I said, “Rani? Do you like your new penis? Did you want to play with it?”
She smiled and said, “I do like it. I haven’t played with it yet, but I liked how it played with me!”
I said, “It is yours. You can do whatever you want with it, but remember to share; it isn’t yours alone.”
Rani stroked the length of my cock and smiled broadly, declaring “A fine token of marriage! Most girls only get a ring with a worthless stone. A fine cock is a better gift by far!”
Chapter 16
The Council Meeting
Aeyli jumped up and said, “Oh, that’s right!” and she took something from the pouch at the belt that she had dropped on the floor. “Mark, come and stand here while we sit on the bed.”
I stood at the side of the bed and the three girls sat side by side in front of me.
Aeyli said, “Now, kneel down and take these.”
She handed me three small, thin gold bracelets, each with a ruby stone hanging from a setting on it. There was a hinge on one side and a clasp mechanism on the opposite side.
“Put one on each of our left ankles. They are the jewelry tokens for declaring us your mates.”
I took Aeyli’s ankle as she offered it to me and placed one of the bands around it. I closed it around her foot and with some force, snapped the latch together with a click.
She said, “It will not come off easily. It has to be destroyed to remove it.”
I did the same with Rani and then with Belle.
Aeyli said, “There is a council meeting at sundown. We have a little time, but not much. We could eat some fruit,” and she went to the bag of fruit that we had brought and passed out a few pieces to each of us.
She said, “We can eat here, but Belle will have to put on her belt for the council meeting. We all need to appear. Mark, the council is made up of the men with the most mates and the women they have. Three men of the village each have three mates, so three men plus nine women sit on the council. First they will call me and question me. It will be easy. Then they will call you, or Rani and Belle, or Rani and Belle may come after. They will ask you questions and you will just answer them. There are no penalties. It’s just to get to know you and your intentions and to welcome you and to determine how you will fit in the life of the village.”
I ate my fruit and said, “How many people will be there?”
She answered, “There are about 1000 people in the village. Maybe one hundred will come tonight, because no matters of importance are to be discussed. This is a special council, just to meet you and see the declaration the we three have taken a mate.”
Belle said, “It’s easy. New couples are always nervous and sometimes the councilmen try to act gruff, ‘How will you support this woman? Tell us your plan!’, but it’s all good natured. It’s fun. Aeyli will have to talk the most. Women are trusted more to talk about mating matters.”
We finished our fruit and joked about this and that and laughed. When time came to leave for the council hall, Belle did buckle her belt around waist, but she swore that it would come off as soon as possible.
We walked out into the street together and headed for the town square where the council hall was located. The girls at my side were a sight to see. The voices that I had overheard earlier were correct: the girls were taller than the average woman in the village, but I certainly didn’t see anyone more beautiful. The matching anklets they wore accentuated their lovely features more than anything else that I could have dreamed up.
Aeyli had explained that she had chosen anklets for several reasons. First, necklaces would get in the way of sword practices and she intended that all of them become proficient. She felt the same way about rings, but also said that she would feel more naked and more lovely without her belt if she wore the anklet rather than something else that might draw the eye away from her true form. The girls and I agreed. There was no need to convince me though. I thought that anklets were amazingly sexy. If you were going to do something to draw the gaze of an admirer, draw it down across the body and guide it down the leg, not directly away from all of that loveliness, to the face and head.
There seemed to be more than the hundred people that Aeyli predicted heading for the council. When we arrived, Aeyli took us to seats near the floor and to the left of the platform that seated the council members.
The hall was big enough to seat about 800 on stone bleachers that rose on three sides of the building. More and more people filed in and I estimated that the count was closer to 500 than 100.
I heard various voices saying, “There are a lot here for a special mating council.”
“It’s the shrine maiden. She has found a mate.”
“The shrine maiden? Aeyli? That’s what I had heard. Can it be true?”
“Who knows. We are having a meeting for some reason.”
“This is a lot. I haven’t been to council for years.”
“Nothing ever happens. They handle it fine. There’s no need for me to leave home in the dark.”
“Hush, that must be him. He is very tall.”
Yes, I was also taller than the other men. Aeyli had said that the average was about 5’8”, but I gaged it now at closer to 5’5” and the women at 5’3”. Maybe my conversion from Barsoom measurements to Earth measurements hadn’t been quite accurate enough at first. Aeyli and Rani were about five inches taller than the women and three inches taller than the men. Aeyli had assured me that she was no more than average height, but I remember a hint of a joke when she said it. And sure enough, it wasn’t true at all. Even Belle stood at least as tall as the men. I could see that in many cultures, this would make it more difficult to find a mate. I myself stood at least seven inches taller than most of the men.
We waited in our seats and after several more minutes, the visitors had all taken their places and the councilman in the center of the platform held up his hand for silence. There were twelve seats arranged in an arc on the raised stone platform. Starting at the left there were two women, then a man, then then three women, one man, three more women, one man, and finally one more woman. Picture 3 groups of four chairs◦– each group with a man, two women at his left and one at his right with a small empty space between each group. These were the 3 councilmen, each with 3 mates who served as councilwomen.
The center man spoke, “Village, this council is called to examine the mating of a member of the village and a new visitor who seeks to live among us. Um, I am surprised to see so many at the meeting tonight. It’s good to see a renewed interest in council work. I expect that we will be done quickly this evening because we have only the one matter, always a happy one. Let’s get started. Who is to be mated this evening?”
The councilwoman at his right placed her hand over his arm and said, “Aeyli, step up and let us talk.”
The councilman almost jumped in his seat, but the woman’s gentle pressure on his arm restrained him. He collected himself and said, “Aeyli, do I understand this? You have come to declare a mate?”
The woman said quietly to him, “Do it properly My Prince.”
The man sighed and started again, “Aeyli stands before us to declare a mate. Um, the circumstances I see are unusual, but not unprecedented. We will proceed as usual.”
Aeyli bubbled and said, “Ask me anything and I will answer you truthfully!”
The man said gruffly, “You will answer the questions asked of you by the councilwomen and the men will question the newcomer in turn. How you try me. Why have you been so rebellious from the time you were a child?”
Aeyli smiled and said, “Because my grandfather was a rebel. Blame him!”