After Ch. 00

"Come!" Sarah said and started down what appeared to be the city's main street. It was not a request. They follow the lovely young woman. After a few moments, they enter a residential neighborhood. This part was unlike the other cities they had visited. With all the farming done outside the walls, there was much more room inside. Most of the homes were small single-family dwellings. Most had small grassy yards. Every yard had at least one tree, usually a palm. A short while later, they came to another plaza. This one was larger, rectangular and very obviously military. It contained various practice fields, archery ranges and a huge three story barracks on the right.

The soldiers there surprised Keeqoht a little. He and Hok'ee had been to many city-fortresses, but this was the first where anything even close to uniforms was worn. All wore dark trousers. Black, brown, even dark green. But the tunics they wore were all the same deep royal blue. He noticed that all of the officers treated Sarah with deference. He wondered why that was, as they rode on.

They finally arrived at what Keeqoht figured was the center of the city. There was a large official looking building...An angled roof supported by many columns. Sheer billowy curtains served as walls. Equatorial Chica was hot and air conditioning had yet to be re-invented. Sarah dismounted and indicated that Keeqoht and Hok'ee should do the same. She led them inside, where they saw what could only be described as a throne room. At the top of just a few steps sat a very plain and simple throne.

The men were mildly surprised to see a middle-aged woman sitting on it. Their surprise had nothing to the throne's occupant being a woman, but her appearance caught them unprepared. An older, almost duplicate version of Sarah. She looked to be near fifty, yet was still very attractive. Then, Sarah approached her, stopping about five paces from her. She brought her open right hand to her fore head, and then to her lips and finally held it over her heart. Next Sarah spoke to the woman. "She who leads us...I bring visitors."

The woman nodded. "From far to the north, eh?" Her voice was the same as Sarah's, but a little deeper. She cast a look at her visitors. "Names?" She managed to sound gruff and friendly at the same time. Something wasn't right, Keeqoht though. What was it?

"I am called Keeqoht." Keeqoht said.

"And I am Hok'ee." Said the old Indian.

"And you are a...?" The older woman asked Hok'ee, eyeing him intensely.

"Navajo." Somehow knowing what she was asking.

She nodded. She looked at Keeqoht. "You're perhaps wondering why your weapons were not taken from you before you were brought before me?"

Then it came to him. He nodded. "It does seem a little careless to me."

She grinned at him. It was not a pleasant grin. She clapped her hands twice and four men appeared from nowhere...each armed with a shotgun pointed at Keeqoht and Hok'ee. "As you can see, I was never in any danger."

Keeqoht smiled ruefully. "Madam, I mean you and yours no harm."

The unpleasant grin turned into a friendly smile. "I know that. Welcome to Chica...both of you." To Hok'ee, she said. "You are not the first of your kind that I have seen, though it had been a very long time."

"Indians...you call us the Red Ones, are a bit more common in the north." He informed her.

Sarah turned to the visitors and said. "This is Aviva...She who leads us." Her hostility seeming to melt away. She actually smiled at them, or to Keeqoht to be more exact. For a brief moment, Keeqoht froze. Her smile was very nearly hypnotic. It was if he was seeing her for the very first time. Time stood still for an instant. Then after a few seconds, he was finally able to tear his gaze from her. Afterward it felt as if he had stared at her for hours. He was mortified the think that she might have 'caught' him staring at her.

Aviva turned her attention to Sarah. "Give them quarters in your home, Sarah. And bring them to the banquet hall for the evening meal. It has been far too long since we have had guests."

"It has already been seen to, She who leads us."

Travelers were always welcomed in the cities. They always brought news and information from places far away.

That evening, Sarah escorted Keeqoht and Hok'ee into the banquet hall. It was brightly lighted with many torches. There was a long table near the center of the room with many chairs. As if on queue, all the halls occupants moved to the table and stood behind the chairs when the 'guests' entered.

"Wait here." Sarah told her charges. "The custom is for you to wait until invited to join us, by She who leads us." Then she too went to the table.

Again, almost as if the whole thing had been rehearsed, Aviva entered the hall and sat at the center of the long table. Then all the others sat. Sarah to Aviva's right, Kyla to her left. There were two empty chairs immediately to Sarah's right. Aviva spoke. "Keeqoht, Hok'ee, will you join us for our evening meal?" She gestured at the unoccupied seats.

Keeqoht walked to the table and sat next to Sarah...Hok'ee followed and also sat. Instantly, food was brought out. Roasted beef cut in huge slab-like slices and some chicken...along with potatoes, peas and an assortment of fruits. Wine was brought out to drink. When everyone was served, Aviva turned to Keeqoht and said. "So, tell us of your travels."

Keeqoht paused only a moment before beginning. Then began by telling his listeners about his home in California and about the loose coalition of five city-states that banded together for trade and safety. "The land pirates have been wiped out in our area." He told them. He went on to tell them of his and Hok'ee's travels through the Rocky Mountains, surprising his hosts by telling them that the Rockys were now the tallest mountains know on Earth. "Mount Lincoln is so tall there is no snow at its top."

"None?" Asked Kyla, smiling at Keeqoht.

"None." Interjected Hok'ee. "It is said that there is even no air to breathe at the top."

Keeqoht was about to explain about the atmosphere getting thinner at high altitudes when he noticed Kyla whispering frantically to Aviva.

Then Aviva looked pointedly at Keeqoht. "My granddaughter tells me that you can read and write. Perhaps there is some way I might convince you to stay long enough to teach a few of us?"

He hesitated before answering. He said as respectfully as he could. "Well actually, our plans are to move on east into Kanuckia." He hadn't ruled out staying for a while, but wanted to discuss it with Hok'ee first. He could see disappointment in Kyla's eyes...and maybe in Sarah's too? He dismissed that as ridiculous.

Genuinely curious, Aviva asked. "What do you seek in Kanuckia?"

"Nothing in Kanuckia...once there we planned on going north-east to the land bridge at Beringia and cross that into Asia." Another result of the Great Cataclysm was that the Aleutian Islands were now a long narrow ithmus conecting what was Alaska and the Kamchatka peninsula.

The room fell silent. Such an undertaking was considered to be impossible, or very close to it. Beringia was scarcely more than myth.

"A noble goal, but...." Aviva noted, "...surely you can spare a few days to visit with us, can't you?"

Keeqoht looked at Hok'ee, who nodded, then turned back to Aviva. "We can stay for a little while. Maybe even for one cycle of the moon, but no more than that. The moon will be full tonight...the morning after the next full moon, we must go."

The rest of the meal went without interruption. Keeqoht, with help from Hok'ee, kept all present intertained.

At the end, as they were getting up to leave, Aviva turned to Hok'ee and asked him to remain behind for a moment or two. He nodded and told Keeqoht that he would be along a bit latter. Keeqoht, Sarah and Kyla walked in silence together out of the banquet hall.

Later, after supper that evening, they retired to the common room in Sarah's home. Keeqoht, for reasons he could not understand, found that he was really starting to like Sarah. Once she'd gotten over her initial hostility toward him, she was polite and friendly. And even managed to act a little grateful for her and Kyla's rescue from the land pirates. After sending Kyla to bed, she served him an alcoholic beverage made from honey and hops. Moving with such grace that he found it difficult not to stare at her, she sat next to him...making sure to keep a 'respectable' distance from him. She looked at him. Started to say something, but stopped. Tried again...failed again. Finally....

"You know what would have happened to Kyla and I if the land pirates were able to capture us, do you not?"

"Yes, I know." Keeqoht spoke softly. He hadn't really thought much about it after they had arrived safely inside Chica.

She looked straight into his eyes. "You mustn't underestimate the importance of what you did today. Kyla is more important than you can know." An almost pleading look on her face.

Now he did stare...unable not to look at her. He had read about and heard of something that was called love at first sight, but he didn't believe in it...did he? But then...it wasn't really first sight, but it might as well be. He'd first seen her just a few hours ago. He looked at her. Her eyes seemed to draw him inside of her in a way he could neither explain nor even begin to understand. He wanted to know her better. He wanted to know everything about her. What she liked, what she didn't like, what made her smile, or laugh...everything...period. Keeqoht never felt like this before. "Look...I did what I had to do. What any other man would have done in my place." He took a drink of his beverage.

"No...not any other man. Not...."

He interrupted her, grinning. "Besides, I wasn't alone there. Hok'ee deserves as much credit as I do."

Sarah became exasperated. "Please. I'm trying to thank you...you must let me do that."

Those damned dark beautiful eyes. He could refuse her nothing. He nodded. "As you wish. It was not my intent to make it any more difficult for you than it already is." His heart beat so hard, he was afraid she might hear it. He felt the urge to take her into his arms and kiss her, but was able to resist it.

She looked directly at him, dismay clouding her features. "It is not difficult for me to express gratitude. You saved my daughter and me from a fate I do not even want to think about."

Keeqoht shrugged. "I am glad to have been of any help."

Another look of frustration crossed her face, mixed with something else. Anger?

Like every man since the dawn of time, Keeqoht's first thought was.What did I do?It didn't help, that she was even more beautiful when angry. Time to change the subject. "So, the other woman, Aviva...She who leads you...your mother?"

Sarah nodded. "She is."

"That is unusual. Nearly all of the cities I've been to were led by men. I find Chica a refreshing change from that."Sarah is a princess!His mind raged at him. She, who led Chica, was the equivalent of a queen in this new world order. Any chance he might have had with her just vanished. And he had wanted to kiss her? Who was he kidding?

"You'll find that many of the cities around the five inland seas are ruled by women. Mother is a good leader. And your family?"

Hisfamily? Sarah was nobility at least...most likely royalty. He was nothing. Keeqoht needed to clear his mind. He chuckled. "They used to be called lakes."

"What?" The change of subject caught her off guard.

"The inland seas were once called the Great Lakes."

"Please," she said. "Do not change the subject. What of your mother, father? Tell me more about you."

That was when Keeqoht noticed that Sarah was sitting closer to him on the long padded bench. The 'respectable' distance had vanished. They sat side by side, turned slightly toward one another. Their knees very nearly touching. Before he realized her station in life, he would have welcomed the closeness. But now, she just made him nervous.I must take great care not to offend.

He had just opened his mouth to speak, when Sarah looked down, noticing that his cup was almost empty.

"Allow me to refill your cup, sir." She said, smiling and reaching for the cup. Their fingers touched. They both froze. Looking deep into one another's eyes, something passed between them. Though neither had any idea what it was. Once again, Keeqoht felt a nearly irresistible need to take Sarah into his arms and kiss her. And once again, he was able to keep himself from doing so.

Then, the moment passed and He was able to clear his mind and find his voice. "My mother died two years ago...I never knew my father." He said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. "My mother worked at a bawdy house in a city named Diego in California."

Sarah appeared to be stunned by what she just learned, but regained her composure quickly and frowned. "I am sorry. I did not intend to bring up bad memories." She took his cup and moved off to refill it. He watched her walking away, his eyes again taking in her lush beauty. She had apparently changed clothes, he thought. The breechcloth she wore seemed to be narrower, more revealing. Her top was certainly smaller, very low in the front. The tops of her magnificent breasts clearly visible. Keeqoht felt a slight stirring between his legs. He kept one hand relaxed in his lap to conceal the growing bulge.

Then in an effort to get his mind off his desires, he continued speaking. "I was raised by my mother with a lot of help from Hok'ee. He is of no relation to me, but I call him uncle. After mother died, I left. Hok'ee and I have been traveling since."

Over the past few minutes, Keeqoht's attraction to Sarah grew stronger and stronger, but in his heart of hearts, he knew it could never be. Did he love her? He didn't know...he'd never been in love before, but he felt things for her he'd never experienced before in his life. But she was of high station and his mother had been a prostitute...his father unknown. There was no way, was there?Only in my dreams.He thought to himself.

Over the next couple of hours, He managed to keep her and her family as their subject of conversation. He learned that she was 33 years old. And that Aviva, her mother was much younger than he thought. Only forty-nine...she'd turn fifty just before the autumnal equinox. She told him that her mate, Kyla's father had been taken and killed by land pirates more than twelve years ago while on a hunting expedition. Then she fell silent. After what seemed like hours, but wasn't. Sarah excused herself saying she was turning in for the night and left him sitting alone.

Later that night....

Keeqoht leaned back in the tub, relaxing. Again, he thought of Sarah. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman...but was beyond his reach. The tub, filled with piping hot water was the largest he had ever seen, measuring almost three paces in diameter. After months of washing in streams and out of buckets, this was a refreshing change. After being bathed by two lovely and naked middle-aged women, he was led to the tub to soak and relax. Modesty as most know it was apparently also a casualty of the Great Cataclysm.

The tub area was dark with the exception of the light coming in the archways from a full moon outside. The silence was almost overwhelming, but he enjoyed it...then a soft whisper of sound. Bare feet on the stone floor and in the darkness, Keeqoht saw movement. A flash of white-blonde hair as he felt more then saw a slender form slip into the tub with him. Slim arms encircled his neck and soft warm lips met his. Her tongue gently seeking entrance to his mouth. Reflex brought his arms around the body now pressing against his. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was naked.Sarah?He almost asked aloud. She was very slim.... Too slim! Keeqoht grasped her upper arms and thrust her out to arms length...looking deep into the lust filled eyes of Kyla!

"Kyla...what are you doing here like this?" The moonlight made her look older than her very young age.

Shy smiled slyly. "I guess you could say I am staking my claim."

"Your claim?"

"Yes, in ten days, I reach the age of womanhood. You shall be my first." She said it as if it were a fact already carved in stone, trying to kiss him again.

Keeqoht was thinking as rapidly as he could.How do I get out of this?He managed to avoid her attempts at kissing and said. "You remember that I come from California, right?" Kyla said nothing but nodded in a way she probably thought was very sexy. "Well, where I was raised, a girl cannot become a woman until she has eighteen years."

"I'll not wait another three years!" A little anger slipping into her voice. She started to speak again, but hesitated, looking for the right words. "The laws and customs are different here."

Nearly fifteen? She is older than she appears. But still too young!Keeqoht had to find a way to avoid what this beautiful child clearly had on her mind...then it came to him. "I'm sure what you say is true, but...." A look of uncertainty spread across her face as he went on. "You said it was ten days before you are of age, right?" Her disappointment was evident as she realized that he had pointed out the obvious fatal flaw in her plan.

"And...." She started. Very clearly, she feared rejection.

Keeqoht shook his head slowly and what he hoped looked sadly as well. "I will not, can not violate your laws or traditions. Perhaps we can speak of this again in ten days?"

Kyla nodded...tears starting to form in her eyes. She slowly, reluctantly climbed out of the tub, briefly stopped as if unsure what to do next and then ran from the room...weeping.

He held his breath a moment until he was sure she was gone and let loose a huge sigh of relief. "May the Powers help me." He softly muttered to himself. He had closed his eyes and was willing himself to relax again, when a soft voice speaking in little more than a whisper jarred him.

"Thank you."

Keeqoht jerked upright, turning to his right where to voice had come from. There, standing only a couple of paces from him was Sarah holding a candle in an ornate holder. The candle wasn't really necessary as the room was now filled with moonlight. She was now somehow even more beautiful in the light from the moon. His mouth went dry. Her unmatched beauty was enhanced by what she was now wearing. Imagine if you will, a garment cut very much like a poncho. It came down only to just above mid-thigh. So sheer that it was very nearly transparent. Through the thin fabric, he could easily see her breasts...her large nipples, perfect to his way of thinking. The white-blonde hair at her nether region stood out in sharp contrast to her tanned skin. Keeqoht tried desperately not to stare at her. He opened his mouth, but managed to only get out a strangled..."Huh?"

"I knew Kyla would try to sneak in here and attempt to seduce you."

Keeqoht shook his head. "She is still a child. I simply could not even consider doing what she wanted."

Sarah smiled softly at him. "She certainly would not be the first to try and, um...shall we say...rush things along, if you know what I mean. I am only mildly angry with her. I did the same at her age. The difference is...I succeeded. I give up my virginity a month before I should have."

His eyebrows shot up.

"And if you ever tell her that, I'll kill you." She continued, joking.

"Your secret is safe with me." Keeqoht said grinning.

Sarah paused a moment and then asked almost shyly. "May I join you in your bath?" Men and women bathing together was not uncommon in the new era though this rarely led to any kind of sex with the exception of mated or betrothed couples. Now, Keeqoht's voice failed him completely and he just nodded. Sarah set down the candle and pulled off her garment with a grace that almost looked rehearsed.