Alexia smiled, and in a surprising move, reached behind me below the wall where no one would see and squeezed my butt cheek. “It feels very good to me too,” she said. Then, “Mark, how strong are you?” She seemed to be concerned that her own strength might be a problem.
I laughed and said, “I will hoist the bed to the roof by myself. Come here.”
I walked back toward the part of the patio farthest from the road and turned her toward me and placing my hands on her waist, I lifted her high above my head. I tossed her two feet in the air and then caught her as she came down.
She looked at me and smiled and said, “Ah, strong enough I suppose. I won’t worry on that account. I will be a good mate for you. She who would never find love has a prince in a day. There will be a poem written. Perhaps,
She was taller than men,
She would never marry.
They said she was odd,
And all were wary.
A true prince sees true beauty
and needs no agreement.
On the furs of his bed,
she finds her fulfillment.
She was taller than men,
stronger than most.
Now she moans all night long,
being rubbed by his post.
Woodworker she was,
now wood she has found,
working it daily,
he works in her mound.
Perhaps something like that, but far less tame. We’ll see,” and we both laughed.
We all talked some more and Alexia was quickly becoming more comfortable at having a family for the first time.
Aeyli said that she should probably go to see her grandfather and grandmothers and begin laying the groundwork for declaring for Alexia as a mate.
I said, “Tell your grandfather that I would like to teach the village something as soon as this evening, if that would be OK. If the village would like to come and hear me. Do the steps we have to take really need to be postponed? As long as we take the right steps, can they be done soon? Tonight? Can you tell him that after the teaching, that we would like to declare for another mate. The excuse for the meeting will be so that I can teach, but we will handle the declaration at the end. What do you think, will he agree?”
Aeyli said, “I think so. I think that Tronuck will be OK with it if I talk to him. The village will want to come hear you tonight, and it will be a good excuse. If we say that we have another council meeting, it will be strange, but that’s a good plan. Alexia, if all goes well, we will have it done tonight!”
I said, “I hope so. Let’s go take Alexia to Narhu and then I’ll start teaching this afternoon.”
Aeyli said, “Mark, the Academy hall hasn’t even been started and no one will be gathered there.”
I said, “Aeyli, it’s better to teach in a market than in a hall. Take me to a fruit stand. That’s where we will teach today. And afterward, the whole village will want to come tonight. After we buy a piece of fruit, then you go see Tronuck and Dorel. While you’re with them, Rani and Belle can show me more of the village. Oh, I need small coins for buying in the market.”
Aeyli said, “I have them in my pouch left over from what you gave me yesterday. I’ll give them to you.”
Alexia said, “After I talk to Narhu, I will arrange for mattresses to be made. I will need coins for that as well.”
We went down stairs and all put on our belts and walked back into the village.
We took Alexia to Narhu and I explained that I wanted him to allow her input regarding the renovations and that she had my full authority to make decisions for me. From there we went to the market and the girls took me directly to a fruit vendor.
The vendor was a very pretty girl, and very pleasant. I made sure to say hello to people and clapped the men on the back as we made our way through the street. By the time we stood in front of the fruit stall, a small crowd had already gathered to see what I was doing in the market.
I idly picked about the fruit and held several pieces as I asked Rani, Belle, and the girl about the different kinds available. I chose one that intrigued me and searched for a little while and then held the one that I had chosen out to the girl and said, “Just the one, please. I’ll pay ten times what you ask for these others.”
The girl looked puzzled. I had said it loud enough for those around me to hear, but not so loud that it was obvious.
The girl said, “Sir, there’s nothing special about this one. It’s no better than the others. You may have it for free.”
I said, “That’s very generous, and you may call me Mark. But it is a very special fruit and I will pay ten times for it.”
I could hear murmuring begin behind me. “It isn’t special. It’s the same.” “Our friend Mark must not know his fruit. Belle will help him.” “What’s the commotion?” “He tries to pay ten times the worth for a single piece of fruit.”
The girl said, “Sir… Mark, I won’t contradict you. If you say it is special, then it is special, but…”
I said, “Then I’ll pay a special price. I pay ten times for it and will accept nothing less!” and I counted the money into her hand a piece at a time.
“How can this fruit be special, and how can he know?” “And if he knows, why make a point of paying ten times, he could have gotten the special fruit for the price of one.” “She offered it to him for free he didn’t need to pay at all.”
I said to the girl, “Thank you. Now, do you want to know what makes this fruit so special?”
She said, “I do!”
I said, “And will you try not to be angry if you feel that I cheated you by only paying ten times and not more?”
She said, “Even if a gem is hidden inside it, I didn’t know it. I won’t feel cheated. But what makes this piece so special?”
I said, “This one piece of fruit is special because it is the one piece of fruit in your entire stall that a man paid ten times for.”
The girl laughed and said, “That is a very special piece of fruit! Two can play this game, and I can play it more cheaply than you. Here, have your money back and I will make it special in my way. For I will give no more fruit for free today. It will be the one piece of fruit that was given to Mark our new friend for free!”
I laughed with her and said, “No, I’m sorry, but we both win this game. You have taken my money and agreed to the price of ten times, and I have a piece of fruit that is the talk of the entire village by nightfall.”
I turned to the crowd and held up my fruit and said, “Let me tell you what I know about fruit. It’s a good story, gather round.
There was once a woman, from my old village who taught me about fruit. I’m only doing what I was taught. This woman wanted a piece of fruit and she went to the market and engaging the seller, she chose a piece of fruit and offered ten times the price. The seller in my village was not a generous man and he loved money so he took the money quickly and hid it away. I said to the woman, ‘Why pay so much for the fruit? How can it be worth so much?’ The woman said to me, ‘Here, listen,’ and she held the fruit to my ear.”
I held the fruit up as if listening to it.
I continued, “I listened carefully and I could hear a tiny voice from the fruit! I was astonished at that and listened very hard. The tiny voice was saying, ‘This woman thinks that I’m very valuable. I’ll make it so. I’ll work hard and make my juices sweeter than any fruit has ever been. When she eats me, she will think that she got her money’s worth and more!’ and the woman smiled at me and walked away thinking that she would enjoy her fruit even more than the amount that she had paid for it.
I thought that it was very strange to hear the voice of a fruit, so I stayed near the stand to see if I could learn more. Soon, another woman came and looked at the fruit. She frowned and grunted as she picked through the box and finally chose a piece. It looked like she had picked the best piece in the box and said, ‘How much?’
The seller said, ‘Oh, a very fine piece,’ and since he ha
d just sold one for ten times, he pressed his luck thinking he would get two times what he should at least, and said, ‘it will be this much.’ The woman grunted and said, ‘Bah! That’s twice what a good piece would cost! I won’t pay it. This piece is bitter, but it’s all I can afford. I will give you a fifth of half what you ask, no more!’
Of course, it was not all that she could afford. She also loved money and had plenty…because she always paid less than others for everything. And it always seemed to her that no matter how good the fruit looked, it was always bitter in her mouth anyway.
The two haggled for a long time, but the woman never budged and finally the seller gave her the fruit for one fifth its worth just to have her go away and quit saying such bad things about his fruit and himself.
I paid no attention to what they said, but rather listened to the fruit and what it had to say. The fruit said, ‘This woman thinks that I will be bitter. I won’t disappoint her! I’ll be so bitter that she never wants fruit again. Let her save her money if she loves it so much. If she thinks that I’m worth so little, I’ll prove her right! She won’t enjoy me, I swear it!’
So, tell me, one woman paid ten times, and one paid one fifth. Who wasted their money and who got a bargain? The one who bought a piece of fruit that tasted better than any had ever been? Or the one forced to eat fruit so bitter that it made her despair of her sad, lonely life?”
A child in the crowd yelled, “The sweet one was better!”
I said, “See, a child knows! It’s easy to take hold of! Now, there was something else. Each of these women had a mate. One woman had a mate who treated her like a princess and she treated him like a prince. When he came home at night, she treated him like the most important man in the village, even though they were not rich. She told him what a great man he was and how she was more blessed than any woman in the village and though I blush to tell you this part, when they went to their furs, this woman was subjected to ‘the little death’ many times each month!”
The crowd laughed and a child asked, “What does that mean?” but he was quickly hushed.
I said, “But consider the other woman. She went to her home and when her mate came, she dropped a plate of bitter fruit and a piece of dry bread in front of him and sat and complained about her day and he told her how miserable he was with their lives. After dinner, they both went to a cold bed and slept with their backs to each other and thought bitterly of how long it had been since either one of them had any pleasure.
Now, you have the story. A test. Who can tell me which man had the warm bed and why?”
A woman yelled out, “It was the one who told his mate that when he drank her nectar that it was worth ten times what he paid for it!” and everyone laughed again.
I smiled and said, “Just so! This is so easy to understand. It’s not a hidden mystery! This man, though he wasn’t rich, never complained about how much his princess paid for fruit. The fruit he sucked at was worth so much more than that!”
Then I held up my one piece of fruit and looked at it and said, “Thank you for listening to my story. I’ve stayed too long. My fruit gets ripe as we stand gabbing. It’s time that I take these princesses home and share my fruit with them. But, I would encourage you men here to run quickly and buy the same fruit that I do before it’s all gone. It may not last forever.”
Then to the girl I said, “You’ll sell a lot of fruit today. Take whatever price they offer you and don’t discourage them. You will make many women happy this afternoon.”
I turned before she could answer, but she smiled very big, and Aeyli, Rani, and Belle, and I walked away toward Tronuck’s house.
Belle said, “Is it true? Will you take us home and share your fruit?!” as she clung to my arm.
I leaned down and kissed her briefly and said, “Not immediately. But soon enough. Aeyli, do you still think that you should talk to your grandfather?”
She said, “More than ever! The whole village will know your story by this evening. Give it half an hour and Tronuck will have heard it. I’ll go to him in a little while and suggest a meeting. Do you have another story for tonight?”
I said, “I have a very good story for tonight.”
Aeyli said, “Do you want to declare for Sashar tonight as well as Alexia. It can be done if you want to. Two more in one night is unheard of, except when you did it last night, but it would be a fun thing to do.”
I said, “This is about the third time that you have mentioned Sashar, but I have never met her. Even if I said OK, even if I said I would declare for her sight unseen, she hasn’t chosen me.”
All three girls laughed and said, “Sashar, the girl who sells fruit at ten times its price will choose you if she’s given the chance. Once you have stolen a girl’s heart it’s cruel not to follow through! She will choose you!”
I thought about the girl at the fruit stand. She was as beautiful as the others in her own way. Her smile is what was captivating now that I thought about it. I hadn’t given it any thought at the time, but I had found myself wanting her to like me at an unconscious level.
I said, “But, she would like me because she sold a lot of fruit.”
Aeyli said, “Mark, things are not as complicated here as on Earth I think. Let me ask, when you met your mate on Earth, how long did you know her before you declared for her as your mate?”
I thought about it and said, “We met at an office party, um, a dinner gathering. Two months later we began spending some time together. After a year, I asked if she would accept me. Eight months later, we were mated. So, it took just about two years, but that was fast for many on Earth.”
Rani said, “They are an insane people!”
Aeyli said, “You don’t know some of the insanities that he has told me about Earth. It is a disgusting place in how people treat each other. It’s a wonder that they haven’t had their own Fall of Time.”
Belle said, “No, Mark, we’ll do this properly. It was important that Alexia was given time to think because she’s an odd girl and would never consent if it had been done right. But for Sashar, it will be done right. You are in our hands. And…never mind, my thoughts drifted. It will be done right. Tonight after you teach, Aeyli will say that you declare for Alexia and then you will call Sashar and she will say if she will accept you: the way that it should be done.”
Rani said, “She will accept. I know she will. When she accepts, then Aeyli will declare for Sashar as well.”
Aeyli said, “This is wonderful. The world should always change every day!”
I said, “But not by adding two princesses!”
Belle said, “No, not every day. But we said six to start. We have four with Alexia and five with Sashar. That’s good enough for now. Besides, Mark has a lot to teach at home as well as at the market.”
Rani said, “And speaking of that, Mark, that was something that has never been seen! What you taught benefits not you or a single person, but the entire village. You told a story and nothing more, and that one story will change the village! It’s a big thing!”
I said, “Then someday I will tell you a story about a butterfly who changed the world.”
Chapter 21 A short Visit with Tronuck
We arrived at the House of Tronuck and were greeted by Dorel and Farloa and Aneese, his three mates. Dorel called for Tronuck and when he came, he clasped my arm and greeted me with a hug.
He said, “Son-in-law, welcome to my home! Have you come to surprise me some more? I see that you haven’t brought any new mates! Not yet! I’m in a good mood. Sit down and visit and let me know you better.”
We moved into the living room of his home and sat all together. Farloa went to prepare refreshments and soon returned.
Tronuck said, “Again, welcome. Welcome former shrine maidens. Did you sleep well? Is your morning pleasant? Oh, yes, I’ve already heard some of it. Councilman Renwa was here a few minutes ago. He told me a story about talking fruit, but I think that he got most of it wrong because he said that
he was in a hurry to get home for some reason. He seemed happy, but distracted. He said that he was most interested to see if any of his mates were home in the middle of the day. He didn’t say why.”
Aneese said, “The reason was apparent to me. Mark’s story must have been one to make the blood boil.”
Farloa said, “I was in the market today. I heard the story. I will tell it later. It’s a very good story.”
Tronuck said, “But more than a story from what I hear. Renwa said that the story teaches great lessons. I look forward to hearing it.”
Aeyli said, “That’s why we are here, Grandfather. Mark has another teaching story that he would like to tell this evening if the village would like to gather and hear it. Are the people ready for more entertainments and surprises?”
Tronuck laughed, “From what I heard today, if we don’t call to gather at the hall, the village will appear at your door and try to crowd themselves into the tiny house! We can either post a guard and block your street so that you can rest in peace or we can invite them to the council hall where a riot will be avoided. I am in a very good mood and I wish to hear a story of great wisdom. Or adventure! I don’t care which, but I want to hear it firsthand. Dorel, will you put out the word?”
Dorel said, “I will. It’s easy to delegate such things. I want to sit and know Mark better too. Tronuck says that he’s in a very good mood, and so are the women of his house this morning. And last night as well. It has been a good time here since our meeting. So, I will delegate. Rani and Belle, will you run to the market and make the announcement that we will gather tonight for stories and surprises?”
Rani and Belle jumped up and said, “Right away! And then we’ll run home and wait for our prince to come!” and they ran out the door to spread the word.
Tronuck said, “Do I need to be warned about these surprises, or should I wait the same as everyone else? See what a good mood I’m in? I think that you shouldn’t tell me unless you think that I need to know. It’s my bet that we can’t even know all of the surprises that may come. In fact, I hope not!”
The Start of Time Page 18
