Spreading Seeds Saga 01

"I agreed to pass on our medicine and health care to everyone, so today at noon the medical staff will hold a sick call in the bath house. Make sure of your diagnosis, and conserve our supplies. While I was waiting for you I found that they think most of our medicines are for fertility, so be prepared to see a lot of prospective mothers for a while. I tried to give you men a chance to rest last night, but the elders wanted to make sure we wouldn't hold back the semen to pressure them for better prices. "I've set up a tracking chart of menstrual cycles from last winter, so we will know who is eligible for impregnation. You men will have to adhere to strict control for a few weeks, no quickies behind the wood shed, OK?" She looked at Sarge who nodded and grinned.

"Tonight we will have a Ceremony for the "Bahia", what they call their girls that will become women tonight; since it is part of their moon calendar I wasn't able to postpone it. Now there will be twelve Bahia in the bath house tonight, so we will need every man on duty. Sue and the med team will check them out after sick call, and will give Sarge the roster. They tried to get twenty-three into the bath house tonight but I disqualified some of them to prevent overload. Tomorrow night we convert to a normal rotation two of you on, and four off.

"Now as far as security is concerned, The Post will be locked; I don't expect we'll see any pilferage as these people consider theft a capital crime, except for men. They will watch the remuda, I picked out ten of their girls to ride herd, and they are all eager recruits. I promised them that as soon as they were Bahia, they would be in front of the line at the bath house."

Sarge interrupted, "Ginny, what about their men? Do they have a Kiva, or anything close to it?"

Ginny nodded, "They have twenty men, but only twelve are fertile. Six of them are too old, and two are just kids. They keep them closely guarded, and before we came, they practiced a form of artificial insemination. The men masturbate into a bowl, then they inseminate several women, it worked less than a third of the time."

Sarge and the rest of us men shivered, AI was uncivilized, imagine cumming into to a cup, never even seeing a pussy much less tasting one, "What about a Kiva?" Sarge asked.

"Well they built one, it is kind of small, behind the bath house, they wouldn't let the men use it until you got here, I guess they were afraid of change. After we break up I'll introduce you around, and take you to see the Fathers, that's what they call them. You can negotiate with them but make sure to get me in the loop so I can clear any deals you make with the Administration, Ok? We are on thin ice for a while."

"Sure," Sarge scratched his chin. "Do they keep them locked up, the men?"

"No but the men keep close to themselves, only the younger ones are seen around the village, and then they are escorted." Ginny had gotten to the end of her list. "Anyway we'll meet again before the ceremony starts, and discuss what you find out from the men." Ginny handed off to Sue, who discussed assignments and stuff, and then the meeting broke up.

June and I rode out to the pasture and checked the mules and horses. The village girls had kept our stock in a group, and had surrounded the herd allowing them access to water, and grass, but kept their stock away from ours. As we approached the herd, a girl on horse back rode over to us, and introduced herself as Gloria Bitterwater.

"Are you Maria's sister?" I asked her. She had the same dark hair and smooth skin as Maria.

"No Maria is my aunt three times removed. Were you the one then, last night?" She asked grinning.

"Can't say, what goes on in the bath house is private."

I gave out the stock answer and looked at her. She was mid-late teens and filling out nicely. She rode a saddle and wore chaps, boots, a yellow shirt, and seemed to have good teeth.

She nodded and smiled. "Well we kept all your animals together, if you agree we will move them to better pasture as soon as you pick out the ones you want to keep."

"Where is this pasture?" June asked.

Gloria pointed out along the shallow river, "Down there about a mile. The grass is better, and there are trees for shade. They look like they all could stand some rest." She looked over the herd.

"OK Josh, pick out five horses, and any animal you want to keep an eye on, then we'll move the herd." June said.

I picked the five fattest horses, and rode through the mules looking for a couple that had bad feet, and would need some ferrier work. A couple of the girls helped me catch them, and tie them to a tree stump. They could graze while we moved the herd. None of them seemed anxious to do more than rest, so I didn't worry about them, besides Gloria assigned a young girl to watch over them. She also wore a yellow shirt, like all the rest of them.

"What are the yellow shirts about? I asked Gloria when we had the herd moving.

"Ginny had them made for us so we could see each other in the brush. She said we needed a uniform since we are 'pprentice Scouts now," she said proudly, I guessed she meant Apprentice Scouts.

Making some of a new population part of the corps was a way to involve them in the changes that were sure to come from our presence. Ginny had been busy all last winter it seemed.

The girls moved the herd smoothly along the river, keeping them out of the crops that were just coming up. we forded the stream and came to a small valley that opened out to the river. The steep surrounding hills were covered with pinion pine, and oaks; the floor of the valley was almost flat, and had thick grass, there was more than enough feed for a few days I figured.

Gloria rode out to check with her girls, and came back with about half of them in a column of twos, June and I were dismounted checking the flora and generally looking around, when Gloria pulled up, "I'm taking half the girls to rest up and eat. The rest will watch over the herd until evening, and then we'll send out a night watch to replace them, are you coming with us?"

"Why don't you introduce us to your team." said June

Gloria smiled and looked back at her girls, "Form a Line," she called out and waved her arm out to the left. The girls broke formation, formed a line quickly, and dismounted, standing beside their horses heads, looking straight ahead. Gloria and June took the lead, and with me trailing behind we walked down the line. Gloria introduced each girl to June, and then to me.

The girls ranged from twelve or so to fifteen or sixteen, all of them stood at attention, only giggling after we had passed them. They all had on their yellow shirts, although since the shirts appeared all the same size, they hung on the smaller ones. They appeared to be well mounted; only the youngest rode a pony, and even then the girl appeared over mounted. How many of them would really become Scout Traders was a question that only time would tell.

When we got back to our horses and had mounted, Gloria called "Mount UP!" and the girls all got up and stayed in the line as we rode off, June and I leading, with Gloria behind us. Gloria shouted, "Column of Twos!" and the girls formed up behind her.

We got back to the Trading Post as a bell was ringing. Gloria and the girls went off to put away the horses, taking ours, and the ones I had picked out, to a corral that was hard pressed to hold them.

The bell was calling everyone to lunch, and June led me up to the Kitchens where we found most of our crew eating. We had hardly found a seat when a woman put a plate with half a chicken on it in front of each us. Another woman put a bowl of boiled greens, and a bowl of beans, in front of us, smiled shyly and said, "Good Appetite."

The chicken was well roasted and still juicy, the greens tasted of goat cheese, and the beans had chili powder in them. Good, if slightly strangely seasoned. I agreed with Sarge that we need to get our own mess soon, or we would lose our own culture.

The discussion around the table was of what people had learned that day. Nothing earth shattering, but knowing the lingo allowed me to read behind the words.

Charlotte said that she had visited their hospital, and they were in good shape, some of the ointments and drugs we had they didn't, and they appeared to have found a couple of interesting herbal remedies we had never heard of.

Able, our most senior Scout except for the top four, said that he had heard of a machine shop, but hadn't been able to look at it.

Sarge said that he had talked to Council of Fathers this morning, and had gotten them to agree to send all of the most eligible fathers to Kiva for training that afternoon. He looked at me and said, "Josh I'd like you and Able to come with me, OK?"

"Sure," I said, "Dressed?"

"Yeah, we'll wear the Kiva Clans."

Able smiled and asked, "Heathen symbols and all?"

"Oh yeah all the symbols and as many talisman as you've got."

"Really," Ginny said, "are you promoting that pseudo-cult even now?"

"Just maintaining our heritage, Ginny. I'm playing the cards I'm dealt, and don't talk to me about Pseudo-cults when you speak of the Kiva. You know better to denigrate anyone's cultural beliefs just because you don't agree with them."

Mercer broke in, "OK, Sarge, play it the way you see it. Ginny how about the Council of Fathers? Have you talked to them?"

"As I said, it took me six months to finally get them to talk to me directly then, they just listened and walked away. It took another three weeks before they sent me back a list of questions to be replied to, in triplicate. I'd just answered all their questions when we heard you were approaching, and they passed the word to me that they would wait and talk to our men first." She gave Sarge the evil eye, and he only smiled at her.

I was busy with the chicken and beans; I didn't care for the greens so much, and didn't catch much of what passed between Mercer, Sarge, Sue, and Ginny.

Since I was late arriving I was among the last to leave. Able wiped his mouth and looked at me, "Full Regalia in twenty minutes, Josh." When I nodded still chewing the last of my chicken, he winked at me and left. I finished up, and following Abel's sure lead, had passed by the kitchen to complement them on the meal.

I caught up with Sarge and Able in the Trading Post, where they were unpacking their personal gear to get their Kiva Coats. I joined them and soon each of us was adorned as Raccoons of the Lone Pine Kiva. The Coats were deerskin; each killed and tanned by each of us in a ritual hunt at sixteen years of age, when we graduated to Raccoon.

Mine was sparsely adorned with only four raccoon tails, one for each woman who claimed that my sperm had given a live birth to a boy. Since I had only been active for four years, and many women couldn't actually say who the father of their child was, it was about average. Able had twenty-five coon tails on his jacket, Sarge had thirty-five and the tail of a mountain puma adorned his collar, signaling at least a hundred more boys had issued from his loins.

We walked up to the Kiva each carrying our staffs. The staff is the emblem of the Lone Pine Kiva, although it is generally made of hickory, about the size to fit the hand well, and as tall as you were when you cut it at twenty years old. It is what made you a full Raccoon, according to the hidden teaching of the Kiva, and was also handy to beat the snot out of anyone who sniggered at you for dressing like a savage.

A nervous woman met us at the entrance to the Kiva. She spoke to Sarge and hurried off.

Sarge took the keys she had given him and opened the lock on the door, "Well gentlemen let's see what they have made of the Kiva plans."

We entered the Kiva, and found as usual the Burneyites had used their cast concrete bee hive pattern, the entry dome was about five meters in diameter, and a draped archway, wide enough for three men to walk through at once, made up the back wall. Sarge pulled back the drapes, and we were surprised at the amount of light that the skylights let in. The main dome of the Kiva was twenty meters or so in diameter and the central room was about ten, in the rear quadrants were two sub domes, where we found water heaters, duck boards, and three fireplaces. A doorway led to another sub dome, where wood was stacked for the baths.

They had used the outer rim to make alcoves about four meters deep and four meters wide. A central pedestal held a brazier, and many cushions covered in the soft wool of the Angora goat.

All the sub domes had skylights, and the main dome had two large glass windows on the north side, and one on the south side, with a drape of willows that could be rolled down in the summer.

At the peak the Dome was equipped with a valve allowing for ventilation. Sarge was smiling as we explored the alcoves, and the building, that would be our home for the next year or so.

There were ten alcoves around the room, enough for every one of us to have our own space, and four left over for spares. An arm swung back the entry drapes, and a man looked into the Kiva.

"We knocked at the door."

"Come on in Brother Stewart," Sarge said. Stewart and five men came in to the Kiva Room. Stewart was about forty to forty-five years old and thin, not too tall. All of them were dressed in starched and pressed grey denim uniforms, cargo pocket pants, and heavy shirts outside their pants. They looked around the Kiva, and followed Sarge as he pointed out the Baths, and alcoves, we all ended up on the pedestal surrounding the cold brazier.

"Men, we need to consecrate the Kiva as soon as possible." Sarge said, "This is a good place we just need to make it ours."

"We also need to get some beds in here," Able said, pointing out the flaw in the plan to immediately move into the Kiva.

Stewart piped up, "No problem there, I'll ask the Administrator for Facilities why there are no beds, when the contract specifically calls for furnishing the Kiva. She has lots of beds available; blankets we may have to swipe from the women, they always have blankets."

Sarge nodded, "Ok, so we move in tomorrow after the ceremony, and then we can start the teaching of our new brothers, alright with you Brother Stewart?"

Stewart raised his hand, "That is one of the things the Grandfathers wanted me to talk to you about. Tonight is a special night and the Grandfathers said that they would like these four to join you in the bath house tonight; they felt that we needed representation in the ceremony. Do you have any problem with that?"

"No," Sarge said, "The more the merrier. However since these Brothers have not had any training, I'll assign one of our men to help them, and lend advice, is that alright?"

Stewart thought a while, "They'll get to 'dip their wicks' won't they?"

"Of course," Sarge said "Our men will just stand by to lend advice, but if they can't satisfy the Goddess, my men will have to make sure the women are satisfied, that is part of our creed, we turn no woman away unsatisfied."

'No problem then, this is Luis, Roger, Andre and Floyd." Stewart pointed out the men, all in their early twenties, except Luis who was maybe thirty.

"Harry and I will go back to the Grandfathers and report. We'll leave these four here for you to teach them what you can today, and I'll kick that stupid bitch about the furnishings," Stewart said, and stood up. He looked down at the four recruits, "Do what they tell you and be respectful to the women." He turned and left taking Harry with him.

Sarge watched them walk out, and when he heard the door close he turned to Able. "Able I'll leave the new Brothers with you and Josh, explain what you can. I doubt that they will be capable of more than the Way of the Weasel, but we'll backstop them. I have to go see Ginny, and Mercer, and clear this with them."

"Sure Sarge," Able said.

"OK, I'll leave you to it," Sarge got up and left.

Able had us arrange ourselves so that we formed a circle around the brazier facing each other, two of them on either side of him and I. He looked at me and said, "Too bad we don't have any beer to welcome our new Brothers," I nodded in agreement.

"You need beer?" asked Luis.

"Well normally we drink a toast to the Goddess to welcome new members." Able answered.

"Roger, step outside, tell the keepers we need some beer, some pinion nuts, and some smoke. We'll make them members of the Burney Black Brotherhood while we're here," Luis looked at Able questioningly. When Able nodded Luis pointed to the door with his thumb. Roger smiled, got up and left the room.

"Who are the Keepers?" I asked.

Luis turned and said, "Well they always send two women with each of us when we are out of the Barracks, they protect us from savage women," he smiled to let us know he was jesting. "Really it's a way for young girls to become used to being around men; they usually send one head knocker and one go-fer."

"Gopher?" I asked.

"Yeah, a girl, maybe twelve, or thirteen, or up to sixteen some of 'em. She carries a stick, but the Head Knocker is our protection and pain in the ass, they're big mature women, most of them mothers, they are in charge, and the go-fer runs errands and the like."

Able asked, "We understood you had nothing like our Kiva. What was this brotherhood you spoke of?"

Roger came back in and took his place in the circle before Luis answered. "Long ago when we men were rounded up, and put in one barracks because women would try to steal one of us and go off in to hills. The Administration decided that it wasn't efficient enough for the few men left to just have intercourse, so they passed an emergency bill that set up the Fertilization Law. That law said that women would have to submit to artificial insemination if they wanted to have a baby. It also set up the Keepers and gave the Health Administration the ownership of our sperm, present and future." He stopped and looked at each of us. "Robert Black was our Barracks Chief then, when he heard that we were expected to provide a sperm sample every three days and that they expected us to masturbate, as he put it, 'When ever a woman asked us to," well he said NO!"

Luis was joined in the shout with all our new brothers.

I looked at Able and began to laugh, our new brothers joined in, we barely heard the first knock on the door. It was followed by a loud rapping of a Head Knocker's stick on the door of the Kiva.

Luis said, "That must be our beer. Roger, tell them to bring it in, but just the go-fers, no use letting the Head Knockers into the Kiva, right?"

Able agreed, "Sure, the Kiva hasn't been consecrated yet so no problem."

Roger answered the door and came back leading four young girls, "Now make a full circle of the Kiva girls," Roger said to them, "and then give Luis what he asked for." The girls very solemnly walked around us on the pedestal and gave the beer, nuts and a large pipe with a beaded pouch to Luis. He touched each of them on the forehead, said, "Thank You," and bowed his head.

Roger followed the girls out and closed the door, when he came back he said, "I figured since you guys are so Amerindian I'd make this a ceremonial presentation of an offering to the Great Raccoon." He smiled, "I hope you don't mind?" He rejoined us as Able and I just looked at each other, and shook our heads.

Luis took the beers, three a piece and put them around the rim of the brazier then sat an open two kilo box of shelled pinion nuts in the hammered copper brazier. "There," he said opening a beer, "I believe a toast to the Goddess is in order?"

Able reached down, all of us grabbed a beer, and raised the bottles, "To the Mother Goddess what ever her name." Able intoned, "What ever her shape, age, or color. May she find satisfaction in our arms."

We all drank deeply. The beer was good and cold, as if just brought up from a basement.