my foot down. If Heleen wasn’t going, then I wasn’t either. Although Tekia’s disappointment read like a billboard, she relented, and resigned herself to defeat.

We made it up to her that night, though. Three times.

Somehow, I don’t think it was a coincidence that the day after that particular argument, Heleen announced that she felt it was time to move on. We were given a three-day grace period to make our preparations to leave and say goodbye to the friends we’d made in Duzon.

I think it was the day before we left that Julu finally got the message that I was not going to sleep with her again. The whole time we had stayed, she’d never let up on her advances, no matter how many times I declined. I think she just figured I was playing coy, and that sooner or later we’d have another go.

So on the day before we left, she approached me on the training yard late in the afternoon as I was putting away my weapons after the day’s hunt, sashaying her hips and fixing me with her smoky eyes in that deliciously seductive way that she did so well. “Our time is almost done,” she purred, moving up beside me. “We should celebrate your last night with us, yes?” she said, reaching a hand up to tenderly stroke a finger along my jawline.

As gently as I could, I brushed her hand aside. “I’m sorry, Julu, but no. It was great when we did it before, but as I’ve told you again and again, that was it. I don’t think Heleen would be too happy about it, anyway.”

It was nothing I hadn’t said to her before. But this time, her sexy and mischievous look seemed to evaporate from her face, as she finally realized that I really meant it. Now that it was now or never, I had finally gotten her to realize it was never. And I swear, the look on her face when she realized that was like she’d just learned that there was no Santa Claus.

“I’ll see you before we leave tomorrow,” I told her, and then walked away, leaving her standing there in something of a stupor.

The following morning, we enjoyed our last breakfast in Duzon, getting many heartfelt farewells from the residents, and then started packing up our supplies for the road. It wasn’t nearly as momentous a day as our departure from Jivalika had been, for obvious reasons, but it was the closest thing I could compare it to. We gathered in the village square in front of the pyramid, coming together one by one. By midday, we were nearly all assembled and ready to go.

Nearly.

Looking around, we soon realized the most important one of us was missing. “Where’s Heleen?” I asked, even as Sabal was already donning his pack.

Nobody in our party seemed to know. I started scanning my eyes about, expecting to see her appear coming down the path or out of a door on one of the pyramid’s upper levels. Surely she knew it was time to go, so she had to be along soon. After all, she was the reason we were here in the first place, and there was no way we could leave until she joined us.

“Heleen go to Temple of Rahaal,” came Kelez’s voice as he and Julu suddenly approached us.

“We saw her heading there a while ago,” Julu said. “I think she goes to pray for your journey.”

That struck me as a bit curious. I’d never known Heleen to be very religious; I mean I knew she at least had a spiritual side, but I’d never seen her devote much attention the Azakosian gods before. And if she was going to pray for our journey, one would have thought she’d have done it before we left Jivalika, and she hadn’t.

“I’ll go find her,” I announced, proceeding up the steps of the pyramid.

I entered the temple to find a handful of villagers kneeling in prayer, crouched on their knees with their arms crossed over their chests, and at least one pravak-skin decorated acolyte going about offering counsel. I finally spotted Heleen kneeling the closest to the great stone statue of Rahaal, the Sun Father, standing tall and mighty and bearded, holding up his staff with its great and brilliant headpiece that was the sun, supposedly lighting the world for all his children.

As I strode across the smooth stone floor, past the praying villagers and nearing Heleen, my pace began slowing as I started wondering what it was she was actually praying for. It wasn’t just for our safety on our journey from here; that much at least I was sure of. Something else was on her mind. And while if you’d asked me at the time what that was I couldn’t have said for sure, I think some part of me knew what it was. In fact I think the same thing had been nagging at the back of my mind for a while. It was enough to give me pause, and not want to disturb her just then.

Slowly I approached, reaching my hand out to her shoulder when I got close enough, and then I just held it there. As I watched her, head tilted down, eyes shut, silently whispering in Azakosian to herself as she repeatedly tightened the pressure of her arms against her chest, I drew my hand back slightly, wondering if I should just wait for her to finish, or interrupt her to let her know everyone was ready to leave. I was not crazy about the latter option, but I couldn’t know how long she would need otherwise. So I stood there, gripped by indecision, and did nothing.

I wasn’t even sure she knew I was there until she eventually spoke. Her hushed whispers finally stopped, and after a brief pause, without looking up, she said, “They are waiting for me, aren’t they?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

She lifted her head and opened her eyes, breathing a sigh out through her nose. She finally turned and looked up to me, accepting the hand I extended to help her to her feet. She didn’t let go of my hand as we exited the temple.

There appeared to be a collective mood of relief among our party when they saw Heleen approaching. Doriki and Lalia in particular seemed curious to know if everything was all right. Heleen assured them it was; I didn’t know how true that was.

Before we could pack up and leave, the crowd around us began to part, and we turned to see Geyla herself approaching us, making one of her rare appearances outside the pyramid, flanked by her attendants and a few of her brothers and sisters. Heleen quickly put on a smile and stepped forward to receive the Farees. While her hands never seemed to leave her belly, Geyla gave Heleen a respectful bow of the head, and they proceeded to exchange pleasant words as Geyla’s way of bidding her farewell.

Then Geyla stepped back and to the side as a bearded man in his late thirties wearing a large jewel on his forehead and around his neck stepped forward. I recognized him as the father of Geyla’s third child who had crafted most of her jewelry, and he was now carrying another piece in his hands. Geyla explained to Heleen that she’d had this crafted just for her, as a farewell gift to commemorate her stay in Duzon.

The jeweler took hold of Heleen’s proffered right hand and delicately slipped the beautifully crafted gold bracelet onto her wrist. It extended nearly half the length of her forearm, containing a large turquoise stone surrounded by spiraling arms of gold. Heleen lifted her wrist and spent several seconds admiring it. “Goza valesa, Farees,” she thanked her, her voice a whisper of hushed awe. “Uesee! <It’s beautiful!>”

Heleen turned to our party, as Tekia, Doriki, Nanare and Attiya crowded around her to examine her new piece of jewelry, all of them trying to take hold of her hand at once, and smiling and gushing to her about how beautiful it was, Doriki in particular expressing how she was so jealous.

Finally then, Sabal rapped the butt of his spear on the ground, calling everyone’s attention and urging us that we should get a move on. So we all started turning to the Duzon villagers gathered around us to say our final goodbyes. Kelez and Julu spent a while hugging and kissing it out with Jazum and Doriki, and when they were through, Julu stepped up to wrap her arms around me. She held her head to my chest for a moment, and then looked into my eyes and pleaded, “One more kiss?”

I looked at her uncomfortably, and turned a questioning glance to Heleen. She grimaced, but then shrugged, as if saying, “What the hell.” So I looked back to Julu, just as she launched herself at me, enveloping my lips in her most volcanic kiss possible.

I took a minute or two to recover my senses, while Julu gave similar, if slightly less effusive goodbyes to Heleen and Tekia. Only Tekia seemed to make any effort to return Julu’s kiss. Then we finished packing up, and waving to the people of Duzon as we went, we were off.

Our next destination was the village of Koropa, located deep within the heart of the Gelema forest, over two weeks’ travel northwest. We would be traveling across the open plains for ten days before we reached the edge of the forest, and from there it would be another six days through the woods.

Most of that trip passed uneventfully. The plains were comfortable and mostly safe, and what little contact we had with dangerous animals was brief and usually only passing. There was plenty of game for us to hunt, so we ate well; the worst we suffered was fatigue and sore feet, and occasional bouts of dehydration when sources of water proved hard to come by.

Heleen was getting better at keeping up, starting to find her travel legs and getting growing more accustomed to spending long hours walking. I guess spending time living in a village dominated by a huge pyramid that required regularly climbing lots of stairs probably didn’t hurt on that count either. At any rate, I was happy to have her always beside me during the day, when in the village we would only have gotten that chance every few days. And it was a bit of a challenge adjusting from sleeping on a comfortable bed to sleeping on the hard ground in a tent again, but having two warm bodies to lie between while doing it was more than worth it.

It wasn’t until the day after we passed the tree line into the forest that shit finally went down.

When we first entered the forest, it was certainly exciting. Not only did it represent the biggest significant milestone on our trip in over a week, but coming out of the sun and into cool leaf shade was a breath of very fresh air. Most of us were all smiles and laughter as we walked into the beautiful foliage, staring up at the sunbeams streaming through the leaves. We started fanning out as we breathed in the forest air, and some of the girls started dancing around. Tekia spread her arms and spun around in circles as she stared up at the trees, giggling like a little girl, and Nanare and Attiya took each other’s hands and started twirling each other around. When I saw Jazum and Doriki pause to make out for a moment, I decided to do similarly with Heleen, and found her more than eager.