- Xark’on -

Caroline is their shaman, the other tribesmen here told me. But a shaman can’t perform her own wedding. So one of the other women is taking over shamanic duties today.

And indeed Caroline looks just like a divine apparition. She’s dressed in all white, a supremely fine fabric that flows around her legs. It’s an Earth tradition, they say. Well, then it’s one alien tradition I approve of. She was of great beauty before, but now she’s just heart-stoppingly, mythically alluring.

And she’s beside me, holding a bunch of simple flowers in her hand. She makes me feel raw and primitive in my usual trousers with the hammer attached. But anyone would look raw and primitive beside her.

The shaman says her thing absolutely perfectly. Has she perhaps lived with another tribe? Caroline’s speech is very good, but her melody when she talks is different from mine. Intensely wonderful to listen to, of course. But this other one speaks just like me.

“I do,” I state when prompted, wanting to get this introduction to the wedding over with. What will they make me do to prove myself? Something extremely difficult and deadly, of course. And that’s fine. Caroline deserves the very best man. I’m not even sure that I’m him.

“I do,” Caroline says, then says something I assume is the same thing in her own language.

She takes my hand, we turn our backs to the altar built in the middle of this clearing and then walk a few paces while everyone slaps their hands together in some kind of congratulation.

“We’re married now,” Caroline says and looks up at me with those clear, shining eyes.

“Yes,” I reply. “That was the beginning. What are the trials?”

She smiles. “There are no trials. That was it. You don’t need to prove yourself to more to me.”

I frown, smelling a trap. “But... It’s so easy!”

“It’s easy to get in,” Caroline says. “But now we both have to prove ourselves to each other every day.”

That’s more like it. Of course being married to a woman must be costly to any man. “Daily trials, then. Very good.”

“We don’t really think of it as trials,” Caroline says. “We just call it ‘life’. I think you’ll find it’ll be plenty trying at times. But it’s infinitely easier when you’re not alone. Or so they say. I’ve never been married before.”

“Ah. So it’s not a trap.”

She laughs, a happy, melodic sound that fills me with joy. “Warrior, this is the ultimate trap. And we’re both caught in it.”

“You’re very alluring bait,” I state, not completely sure about the arrangement. “You can’t blame me for falling into this trap.”

She places a hand on my chest. “You’re pretty alluring yourself, my love. Irresistible, as it turned out. The perfect bait to catch me. But I’ve been hiding something from you.”

“You have?”

“Yes. I wanted to make sure you were caught in my trap before I told you. Now you can’t get away.

“I never want to get away from you, my love. What have you been hiding?”

She squeezes my hand, but she’s not smiling anymore. “You know that we mated many times.”

“Yes, I do. I know it well. Many times.” My crotch swells at the images that immediately come to mind.

“And you know why women and men can mate?”

I scratch my head. “It’s because the slit is perfectly shaped to accept the—”

“No. Well, yes. But why do we fit so well together like that? Why do you release the juice in there?”

“Because it feels good?”

“Yes, fine. Okay. But why does it feel good? Why can men and women do that?”

“It feels good and the fit is perfect, and what else is there to do?”

“Gods, I never thought this would be so hard. Men and women mate because they can make something together, yes?”

“They can make those nice sounds? The moans? Especially the woman?”

Then I have mercy on her and give her a little smile.

She just stares for a moment, and then she gets it and slaps my chest. “Oh, you terrible man!”

I laugh, happy that I was able to keep a straight face for so long. “Yes, I am terrible. The mating is for making babies. I know that, don’t worry. The shaman told us many years ago.”

She nods. “And you and I have made one.”

I stare at my wife. All she holds in her hand is a bunch of flowers. “We have?”

“Yes. All the signs are there. Three seasons from now, we’ll have a baby of our own. That we made. It’s growing in here right now.” She touches her stomach.

I place my hand on top of hers. “In here? A baby that’s a mix of you and me?”

There are tears in her eyes. “Yes.”

I embrace her small body and squeeze as hard as I dare. Something is burning in my eyes too. “Then my happiness will be even more complete. Though I don’t know how that will be possible.”

She sniffles. “For you and me together, anything is possible. Always.”

“It does seem that way.”

The women come over, and I saunter over to the other men, immeasurably proud. “It appears I have successfully mated with Caroline.”

“Well done, warrior,” Jax’zan says, holding his little newborn in his arms. “Then you have three seasons of terror ahead.”

I frown. “Of terror? Is it then difficult for the woman to be in this state? Does she become hard to deal with?”

“The state itself is not too difficult,” Trak’zor says. “It is the dread of the final part that makes us fear.”

And indeed these words make me fear already. “Why?”

“It’s horrible,” Jax’zan says, shuddering. “The whole woman splits open, almost.”

“It’s not like the Lifegivers at the village,” Ar’ox explains. “They just open and you take the baby out. Here, the entire thing has to come out of the slit. Look at Jax’zan’s daughter. All of her had to come out of Sophia’s slit.”

I frown. “I would say there isn’t room for that.”

“And yet that’s how it is. We had a gruelling night. I’d rather fight fifty irox than experience that again.”

I stare at the baby, sleeping innocently in her father’s arms. She looked so small before. Now I see how truly massive she is. “That... comes out of the slit? But... how?”

“That’s where the terror comes in,” Ar'ox says. “My Emilia is soon to give birth. And I haven’t slept a wink for three nights, just worrying.”

“It’s mysterious,” Dar'ax says. “But apparently a woman can do it many times. Even with two at a time.”

“Ridiculous,” I state with certainty. “One is bad enough. But two? Nonsense.”

They all nod in agreement. “It’s ridiculous. But that’s how it is. Three, even.”

I turn to look at Caroline. She’s throwing her bunch of flowers behind her, and the temporary shaman snatches it out of the air. Probably some way of paying her for her valuable service to us. I’d give the shaman much more as a thank you for wedding me to Caroline. It doesn’t seem like it should be possible for me to be married to her. But here we are.

All this talk of horror makes me want to be close to my wife, so I go over there and take her hand, which I now can do anytime I want, since we’re married.

“How is my husband?” she asks and squeezes my hand.

“Shaken, but I’ll survive.”

“Uh-huh. Did the other men tell you about the birth? They usually do. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as they say. It’ll be fine.”

“Still three seasons from now. I’ll only start to dread it after two seasons.”

She laughs. “Okay. Deal.”

“Dil. I wonder, the mating... Can it still happen? I mean, you now have a baby in there. So I suppose that...”

“Warrior, you better believe it can still happen. The baby is still smaller than a grain of sand. Her mother is expecting your full attention tonight and for many moons yet. I want to introduce you to something that is called a ‘honeymoon’. Because I think we really, really need the vacation after what we’ve been through. Nobody's using the tree house, right?”

“Can I bring my colors and the brush?”

“Bring it all. I’ll make you an easel and a palette, and I’ll watch you paint long into the sunset and the night.”

Her words fill me with a new wave of happiness. “Maybe I can paint you, as well. I mean, while I’m looking at you.”

“I was going to suggest it. I’ll wear nothing, and you’ll paint me like that. This planet needs some porn apart from those ridiculous dolls the tribe shamans have.”

My crotch pulsates at the idea of painting a naked Caroline. Or maybe it’s just the thought of Caroline naked. Yes, that’s it.

I nuzzle her hair, trying not to make too much of a mess of it. My heart swells at the sheer improbable wonder of it all, the unbelievable and unprecedented turn my life has taken.

And Caroline is at the center of it all.

No, she is it all.

“I’m glad I caught you in my trap.”

She lays her head back and smiles up at me. As usual, my heart skips a beat. “And you know what, warrior? I'm really glad I stalked you.”

- - -

© Calista Skye 2018

Make sure to catch the Epilogue at the end of the book!

- - -

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