There are moments in a man’s life of overshadowing eminence, that mean nothing to the rest of the world. I’ll never forget my first time experiencing this phenomenon— it was back when my grandfather died and I was only about 10 or 11 years old. My parents pulled me out of school early on Thursday, to tell me the news. Riding home, a heavy miasma smothered all the joy from the world, and my mother couldn’t stop crying. That whole night, sorrow and gloom pervaded every aspect of our existence.
The next several days were just as black and depressing, while we stayed with my grandmother and readied everything for the funeral. The viewing was a nightmare. Monday, even the Heavens cried during the funeral, with thick and heavy rain falling all around. On Tuesday, when it was time for me to head back to school, I felt as if the whole world had stopped moving. Time had stood still for my family, and I thought it was never going to move again…
…And then I got to school. Children were laughing. People were horseplaying around. Life had kept on turning; moving ever onwards, with no regard to my personal situation.
That was my first experience with that strange disconnect between a moment of personal importance, and the world just not giving a shit…
…And that feeling was exactly what I was experiencing once again. Laulaia and Alaina had dropped bombshell after bombshell and rocked my entire world. “She’s your servant. I’m your servant. We’re both your wives.” My mind could scarcely process what had just occurred, and yet they were happily going on about their business as usual.
Alaina was fetching fruits and berries from our stockpile. Laulaia was bossing her around again, laughing and joking the whole time. Neither acted like anything had changed at all, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I was utterly befuddled.
All through our morning meal, I tried to sort my thoughts and organize my emotions. After, when we were all sitting in the shade of the shelter and trying to escape the heat of the day, I tried to clarify things between us.
“Laulaia. Alaina. We have things we need to discuss,” I awkwardly addressed the girls, fumbling for what to say and discuss first. This time of day is simply too hot and humid to do much snuggling, so I only allowed my eyes to caress the two beauties who sprawled out so brazenly across from me, while I organized my thoughts. Honestly, I don’t think either was actually trying to be lude, sexy, or alluring — even though both definitely were! II really think they were just maximizing skin exposure so the little breeze that passed through could evaporate the sweat glistening on their skin.
“What’s that?” Leaning back in her corner of the shelter, Laulaia slowly unbuttoned my shirt she was wearing, opening it wide to either side, to allow the breeze unrestricted access to her skin.
“First,” I said, as much to remind myself away from temptation, as to inform the girls, “we need to discuss getting off this island. It should be plain by now; nobody is coming to rescue us. We can only rely on ourselves if we want to leave here someday.”
“Hmffmph.” With perfect timing, Shadow snorted.
“Your opinion doesn’t matter, Little Asshole.” Without missing a beat, I set him straight fairly quick. “I’,m the Big Dog around here. You go where I go. It doesn’t matter if you like it here, or not.”
“Hmffph!” Snorting again, Shadow turned around. Head facing his corner, he showed his ass towards us.
Laughing lightly, Laulaia rolled over onto her stomach. Resting her head down upon her arms, she too faced the wall. A moment later, after watching her, Alaina did the same.
“Just what the heck are the two of you doing, now?” Sighing, I just shook my head in befuddlement.
“Well,” Laulaia giggled, “you’re the Big Dog. We’re just little servants. Our opinion probably doesn’t matter anyway either, so we thought we’d follow Shadow’s lead and sit quietly facing the corner.”
“Boooowff!” Hearing his name, Shadow barked slightly, but didn’t move otherwise.
*SIGH!!* If people just realized what I had to put up with! Women are crazy – servant-wife women, or not!
Deciding to ignore the girl’s childishness, I continued on. “Laulaia asked earlier about building a boat or a raft to leave the island. As Alaina wasn’t with us then, I’ll repeat what I told her once more: That very well may end up being our only option to getting off this island, but I’d like to save it as a last resort. None of us actually know anything about building an ocean-worthy craft,” I explained, “and I swim as skillfully as a rock. I’d rather not risk life and limb, if there are any other options available for us.”
“What are the other options?” Seeming a little more mature than her “older sister”, Alaina asked. Even if she was facing the wall, with her ass turned up as if she wanted a spanking, at least she was listening and contributing to the topic at hand. Laulaia was so relaxed, I couldn’t be certain if she was going to sleep, or not.
“First, let me ask you,” ignoring Laulaia, I turned my attention fully on Alaina, “how far have you been while hunting. What have you seen of the island, so far?”
“I’ve never hunted more than about an hour’s walk from our camp,” Alaina confessed. “In that distance, all I’ve really seen is sand and bushes. Fish will often wash up to the shore after a storm or high tide, and many birds can be seen swooping down from the skies and carrying them off. I’ve never actually found any animals on the land here, though,” Alaina admitted, sounding a little puzzled.
“How about fresh water,” I asked? “Any streams or outlets running into the ocean?”
“Not in the distance I’ve covered,” Alaina assured us.
“I haven’t seen any either when I was out gathering fruits and such,” Laulaia chimed in, suddenly. “Land beasts, or fresh water,” she clarified, a moment later. I suppose she’s truly just relaxing and not actually trying to sleep after all.
“Then I guess our first goal will be further exploration of the island,” I told both the girls. “An hour’s walk in either direction really isn’t that far, so we really can’t be certain of what this island contains for us. Heck,” I offered hopefully, “there might even be a village, or people, no more than a few days walk to one side of us or the other.”
“Okay,” Laulaia agreed, while this time Alaina was the one who remained silent.
“Our biggest problem,” I mused, “is simply keeping fresh water. This damn island gets hotter and stuffier than hell, and we consume a large amount of water daily. Without any stream, or guaranteed source of fresh water available for us, we’re going to have to move slow and carry our water with us.”
“But, we don’t have anything truly travel-worthy, to carry water in,” Alaina pointed out.
Frowning, I have to admit, she has a point. Two leather knee-high boots and two shoulder-length gloves – that’s our water storage devices right now. Sure, we could tie the tops closed with some string or vine, but doing that would reduce the amount they would hold considerably. At the rate we consume water here, there’s no way it’d last more than a day or two.
“We’ll just have to take time to gather water as we go,” I decided. “You’ve gotten fairly skilled at building these shacks,” I praised Alaina. “If we wait and leave just as the moon is starting to rise, we can follow along the beach, looking for a freshwater stream, until it reaches its apex. Then, if we don’t find anything, we can spend the rest of the time till sun-up cobbling together a quick water-catching shelter. Assuming the storms are large enough to cover the whole island, like we’ve been experiencing them,” I reasoned, “then we should be able to slowly make our way across the land.”
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“Two days to gather supplies to take with us to quickly assemble a watershed shelter. Half a night’s walk, half a night’s construction. We should be able to safely move about a day’s distance every week, with such a plan,” I reasoned, doing the math quickly in my head. “We won’t be breaking any land speed records for how fast we travel, but at least we’d be moving forward and we’ll get to learn more about what’s on this island that we can use to escape with.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Laulaia agreed.
“Okay,” was Alaina’s one-word confirmation.
“Snnnnnkkkkkknnkk!!” Shadow snored loudly, showing complete contempt towards anything we decided.
Ignoring Shadow’s inglorious contribution,, we discussed various methods to help us move forward with the plan. Laulaia’s brilliant suggestion was for us to build the three walls for the shelter, before we even left. We could tie ropes of vine to them, and either float them in the edge of the water – giving us a little practice in building rafts now, in case we need to escape on them later – or we could just pull them along the beach like a sled.
Once we got where we were going, a few quick posts could be planted, and the walls would then be simply attached and lashed to those posts. All we’d have to do then is assemble a sloped roof and cover it, and we’d have an instant water-catcher. In my mind, I could picture it almost working like those simple little plastic snap-together toys which toddlers play with. Preparation time would increase, but assembly time would greatly decrease.
After much deliberation and discussion, we finally had the start of a plan to move forward.
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“And so,” I continued, after the girls had thought we were finished, “we now move on to the second topic. How the hell are you ladies both servants and wives? My people don’t have this custom. What are my duties? What are your duties? What do you expect from me, and what can I expect from you?”
Laulaia and Alaina both giggled for several moments, before Laulaia turned her head to look back at me. “Wait. You’re serious?” Quizzically cocking one eyebrow, the look she gave me made me feel as if I was some sort of odd, foreign creature.
“I am,” I answered, trying not to blush. Somehow, from the girl’s reactions, it seemed like I’d just said the world’s stupidest thing. I felt like I’d just seriously asked, “Do you think water is wet?”
Rolling back over, Laulaia shrugged completely out of my shirt as she sat up. The first rumblings of our daily afternoon storms were just beginning to echo in the distance, so it shouldn’t be much longer before we once again wash ourselves and our clothes in the runoff once we’ve refilled our supplies.
“I suppose, the basic difference between a wife and a servant is that one gives herself to her husband, while the other waits for her lord to take her,” Laulaia mused after a moment. “Honestly,” she admitted, “it’s just one of those things that just is, and I’ve never really given much thought into how to categorize the differences before.”
Laughing lightly, Laulaia sprawled back out fully to enjoy the small breeze that was beginning to pick back up. “Let’s take buying and choosing clothes, as an example,” she offered. “A wife will go out and buy her own clothes, so she can choose what looks and suits her best, for her husband. A servant, on the other hand, wears whatever their lord gives them to wear.”
Nodding, I could understand what she was talking about. A man’s wife goes out and spends all his money to buy whatever clothes she wants, but a maid working for that same man has to wear whatever style, color, and material uniform the job requires. “And a woman who is both servant and wife?” I was curious about how her people treated the overlap, which applied directly to my situation.
“Often, she’ll get to choose from the clothes her Lord-husband provides,” Laulaia explained. “In many cases,” she added, “the servant-wife won’t be allowed to buy her own clothes – her husband will choose the styles and colors he likes for her and purchase them – but then she’d be allowed to choose from the assortment he provides for her. It’s sort of the middle ground between the servant and a wife. Choice as a wife, but limited to what the lord provides.”
“But,” she clarified, “it also depends upon the Lord-husband. Some days the Lord-husband wants to be a little more spoiled, or a little more demanding, so he treats his woman more as a servant than a wife. He might choose her clothes, pick her meals, or even just whisk her away from all her plans and schedule, just to suit his needs. Truth is, she is still his servant, so she has no real right to complain, if and when, he invokes his rights as her lord.”
“On the other hand,” Laulaia giggled, “there might also be days where the Lord-husband is busy, or simply doesn’t want to be bothered. He may grant his woman the full rights as a wife for that day, telling her something like, ‘Go out and enjoy yourself freely today,’ or, ‘Why don’t you go choose yourself a new dress for the ball tonight. I’m busy.’ Even though, though,” Laulaia stressed, “the Lord-husband can always change his mind, or set restrictions. If the servant-wife fails to think enough of her lord-husband’s desires, he could always tell her something like, ‘Well, you know I don’t like that type dress on you. I guess tonight you’ll just attend the ball without wearing any at all,’ and then that’s what she’d have to do.”
“And the law is fine with that, where you’re from?” From the way Laulaia spoke about, ‘not wearing any at all,’ so matter-of-factly, she made it seem like it might be a common occurrence.”
“Why would the law care?” Shrugging, Laulaia made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “A servant wears what their lord provides, and if they provide nothing, then the servant wears nothing. Even if the lord later marries that same person, it still doesn’t change the fact they’re a servant who wears what their lord provides.”
“So, what about a different matter, such as making love?” Oddly enough, I found their culture to be oddly titillating. I suppose, as a man, and as the one on the ‘lord’ side of the equation, I couldn’t help but find the concept enticing – though I’m also old enough to realize that there’s always drawbacks to everything in life. In a lot of ways, it sounds like it puts a lot more work on a poor bloke’s shoulders. Go shopping. Choose the clothes. Make certain you don’t ruin both your lives being an idiot – Stop whatever the hell you’re doing and come with me. We’re going to the bedroom! It sounds appealing, but unless you’re a total idiot, you can’t just do that all the time. What, for example, the little lady was having tea with the boss’s wife? All at once, you offended her, and now you’re out of a job.
‘Moderation, even in excess; that’s the key,’ I couldn’t help thinking to myself.
“Once again, a wife would normally offer herself to her husband,” Laulaia giggled, “while a servant would wait for her lord to come seek her out.”
“And the servant-wife?” Before she could tell me, my curiosity made me ask.
“Would wait to offer herself, in the limits her lord had set.”
I understood that as well. ‘Don’t bother me from 9 till 5. That’s when I’m going to be working.’
“Of course,” Laulaia stressed once again, “it’s all up to the desires of the lord-husband. If he’s angry, upset, or just needs the funds, he may rent his woman out like the servant she is. She has no right to complain, if he does. On the other hand, he might also pamper his woman and keep her entirely for himself, and allow her to interrupt and pester him at any time.”
Yep. I’ve had some bosses like that, in the past. Guy’s wife calls him up on the phone, and he’ll just drop everything and make the whole world wait, while he deals with her. On one hand, it seems a little rude, but on the other, I understand completely. Family comes first. Or, at least, it should, stupid-ass daughter…
“So basically,” I summarized, “my job is now to basically take care of, and provide for, both you girls, while indulging myself shamelessly.”
Giggling lightly, Laulaia nodded. “I’ve never actually heard it put that way before, but I suppose that’s correct.”
“And both you girls are fine with that?”
“We are,” Alaina verified.
“We both knew what we were getting into when we shared our breath with you,” Laulaia agreed. “We both did this willingly, for both the sake of our sisterhood, and for the life-debt which I owed for you bringing me back from the dead with your life breath.”
“Well, in that case…” Grinning crookedly, I motioned for Laulaia to crawl on over beside me, since the rain was now beginning to fall and cool things off. “Looks like I need to teach both you servant girls how to properly kiss.”
“Kiss?” Blinking confusedly, Laulaia nevertheless crawled over to my side. Lord, how satisfying it is, to see them both perplexed over something so common. I couldn’t help but feel a little vindication for the laughter they’d both issued when I questioned about servant-wives earlier.
“It’s almost like sharing a breath,” I told Laulaia, gently tilting her head up to face mine, “except it’s more breathing in from the other person, rather than breathing out. Of course, they’re breathing in at the same time, so it’s a very intimate way to share breaths between two people, and quite special. Make certain you ladies never do it with anyone except me…”
“Or, with each other,” I added, after thinking for a moment. Just thinking about watching these two beauties going at it, brought a warm tingle below my waist.
“It sounds amazing,” Laulaia whispered. Eyes twinkling like diamonds, I could tell the idea was getting her excited. Anything that involved the idea of ‘sharing breath’ was considered sacred and special to both the girls. The fact that I’d managed to equate kissing to such a sacred concept in her eyes, made it also something sacred, mysterious, and desirable. It also guaranteed it was something she’d never do with another person, except us.
Grinning like the cat that had just caught the mouse, I slowly leaned down and began Laulaia’s lesson.