Chapter 6: Syukirin

Heleen moaned into my mouth as her tongue probed for mine. The morning sunlight streamed in through her window, bathing us in its golden glow. We embraced tightly, tumbling about in her bed, my erection pressing against her outer mound.

She'd woken up feeling unusually frisky this morning, and since I had the day off from hunting today, I didn't see any reason to deny her. Unless of course you considered the fact that we'd already missed breakfast thanks to the two bouts of sex we'd had this morning so far. And still she was in the mood for round three.

"Do you think there's any chance we might get out of bed today?" I asked her while she was lying on top of me. She gave me a naughty smirk in response, and turned her eyes up as if in thought, making a show of seeming like she was having to contemplate her answer. I made a face at her antics, and reached a hand down and pinched her butt, making her squeal.

We had a good laugh, and then I was talking to her between kisses. "Seriously ... I know ... I don't have to ... hunt today ... but I should still practice ... at least a little..."

"You are Beraza now," she said between kisses. "You get more choice now ... enjoy it..."

"Yeah, but ... I still should ... Tekia just got back on her feet ... and she's finally talking to me again ... I told her I'd practice with her today..."

"Did you say when?"

"This afternoon."

"It is not afternoon yet."

"No, it's not," I agreed.

With that she grasped my shaft and positioned herself to slide it into her slick tunnel, which was still well lubricated after the two loads I'd deposited in her already. She breathed hard as she got me settled inside her, and began to churn her hips on my lap.

I gripped her hips, holding on as she rode me for several minutes. I stared up into her eyes, watching her mouth hanging open, her breasts bouncing on her chest. I was hypnotized enough by the sight of her that it took me a minute or two to realize when I heard a soft erotic whimper that it didn't come from her.

Heleen seemed to realize what I did at about the same time, and together we craned our necks to look behind her, to the doorway. Peering around the edge of the doorframe was Rokina, standing with one hand on her breast and another between her legs, until she realized she'd been caught, and ducked back out of sight.

I made a noise that was both a groan and a laugh. "We've got an audience."

Heleen laughed a little. "Rokina is becoming woman grown. She is curious," she said, still with me embedded inside her, continuing to move her hips slowly. She let out a pleasured "Ahh," before adding, "She is also excited about Syukirin."

"Syukirin?"

"It is the festival of the moons, coming night after tomorrow. It is when the smaller moon passes in front of the larger moon."

"That's not uncommon, is it?" I thought out loud. "I've seen that happen a few times already."

"But it is the only night in the year that it happens..."

I figured out where she was going before she finished her sentence: " ... while both moons are full," I finished for her.

Heleen entwined her fingers with mine and thrust her hips forward. "Mmm, yes," she grunted. I wasn't sure if that was an answer to what I said or an expression of pleasure. "The people believe the moon spirits govern fertility," she said. "When the moons are together, that is when they say the moon spirits are strongest. So..."

"So ... what happens?"

She answered with a sly smile, and another, more vigorous thrust of her hips. I started to get the idea.

"So ... it's a festival ... of sex?"

"You may say that. There is food and music and dancing like other festivals. But there are also more people who want to make love after. There are more children made on night of Syukirin than any other night."

Call me such a guy, but that statement sent a nervous shiver down my spine.

Heleen read my look and grinned. "Do not worry. I am still drinking my tuzish. I am not ready to be mother yet."

Oh yeah, tuzish. It's like the pill, except in the form a juice derived from the nectar of a few specific flowers and some herbal ingredients. Did I forget to mention the people here had developed birth control? Yeah, they never ceased to impress me either.

"It is also night when many young people choose to have their first time. Syukirin was my first time."

"Unh, really?" I grunted through my teeth as her walls squeezed me. "Do I want to know who with?"

She made a few grunts with her hip thrusts, and admitted, "It was Marho."

"The farmhand boy?" I said.

She nodded. "He always looked at me in that special way. He brought me his best fruits, tried to win my favor. He was good friend, and I liked him well enough. So when Syukirin came, he asked me, and I said yes."

"Did your father give him the lecture he gave me?"

She shook her head. "Syukirin is ... different. To explain is difficult. When people make love on Syukirin, there is less attention after. People expect it to happen, so we do not react so much."

"What happens on Sykirin stays on Syukirin," I said, making my own little take on the Las Vegas tagline. "Did you ever do it again with him?"

She nodded again, looking a little ashamed. "A few times. I did it more for him than for me. I did not love him, so I did not continue. I never had another lover until you."

I liked that. I grinned up at her, and reached up to pull her down into a kiss. Her tongue happily dueled with mine, and I rolled us over, putting myself on top. At that point, we stopped talking so much and focused more on thrusting. Her mouth hung open, breathing heavily as I slowly plowed my way through her.

After a minute or two, I thought I heard a soft feminine moan from behind me. Careful not to be too obvious this time, I barely peeked an eye back over my shoulder, confirming my suspicions that we were once again under surveillance. Rokina was still there, still watching us, still touching herself. I made no overt motions to indicate that I'd noticed her this time, nor any attempt to shoo her away. Somehow, I didn't mind her enjoying the show. The girl was curious; let her watch.

Come to think of it ... Heleen said Rokina was excited about Syukirin. Did that mean she was planning to... ?

I looked down at Heleen beneath me, and whispered to her, "Is your sister planning for something to happen the night after tomorrow?"

While still hanging her mouth open, Heleen flicked her eyes past me to the doorway. "She is still here?" she whispered back. I responded with a slight nod.

She closed her mouth, looking slightly uncomfortable. Still whispering, she said, "She has not said who. I know two she might choose. But I know the look she has. I had it before the Syukirin when I gave myself to Marho."

"Do you think she's ready for that?" Rokina had only just turned 15.

"It is her choice. Many girls choose to do it at her age."

"Did you?"

Heleen gave a slight shake of her head.

I paused in my thrusting, stopping to think. "What is wrong?" Heleen asked me.

I didn't answer her right away. I turned my head back again, making less of an effort to be discreet. Rokina saw me looking and again ducked back out of sight.

But I didn't let her get far. "Hey, Rokina."

Coyly, she appeared again. "I sorry," she said. "I go."

She started to turn away when I stopped her. "No, wait. Come in here."

Rokina looked surprised, and a whole world of uncertain, but she started walking into the room anyway.

"What are you doing?" Heleen whispered. Again, I didn't answer.

As Rokina stepped up beside the bed, I withdrew from Heleen and sat up in bed. I looked at Rokina and said, "Your sister says you're planning to do something for Syukirin. Is that right?"

Rokina blushed, but nodded.

"With who?" Heleen asked her.

Rokina blushed deeper, wringing her hands. "I think to ask Shoyen," she admitted, naming one of the boys who were prone to be seen hanging around her. I had figured it was down to that one or another one named Kabo.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked her.

"There will be another Syukirin," Heleen said, getting up from the bed to touch her sister's arm. "You don't have to do this now."

"I want to," Rokina said with a bit more conviction than she'd shown so far. "I want to be woman grown, like you."

"You shouldn't be rushing into this just because you want to be like your sister," I said. "Do you really think you're ready?"

Without any hesitation, Rokina nodded. "I not rushing," she said. "I know Syukirin was coming, for many moons. I decided long time ago. I think about this many times, I planned, I talked to boys. I am ready."

The girl had obviously given this a lot of thought. I could see by looking at her that she was weak-in-the-knees nervous, but she sounded like she was sure.

In the world I knew, I would have been worried about her being too young to be able to responsibly make this decision. Most of the girl's I'd heard of who lost their virginities at her age usually ended up regretting it. But Rokina was from a different world. I couldn't really see any of the guys who lived here taking advantage of her, or abandoning her once they lost interest. And she hadn't grown up with teachers or nuns telling her that sex was wrong or sinful or anything other than completely natural.

"How much have you done with Shoyen already?" I asked her.

Rokina blushed again. "I have ... I kiss him. And ... other boys."

"Kabo?" Heleen asked.

Rokina gave a nod. She paused, flicking her eyes up and down nervously. "They touch me." She put a hand lightly to her breast. "Here." She paused again. "Last night, I touched Shoyen ... down there ... and tonight, I want to ask him to touch me ... here..." she added, her hand trailing lower.

"And the night after tomorrow," I concluded, "you want to do it all."

Rokina nodded.

I returned to the thought that had led me to call her into this room in the first place, which I now had a clearer conscience about. "She wants to watch and learn," I said to Heleen. When the older sister looked up at me, I took her by the wrist and pulled her gently to me. "I don't think she should have to do that by sneaking around, do you?"

Heleen furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Rokina wants to learn about sex," I said, "and she's trying to learn by watching us. If you're okay with letting her do that, so am I."

Heleen looked back and forth from me to Rokina. "You want to watch us?" she asked her sister.

Rokina was biting her nails, but she nodded.

"Then have a seat," I told her.

Rokina went and sat down in the cushioned chair by the window. I took hold of Heleen by the waist and guided her back to the bed, where I laid her down on her back beneath me. And then, very aware of our spectator, I bent to kiss her.

I both heard and felt Heleen's pulse racing. Being watched was getting her excited; I could tell. She squirmed beneath me as I slid a hand up to cup her breast. Her arm came up and wrapped around my neck as she tried to devour my mouth.

With everything we had done this morning already, Heleen didn't need much warming up. In all reason, I should have just been able to stick it back in her and pick up where we'd left off. But I wanted to make sure Rokina saw as much as we could show her. So I tried to take my time, kissing my way down her body, suckling her nipple and running my fingers over her wet slit.

But even though stopping to talk to her sister had lowered Heleen's arousal level somewhat, it wasn't enough that she had much patience for that. It only took a minute or two before she was sitting up, pushing me up onto my knees and taking hold of my cock. And then making sure that Rokina was watching, Heleen pumped my shaft with her hand, gave the crown a few sensuous licks and then took me into her mouth.

As Heleen's warm, wet mouth pleasured me, I turned my gaze aside to our captive audience. Rokina sat sprawled out to the side in the chair, her fingers busily rubbing between her legs, her eyes transfixed by what was happening in front of her. I have to admit, Heleen wasn't the only one who was kind of getting off on being watched. Grunting through my teeth, I reached a hand down to stroke Heleen's hair. She turned her eyes up to look at me, and then to the side to look at Rokina.

I let Heleen do this until I saw Rokina starting to fidget about in her seat. Then I pushed her down onto her back, spread her legs apart and ducked my head between them. I swiped at her slit with my tongue a few times, enough to get her back arching up off the bed and her fingers bunching up in the sheets. And then I straightened up and moved forward on my knees, aiming my cock at her entrance.

Both of us made sure Rokina had a full, unobstructed view as Heleen parted her folds with her fingers and I pushed my way inside her. Heleen breathed hard, rolling her head back on her pillow. She had all the lubrication we could hope for after everything we'd done already, but I still went slow and deliberate, using her thighs as handholds as I drove my hips forward.

By now Rokina was sawing a finger in and out of her wet box, her mouth hanging open.

Eventually I leaned forward, supporting myself above Heleen, bending to kiss her exposed neck. I trailed my lips along her upturned jawline as she repeatedly gasped through her open mouth, her head pressed hard into the pillow. Her arms came up to wrap around me, pulling me tighter against her body.

I heard a loud whimper, and looked to the side to see Rokina's chest heaving. She'd inserted a second finger, and she was bringing the other hand up to cup her breast.

After the morning we'd had, I wasn't sure how long I could hold out, and indeed, I was getting close to release. But Heleen wasn't the only girl I was trying to get off just then. I could hear Rokina getting closer to a pretty good orgasm herself, and I wanted to give her time to reach it. So I concentrated on holding on, pausing when I felt myself getting too close, trying to make it last for Heleen too.

I eventually rolled us over, putting Heleen back on top. She erected herself upright, her face disappearing from my view as her head rolled back, and she thrust her breasts upward again and again as she rocked on my lap.

I wasn't sure how much Rokina was really watching us anymore, since each time I looked at her now her eyes seemed to be closed more often than open. And judging from the way her body was moving, the girl wasn't going to last much longer. For that matter, neither was Heleen.

As Heleen's cries reached their peak and her body went stiff, her walls convulsing around me in orgasm, Rokina's eyes opened, staring spellbound at her sister. And moments later, the girl doubled over in her chair, both hands cupping her sex, screaming out her own release. At that point, I stopped trying to fight it, and released my seed up into Heleen's depths.

Heleen dismounted me and collapsed at my side, and both of us looked to Rokina, still bent over in the chair, taking slow, shuddering breaths as she came down from her self-induced orgasm. Slowly she lifted her eyes to us, seeing Heleen basking in her afterglow while I lay at her side, idly toying with her hair.

"That..." Rokina gasped, catching her breath. "I never..."

My eyes widened. "Wait, was that the first time you ever had an orgasm?"

Rokina blushed, and gave a meek little nod.

Heleen's mouth curled into a wicked smile. "Wait until it happens with a boy!"

Rokina's eyes suddenly focused on the junction of Heleen's legs. "He did ... in you?"

Heleen smiled at her naïve little sister, and nodded.

"What it feel like?"

Heleen thought about it, searching for words. "Wet," she said. "Like, splash. And warm. It feels good."

Rokina seemed to shiver. "Oh, I want to feel!"

Heleen chuckled, and got up and stepped over to her sister, placing a hand on Rokina's shoulder. "Wait for the right time," she said as Rokina got up.

I sat up and retrieved my medallion from where it hung on the wall next to the bed. "Well, we already missed breakfast," I said as I slipped the string around my neck. "Is it too early for lunch?"

"I think we can find something," Heleen said. Then she turned to Rokina and asked, "You want to join us?"

Rokina turned her eyes up. "Mm ... I think..."

"You want to find your friends?" Heleen asked. Then she paused, and added, "Shoyen?"

With a coy grin, Rokina nodded.

"Go on," Heleen said, and Rokina hurried out the door.

As Heleen came and sat on the bed beside me, I put an arm around her and pulled her to me. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Heleen chuckled again, and kissed me.

After we finally got up and got some food, Heleen had some planning to go do. Syukirin wasn't the only thing that was coming up soon; there were only a few weeks left before Heleen was due to leave for her journey to see the rest of Azakos. There were preparations she had to make in anticipation of her departure: she had to map out her itinerary, decide who would be going with her, what supplies she would need for the road, et cetera, et cetera.

Of course, I had already promised I would be going with her. I had to admit, I was a little psyched about seeing what else was out there, even though Heleen had admitted there were some places she was a little worried about visiting. Not all of the towns or cities or villages in Azakos had the rosiest relationships with Jivalika, which was apparently one of the things she was hoping for the chance to smooth over.

I wasn't sure what that meant we could expect exactly. We might be welcomed in some places and turned away in others. At least I hoped being turned away was the worst anyone would do. But whatever was ahead, Heleen was committed to meeting it, and so I was too.

In the meantime, though, I had plans with Tekia to get to. Even though we didn't have clocks here, I had gotten pretty good in the time I had lived in the village at telling the time of day by the position of the sun. And I judged I was a little late. I just hoped she didn't take that personally, or for that matter ask me what kept me. I didn't think she would like the answer to that question. Since I'd realized how Tekia felt about me, while I wasn't about to stop what I was doing with Heleen, I was at least trying not to rub it in her face.

Unsurprisingly, she was already on the yard when I arrived, practicing her archery. Most of the other hunters were either out hunting or doing other things right now, but there were a handful here and there in the middle of honing their skills like she was. To my relief, the look she gave me when she saw me coming was a happy one. "You late," she said.

"Yofala," I apologized, and left it at that.

She seemed to accept that. She picked up a second bow and tossed it to me. Even though I had established that I was better with a spear, it was still a good practice to become at least proficient with all weapons. I stepped up beside Tekia, looking at the target she had already pumped full of arrows, and bent to draw an arrow from the quiver by her feet. She had gotten several arrows pretty damn close to the bullseye. "You not beat me," she smirked.

I didn't doubt she would be right, but hey, I've been known to accept a challenge now and then.

I nocked my arrow, drew it back, and aimed carefully. I took my time like I'd been taught, I measured my breathing, and when I was ready I released. My shot wasn't bad, but it wasn't near as good as most of the ones Tekia had fired off at the same target.

I looked to her, seeing her nodding in some semblance of approval—and then she grabbed another arrow, aimed and released in what had to be the span of two seconds, and hit the target just barely off-center. When she turned a smug grin to me, I rolled my eyes. "Show off," I muttered, making her giggle.

When I looked at her again, she had pulled another arrow and was holding it out for me. I stepped up and extended a hand to take it. As I did, my fingers touched hers, causing both of us to pause for a moment. A sort of shiver seemed to pass through me, and I suddenly found myself looking into her eyes, while she looked back at me. For a little too long, neither of us moved.

Finally I blinked back to reality and took the arrow, drawing it back for another shot. Tekia dropped her bow and stepped up behind me, putting her hands on my bow arm like she had most of the times I'd tried archery in the past, helping to properly position my arm. At least that was how it started. After a moment I started to realize she was not so much guiding my arm as tenderly stroking it. My gaze trailed away from the target toward her. She noticed me looking at her and lifted her eyes from my arm to meet my eyes again.

I tried to focus again on the target, and I released. The arrow hit the target about as far from the center as it could without going completely wide. I cursed silently. I guess I was I a little distracted.

Tekia went to get her bow again, and said, "You watch."

I watched her draw her arrow, but I realized I wasn't going to learn anything more by simply watching her than I already had. So I did something that seemed like a good idea at the time, but looking back on it I can't imagine why.

I moved in behind her, reaching in to take hold of her bow with my hand just above hers, and reaching around with my other hand to grip her arrow with her. She stiffened in surprise, but only for a second. She picked up quickly on what I was doing, and let me take over pulling the arrow, using her right hand to guide my wrist.

We waited, both of us trying to aim the same arrow.

And we waited.

Seconds ticked by as I continued to hold the arrow, not releasing it. Somehow it was like I couldn't see the target ahead of me. Tekia's hair was right in my face; all I had to do was inhale and I was smelling it. Her back was pressed to my front, her hand gripping mine. And I could swear I could hear her pulse speeding up.

Our arms slowly began relaxing, as suddenly neither of us cared about the bow and arrow. Our heads turned, both of us staring at the other, as we remained pressed together. Her breath was starting to quaver, and her lips were trembling, seemingly calling to me, begging me to kiss them. And believe me, the temptation was nearly overwhelming.

"Oy!" a voice called.

Tekia suddenly let go of the bow and arrow and we untangled ourselves. She allowed herself another minute to stare at me before she suddenly took off running, dashing past Jazum as he stepped up to me.

Watching Tekia go, Jazum shot me a raised eyebrow. "You being bad?" he teased me.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," I said, shaking my head at myself. "I've got a good thing going with Heleen. I don't need this kind of drama."

"What is 'drama?'" he asked.

I grinned sardonically. "Something not good," I muttered.

Jazum gave me a sympathetic look, and put a hand on my shoulder. "Tekia is good woman. I know her long time before, from time we children. I no before see her be like you make her be."

I sighed. "I know. I don't want to see her hurt any more than you do. But I don't want to ruin what I have with Heleen."

Jazum didn't have anything to say to that. I didn't expect he would. He was a simple guy, with simple pleasures, who took simple approaches to things. Complicated relationship dramas weren't his forte.

So since he couldn't offer me advice, he opted instead to offer me distraction. He went to the weapons rack to grab another bow and quiver, and stepped up to the target beside the one Tekia and I had been using. I went and pulled the arrows out of my target, and then stepped up beside him as he drew his bow.

"Pasu uchumete?" he asked, questioning how well I could shoot. It sounded like a challenge.

Anything to get my mind off Tekia.

I drew back with him, and in unison, both of us fired.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully. So did the next. I went through my normal routines; I slept in Heleen's bed, I joined the people for morning meal, we practiced, we hunted, we brought back our kills, and the people ate hearty.

Tekia seemed a little on-edge around me, though. She offered me the formal courtesies when they were due. She greeted me when I showed up for breakfast, offered me a second helping of food, responded politely when I spoke to her and all that. But she kept looking away, averting her eyes, keeping a safe distance.

At least it was better than her giving me the cold shoulder all the time.

I had a vague hunch about why she was acting this way, but it wasn't until a little moment during our hunt that I really understood it. We were tracking some lalits, following the trail they left when I caught sight of a pravak off the trail in the distance. I stopped walking, and touched Tekia's arm to bring her attention to it.

The other hunters noticed it then too, and some of the archers took aim. But Tekia didn't. Instead, I looked to her again to find her staring at me, a longing, vulnerable stare. I looked down to where my hand was still on her arm, only then pulling away as if I'd made a mistake.

I could almost swear that Tekia looked on the verge of tears, but she remained the tough girl that she was and kept a more-or-less straight face. By that point our archers had already brought down the prey we had spotted, having done it while my attention was on other things, and Shimara ordered us to go collect the kill.

As I looked at Tekia going to help pick up the dead animal, her behavior toward me today started to make more sense. She wanted to be friendly with me, like she always had been, but she didn't trust herself not to act on her feelings. She was trying to avoid a repeat of our close call on the training yard yesterday, which she was worried might happen if she let herself get too close to me.

The poor girl. It's not easy wanting someone who isn't available. I went through that in high school enough times to know. I only wished there was something I could do to make this easier for her...

... And come to think of it, for myself too. It would be hard enough if her feelings for me were unrequited, but I had been just as tempted to kiss her yesterday as she had. That was just an extra layer to the shit-cake.

But, ultimately, it was Heleen's arms I returned to when we got back to the village, and Heleen's bed I went to sleep in that night.

And then, the next day dawned, and Syukirin was upon us.

There was no hunting done that day; all the food we had came from what we had stored or from what the farmers provided. All the work that anyone did that day revolved around preparing for the festivities that night. The village was decorated with lots of colorful banners and streamers, which I volunteered to help with. People were busy preparing food and drinks for the evening banquet, roasting the largest slabs of meat we had in our stores, and pulling out enough containers of kolfa to get a whole campus of frat boys drunk.

Everybody seemed to be in a good mood that day. Many times throughout the day I would see pairs of guys and girls looking at each other with amorous twinkles in their eyes, no doubt in anticipation of what they would be doing after the sun went down. A lot of them looked quite young, too; like about Rokina's age in many cases. I didn't doubt that quite a few virginities would be lost tonight.

I didn't see Tekia for much of the day. I figured I was probably the last person she wanted to see on a day like this. When we were throwing a party that most people would be attending with intentions to ultimately hook up with someone, I doubted she wanted be reminded any more than usual that she couldn't do that with me, especially when I could only imagine what Heleen had in mind for us to do. That had to just really rub her face in it...

Hell, would you listen to me talk about myself like I'm God's gift to women or something? When did that happen exactly?