I said, “I didn’t. Think of it this way. My practice taught my sword and my body how to kill; even a Great Ape that I’d never seen before. When the time came, I said that if it chose to die then it would die; and then my body and my sword struck. It’s like I gave permission, and they carried out what they knew how to do. The saying is that at the moment of the strike, it isn’t me that strikes, but my sword strikes on its own. Think of Belle and how she attacked me. Belle, really, how did you know how to do that? Did you practice it?’
Belle said, “Um, it was kind of weird. I had practiced with the sword, like you taught us, but when it was my turn, I was really aroused and I just wanted to get to you as quickly as I could. So, yeah, it was like my body just took over when I let it. I don’t really know how.”
I said, “Think. Your first attack was your right fist to my jaw. That is the same and an upward strike with the sword, but without the sword. The second was a strike to my ribs. Again, something you had practiced over and over, but this time you did it without the sword. The third, you grabbed your sword and began to choke me out. In another minute, I would have lost consciousness. I think that you must have just done that from instinct because it made sense to your body at the time. See, the practice with the sword is the same as if we don’t have a sword. When Aeyli showed us her Kata, she worked with the sword, but when she was close to me, she switched to her knife and hit the same targets that we had practiced.”
Belle said, “And Rani stopped you and gave you a chance to live!”
I said, “Right! She showed me that I was beaten and gave me the choice to live.”
Belle giggled, “And then she mounted you!”
I laughed and said, “Well, Aeyli did it first. Hey, Alexia, when I took you, you know that I was only playing, right? I would never force you! You know that, don’t you? I did it because we were playing and I thought that you would enjoy us playing like that. How did you feel about it? Maybe I was too anxious. I’m sorry if…”
Alexia laughed and said, “Mark, did you feel raped by Aeyli or Rani or Belle? No! Because it was all play and we all wanted it. They didn’t really force you, they just told you how they wanted to play with you. You and I have discussed this and I told you what I like and how I want you to play with me. You gave it to me in a wonderful playful way. Um, did you miss my multiple orgasms? Did you miss the fact that I was already open and slippery with my love for you? I know that you did see how ready I was for you and you know what I like, and you gave it to me.”
Sashar said, “Mark, we’ve all told you that you can have us sexually anytime you want, but we know that we could ask you to stop and that you would. We love you. We love you so much that we’re all pretty much ready to make love all the time.”
Aeyli said, “Again, I think it’s because of the strange ways of men and women on Earth. I bet that for some reason, women on Earth don’t enjoy sex like they’re supposed to. Mark says that people never know what the other is really saying so maybe that’s why they don’t know if sex is OK.”
Belle said, “What do you mean? If you’re mates and you treat each other well, shalock is always OK. Mark treats us like true princesses and we love him. He would never touch us in a way that was shameful.”
Sashar said, “Yeah, fine. Enough said. But… Aeyli, you made love between his mouth and your mound… what was that like? It looked like you really enjoyed it. Is it that nice?”
I laughed to myself at how often our conversation inevitably turned to sex.
Aeyli smiled and said, “Well, we do have lips down there. They’re good for kissing too. You will just have to see for yourself. But I will say that when his tongue hits your little tongue, it is really nice!”
Sashar looked puzzled and said, “My ‘little tongue’? What do you mean?”
Aeyli didn’t know quite what to say and the two just looked at each other for a minute.
Alexia finally said, “I’ll show you. Sashar, come here and look.”
Alexia leaned back and spread her legs. Sashar moved up close and looked where Alexia pointed. She rubbed herself for a minute until her clitoris became engorged and started to peek out from under its hood.
She said, said, “See here? The little nub of a button that peaks out from my blossoming lips? That’s what she means. Have you ever touched it?”
Sashar said, “Um, no.”
Belle said, “But Mark has. When he’s with you, his body rubs against it and that’s one of the things that makes us climax. You need to have him kiss you there. Do it now.”
I said, “Not right now; we can wait.”
Sashar said, “Um, yeah, I really want to, but maybe it will be best to wait. But, on the other hand… no, we’ll wait.”
Alexia sat back up and we took our places in a circle again.
I said, “I still want to hear more about how you felt about the exercise before we move on. Aeyli?”
Aeyli said, “It was wonderful. I faced my demon and I killed it. I feel free. And now this spot has new meaning. This is the spot where I stopped on the road and made love on the way to Nobrus!”
Alexia laughed, “Yes! I faced my demon, and then was taken like a she-Banth by my mate until I howled. It was a good practice!”
Rani and Belle agreed that they had a good time and learned a lot. They both expressed a great deal more confidence in their abilities.
Sashar said, “For me, obviously, it was one of the most important points in my life. I faced it, I had compassion on it, and in a way, I forgave it. Mostly, I forgave myself. My time as an animal has meaning now. I feel light and healed and whole in a new way. I also feel kind of like I want to make love.”
I laughed and said, “On Earth, we call that ‘horny’. Like, ‘Hey, come here and give me that horn between your legs.’”
The girls laughed. “It is kind of like a horn!” “A wonderful horn of pleasure!” “I’m getting horny myself!” “Mark is a big shalock-beast with a huge horn!” “Take me for a ride you horny beast!”
They laughed more and it looked like they were about to break out into a bawdy rhyming festival.
I made everyone get up and we packed the cart and headed on our way toward Nobrus.
The next time we stopped, we began practicing our sparring techniques with the bokken. One person would strike and the other would block. Then, one would strike, the other block and counter, and the first block the counter. Before we finished, we were all going at about half speed, blocking and countering whatever our opponent did.
In the afternoon, we moved on again. This was our second day in the open. We had taken our time and walked at a leisurely pace. When I asked Aeyli how much farther we had to go, she said that she wasn’t really sure. The Barsoomian sense of direction doesn’t tell how far away a place is, just what direction. She hadn’t been to Nobrus since she was a child, and the trip had been traumatic. And even when it wasn’t, she didn’t really pay much attention because she was a child. She assumed that it was another two days at the pace that we’d set so far.
It felt like maybe we were behind schedule and need to pick up our speed a bit. We had food and water for a few more days, but if Nobrus turned out to be farther than we thought, or if for some reason we were unable to get water there, we could be in trouble. We could make it back to Tranna on the provisions that we had, but the longer it took us to find a good source of water, the more uncomfortable the journey would become.
We discussed it among ourselves and the girls were all in favor of really stretching their legs by running for a while. It made me think: those legs really did look like they were made for running!
As a precaution, I took Aeyli and Sashar aside for a moment and asked Aeyli to set one of my two compasses to point at Nobrus. Sashar and I confided in her that Sashar also lacked the innate sense of direction. We all felt a little better knowing that if something were to happen that we had another way of finding our destination.