The Order: Jessa and Antoine

Beautiful woman the gods have decreed that you will be the mother of my first child. Suckle it well and keep it from harm. I will leave you for an age but not for longer than you can stand. For the nine months of pain that this child will give you and for the five years afterwards that I will, take this moment of pleasure that can bring you to heaven.

The utterances flowed into Jessa and spread a warmth that enveloped her body and the farthest reaches of her consciousness. As she squirmed against the sensation, Antoine propped himself up on his elbows and now looked at her squarely in the face, commanding her, still in his native language.

Jessa repeated her understanding faithfully.

'I will make you a father.' The words excited a gush of liquid in her battered pussy.

Antoine reiterated his mandate and so did Jessa her vow.

'I will make you a fath -- '

The last syllable was lost in a scream and a tempest-tossed sea of unending ecstasy. The contracting muscles in Jenna's pulsing vagina drew forth and gratefully soaked up the sacred seed. In the proceeding years Jessa would touch herself many times reliving this union which made her into a believer in a higher plane of existence. In the moment however, she was a soul adrift, wandering on the very brink of reality, uncertain about how she would fall back down to earth. Her field of vision was lit up by dark lights and the body she inhabited quaked in euphoria and fear.

Finally, it was the tears in her eyes that brought Jessa back to the realisation of where she was. She thought she might have been swimming or underwater for a long time for how heavy her breathing was. Instead when she opened her eyes, Jessa saw that Antoine was dressed and sitting on the side of the bed in the same placid way that he had when he first entered.

A silence lingered between them and it felt like an opportunity to reach out to him. Jessa wanted to ask what would happen to him, to her, their child. He had said that she would have to wait. Would she not see him? What would she do alone with the baby? What should she? She hadn't the words.

Antoine busied himself, folding the blanket and fluffing up pillows to slide under Jessa's bum. Then, placing a palm on Jessa's soft belly, Antoine said simply, 'Henri.' He stood up and made to leave, but turned as if he had forgotten something and added with a chuckle, 'Henriette.'

Without a backward glance Antoine lifted the flap that shielded the entry to their private domain and was gone. The curtain fell back into place as before, rustling as if all that had been was the wind.

One by one as and when they had emptied their load and recovered from the intoxicating high, the men drifted out of the hall and the school building. They were given the contact details of the girl they had been with and were each reminded by way of a little pamphlet that they could choose to be as involved or absent from the pregnancy and birthing as they wished. Nine months from now, a reminder would be sent for them to check in on the status of the delivery, and then to lodge the applications that would ensure their permanent stay in the country. All their babies, the fathers-to-be were assured, would be mentored, cared for, and afforded the best education, food, and clothes that money could buy.

The curtain to her left moved. Jessa saw that Emily too was lying patiently on her back and had reached out to open the divider in order to check on her neighbour.

'How was it?' Emily was keen to hear from the novice.

'I... it was very different.'

'It's not the same is it? When it's charged with purpose like that? Almost spiritual... when a life is depending on it. That's why I keep coming back.'

Jessa was not sure that Emily had had the same experience as she did, but she nodded and smiled, inconspicuously wiping away the last of her tears.

'Guess I'll see you in nine months. Maybe we'll be roommates in the birthing centre.'

'Yes I can't wait!' Jessa responded brightly.

Emily shut the curtain between them, leaving Jessa to stare up at the fluorescent beams and contemplate the meaning of transcendence.