Micah The Wanderer - Book 2: Going Home First - Part 3

Part 3

I knew all the paths and stairs around the village so well I could walk them blindfolded. The rope bridge to Sara and Madeline's cottages was the only thing that gave me trouble. It wasn't stable and swayed in the wind. In the dark it felt like you were about to fall into the abyss. I steeled myself and left the house to make my way up the mountain. Madeline had not wanted Mara or Sara to know that we were meeting so I gave the Compass a wide berth and made my way to the stairs that rose to the ledge.

As I made my way higher I wondered what this was all about. Madeline and Sara were lovers. I knew that so the chances of this evening having anything to do with romance or even just sex were remote to say the least. I had hardly spent any time with Mara since I got back but that had been her choice not mine so I didn't think it had anything to do with that. I had arrived at the rope bridge so I put any more speculation on hold and concentrated on getting across. Once across I looked and saw that there were no lights in Sara and Mara's house so I turned and headed towards Madeline's cottage. It was full dark when I arrived at her doorstep and knocked.

From within came a call. "Who is it?"

"It's Micah."

The door swung open and Madeline stood illuminated by the light behind her as she looked around to see if I was alone. "No one is with you are they?"

"No. I came alone. I felt that's what you wanted since you made such a point about Sara and Mara working tonight."

She stepped back and held the door open. "Come in please. I didn't mean anything I just wanted to be sure. Please have a seat."

I moved to sit down at one of the two chairs that were in her small kitchen area looking around as I went. I had never been in this cottage before. It was much smaller than Sara's. There was a doorway off the kitchen area that I could see led into a pantry. The main room in the other direction was also the bedroom. The frame for a rope bed was held up against the wall by a wooden latch. I could tell when it was down that it took up most of that room except for immediately in front of the fireplace. I sat in one of the chairs after Madeline sat down herself.

She was dressed in one of her everyday dresses, a somewhat drab blue dress that buttoned up the front all the way up her neck. She had it buttoned all the way except for the top two buttons. The starched collar gave an impression of stiffness that was not usually present in Madeline. I could see she wanted to talk business but I had no idea what business. She sat there looking down at her hands for a few minutes while I sat in polite silence for her to speak. She had asked me here so I could wait.

She cleared her throat and looked up at me. "Micah, I know you saw Sara and me the other day in the storeroom. I've been waiting for the story to start circulating around the village but it hasn't. No angry whisper in the common room, no women snubbing us in the store. Nothing, nothing has happened. I think you told Mara but instead of making her angrier with her mother it has brought them closer. What do you want? I have little but to protect Sara you can have whatever I have."

I sat there shocked and a little angry. She thought I was tormenting them. She thought that I was getting some kind of perverse thrill out of having this knowledge and holding it over their heads.

I rose to my feet to leave. "Sara and Mara are my friends and I thought you were too. I would never do anything to hurt them or you. I would have thought you knew that."

I turned to leave but Madeline jumped up and grabbed my arm. "Please Micah wait. You have to understand. This has happened to me before. Please hear me out."

I looked back at her. She had a look of desperation on her face I had never seen before. I turned back to the chair and stood next to it until she sat in hers.

Then I sat as well. "I can see you are upset by this. I will listen but you don't owe me any explanation."

"Thank you Micah. I made you angry so I feel I do need to explain." She sat a moment collecting her thoughts then she began. "You know that I am not from this village. I came here after I married James and I stayed after he died."

I nodded.

She continued. "What nobody knows is that the reason I never left is because I am not welcome in my own village. When I was young, not much older than Mara, I was seduced by a girl in my village. She was older and more experienced and I thought she wanted to be friends. When the physical part started she assured me that there was nothing wrong with it and it felt so good I couldn't see the harm. This went on for almost a year until her father walked in one day and caught us in bed together. It was the middle of the afternoon and we were both naked."

She gestured vaguely, "There was no excuse that we could give to explain what was going on between us. I thought because she was older and wiser that she would protect me. I was wrong. She told everyone that I had seduced her. She said she had resisted as long as she could but had finally given in out of curiosity. She said that when her father had caught us was the first time it had happened between us. I of course started telling the truth about who seduced who but no one believed me."

She looked at teh ground and continued, "She was the daughter of the village headman and was engaged to be married. I was just one of the village girls whose father had left her mother when she was just a baby. People started saying that the reason he left is because he suspected that I wasn't his child. You know, like mother like daughter. If she was a slut it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe I was pervert. We were outcasts, both of us. My mother never condemned me for what happened. She had been an outcast since my father had disappeared."

Madeline explained, "Women couldn't own any property there so when he left we had lost our land as well. We did what we could to survive but could barely get by. We could work our own fields for someone else or work for one of the other farms. When this happened between me and the headman's daughter no one would let either of us work their fields anymore. It was like we were diseased. No one wanted to catch what we had. I figured out years later that the only thing catching in our village was greed and lust."

She shook her head and continued, "The land my father owned sat squarely between our village and the next one. When he disappeared the land was turned over to our headman to distribute to someone worthy who could work the land. He gave it to the son of the headman of the next village. He just happened to be the man our headman's daughter, Lee, was betrothed to. We tried to leave the village, to start somewhere else new. Every time we did the headman would send his son-in-law to drag us back. I figured out that they didn't want us to get to a town where we might talk to the authorities. Someone might start looking in to my father's disappearance and how the land that was his now belonged indirectly to the headman of our village through his daughter."

Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was replaying the history in her mind. "When no one would let us work their fields anymore we started begging and digging through the garbage for scraps. If we couldn't find enough to eat over several days my mother would take me out to the old work shed they let us live in and would make me stay there while she went to our old house to beg for food from the headman's daughter and her husband who were living there now. As I said I was a little older than you and I thought I knew what was going on. Lee felt bad about what happened to us because of her and was sneaking us food when her husband wasn't around. I thought that if both of us went we could carry more and not have to come back for a few days. I was a fool."

Madeline straightened in the chair. "I followed my mother to our old house and hid in the shadows when she went up to the back door. I was going to jump out when Lee opened the door and that way mother couldn't make me leave. When it opened however, it wasn't Lee but her husband Aaron. I was confused and hesitated. This man hardly knew either of us. I had no idea why he would help us when no one else in the whole village would. I snuck up to the kitchen window and peeked in. I could barely hear what was being said but what I saw is etched into my mind in acid."

"Aaron sat in a chair at one end of the room. He was naked from the waist down with his legs spread wide. His little manhood was sticking up from a greasy patch of hair between his legs. His testicles, which looked huge, rested on the seat between his legs and he rubbed them with his left hand while using his right hand to drink out of a wine bottle. I could hear my mother pleading for food, if not for both of us then just for me then she would leave. Aaron took the bottle away from his mouth and laughed at my mother. He told her that if she wanted food she knew she had to come over there and get a drink first."

"I didn't think that was so bad. I foolishly thought he meant some of that disgusting wine he was known to drink. My mothers head sagged and she started shuffling over to him when he threw up his hand. He was angry and told her she knew that wasn't the way she was supposed to do it. She stepped back over to the other side of the room and before my astonished eyes proceeded to take off her clothes. As I watched her disrobe I realized how painfully thin she was."

"Her breasts which I remembered as being modest sized were almost flat against her chest. You could see her ribs plainly through her skin and her pelvis poked out sharply at her hips. She was one step away from being a skeleton but Aaron's shaft actually got harder and straighter as he watched her take her clothes off. When she was completely naked she sank to her knees and then to all fours and started crawling across the floor towards Aaron. He just sat there grinning down at her, drinking that filthy wine. This was the first time I had ever seen the sexual organ of a man and quite frankly I was disgusted. I couldn't believe anyone would want to marry something that had such a ridiculous appendage between its legs."

"I have to admit that even though she was terribly skinny, the sight of my mother's naked body had just the opposite effect. My nipples got hard, I felt a flood of moisture between my legs and I started panting. I was looking at her thin backside to the sparse hair visible from behind and wanted to run into the room and bury my tongue between those nether lips and bring her to orgasm. I wanted to rim her anus with my tongue and shove my fingers up her opening. I had to grab the window frame to stop the shaking and to keep from doing exactly that."

"I looked up from her backside just in time to see her take Aarons flesh between her lips. I was disgusted but couldn't look away. She was licking up and down his member, taking it in her mouth. I could see her cheeks hollowing and knew she was sucking it. Aaron for his part was sighing and grunting like a pig. It seemed like only a minute when he reached down and grabbed my mothers head. He held her head and started pumping his hips up and down then he froze and I could see my mother's throat working like she was swallowing something."

"You see I didn't really know what was happening to him. When his hips settled back down in the chair he had that white stuff all over his manhood. He told mother that she had been bad and hadn't taken all her medicine. Then he grabbed a handful of her hair and used it to wipe himself off. Even when she was so skinny my mother always had long hair, now he was using it like a rag and dragging her around by it."

"He sat there a minute holding my mothers' hair and asked out loud if she had earned any food. I thought he was just thinking out loud, cruelly teasing my mother when I heard another woman's voice respond that she hadn't, not yet. At that point Lee walked across the room and she grabbed a handful of mother's hair. She had been in the room the whole time. Holding onto her hair she led mother over to the table. Lee sat down on the edge of the table and reached down to the hem of her skirt. She pulled it up exposing herself to my mother and said she wanted to see if she was as good with her tongue as Madeline was."

"Despite the shame and humiliation I was feeling for my mother I felt a thrill run through me when she said that. Lee thought I was good. Even after all I had been through because of her, the sight of that neat triangle of hair between her legs had my mouth watering and my juices flowing. I watched as my mother stuck out her tongue and took her first tentative licks. I wanted to run in there and shove her out of the way and show her how it was done."

"Instead as my mother lapped at Lee's crotch I lifted my skirt and plunged my fingers into myself. I was rubbing my flesh with my thumb and running my fingers in and out of my slit. I was so horny it only took a couple of minutes. I watched my mothers tongue going in and out, up and down and moved my fingers the same way, like it was her tongue and not my fingers. I heard that high keening that Lee did when she was about to cum and looked up at her face. Her eyes were glassy and she was panting. She had grabbed handfuls of my mother's hair in each hand and was holding her against her crotch as she humped her face. I was getting close myself so I turned away from the window and leaned back against the wall as I worked my fingers in and out of my slit. I heard Lee squeal like she did when she came and that triggered my orgasm. I shuddered and shook leaning against the side of the house."

"I stayed there listening as Lee gave my mother some food and heard Aaron say something about being hard again after that show. He said something about bringing Madeline next time so I could help out. My mother almost shouted no and I heard her heading for the door. I froze there in the shadows hoping she wouldn't see me.

I don't know if I made a noise or if it was just some instinct but my mother stopped about five feet outside the back door and turned to look right at me. It wasn't until she looked my way that I realized that I was still holding my skirt in one hand with the fingers of my other hand still buried in my crotch. She hadn't even bothered to dress. She held her dress loosely in front of her with one hand with some half eaten cheese and a crust of bread in the other. She just stood and stared at me for a minute and then she threw the bread and cheese at my feet. She dropped her other arm, revealing her naked body in the moonlight, then turned and ran up the path away from the house."

"I'm ashamed to admit that I stopped to pick up the food before I chased after my mother. It wasn't until I thought about it later that I realized how humiliating it was for her to do the things she did to feed us. As long as I didn't know it was okay. When she saw me she thought that not only did I know but that I was enjoying her humiliation. She couldn't take it. When I returned to the shed she was curled up facing the wall with a thin blanket wrapped around her. I didn't know what to say so I just ate part of the bread and a couple nibbles of cheese before I curled up on the floor across from her."

"The next day I woke up in the hovel we lived in and she was gone. At first I thought she had gone out early to look for food. After two days I figured something else was going on. I tried to get some one from the village to help look for her but everyone I asked just sneered or ignored me. After a week I started hearing new stories about my mother. She had left to go to a city to be what everyone knew she was all along, a whore. My father had come back and given her a choice between him and me, and being the cockhound she was she had abandoned her daughter."

"The worst was that she was a succubus whose grace period on earth had expired and she had returned to hell. Two weeks later I found one of her shoes at the edge of a cliff overlooking the river. I knew she had killed herself. She couldn't take the ugliness any more. I decided right then that no matter what; I would never do anything like that. They would not shame me for food. If they wanted me dead they would have to use their own hands not mine."

"I thought that once my mother was gone some of them would feel pity and leave me alone. I was wrong. If anything it got worse. I had people openly spit on me in the street. People flashed the sign against the evil eye any time they saw me. I was starving to death in the middle of harvest. No one would give me work or food and I didn't dare steal anything. Then James came passing through our village."

"I was staggering up the central street of our village on the edge of delirium. I saw this huge man coming the other way. I was ready to run away until I saw he was a stranger. I staggered up to him ready to beg for whatever he would give me when someone, I don't know who, threw a rock and hit me in the head. I went down on my face right there in front of him. He knelt down and helped me sit up. I don't know why but I was crying. I had never cried before since that woman had betrayed me. I looked into the face of this stranger and saw a gentleness that I had never seen in anyone else. I promised him then and there that I would be his slave the rest of my life if he would take me away from there and feed me."

"I don't think you were old enough to remember James, but he was a big man, bigger than your father and strong as an ox. He stood up with me cradled in one arm like a child and started walking out of the village. Aaron stepped out in the street in front of James. He told him that if he was going to take the village whore he would have to pay for her. I didn't even see James move. I just heard this meaty thud and then that man was stretched out in the street like he had been sleeping there. James walked out of there and never looked back."

"He stopped at an inn that was two days travel from the village and we stayed there a month as I got my strength back. I told James my story. He listened and never passed judgment on me. When I was through he asked me if I preferred women to men. I told him I had never been with a man so I didn't know. He said when I was ready I could let him know. He brought me back here and made me his wife. We lived here five years; worked together, shared the same bed and he never touched me except to kiss me. I couldn't bring myself to do that after all I had been through, and then he died."

After Madeline stopped talking, I sat there stunned, to live with a woman that looked like this and never touch her, waiting for her to be ready, dieing without ever knowing more than a kiss from her. I had heard stories about James's goodness and kindness but this elevated him to the level of saint. I looked over at Madeline and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I regret that more than anything I have ever done in my life. He deserved more from me. It would not have hurt for me to have spread my legs for him."

"You don't think that with all his understanding he wouldn't have known that you weren't doing it because you wanted to, but because you felt obligated. To him it would have felt like he was raping you."

She looked at me and a tentative smile crossed her face. "You are probably right. You are a lot like James. You have a goodness about you. I'm sorry I upset you."

It was my turn to smile.

We were fast becoming close friends. I held out my arms and she came into my embrace burying her head in my shoulder. I held her and let her cry until her shoulders stopped shaking.

I felt it was time to ask a question I had wanted to ask. "I've been wondering, if you had such a terrible experience the first time, why did you get involved with Sara? You took an awful chance. Do men scare you that much?"

She replied, "No, I'm not afraid of men. It has more to do with attraction than repulsion. I think men are ugly or at least unattractive. No offense meant, but women just look better to me. Lee, even after she betrayed me, was more attractive to me than any man. I even found my mother alluring, even though she was unhealthily skinny. When Conner, Sara's husband, died I set out to seduce her and make her mine. Maybe some day I will wish to try a man but only to try. I love Sara. I'm glad you were able to talk to Mara and get her to talk to her mother again. The division between them was tearing Sara apart and she had no clue why. If she thought it was because of us she would have ended it right away."

I smiled, "I am glad I could help. I want you to know that you have nothing to fear from my knowledge of your relationship. I may be far away at Imperial house but I will keep your secret as if it were my own. Now, I think I should head home. Sara may be getting through any time now and may want to stop by here."

She nodded, "You may be right she does stop by here after work sometimes for a quick snuggle."

We had been standing embraced in a hug until then and when she started to pull away her thighs brushed against my erection which was tenting the front of my breaches. She stopped dead in front of me and reached between us to feel it with the back of her hand.

"Oh my, did I do that?"

"Yes, at least partially, you are a very attractive woman and the story you told me had some very arousing parts."

"I'm sorry. Maybe I can help you out in some way."

She turned her hand around and grasped my rigid member through my clothes. I reached down and grabbed her arms drawing her hands away from me. She had a startled expression on her face but I could also detect a look of relief. It was hard for her to believe a man would refuse what she offered but she was glad I had.

"This is not your problem. I'll be okay. I hope you will come to see me off day after tomorrow. I will be leaving for Imperial house early in the morning." I moved towards the door.

Before I could reach it I felt a touch on my arm again. When I turned back she embraced me in a fierce hug with a whispered ‘thank you'. I was somewhat amused that she hugged me while trying to avoid rubbing up against my erect member. When she released me I kissed her on the cheek and headed to the door once more. I told her good night and headed out into the darkness. I looked back once and saw a female shape silhouetted briefly against the lamplight before the door closed.

---

I found the way to the rope bridge in the dark and stopped at this end to listen and see if anyone was already crossing it. All I heard was the creaking of the ropes and the wind blowing in the trees. Just across the bridge right before you get to the stairs that are cut into the mountain there is a clump of trees on a ledge with a trail down the center. These were stubby pines not more than fifteen feet tall and only about eight to ten inches across. They dug roots into the modest soil of the ledge and swayed alarmingly in a high wind. It was an ideal place of concealment but I was so close to the village I never thought of the possibility of someone laying in wait there.

I was about half way through the trees when a female voice caused me to spin to face the shadows on that side. "I owe you a debt of thanks as well Micah."

As I stared in the moonlight, Sara emerged from the shadow of the trees where she had been standing motionless until then. The light of the moon glinted on her hair as she approached and I could see a smile quirking up her lips.

She chided me, "An Imperial soldier shouldn't be so easily surprised. What if I had been an enemy? I could have attacked you before you knew I was here."

"I'm not an Imperial soldier, not yet anyway. Plus I don't think an enemy soldier would be this far from the border unless he was an escaped prisoner. Since the last war, Samisand had was twenty-five years ago any prisoner still held by us would have to be about fifty. If I couldn't handle a fifty year old ex-prisoner of war I don't think I would qualify as Imperial material. What do you mean by a debt of thanks? I was going to see if I could get Mara to try to sneak out with me but there wasn't anyone home. I'm sorry but you two have been spending so much time together and I leave day after tomorrow. I promise I won't try that again before I leave."

She stood there smiling at me for a moment. "You know darn good and well what I mean and don't try to lie to me. Mara told me that you saw Madeline and me in the storeroom. The fact that you have told no one but Mara is one debt I owe you, the fact that telling her put her mind at ease and let us become friends again is another. Finally there is what you just told Madeline."

When I looked at her in surprise she continued.

"Yes, I heard you two talking. There wasn't as much work left to do as she thought and I wanted to surprise her by an early visit. Imagine my own surprise when I heard a man's voice coming from her house when I got close. I stopped to listen. I have to say that there was a flare of jealousy and I wanted to see what was going on. Madeline had never told me what happened in her home village. I heard what happened to her mother and after when she came to this village. Now I know how painful that is for her I won't press her for more details. I'll let her tell it at her own pace however long that takes. I also saw what happened after. You know she would have done whatever you wanted once she made that offer. She is a woman of her word."

I shook my head, "It doesn't matter. She doesn't like men, period. Even if she said it was okay it would still be uncomfortable. She's had enough unpleasantness in her life. I won't add to it."

She nodded. "I know, you are a man of honor, like your father. Do you know that Mara also told me about what happened at the cottage before the spring festival? She was quite impressed with you. She also said that it helped put things between me and Madeline in perspective."

"I...uh..."

There wasn't much I could say in response to this. The look on her face was amusement rather than anger. I wasn't sure what to say. It would be nice to say that a million responses scrolled across my mind and I rejected them all. Truth be told, my mind just went blank. This wasn't how mothers were supposed to react to their daughters being molested so all the standard reactions didn't fit. I just stood there with my mouth open while she stood there and grinned at me.

She stepped closer to me and placed a hand on my chest. "I remember what it was like to be sixteen. It wasn't that long ago you know. I know how hard it was for you to walk away when my little girl was spread out there in front of you all vulnerable and willing. I appreciate that too. She told me that she would have done anything you wanted right then and what you made her do was get up and go to the dance."

As she spoke she had gotten closer and was now pressed hard up against me. Any power of speech that I might have recovered deserted me as I felt the points of her nipples pressing into my chest. I could feel her breath blowing past my ear as she continued to speak while moving her hand down my chest towards my beltline. "Honor and control like that should be rewarded. Since Mara and Madeline are out of the question, how about I give you your reward?"

By now her hand had reached my belt and started to slide under it. It took all the willpower I had but I raised my hands to grab her arms just above the elbows and force her away. I held her away from me at arms length and shook my head. I still hadn't recovered the power of speech but I got my point across.

She looked surprised for a moment. "What's the matter Micah? Don't you like girls?"

She had another little quirk of a smile but I could see that this was something she was seriously considering.

"Of course I like girls! Do you think I could have done what I did to Mara if I didn't? It's just that I thought you and Madeline were a couple. I don't want to get in the middle of anything there. You are both my friends."

Her rather throaty laugh shut me up. It continued a few moments and then she caught herself. "I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you, not really. Is that all that's bothering you? You are afraid... you'll come between me and Madeline?"

I nodded.

She chuckled again before responding. "First you need to understand something. You are young. There is no way you could come between us. We love each other and nothing will change that. If we can never touch each other again we will still love each other. Second, I married my husband out of love. Madeline married hers for protection. My husband and I enjoyed ourselves just like any married couple, so it's not like I've never done something like this before. When Conner died I thought I would never love again. Madeline showed me I was wrong. I also believe that the physical love has very little to do with true love. If you love someone, it shouldn't matter if you have sex with them or not. It also shouldn't matter if you do have sex with someone else."

She smirked, "Anyway, I'm not offering you some long running personal relationship. You did something good for Mara, Madeline and I and I want to reward you and I'm going to." Then she stepped towards me again while she sank to her knees.

I tried to step back and bumped into one of the pines which kept me from backing any farther. She reached up and grabbed my belt and began unfastening it before I could react. She opened my breaches and plunged her hand inside. Any further argument I might have had was stilled by the contact of her hand on my bare organ. It had remained semi-erect during our conversation but hardened completely upon feeling her hand touch it. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the feeling as her fingers stroked up and down my hardened shaft. I felt her hand draw me out into the open.

She explained, "I hope this is good enough. I'm going up to see Madeline after I'm through here and it would be hard to explain the white stuff running down my leg."

I didn't respond, and then felt her tongue touch my erection. I opened my eyes and looked down. The light of the moon lit up her face as she licked and laved up one side of my flesh and down the other. She returned to the head and glanced up at me. The same smile quirked her lips before she opened her mouth and took me all the way to the sparse hair of my crotch. The wet heat of her mouth and tongue felt incredible and then she began to suck. Her head began to bob and an obscene slurping noise began to come from her mouth. She was sucking as she drew my shaft out of her mouth and licking her tongue back and forth on the underside as she forced it back in. I was still aroused by Madeline's tale and was going to relieve myself on my own shortly, so it wasn't long before the my peak approached.

I wanted to warn her before it was too late. "Sara, I'm very close."

Instead of taking me out of her mouth and finishing me with her hand like I thought she would, she actually increased her sucking and began bobbing her head faster. That familiar feeling began in my toes and began to flow towards my crotch. I had unconsciously started pumping my hips and Sara stopped bobbing her head and just knelt there as I slid in and out of her mouth. I felt my load start squirting as I stroked forward and she clamped her mouth around just the head of my member and sucked. She swallowed my load as it spewed in pulses. She kept sucking and my knees felt weak. I leaned back against the tree and let her finish draining me. I felt her pull her mouth from my softening organ and tuck it back in my breeches. She patted it lovingly as she fastened my belt back and stood up. 

I had a big stupid grin on my face and a warm rosy glow in my head. "Thank you. That was incredible."

She grinned at me and stepped closerm pushing her breasts into me. She kissed me lightly on the lips and then stepped back. "I enjoyed it. I haven't done that since my husband died. We enjoyed doing that so much it was amazing that we ever got pregnant. That's the only thing missing from my relationship with Madeline. Every once and a while I like to feel a man in my mouth and his warm cream on my tongue."

She sighed and turned towards the bridge. "I know you would never tell anyone about Madeline and I, and I know you wouldn't tell Madeline about this. Please, never tell Mara about what just happened."

"You don't have to worry. I will never tell Mara. I hope you all three will be there to see me off when I leave day after tomorrow."

She smiled at me. "We'll be there. And when you come back through, we'll all be ready to greet you. Who knows, maybe we could help each other out again some time. Good luck." She turned and started across the bridge.

I had a lot to think about as I made my way home. Fifteen years and nothing and all this sex within the last two months, it was incredible. As it turned out it was a good thing that I was able to experience all this now. When I got to Imperial house I was too busy or too tired most of the time to worry about it for five years. When I did have time to think about it there was no privacy for such activities or availability of partners.

---

When I left the village two days later all three women were at my father's house to bid me farewell. All three were sniffling like I was going to war and my father was looking at them and then at me with a curious expression. I simply shrugged my shoulders before giving him a hug goodbye. When I stepped away from him he was trying to hide a grin as I hugged each woman in turn before turning to march resolutely away, a determined expression on my face.

My expression was somewhat less determined and more sheepish as I passed the house going the opposite direction a minute later. I had been heading east instead of west. My father and the three ladies started laughing as I passed with my face red with embarassment. The sound of laughter faded as I headed west and it wasn't such a hard thing to leave this time. I had felt a tug at my heart as I walked away with them crying. Walking away to the sound of laughter lightened my heart and my footsteps. I knew where my home was but the road beckoned.

End of Book 2

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