Chapter 45

Dear Willow,

Of course you leave me breathless when you describe relations you have with your concubines. You know very well that I lusted after Violet. The fact that I had somewhat of a crush on you too doesn't help when you mention being in bed with her or leaving her breathless. Mentioning rabbits in your letter has everyone wondering what is going on. The Governor did some research and discovered that a death planet well behind the front of the Sa'arm advance has been colonized by the Confederacy. Apparently the Governor there managed to convince the ship he was on to allow him to take his rabbits with him. And being rabbits they did what rabbits do as well as rats, that is that they multiplied. So now the colony on Ishtar has rabbits to trade for seeds and such.

When the Governor found that out he dispatched the Autocar to Earth on a run to get alfalfa and some other types of seed. It will stop back by here and pick up some barley, hops and a few bare root grapes on the way back, then I'll have at least a pair of rabbits to go with my burgeoning rat population. I asked if they could bring back another unrelated pair of rats. Considering that the stagecoach belongs to the colony and that the Governor is requesting them there will be no problem with getting at least one or even two more pairs of rats to add to my breeding colony.

Marissa and I tell each other every day that we have to be more firm with Lily, but if we want to take her out, or she needs to go out for an appointment she just looks at us with sad eyes and says, "My leash and collar keep me safe."

While we know that we don't have to worry about our concubines being molested here because the Governor has insisted that if a concubine is not yours (and even if they are yours in a public place) that you must obtain permission from both the sponsor and the concubine to have sex with them, it is still hard to resist when Lily says she's afraid to walk around without an escort and her leash and collar. We know that puts her in charge in a way. But then neither of us wants to make her feel unloved. The fact is that as one older lady put it when I was walking Lily in the neighborhood park, we're going to have to learn to harden our hearts to her a bit 'cause we certainly cannot have our children ruling our lives with a hurt look. And as Beth was with me that day as well she pointed out that we soon would have children who would certainly ask why Lily got more of Dad's attention than anyone else in the family. The sad thing is that until very recently Lily's leash and collar seemed like nothing more than a game we were indulging in playing to Marissa and I it was a way of giving her comfort. But I can see how to other sponsors it might seem that we are influencing her. That is why I've taken the very reluctant step of telling her that if she will not go to the park without one of us to lead her around on a leash then she won't go to the park. OH! The crying and hysterics! You'd have thought that we were truly killing her from the fit she threw over that. Marissa held her down and everyone paddled her 'til she almost had blisters. Then she told Lily it had been her choice all along to stay at home if no one was willing to take her to the park. She started to cloud up again and Marissa asked if she wanted to be paddled some more. For some reason she stopped fussing, knelt at Marissa's feet and said, "No Mistress I don't want to be paddled again!"