The sky danced with color as the suns, one by one, descended behind the hills. It was her first sunset, she had finally become eighteen cycles and all the rules her parents had set no longer applied. She was not an ordinary girl, but neither was she extraordinary, at least not yet.
She grew up on what is most easily described as a farm, so far removed from civilization that she had not had the opportunity to meet anyone outside of her immediate family (Daddi, Moma, and the boy, who had been gone for a while now) and the old woman that lived several miles down the dirt road, whom she often took extra produce fresh from the garden to.
Tonight, the girl reflected on her newfound freedom. Moma and Daddi had always told her that she could make her own decisions as soon as she reached eighteen. Her first choice had been to stay up later than her previously "suggested" bedtime of 90:20:00.
Now the world she lived in does not compare directly to the world that we live in. There are many things which we cannot relate to, or completely understand. One of these is the time schedule, and the lights in the sky which determined the calendar. The girl was very used to the four suns that often occupied the skies above Ole (the name of the world on which she lived). She was very used to the fact that the suns rotated above, around the planet, in a way which kept the "day" lit for 100:00:00 (an amount of time, close to 3 days Earth time), and the "night" dark for 50:00:00. She was very used to the fact that each "cycle" (similar idea to a year, but not a comparable length of time) until eighteen a child underwent introduced them to a new phase of life, and after that, life was more unpredictable for a while.
She was also used to the fact that Moma and Daddi, as is the same among all the girls and boys of her world, although she did not have any proof of this, had complete control over her life and choices, until her eighteenth cycle. Now that she had reached that age, she had much more confidence in the idea of being her own person than she had been while growing under the protective, but stifling, arms of her parents.
The girl stretched her arms above her head, reaching to touch the near black of the sky. In the fading light, an observer would have seen a rare beauty. Even the arms that reached upwards were beautiful in their own way, the muscles under her skin obvious but not manly. Moma always had told her that her looks would serve her well when she went out on her own, but she did not quite understand. A face that shone with innocence, intelligence, and the daily blessing of all four suns was her most endearing feature. But, without question, it was the rest that would capture the initial attention of the previously mentioned absent observer.
She wore little, as was the custom in both her immediate family and her culture. A gauzy type of material (sheere) wrapped around her breasts, holding but not concealing. It continued to lazily wrap around her hips and then snaked between her legs. It did not look particularly practical, but it was. Close enough to the body to prevent it from getting in the way of any tasks, yet just loose enough to provide comfort. At the same time, it gave the ideal balance of protection from, and exposure to, the suns.
So, in this garment, her body was on display. It always was, of course, and the girl was as unaware of it that day as she had been all her life. Through the near transparent fabric her nipples were hardened, due to the air which had cooled dramatically with the suns' disappearance, and seemed to be threatening to poke through. Her hair was as long as her waist, hanging straight round her face and down her back, and a color that on Earth would be compared to snow. Pure white, and silky smooth, in contrast to her darker skin, which was a shade of pink so deep that it only accented her innocence, as if she was a new born babe. The hair on the mound where her legs came together could be clearly seen to match the hair on her head. And those legs, they seemed to go on forever, despite her petite stature.
She walked through the field of wild flowers, unable to see them in the dark. Without at least one of the suns, there was absolutely no light. Stars or moons were not something that existed above, or at least they were not visible from, Ole. Even though she could not see the flowers, she pictured them in her mind and named them off. The girl had always felt a particular attachment to nature. Did it have something to do with her calling?
She felt the difference, both under her bare feet and in the lessening of the wind, as she entered the edge of the forest. This was territory new to her. She had never been allowed inside the forests. There were two, the Wide and the Deep. The girl remembered running between them on the path, on her way to the house of the old woman. She had always felt anxious before, about the forests. Now she had no qualms whatsoever and kept walking.
There were so many different things to experience. She ran her fingers over the trees, feeling their textures and putting them to memory. She breathed in deeply, wished she could place all the smells. Enjoyed everything. The girl walked without making a sound, listened carefully for the noises of the forest. Having no light to see by only made all the other senses so much sharper, she didn't miss a thing. This was the Wide, she was almost sure of it. But it didn't matter. She was home.
It was then that she saw him. The girl paused. When had she received her sight back? She looked around quickly in confusion. Nothing. Black. But there he was. And her primary thought was a word with no meaning to her. Kiylaee.
She could tell he knew she was there. Yet he did not speak. There seemed to be no need.
She felt what passed as blood among her people rush into her cheeks. She blushed, knew embarrassment for the first time. He was standing before her wearing nothing at all. She was not embarrassed by the male form, but by the impropriety of not covering it with the typical sheere.
She supposed he looked similar to her brother and Daddi. The same muscled torso, strong face, shoulder length hair, and wide stance. The same penis was hanging between his legs, albeit it was a little larger.
However, there was something about him.
The man, because there was no doubt he was a man and not a boy, had large expressive eyes. So dark they seemed to bore into her soul. His skin was much paler than anything she had seen before, and his hair much darker. He spoke to her, then, but not in a way even the girl understood.
I have been waiting for you, Saelhi. She knew without asking that Saelhi was her name now. Much came to her at one moment, thoughts of her past. What Moma had told her, in preparation for this very event.
(Cycles earlier)
"Moma, why do we not have something to go by? A name? Do the boy and I not deserve it?" She had been young, and very curious.
"It is not like that. There is so much about being a part of this world that is a mystery to us all, but we must pass on the way of things to our young. Naming is a very intimate thing, one to be done by your life partner. Daddi named me. And I named him. When you meet the one that is to be yours forever (any time after you reach your eighteenth cycle) you will know his name, and he yours. At the moment in which you communicate your names to each other, they will be written by the One of Ole as together for eternity."
"Oh." She tried to say it like she knew what Moma meant. But she did not.
"You will merge your life with this man that you name. Both physically and spiritually. You will become a new family, and receive a girl and a boy. That is how it works. Grahima (who the girl knew was Moma's mother, even though parental relationships were not discussed in the same terms as they are on Earth) spilled these mysteries to me, and you will do the same to your girl." Moma sighed with the relief of that conversation being done.
No more waiting, Kiylaee, we have found each other. Without knowing how it was done, Saelhi responded in kind to his statement. She could almost feel the One of Ole as he wrote their names down. Not knowing what to expect next, Saelhi waited for Kiylaee to take the lead.
It was like a dance. He moved towards her, and she moved too. There was unexpected grace evident in his movements. She then noticed a few flickering flames placed among the nearby trees. Enough light to explain why she had seen him, with his pale skin, but in hidden enough places that the uneven light sources had been impossible to spot from her position. The dance went on for hours.
Their first touch was very much like fireworks. Or some other wonderful explosion. It was simply his fingertips upon her cheek, but there was such a deep connection between the two that they felt it very strongly. He grazed her face with his palm, and they couldn't take their eyes away from each other.
The sensuousness of the simplest actions was lost on the two involved, but if they had been happened upon by any other, it would have been considered the most sacred and erotic of sights.
True love explore for the first time.
It was not awkward in the way that many firsts are. They knew instinctively where and how to touch. Kiylaee tenderly removed the sheere from around his woman, uncovering her beauty even more fully. Saelhi blushed again, being entirely naked in front of someone for the first time in many cycles, but she also shivered in anticipation.
... hopefully to be continued...
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WinkWink19
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