by Elin Peer
Archer and Marco exchanged a long glance and moved to the end of the room as if they would have nothing to do with this.
“I want all the Nboys to lie down flat on their back,” I instructed. “Spread out so you don’t touch each other.”
When the boys were all lying down, I continued. “The rest of you know what to do, so just pick a person and get started on a foot rub. I’ll time it to ten minutes and then you’ll swap.”
When the Nboys understood what morning massage actually meant some of them started to complain.
“I don’t want anyone touching my feet,” Solomon said, and since he had already established himself as a kind of leader of the pack yesterday, the other boys started to grump about it too.
“I’m sure that not everyone was eager to go running this morning either,” I said and tilted my head. “But to make it easier for you, Marco will become an example and show you how it’s done.” I turned my head to Marco, who stood leaning against the wall next to Archer in the back of the room. “Won’t you, Marco?” I needed him to trump Solomon’s authority to get the other boys on board.
Marco didn’t look happy about it, but he did move over to the cozy corner and lay down.
“Now, if Marco is willing to let Shelly give him a foot rub, I’m sure the rest of you can deal with it too.”
A few more grumpy questions were heard.
“Why do we have to do this again?”
“But I thought we weren’t supposed to touch each other?”
“What if my feet stink?”
“You just took a shower, Storm, so they’d better not,” I said. “Just close your eyes, lie back, and enjoy it. In ten minutes you will be the one giving a foot rub.”
Except for a few chuckles and giggles, the room was quiet and from the look of it, ten boys and one young man were starting to enjoy themselves.
“Time to swap,” I called out when the ten minutes were up.
“I almost fell asleep.” William yawned. “Can we do that every day? I like it.”
“I’m happy you like it, William.” My voice was sugarcoated as I shot a long glance at Archer, who had opposed this part of my curriculum. “Tomorrow we’ll do a back massage.”
Solomon lit up. “With or without shirts on?” he asked and his eyes instantly fell on Willow.
“With shirts on!” Archer boomed. “And don’t get any funny ideas or I’ll have you running around the building fifty times before lunch.”
Solomon didn’t look too worried, and when some of the other boys knocked shoulders with him in what I assumed was a sign of respect, he laughed.
Three hours of science and math followed, until it was time for lunch. After that the children had an hour to themselves, and many spent it on getting to know each other. Most of them still kept to the children they had come with, however.
Archer had argued that fight training should be after lunch to get the blood pumping, so we started up with an hour of fight training that afternoon.
“Welcome to your first fight training,” Archer said loudly. “Since some of you have already trained for years and some of you have never trained at all, we’ll separate you into two groups. If you’re new at fighting, go with Magni while the rest of you come with me.”
The children quickly formed two groups and Archer, who had tied his hair back and put on a pair of comfortable low-hanging shorts and a tank top, continued: “Magni and Marco will stay with the group of beginners to assist.”
“Gather in a circle, sit down, and keep quiet,” Magni instructed. “First I’m going to show you some basic movements that are…”
“I don’t want to fight,” Nicki objected and ran to me. “I don’t like it when people fight.” Nicki was only ten and I knew from her file that she’d experienced some unpleasant things in her early childhood.
“It’s okay.” I stroked her hair. “No one is going to hurt you, but we have to learn about their culture, and fighting is one of the things that children are taught in school here.”
Nicki’s shoulders sank and she looked down with a sad pout.
“You know what, sweetie, why don’t I learn with you? I wasn’t lucky enough to go to school where I could learn things like this, and I trust that Magni won’t hurt me.” I stepped into the circle of children. “I know he looks big and dangerous, but Magni is a very good friend of mine.”
Magni frowned, but didn’t challenge my statement.
“Okay, ehhm, let’s see,” he said and looked directly at Nicki. “Rather than teaching you how to fight, why don’t we focus on how you can protect yourself? First you have to learn how to block a punch.” He instructed and I played along, doing as he told me to. Next he wanted to teach us how to get out of a strong grip from behind. “Let’s say someone attacks you from behind and grabs you like this.” He pulled my back against his chest, placing one arm across my belly and the other just above my breasts. “What are you gonna do? How will you get out of this grip?”
“Try to get free, Kya.” Raven got up from her cross-legged position to sit on her knees and follow closely. “You can do it.”
I wriggled my body, but his grip just tightened and I could feel Magni’s warm breath against my neck. Pushing at his arms didn’t help either, and when I tried stomping his foot, Magni lifted me from the ground as if I weighed nothing. I didn’t give up, though, and kept struggling, until he released me very suddenly.
“Maybe it’s better if Marco steps in here to demonstrate,” he said.
“Why? I wanna learn too,” I objected because now I was annoyed after having felt helpless in his arms. I wanted to know how to get out of it if it ever happened in real life.
“Then look.” He signaled for Marco to come and join him and together they demonstrated what to do before they had the rest of us do it. I was especially impressed with Raven, who fought with everything she had.
“For the last ten minutes of today’s session, I want you to go and watch the Nboys fight. It’s just so you can get an idea of what we’re going for,” Magni told them, and Marco, Shelly, and all the children went to watch the Nboys and Archer train, while Magni pulled me aside.
“Don’t fucking do that again,” he scolded me.
“What did I do?” I asked in confusion.
“You fucking wriggled up against me like a cat in heat.”
“Uhh, that’s not true,” I sputtered with indignation. “I was trying to get out of your grip.”
“Well then, let me tell you right now, if a man actually does attack you, wriggling your butt into his dick is only going to entice him further. I’m a married man and I can’t be in front of a group of kids with a racing heart and a hard-on.”
“Don’t be vulgar!”
Magni raised a brow. “I don’t fucking care if my words offend you. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
“Maybe this isn’t about me,” I said, taking a deep breath to steady myself. “I can see that you’re hurting, and missing your wife. Do you want to talk about it?”
He rolled his eyes. “No, all you need to know is that Laura is coming back.”
“That’s great. When can I meet her?”
“I’m not sure.” He rubbed his nose as a sign of irritation. “I sent her a video but I didn’t get a reply yet.”
“So, you don’t know for sure if she’s coming back?”
Magni’s eyes pinned me, but he didn’t answer.
I had to ask the question that was burning in my throat: “How long will you wait for her?”
“Why? Are you offering yourself as a substitute?” His voice was gruff with emotion.
I was taken aback by his directness. “That’s not what I said.”
“Well, I’m no fucking mind reader and I’m confused about the signals you’re sending, so tell me straight up: Are you coming on to me?”
“No! Why would you think that?” I asked, taking a small step back.
“Because you smile and laugh at me, and tell me about your sexual fantasi
es. I would say that’s coming on to me,” he argued. “Not to forget the time in your apartment when you were rubbing yourself against me.”
“I didn’t!” I was stunned that he could’ve misread me like that.
Magni arched an eyebrow. “Just say it, Kya. Are you asking to have a sexual relationship with me?”
Something inside of me snapped. I might be curious about them, I might even do some things that were strange to them, like touching; but for Magni to think that I wanted to have sex with him and accuse me so blatantly of coming on to him was so off. Boiling with annoyance, I didn’t play nice.
“I told you about a sexual fantasy that I had long before I even met you. I also pointed out that I couldn’t imagine doing it with someone here in the Northlands and yet in your arrogant little head, you managed to make it about you.”
“Did you just call me arrogant?”
“Right to your face!” I raised my chin up.
Magni lowered his eyebrows and shifted his balance. “So, you’re not interested in having sex with me?” he asked slowly.
“That’s right. You’re completely safe and don’t have to worry about me throwing myself at you like… what was it that you said?… a cat in heat.”
“Huh!” He huffed. “I completely misread your signals then. I was sure you were horny.”
That comment had me flashing bright red, pivoting around and leaving with an offended snort.
CHAPTER 9
Status Meeting
Archer
On Saturday night, we had a meeting with all seven members of the school board while the kids enjoyed a bonfire outside, supervised by Marco and Shelly.
“So, tell me, are you happy with the first week?” Khan placed both hands behind his neck and leaned back in his seat.
“Yes, I’m proud of the children for making such a great effort,” Kya said softly.
“Hmm; from what I’ve heard, not everything has gone smoothly,” Khan said challengingly and looked to me for a more honest report.
I drew in a deep breath before I spoke: “There have been some successes. But we’re also facing some challenges that we need to work through.”
“Such as?”
“The boys are definitely pushing boundaries and we’ve had a few, ehhm…” I thought about how to put it and ended up using the word “…incidents.”
Boulder started chuckling softly and received the stink-eye from Christina. “It’s not funny,” she said.
“Oh, come on, you’ve got to admit that it was funny when the boys took it upon themselves to expand the vocabulary of the children from the Motherlands.”
“Teaching them the foulest curse words they know isn’t funny,” Kya insisted.
Boulder and I had a hard time not smiling. “What did you expect?” I asked.
“You might find this innocent, but in my classroom such language won't be tolerated,” Kya said in a firm voice.
“But that's just it, isn't it? It's not your classroom, it's our classroom,” I reminded her.
Kya angled her head and used that same patient teacher tone she used with the children. “Then maybe you men could show a good example and stop using foul language,” she suggested. “It really is very unsophisticated.”
Khan leaned over the table, his eyes narrowed and his brow wrinkled. “Did it ever occur to you that we don't like how you speak either? You may call it sophisticated, but we call it fucking annoying with those honeyed voices and childish words. We like how we talk! It's colorful, it's precise, and I'm not fucking changing how I speak because you girls don't like it.”
“We’re not girls,” Christina pointed out quickly. “Unless you wish to be referred to as a boy, you’d better call us women.”
There was a charged moment between the two until Pearl placed a hand gently on Khan's arm and spoke. “We knew there would be cultural challenges and that's okay. Ultimately it will have to be up to each child how they wish to speak. I'm confident that the children from the Motherlands will quickly readjust themselves once they go back.”
That seemed to calm Khan down and he turned his attention on me again. “What other incidents have you had?”
“There's been more teasing at night than we normally see in our schools,” I said and stretched my feet under the table. “You know, the boys turning on the light in the girls’ dorm, the girls reciprocating, lots of giggling and daring to do things they shouldn't.”
“That sounds pretty innocent,” Khan said.
“It is,” I confirmed but Kya cut me off before I had a chance to continue.
“You call the snake in Willow's bed an innocent prank? Didn’t you see how terrified she was?”
“It wasn’t a poisonous snake,” I pointed out dryly.
“Still. And what about the frog in Victoria's boot, or the two spiders in Raven’s hair?”
Khan groaned and looked to Magni and me. “I know this is all innocent fun but…” He gave a nod in the direction of the women. “They’re sensitive and don’t share our sense of humor.”
“That’s because your humor isn’t funny,” Pearl said with a sweet smile and leaned against him.
Khan rewarded her with a private smile and instructed us men: “Don’t let the boys get away with it. Just set an example and make it stop.”
“It’s not that simple,” I argued.
“Yes, it is.” Khan insisted. “Just fucking punish them if they won’t listen.”
“I would be more than happy to,” Magni defended himself. “But then what do we do about the girls’ revenge? Do we punish them too?”
“What revenge?” Khan asked.
Kya wrung her hands. “I’m not proud of it, but the girls brought in a jar of mosquitoes and left it in the boy’s dorm overnight. They've been scratching everywhere for days now.”
Christina looked to Boulder, who was smiling smugly. “I can't imagine who gave the girls that idea,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Hey, no one touches my Raven.” Boulder crossed his arms and I frowned at him. We all loved Raven but because she and Kya had lived with Boulder and Christina when they first arrived, Boulder had formed a special bond with the girl. Seeing her leave in a few years was no doubt going to be painful for him.
Khan made a dismissive hand gesture. “Just give the boys something to ease the itching. We’re in 2437, for fuck’s sake. How hard can it be?”
“I wanted to, but Archer said that the pain would teach them a lesson,” Kya explained.
“That’s right,” Boulder agreed. “They need to learn not to mess with the girls.”
“But it's not all negative,” Kya insisted quickly. “Willow and Hunter are bonding. He's very protective of her, just like we predicted he would be.”
“She's very protective of him too,” Magni pointed out. “Yesterday I punished him for teasing one of the younger boys and Willow came rushing to her brother’s defense.” He wrinkled his brow. “She actually started arguing with me that Hunter shouldn't be forced to climb the tree because it was too dangerous.”
“See?” Kya nodded enthusiastically. “Isn’t that nice?”
Magni scrunched up his face. “No, it's not fucking nice. I don't like it when students question my authority, and I could have thought of a much harder punishment than climbing a tree.”
“And how about the fight training?” Khan asked and changed the subject.
“I've never had a better group of boys to work with,” I said. “All of the Nboys are born warriors; they are physically strong, fast, and skilled at fighting.”
“Why is that?” Pearl asked and turned to look at Khan. “Were these boys somehow chosen based upon their physical strength or did you pick a wide representation of normal boys like we agreed upon?”
“All Nboys are physically strong and skilled,” Khan said and gave me a pointed look. “Right, Archer?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, because I didn't want to upset my ruler and tell the women the truth: that the boys had been ha
ndpicked and were all the best of the best in the Northlands.
“Interesting,” Pearl said slowly. “So, you are saying that if we go to a normal school here in the Northlands, we’ll see boys of this caliber in every classroom? And while we’re on the topic, would these ordinary boys be as handsome as the boys here?”
We men exchanged quick looks because we all knew the truth; after all, it made complete sense that we would pick the most handsome ones to impress the girls and hopefully make them want to stay.
“We can talk about that later,” Khan told Pearl with a raised eyebrow. “For now, I want to focus on the integration between the boys and the girls.”
“Well I for one am very positive that this experiment will be a huge success,” Kya said with a smile. “I see the boys liking the massage and the meditation, and they’re very open to our ways of teaching. Once the initial teasing is over I think we’ll all be one big happy family.”
I clicked my tongue because this was a good example of how naïve Kya was. “The only reason they like your teaching,” I said, “is because you don't punish them when they don’t pay attention. From what I can see they’re more occupied with finding ways to tease the girls and get their attention than actually learning anything. I'm not sure that it's such a good idea to have them learn together. It seems to affect the boys’ concentration negatively.”
“It's natural for the children to be curious about each other,” Kya said defensively.
“I get that, but I don't see your children having any problems concentrating. It's our boys who are having it the worst and it's not fair to them.”
It was Kya’s turn to cross her arms. “I told you this would happen. The Nboys are curious, and they sit there wondering how the girls look without their clothes on, which is why having shared showers would have demystified it and made it possible for them to concentrate in school. You don’t see Tommy and Nieall having trouble concentrating, do you?”
Both Magni and I gave loud groans and exasperated sighs. “Here we go again,” he muttered while I pointed straight at Kya and almost sneered. “There will be no shared showers; we already took a vote on this.”