She said, “I wondered about it when you told me that you couldn’t return for two years. It was strange and I’ve been thinking about it. The portal recharges slowly and after it’s used, it disappears for a time. That’s how I knew that you had come through. When I arrived at the shrine, the portal was dormant. I knew that you must have come through within a few hours at most. The shrine takes two weeks to charge to a point where one man may travel, a month if two would go together. That’s what we were told. No one had ever come through during our service, so we only know it because that’s what they say.”
I said, “But again, I was told that only one could go through. By a message written by Carter himself.”
She said, “I can think of several reasons that he might say that to you. The woman of his house may have known about what he wrote to you and offered us clues when she trained us for the shrine. She told us that any travelers who came through would have to have a great commitment to the journey and that they would think that they were on a one-way trip. Because of the dangers, it most likely would be. She told us that any traveler would certainly have no mate or child on their home world. And, it was true. Telling you those things ensured that only the truly committed would try the journey to this world.”
I asked, “Is it true that I couldn’t bring anything with me, or was that a test as well?”
She said, “My understanding is that nothing but living flesh goes through the shrine. We were taught that John Carter took nothing between worlds.”
We ran on in silence for a bit.
I said, “Tell me more about the birth of children. They are hatched from eggs in a special solarium on the roof of the house?”
She said, “No! Where did you come up with that? Is that how children on Earth are born? Hatched from an egg like a lizard?”
I said, “No. I told you that some of what he wrote about life here was changed and maybe sensationalized. So, tell me.”
She laughed, “So, I need tell you the ways of men and women, even though you know much more than I do and everything I know is what you have taught me? OK. When a man and woman love each other very much, they become mates. During the night, the woman takes the man’s penis inside her vagina. Her body releases a tiny egg and his body releases a multitude of tiny seeds. When the seed lodges in the egg, the child is formed. It’s very small, but it grows quickly in her womb. She cares for it inside herself for three months and then it comes out alive. The woman feeds the child from her breasts for another three months and it grows strong enough to live. Is that the story that you want to hear? Is it different on Earth?”
I laughed and said, “Well, that is essentially the same story that we tell, but on Earth, the child grows in the mother’s womb for nine months and then has to be breast fed for two years or so. It will only be half its final size for five years, but it doesn’t reach full height for the first 14 to 18 years. A girl is sexually mature by the time she is 13 or so, the boy at 14 or 15, but mentally, they don’t reach maturity until roughly 23 to 25. In most places today, 23 is about the youngest age that mating will take place. Often not until 30 or more. A woman may only have children until she’s about 40 to 50 years old and most people don’t live more than 70 or 80 years.”
She gasped, “Nine months! How big is the baby when it’s born?”
I showed her with my hands and she said, “Here, a baby is born this big.” And she showed me something the size of her fist. “A womb can’t hold a anything as big as you say.”
I said, “On Earth, the woman’s belly gets very large. At the end, she can hardly walk and she’s very uncomfortable.”
She said, “When our first child comes, the day before his birth, I’ll still run as fast as I do today. That’s so sad. Such short lives. I could never bear it if my life with you were going to be so short.”
I said, “But, that may be a problem I am afraid. You see, I am already 47 years old. My hair is turning gray. I’m afraid that you’ll outlive me by many years.”
She laughed again, “You are a baby. I’m nearly twice as old. But, as for your ‘gray hairs and advanced age’, I think you fear too much. When I found you, your hair did have specks of gray, but you can’t see yourself. I can see that the color is returning to your head and the lines of age on your face and body are disappearing. I told you that my milk is very nourishing to you. I have no fear of you dying for many centuries. I plan to die a hundred million times before you do.”
She smiled and stopped and said, “Are you ready for breakfast my handsome prince? I can eat the fruit you picked, and you can pick the fruit from your personal orchard at my bosom,” and she winked and thrust out her chest at me and cupped and rubbed her breasts and pinched the nipples gently.
I smiled and we sat on the ground and opened the pack and ate a piece of fruit each. Aeyli-ah ate two more pieces, but kept gazing at me hungrily. When she was done, I lay her down on the moss and drank my fill of her nectars as she moaned and breathed heavily upon the moss, lying her back. We didn’t stay longer, but got back on our feet and continued toward Tranna.
As we ran, we continued to talk about various aspects of life on Barsoom. The closer we came to Tranna, the more important it seemed to me that I find out about the secret that Aeyli-ah was carrying. I had an inkling of the subject of her secret, but I wasn’t sure. Perhaps I could get her to tell me without demanding it from her.
I said, “Will we live in Tranna?”
She said, “We will live wherever you want to. But to start, I think that we should have a base in Tranna. It will give us a place to come home to.”
I responded, “Ah, a nice home base! I think that will be wonderful. Will it be a tiny cottage or a large house?”
She said, “Oh no, quite large I expect. With many rooms and a good garden.”
I said, “Oh, a small castle with one prince.”
She smiled happily and said, “You will be the prince and rule your own small kingdom.”
I slid in the question that got to what I was afraid to hear, “And, how many princesses in this kingdom?”
She said excitedly, “Many, at least three before morning…” and her steps faltered and she slowed for an instant and I could see on her face that she had given away more than she had planned.
I let us run on in silence as my companion frowned and thought about what she could say next.
She finally said, “Ask me what you want. I won’t hold anything back.”
I said, “Then tell me the story. I have promised to trust you. It is a surprise, but you had given me hints already. You told me that a man like me would be forced to take several mates. I didn’t know what you meant. Is that true? What does it mean?”
She said, “I will tell it all to you, but let’s not stop. Let’s run along as if it was the same conversation that we’ve had all morning. Please, My Prince?”
I agreed.
She said, “It’s true. You told me that on Earth there are laws about how to dissolve a mating bond. In these days, we have laws about how many bonds must be taken. I told you that five women are born for every man that is born. And the birthrate is very low. A village of a hundred pairs will see just one birth per year. Or less. There’s a great expectation that people could disappear from the face of Barsoom. Besides that, I told you that a woman without a mate dies young, maybe living no more than a few hundred years. It’s sad and lonely. If each man takes only one mate, at least four are forsaken and die young. But many men are no longer courageous and some wander away and never mate at all.
Every village may be somewhat different, but in Tranna, and in many places, each man is expected to take as many mates as he is able to… to… um, the number is complicated. You see, part of it is based on how many he can provide for… well, it’s all based on how many he can provide for… provide for physically, provide for emotionally, and provide for sexually.