Matching Day

"Probably not, and even if they do, I told them the very first day I went home with her that sometimes I preferred to sleep outside, under the stars." He chuckled. "They probably think I'm quite odd, but it really is nice, sometimes, to just lay out here and look up at them."

Lenei snuggled closer to him and followed his eyes up to the dancing points of light in the rich blue-violet night. "But then, what happens next month, when your family send word for you to come home with her?"

"Hmm...the guys from Micrague probably don't remember what my match looked like, and you could answer to Salvia for the rest of your life..."

"But the girls who matched those boys would know I didn't match you. They'll definitely remember that I was the one who ended up with no one to love but a dead boy I never met."

"Gods, Lenei, I don't know," he said, sounding frustrated. "What do you want me to say? That this can only go on until I'm called home?"

"Can't it?"

"Maybe it'll have to stop when I'm called home," he said, then shook his head fiercely. "No. No, one way or another, I'm going to marry you someday, Lenei Russing."

Hearing her last name from his lips sent a jolt of reality through her system. "I don't know your last name, Mason," she said, eyes still fixed on the glittering treasure of the heavens.

"It's Griersley. Don't let that be the deciding point against me when you're deciding whether or not you want to marry me," he said with a grin.

"It's not bad."

"S'bad enough."

"But I still don't know you well enough to say that I love you, Mr. Griersley," she said, grinning a little herself. "For all I know, you could be an axe murderer."

"Well, you've been alone with me for hours now. Have you seen any signs that I'm going to be a danger to you?"

She giggled, then settled into seriousness. "No, I don't think you would hurt me."

He was still in a silly mood, grabbing her lightly around the neck and cackling evilly. "Now I've got you, princess!" he said in a nasal, grating voice. "You only thought I asked you here because I'm falling for you. In fact, I'm a hideous villain, bent on killing the loveliest and most brilliant girls in every community. You're my next victim!"

Lenei laughed, twisting to kiss him again. It felt more natural every time their lips met; after hours of it, she felt like she'd been born to kiss him.

Dawn bleached the horizon and made the trees stand like motionless skeletons. Lenei savored the taste of Mason's lips on hers as she clambered back into bed, wishing her quilt-shrouded mattress was half as comfortable as his arms.

With the promise of seeing him again that night, having him all to herself for hours and hours, she could make it through another day. She just wished night would come a little sooner.

***

There were moments, in the next few weeks, that made Lenei wonder if the gods were making up for tormenting her with Bracken's death by saturating every moment with exhilarating euphoria.

--

Mason, his face glowing with the radiance of the simple joy her presence brought him, danced with her in the moon's spotlight, humming a song he made up on the spot, her twirling feet sending leaves spinning all around them and making the breeze whirl and seethe with jealousy.

His teeth stood like pearly bits of star against his tan skin as he laughed, dipping her low enough that her hair brushed the dirt forest floor, then bringing her lightly back to her feet with an easy, undemanding kiss.

--

Combing his fingers through her hair, he poured nonsense pieces of poetry into the night, laughing occasionally at a particularly horrible rhyme, calling for her to contribute as well. But she wouldn't interrupt the uninhibited rhythm of his deep, pleasant voice; she let his words roll pleasantly over her soul while his fingers did the same to her scalp.

--

Electricity lanced the night as their lips mimicked each other's shape, and each of them drew life from the other's wholehearted ardor.

--

Lenei whispered, "I do, after all."

"Do what?"

"Love you."

--

Mason wrapped around her, keeping her warm as her discarded clothes could not. His lips were drawing a lazy line of kisses from her forehead down her nose, over her lips and onto her neck. He sucked gently at the spot where her neck ended and shoulder began, then dusted kisses across her collarbones.

His hands ran lightly along her sides, fingers brushing her skin from breasts to hips and back again. She brushed her fingers through his hair, tugged on it in a mute request for him to make his way back to her mouth and kiss her as he had been for weeks, but his mouth was quite busy venturing to previously unexplored territory.

Mason's lips pressed against her sternum, and the softness just above her belly button, and then the softness just below. He shifted back onto his heels so he could more easily massage his way down her thighs and to her knees. Hungrily, he eyed her body.

"Mason?" She could barely manage the breath to whisper his name. Something was making her chest tight, making it hard to bring in air; she realized after a moment that it was fear. That was the thing with Mason -- he frightened her. Not because he would ever hurt her, but because he looked at life and asked for more than he was given. He pushed boundaries.

His fingers were testing her boundaries now, working their way back up the inside of her legs and finding the intersection of her legs. He bent low, kissing her thigh just south of where his fingers rested, and his breath was both hot and cold on her body. It made her suddenly aware of a dampness there she did not recognize.

"Mason," she said again, more forcefully this time, and his eyes met hers.

"Yes?"

She licked her lips, trembling as he continued to breathe on her slick folds. "Are you planning to do what I think you're planning to do?"

"Only if you want it," Mason replied. He stared up at her for at least a minute before she realized she was meant to respond positively or negatively, but she had no answer. How could she think with his mouth practically pressed to her lips there? "Lenei? Do you want to?"

"I..." She observed the tenderness with which he was stroking her thigh, and melted a bit. "Yes. Please."

Mason grinned. He leaned in just a bit closer and touched his lips to her, then slid his tongue between her folds, trailing it up to the nub of her clitoris -- she gasped and tried to keep from shuddering, not wanting to break the contact -- and then down until he circled her slit. His eyes sought hers, looking for approval; he must have seen it in her face, because he began to move his tongue in earnest, sliding it up and down, then delving into her opening as deeply as he could.

Lenei squeezed her eyes shut to concentrate on the feelings, but the intensity gave her a sense of vertigo so intense she almost felt herself sliding along the forest floor, as though the world had tipped off its axis. She clutched at Mason's shoulders to steady herself, digging her nails in harder than she realized.

As Mason's warm mouth moved against her most sensitive places, she began to feel something completely new. It was a need she had never experienced before, an urgent and desperate desire so foreign that she could hardly guess how to fulfill it. She would have thought that Mason's current activity would relieve it somehow, but it was only sharpening the edge on her hunger.

"Mason, I need--" she started. She wasn't sure how to finish. Mason stopped immediately, sensing her distress, sitting up and wiping his mouth.

"What? What do you need?"

"I don't...know." She spoke quietly, distractedly. When Mason sat up, he revealed the entirety of his nude form, and Lenei found her attention drawn to his sizable manhood, standing at attention. She stared, beginning to get an idea of what it was she needed.

Picking up on her thoughts as though she was speaking them aloud, Mason abandoned his eager, if inexperienced, efforts to please her with his mouth and bent to press his body against hers again. He held himself just far enough off her that his weight would not oppress her, but the full length of his feverishly warm body covered hers, and the full length of his member pressed against her mound, pulsing slightly with each heart beat.

Slowly, painfully slowly, Mason slid his hips down, pulling his penis down her body until the head rested just where her lower lips parted, and then gravity and her own moisture pulled it the rest of the way. It came to rest just where it belonged, against her opening.

"Is this what you want?" Mason asked. With his mouth on her throat as it was, she felt more than heard his words.

She nodded, eyes closed. "Yes."

There was really no pain. Lenei was surprised; she had heard from other girls that it was quite unpleasant the first time, sometimes even traumatic, but perhaps they had not had such tender first lovers, or perhaps they had not been so achingly, drenchedly eager to have their lover inside them. Lenei hadn't even been aware of how badly she wanted Mason within her until he was, and all her tension drained out of her with a long sigh.

"It's perfect," she said, marveling at the fit of him in her. They were made for each other.

For many long minutes they were motionless, sharing each other -- they were no longer two people, but a single entity, joined intimately.

"I'm yours, Lenei." Mason's voice was husky, and Lenei saw that it was costing him something to remain still, not to just claim her from the inside out; she saw also in the way he wrapped his arms tightly around her and squeezed as if he would never let go that he was happy to remain frozen in place and share the moment, happy even as he strained for more.

"And I'm yours. Take me, Mason."

And he did.

Eventually they fell asleep, still connected, and didn't wake until larks' songs began to break the stillness of the air with the dawn.

***

Just when she thought nothing could be more perfect, more beautiful, the gods realized their carelessness in letting too much rapture concentrate in just two small hearts, and they began to set things back to rights.

Lenei picked her way through the now-familiar path from her house to their meeting place in the trees, stepping lightly over fallen branches and dodging snags and thorns with ease. She'd sat at her window all afternoon, watching the sun in its path, wishing it haste as it progressed toward the horizon. Her mother wondered what had gotten into her, but didn't mourn the change. It had been painful to see her daughter in such misery after Matching Day.

Just a little ways now, she thought cheerfully, wanting to whistle but deciding that would be imprudent. The fear of what they were doing didn't eat at her anymore, and she could almost forget, in the flawless moments with Mason, that there was anything wrong in what they did. When she saw Salvia, her face did not burn with blood, as it did at the beginning, and she did not hunch her shoulders against imagined accusations as she crossed the town now.

At the very moment it always seemed she had been walking too far, that she must have passed the clearing completely and needed to turn around, she saw Mason.

He was standing much as he had been the first night they'd met here, his hands balled into fists in his pockets, his eyes on the sky, standing in what she now recognized was his tensest stance, directly in the center of the clearing. He was wholly illuminated by a moon that approached full, and she could see the glistening tracks of tears on both cheeks, the slightest quiver to his bottom lip. Pain spiked just beneath her breastbone as she wondered distressedly what had upset him.

"Mason?" she called, tumbling out of the trees and into his arms. He barely caught her as she tripped over the undergrowth, landing ungracefully against his chest, and when she looked up into his face, she had never seen such despair.

"You came," he said brokenly. "I hoped you wouldn't."

"What?"

Rustling footsteps all around them told of the presence of others, and Mason's hands tightened on her upper arms as if he could somehow squeeze her out of sight.

Lenei's head swiveled frantically from side to side as she tried to see each face as they appeared, grimacing, out of the shadows; at the front of them all, she saw Salvia's triumphant countenance.

And Mason's eyes never left hers, never stopped pleading with her to forgive him for asking her to meet him the very first time. She had the horrible, world-shaking, vomit-inducing thought that, perhaps, he had tired of her and betrayed her. Her eyes begged his to assure her that this could never be true, but there was too much self-condemnation in their greyness for her to be sure.

***

"You have broken a match, you and Miss Lenei Russing, who was unmatched and took it upon herself to tear apart two compatible souls"

"Lenei did not take it upon herself," Mason interjected. "I convinced her. I persuaded her to meet me there."

"Regardless, she took part in the breaking."

"No, no, none of it was her fault. Aren't you listening to me? She didn't intend to do anything wrong. If anyone deserves any sort of punishment, it's me. I knew full well what the consequences would be if I were caught, and I chose to do it anyway."

"Did you ever stop to consider your matched pair? Salvia?"

"Salvia and I were never compatible. Never. You must have made a mistake--"

"We do not make mistakes! We are the Matching Council. We know what is best for the community, and it's self-important children like you that sow dissension."

"You made at least one mistake, didn't you? Or did you forget so easily that you left Lenei without a match?"

"Her situation was unfortunate, but not the fault of the Matching Council. If anyone should be blamed, it's the elders of Micrague for allowing such a tragedy to happen on their ground."

"Unfortunate? Unfortunate? You condemned her to a lifetime alone. And someone like Lenei should never, ever be left alone. Someone like Salvia, on the other hand..."

"Enough! Talking to this boy further serves no purpose. He has already told us what we need to know. Tomorrow, he and the girl will receive their twenty lashes."

"Wait, wait, you're not listening! Lenei didn't do anything wrong! Just by being caught, she's probably punished herself more than you ever could. Please, please, by the gods, have some mercy! She doesn't deserve any punishment!"

"Whether or not you feel she has done anything wrong, the law states that forty lashes will be dealt to the breakers of a match."

"Then give them to me. All of them."

"Excuse me?"

"This is completely my fault; I want the complete punishment."

"Young man--"

"Please."

A long pause from all of council members for thought, and then, "Very well."

They swept out of the tiny room like so many heavy shadows; they must have worked to make their flat black cloaks billow that way. Mason's head dropped to his chest, the ropes that held his arms behind the chair stretching his shoulders almost beyond their limit.

I promised I would never let anything hurt you, Lenei, he thought. Gods, I'm doing my best.

***

"You're free to go," the elder said blandly as he released Lenei. She stared unbelievingly at her unbound hands.

"Where's Mason?"

"The convicted young man awaits his punishment, to be dealt within the hour."

"His punishment? What about mine? I was there in the clearing as surely as he was..."

"Your punishment is to witness his flogging. We believe no other discipline will be necessary, in your case."

Lenei's mouth opened and closed as she tried to find the words to express what she wanted to say to the man; at last the only word she could summon was, "Why?"

He said nothing, just dropped his eyes and led her out of the cell.

The whole community had gathered around the platform, the same that had been used for the matching, only now a low block sprouted up from the wooden slats, looking ominously innocent. None had been told why they were gathered there, except that there had been some crime committed and they were to witness the punishment. Only Salvia's family, and Lenei's, understood what was happening.

Lenei was kneeling to the side of the crowd, the council member standing behind her one of the youngest - still spry, in case she tried to bolt. She ripped dying grass out by the roots and shredded it, releasing the pieces to the wind.

When Mason was led out, gasps peppered the assemblage, and curious whispers erupted from the collected people like ants out of a kicked anthill. He was shirtless, his hands bound in front of him, and he was flanked by four elders. They forced him to his knees, bending him over the block and retying his hands around the metal ring in the deck of the platform so that he had no escape.

His eyes scanned for Lenei's but he did not turn his head far enough to catch sight of her, so low to the ground and separated from the rest of the crowd by guilt and empty air. He sighed, seeming a little relieved.

"State your name and your crime," one of the elders demanded. He was not the one holding the cruel whip, a man of middle years with deeply etched lines in his face and a cold, set line of a mouth.

"I found love outside of my match," Mason said clearly.

A few women squawked at the brutality as the whip snapped across Mason's back, eliciting a cry from him; his eyes went wide, as if he was surprised at how much it hurt.

"Let us not have your lies, boy," said that head elder, the oldest of them, the only one who would speak in public when they were all gathered. "Explain your crime."

Panting, Mason spoke again. "I fell desperately in love with the perfect woman for me - and it was not the girl that I was paired with."

Crack "Enough! You pollute the minds of our community with your fabrications."

"Admit it, you were wron--Crack--aah!"

"This boy coerced--"

"I loved--"

Crack

"--a young woman of our community--"

"--the beautiful Lenei--"

Crack

"--with empty promises!"

"--with all my heart!"

Crack

"He wants to destroy our society--"

"I just want to be with her--"

Crack

"He broke faith with another--"

"I never loved Salvia!"

Crack

"--and destroyed her happiness!"

"The Council made a mistake!"

The last crack resounded into silence, broken only by Mason's painful gasps. Eyes of the gathered flicked between Mason and his trembling Lenei, her lovely face marred with tears, and to Salvia, who looked as though she would be sick, and to the elders, whose faces ranged from clearly uncomfortable to purpled with rage.

"That's eight," the eldest Councillor said at length, waving for the man with the whip to continue.

The crowd was silent through a few more strokes as Mason bit nearly through his lip to keep from howling. Gradually, whispers spread sporadically again, people began to shake their heads, drifting away from the platform in small chunks.

Council members watched their disgusted people leave and wondered if they had, at last, gone too far; but they dealt out the punishment, as they must, and then dragged Mason to his feet with a Council member holding him up under each armpit.

They towed him back to his cell, unable to force him to stand up on his feet and walk the distance, and dropped him face down on the bench that served as his bed, though his legs hung off from the knee down.

"What now?" asked the second-youngest of the elders, barely old enough to be called an 'elder' at all.

"He will be taken back to Micrague, to be sentenced there as well," said one of them. "They've had this problem in the past; they know how to deal with it properly."