by Robin Roseau
“Beginning in the morning,” Kalorain said. “You may have Maddalyn for two days before she returns to her duties for the governor.”
“Very good,” replied the Vendart’s Wife. “Kalorain, we will be speaking English, regardless of whether Maddalyn is here. Maddalyn, you will speak Talmonese, unless your wife indicates otherwise, but we will probably respond in English.”
“Of course, Valtine,” I replied.
“I will suspend the rules for punishment if someone uses the wrong language when responding to someone speaking the opposite language. If you reply in English, you will not be punished. Similarly, if someone responds to you in Talmonese, they will not be punished. Chastised, but not punished.”
I smiled and nodded understanding.
“I’ll see you both tomorrow morning,” she said in closing. “Thank you both.”
“Of course, Valtine,” Kalorain replied. She took my hand, and together we hurried from the vendart’s home. Then she tugged, laughing, and led me home.
Once inside, she smiled. We helped each other with our boots, taking turns to wash. Then she said, “There is something I want to do.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Wait here.” She was gone only a minute, and when she returned, she held several coils of rope. I laughed and held out my wrists.
Kalorain smiled while looking at me. “I think I want to do this differently, my Galatzi wife.” She set the ropes aside then prowled to me. I watched her the entire time. She carried a hungry expression, one that resonated within me, and I felt myself responding, even before she touched me.
Kalorain reached out, touching my cheek. “I love you, my Galatzi wife.”
“I love you, too,” I replied. “Kalorain, the night you took me is forever etched in my mind.”
“Good,” she said. “We’re going to etch it more deeply.” I smiled at that and even shivered a little.
She stepped closer. “Don’t move.” Her hands moved to my clothing, and she began to slowly remove everything I was wearing, one piece at a time. She moved slowly, deliberately, looking into my eyes nearly the entire time. As she exposed more and more skin, she touched what she uncovered. She touched. She caressed. A few times she kissed. I shivered under her touch, and my ache grew.
But I obeyed.
Finally I stood before her, wearing not a single stitch of clothing. I eyed her up and down. “Your turn.”
“Eventually,” she said. “Hold out your wrists.” I did, and she tied them, working very slowly, caressing me with the rope as she worked. “You like this, don’t you?” Her voice had turned husky.
“Yes,” I said.
“When I came here, I thought my role would be yours.” She smiled. “I like this side much better.” She finished my wrists then caressed my arms a moment. Then she lifted my wrists, bent my elbows, and set my arms on top of my head. Her eyes dropped to my chest, and I knew standing like this caused my breasts to stand to attention.
Kalorain’s hands lowered, and she played for a moment. My eyes lidded, and I began trembling for her.
And she had barely begun.
“Kalorain,” I whispered.
“I have you,” she whispered back. “Just like this, you know you are mine.”
“Yes, my wonderful wife.”
“But you want more. You want me to continue this, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Very much.”
She retrieved another rope, moved behind me, and began tying the harness. As she worked, she talked, almost casually, her breath against my shoulder or my neck as she spoke. Her hands continued to tease, and the rope as well. “It is ironic. I know my father, and Darratine’s father as well.”
“The same man?”
“No,” she said. “Mine is a baker. A good man.”
“A worthy profession,” I said.
“Mother took both of them -- well, the three of them, really, if we consider Wenolopid. Mother took the three of them to her bed, strictly to produce us. There are other ways, of course, but this is what she did. She picked good, gentle men.” She laughed. “Men she would otherwise find boring, but who would give her good babies.”
“You talk about this now?” I asked.
“I have a point.” She tied a knot, one of many for the harness. “It is ironic. I know these men, but not well. I did not grow up seeing my mother in long-term relationships. Chaladine is the first woman I thought she loved.” She tied another knot, then collected the next rope. She kissed my shoulder as she uncoiled it, and then she continued. “And yet, I learned what I know of relationships from her. She showed us love, of course, and respect. And she talked about what is required for a relationship to flourish.”
She focused on the rope for a minute, then paused, one hand cupping my bottom. I realized I was biting my lip, but I looked over my shoulder at her. “Please don’t stop.”
“I won’t,” she replied. “Mother taught me many things. One thing she stressed time after time is that relationships take focus. You cannot expect a relationship to thrive if you are not focused on making it thrive.”
“Beacon Hill Vendart is a wise woman,” I replied.
“I’ve let this part of our relationship relax. As we return to our duties, focus on our duties will distract us from our relationship. I will not allow that.”
She collected my wrists and began to tie them into the harness, pulling my hands behind my neck to do it.
“I won’t, either.”
“This is my responsibility, one of my responsibilities to you,” Kalorain said. She finished with my wrists then turned me around to face her. I looked her in the eye, smiling, trembling. “I love doing this to you.”
“You have perhaps noticed I love it, too.”
“Do you think about doing it the other way?”
“No. This is my way, Kalorain. Do you want it the other way?”
“No. If it was something you wanted, I might allow it, but I prefer this.” She stepped very close. “You are staying like this until your arms begin to ache.”
“Good. Kalorain, I am your Galatzi wife.”
“Yes,” she said. Then she collected the remaining rope, hooked a finger in the harness, and used that to tug me to our bedroom.
* * * *
She made love to me for hours, hours and hours. She found her own pleasure as well, but she took me, completely and thoroughly. Long before she was done, I was entirely worn out.
And utterly happy, filled with bliss, filled with love.
Eventually we lay together. She held me for a while, then rolled me half across her and worked on freeing my hands, just from the harness. She released them, but kept my wrists tied, and I would wear the harness until morning. Then she collected me in her arms again, and we lay together.
“Maddalyn,” she said after a while. “I hope this is what you want.”
I laughed. “Oh, yes,” I said. “And you?”
“Oh yes,” she said, echoing me. “What did Mother want today?”
“You know your mother well,” I said. “Children came up.”
“I am surprised she waited this long,” Kalorain replied. “Do you want children with me?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “Kalorain, what does that mean to you?”
“It means we make babies,” she said. She tapped my nose. “You will carry them.”
“In your mind, how are those babies produced?”
“We would obtain a sample,” she said. “Do you know what sample I mean?”
“Yes, I believe I do.”
“With a doctor’s help, I would give you this sample.”
“Where does the sample come from?”
“A man.”
“That part I knew. What man?”
“Ah. Normally, my brother or a close male relative. But we live here in Sudden, and I imagine the vendart would choose. Perhaps the vendart’s son. I don’t know.”
“How many children do you want?”
“At least two,” she said. “At least on
e daughter.”
“So if we have five sons?”
“Then we will have a sixth child.”
I laughed. “And I will carry all of them?”
“Unless the doctors say otherwise. You understand, Maddalyn: this is my choice.”
I nodded. “All right. I wish to tell you several things. First, I am not saying we have to wait so long, but because of rejuvenation, we can have children whenever we want. We can have children when we are two hundred years old. Think about that for a minute.”
She was quiet for a minute then said, “I do not want to wait so long, but I understand, Maddalyn.”
“Next, you and I both now have the right to leave the planet at the empire’s expense. I may leave for rejuvenation every five years, and I may bring you with me. If a rejuvenation center opens here, we would not have to leave, but we would still be free to do so, at empire expense.” I waited a minute until she nodded.
“We may also leave for any medical necessity,” I said. “For either of us. And here I reach my most important point. Childbirth is considered a medical necessity. Kalorain, unless we wait until we have full Imperial medical facilities available on Talmon, we will leave the planet for me to give birth. We will return once the child is safe to travel.”
“Cecilia and Chaladine explained that part.”
“We may either wait, or we must leave. Do you understand?”
“I understand, Maddalyn. How long would we have to wait?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully not long, but if you want to make a child tomorrow, then we’ll be taking the next ship for Tarriton.”
“All right. Did you have more to say?”
“Yes. That is the only point on which I am adamant. But there are two things you should know about Imperial medicine. First, we can choose the gender of our children.”
“We can?”
“We can,” I said.
“We could have two girls and then a boy.”
“Yes.”
“And then decide if we want more.”
“Yes.”
She smiled broadly. “That is what we will do.”
“Unless we wait until we can do it here, we would need to do this on Tarriton.”
“Not Frantzland?”
“You would hate Frantzland, but I think you would like Tarriton,” I said.
“So we would bring our sample with us?”
“We could,” I said. “Or…” I paused. “We don’t need a sample from a man.”
“I know our science is not as good as yours,” she replied. “But I’m fairly certain it takes a man and a woman.”
“If we go to Tarriton, or if we wait until it is available here, you and I can make a baby. No men are required. I am not adamant on this, but I would really like us to do it that way, Kalorain. The baby would be half you and half me.”
“Really?” she asked, a whisper.
“Really.”
“That is what I want to do,” she said firmly.
“We would have to wait until I may go home. I cannot afford to pay for our transportation, and so we must wait until I am owed.”
“Cecilia Grace will pay this cost?”
“Actually, we work for something called the Department of State. The regional government is on Tarriton. They would pay for it.”
“When?”
“Four more years,” I said. “Unless we have an imperial hospital here that can do it.”
She nodded. “Four years.” She nodded again. “All right. We will do so much? Rejuvenation, too? We are both so young.”
“We normally take first rejuvenation at sixteen years old,” I said. “I will want you to do your first. You have four years to decide what you want to do.”
“Or sooner, if Cecilia Grace opens a facility here?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “There will be a very long queue. Everyone on the planet will want rejuvenation.”
“And the elderly should go first.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You can take someone who is sixty and make her sixteen?”
“Yes. I don’t know of anyone who would wait that long if she had a choice, but I do know of people who choose to become very young. Some make themselves very young and go back to school, although you don’t have to. There are schools for adults, of course, or you can become a child, but you aren’t really a child, and so you do not have to go to school. It is not that you forget what you knew.”
“Then why do it?”
“To experience childhood again. There are complications, but the doctors see to that.”
“I don’t want to do anything like that.”
“Neither do I,” I said.
She lay quietly for a while but finally said, “I think I will be so scared.”
“I will be with you,” I said.
She nodded and pulled me more tightly against her. Then she kissed my forehead. “Say it.”
I laughed. “I am your obedient Galatzi wife.”
“Yes,” she said. “You are. You will remain tied in this fashion until morning.”
I smiled. “Good.”
* * * *
After that, while we enjoyed lovemaking very, very frequently, she would tie me perhaps once a week or so, taking great joy from making me squirm and quiver. I cannot say which of us enjoyed it more. But this, as much as washing feet and our other rituals, became a permanent part of our life, and it was one more reason I was completely, entirely in love with Kalorain.
* * * *
Morning arrived. Kalorain untied me. We saw to our individual needs and then met to shower together. This was a mutual activity, much like our foot ritual, and so we took turns washing each other.
We dressed in casual leather. There were other looks common on Talmon, but I had fallen in love with this look from watching Chaladine, and Kalorain seemed to enjoy it as well. We ate a simple breakfast together, and then Kalorain led me to Valtine’s office.
The Vendart’s Wife was already working when we arrived. She looked up and smiled. “Do you have work gloves?”
“I do,” Kalorain said. “Maddalyn does not.”
“Buy some,” she said. “Then I need you at the waterfront. There is a crew working on the quay. You will join them today and tomorrow.”
“Yes, Vendart’s Wife,” Kalorain replied.
Valtine nodded. “Once you return Maddalyn to service for Governor Grace, I want your direct help, Kalorain.” My wife nodded. “Maddalyn, I understand the empire uses very little paper.” She gestured to the records on her desk. “Do you use a tablet?”
“Yes,” I said, “or sometimes a larger device.”
“I could use my tablet, if I knew how.”
“Yes.”
“And Kalorain could use her tablet. Could we share data?”
“Yes.”
“Then your wife will coordinate, but you will teach us, the next time you owe me duty.”
“I will ensure both tablets have everything they need,” I said.
“I wish to be able to share this data with anyone who has a tablet. Can you arrange that?”
“Yes. Easily.”
“What happens if something bad happens to my tablet?”
“We get you a new one. Your data will be safe.”
“All right then. Find Santidano at the waterfront. He will have coveralls and anything else you need.”
“Yes, Vendart’s Wife.”
Gloves were easy, a shop on the way to the waterfront. And it wasn’t difficult to find the work crew. Kalorain led me to a man I thought was near the vendart’s age. “Valtine sent us to find Santidano,” Kalorain said.
“That’s me,” he replied.
“We’re here to help you,” she said. “I am Kalorain, Beacon Hill Vendart’s daughter, now Kalorain of Sudden. This is my Galatzi wife, Maddalyn.”
“The Galatzi star wife!” he exclaimed. “On my crew?”
“We all do our duty to our home,” I said. “Santidano, I have a willing p
air of hands, but it is almost assured I have never done anything you might ask.”
Kalorain nudged me. “You shouldn’t tell him that. Now he’ll give you all the nasty work, and me with you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She laughed. “I’m teasing, Maddalyn.”
“Oh.”
The man smiled.
“We’re replacing the ladders,” he said. “I like to paint them before we put them together. Come on.”
He led us to a pile of wood. “These are the ladders,” he said. “They need three thick coats of paint.” He looked at me. “Have you ever painted?”
“One moment.” I had to look some of the words up. “No,” I said finally. “Is it hard?”
“No,” he said. “But it is better if you are slow and careful. Care now means they last far longer.”
“I’ve led painting crews, Santidano,” Kalorain said. “If you show me the supplies, I can teach her.”
“You won’t mind if I check on you.”
“Of course not.”
He showed us paint, brushes, cleaning supplies, and everything else we would need. Kalorain and I helped each other into coveralls, pulling our hair into pony tails as well, and then we carried what we would need over to the lumber.
We set to it.
It was not at all difficult, although the day would warm. And working beside Kalorain was wonderful. We talked easily as we worked. The time passed quickly, and then Santidano stopped back. “Lunch is here.” He gestured and then moved to the next crew.
We washed our hands, and then Kalorain led me over. One of the inns was doing their duty by helping to feed the work crew. There were tables set up with food for us to collect. And so we took our plates, found what we wanted, and then looked for a place to sit, finally sitting on the quay itself, our feet hanging out over the water and our plates in our laps.
“This is not the Frantzland way,” I said. “Oh, Kalorain, this is much better.”
“What happens on Frantzland?”
“Companies pay taxes,” I explained. “If you have a source of income, you also may pay taxes, depending on the source.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you work for a company, you do not pay taxes. But some people work for themselves. They might be an artist and sell their paintings.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Or they might have investments. That is, they might own companies or own a home they rent to others.”