The others agreed that they also felt hope and trust in me and they made me feel very welcome.
Dorel said, “Then Mark, if you agree, will you teach at the new village hall? Teach some things for men and women, teach some for men alone, and perhaps Aeyli can teach the women alone. Teach wisdom and weapons and confidence and peace with our neighbors. Teach what will increase our birthrate and what will make everyone happy.”
Aeyli said, “Grandmother, um, the old women who instructed us as girls had no understanding. Mark has shown Rani and Belle and I ways that make our eyes turn inside out. I would teach these things to the women just before they mate and then for a long time after. It should be done in a better way. Mark has a method of weapons teaching, step by step, and I would teach the women the things of being a mate in the same manner. And in the same way, he can teach the men how to make a princess happy in ways that I don’t think that they know.”
Dorel said, “I think that those discussions should begin with the women on the council. We will sit with you and see what you have and then see what we can do with it. If all is well, we will all teach together: the women’s teaching of girls should be done by a circle. So, are we settled on these things? Mark and Aeyli and Rani and Belle are mated. The service at the shrine is ended for them. The house is now the house of Mark. A portion of the gift will be used to renovate a hall. The hall will become the Academy of Tranna. Mark will teach as he sees fit in wisdom, weapons, manhood, confidence, peace, and whatever else he knows. Aeyli will teach at his side. She will teach the nine of us more intimate things until we can teach the girls. We will not call Mark to sit on the council until it is time, but we will consult privately. I suggest that he be made aware of all affairs of the village that we are responsible for, and he will offer any opinions that he wants to share. Are we all agreed? Is there anything else for tonight?”
Aeyli gave her grandmother a look and Dorel said, “Oh, yes, one more thing. Aeyli has warned me that Mark will take one or two more mates within the next 40 days. But this time, it will be done within the village gates and they will appear before the council for the declaration.”
Someone said, “One or two more! So soon?”
Dorel said, “These are strange times, We adapted to the fall of time, now we will adapt to a time where a man takes three mates in a day and two more before the month is over.”
Dorel and the other women hugged Aeyli, Rani, and Belle and the men clasped my arm and congratulated me, and we said our goodnight.
As we left the council hall, Aeyli and Rani clung to my arms and Belle clung to Aeyli on the other side. We walked happily back to the ‘House of Mark’ and went in to my new home.
Chapter 18
Morning In the House of Mark
We went to bed shortly after returning to the house. There was plenty of artificial light, but it was the custom to go to sleep not long after dark, nonetheless. The girls were frisky, but everyone was really ready for bed, and after a few kisses and hugs, we closed our eyes to sleep.
Aeyli let Rani and Belle sleep next to me because it was their first night. The bed was large, but just barely large enough for four; three might have been more comfortable. Maybe we could fix that someday. I fell asleep with both Rani and Belle idly petting my crotch.
When I woke up at dawn, all three girls were still in bed with me and just starting to stir themselves. There were no big sexual adventures, we just said good morning, and hugged and stretched and began our first day together in the village.
The girls showed me around my new home first. There were two floors and a patio on the roof. The house was actually larger than I had expected. My thought had been that it was a house for three women, but I had forgotten that there had at other times been a dozen shrine maidens at once. This was the house where all of them stayed together.
On the upper floor was a common bathroom and six good sized bedrooms. Each had a bed like we had slept in and I was told that each room had been shared by two maidens. When one of the girls was away at the shrine, it was common for her roommate to join two others in their room. Sleeping alone was a hardship to be endured while on duty at the shrine, but was avoided at other times. Aeyli, Rani, and Belle had been sharing a bed in the room we slept in for quite some time, except that the three were never together at the same time until last night.
Before going down stairs, I was led to the rooftop patio. I asked about needing belts, but Belle said, “No, it’s OK, you’ll see.”
We climbed the stairs and pushed open a hatchway to the open air above. The patio was walled to about a foot above waist high and none of the other homes in the area stood as tall. Most the houses in this part of the village were a only single story.
Belle said, “See, no one can see below our breasts! Even if we put a bed on the roof and make love, if we aren’t loud, no one will know. Aeyli, let’s put a bed on the roof! We can make love in the sun!”
Aeyli said, “Oh, that sounds like a great idea. Mark wants a castle in the sky; we’ll start with a bedroom in the sky. But we’ll make the bed low with a nice mattress, to make sure that our play is private enough!”
Rani said, “And bring chairs and a table! Make this a dining room as well.”
Belle said, “Of course it’s a dining room. What do you think Mark will be eating while he makes love to you? Aeyli and I will be feeding him milk, and at the end, we will be fed by him! But, a table and chairs are fine if that’s how you want him to take you.”
I laughed and said, “Belle, I can show you how a table and chairs can be used very nicely for making love!”
She squealed, “Oh, OK. Show me soon! Plan: get a low bed and mattress and table and chairs and build Mark a house in the sky!”
Rani said, “I like this plan. What else should we do? This is the Royal House of Mark, not the crumbling hovel of the shrine maidens.”
Aeyli said, “That is funny! Do you know who the best builder in Tranna is?”
Belle said, “It’s Narhu, Mark’s new first friend!”
We went downstairs and looked again at the bedrooms. I went to the one we slept in and said, “My first idea is that we need a bigger bed.”
Rani said, “Oh, planning for two more already? OK.”
I said, “No, I was… I meant…”
Aeyli laughed, “You’re still not used to things! You think like an Earth man! We will build a bed for six, and then another. It will great. The house is big enough for twelve at least, probably eighteen. Six to a bed would give us thirty-six.”
I yelled, “But, I don’t want thirty-six! You said that nine was the most. And I don’t need, or want, nine!”
They laughed at my discomfort and Aeyli said, “What I told you was that you can’t be compelled by the council to take more than nine. But the number is up to you. But let’s have a council of our own. Everyone say a number of mates that Mark should be encouraged to take. Mark, you are our prince, you may speak first.”
There was something in her words that warned me that it was for their sake that I spoke first, not out of honor for me as ‘prince’.
I said adamantly, “Three and no more!”
Aeyli grinned and said, “Good. We have a proposal. Rani, what number do you say?”
Rani said, “We must say Alexia. There is an obligation to her. She is very pretty and tall and she will have no other who would ever ask for her. I like her very much. She will be a good mate, in her way. It would be a shame for her to die young.”
Aeyli said, “Yes, wise words councilwoman Rani. So, what is your number?”