Author's notes:

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 17 -- A quiet, but sexy, day

Monday, 19th of June 2000, Outside Malaga, Spain

The sound of a car stopping outside brought me out of the meditation and a moment later the twins came running into the garden, waving quickly to me as they ran past the pool and disappeared into the house.

A moment later, Rita came walking into the garden, wearing a white summer dress that made a striking contrast to her dark skin and hair. As a bonus, the dress flowed around her legs and showed off the general shape of her luscious body.

"Hey Sexy." I greeted her, as I swam to the edge of the pool. "What happened with the twins?"

She showed her pearly white teeth in a wide smile. "Hey Stud... and they really needed to go to the toilet." She looked around. "How come you're all alone?"

I climbed out of the pool and was about to explain where people were, when she suddenly said, "Stay there!" and held a metal box up in front of her, followed by a clicking sound. "Smile!"

Realizing that it had to be the camera she had been talking about during breakfast, I smiled at her and walked over to get my water bottle from the table in the shade.

I saluted her and drank, followed by a click -- click - click from the camera.

"Will you stop it?" I finally asked with a laugh.

She lowered the camera and winked at me. "Just wanted a picture I can show people when I come home... or they will never believe that I met a tall, sexy, platinum blonde guy in Spain." She winked and lowered her voice a bit as she added "And a completely natural platinum blonde at that."

"Excuses, excuses." I said with a grin and drank some more water.

"Well, what are you going to tell people about the three of us?" She asked with a smile as she came over to me.

"Nothing, except that I spend some days with three intelligent and sweet women, that just happened to be beautiful and sexy as well." I said with a grin. "Unless I took pictures while we were sharing pleasure, nobody would believe me anyway."

"Good point." She laughed and waved at the kitchen window, before turning back to me. "Do you have some more water?"

I handed her the bottle and she emptied it in one long swig. "Thanks."

"No problem."

The door to the kitchen opened and Karen came out, looking at Rita. "Welcome back... Why were you waving?"

Rita dangled the camera in her hand. "Picture time!"

Apparently, 'picture time' was codeword for 'let's get everybody here', because Karen got hold of Alice, who fetched the twins. I barely had time to get into some dry pants and get my shirt back on before everybody was gathered on the terrace.

As it turned out, everyone wanted a picture of everyone else, so people took turns to use the camera and even I tried it. It was surprisingly easy: Point in the right direction, press the button and you had a picture.

I almost laughed, as I considered the hours I had spent on my drawings, compared to the ease of taking a picture. On the other hand, drawing allowed me to make an image later, instead of the instant image making that a camera was, so I guessed that it evened out in the end.

Eventually the photo session was over, and the twins persuaded Alice and me to play some garden game with rackets and a feather ball for a while.

Unfortunately for me, and to great amusement for the rest, I had never played anything remotely similar, and I quickly discovered that it was more difficult than it looked. Whenever I hit the feathered ball, it generally flew in a completely different direction than I had planned.

Finally, Alice took pity on me and suggested with a grin that I sat down and relaxed.

I was still sitting there a little while later, when Karen came out of the house and sat down beside me. "Hey there... Why aren't you playing?"

"Because I play like a donkey." I answered with a grin and looked at her. "I prefer the pool to this... whatever it's called."

"Badminton." Said Karen with a chuckle, but then tilted her head as she looked at me. "That's a fairly well-known game... Your memory isn't improving, is it?"

"Bit by bit, but it's slow." I said as my mind raced. I needed to give the impression that more and more was coming back, so they wouldn't call a doctor, but on the other hand, I couldn't really tell them the truth or at least not the whole of it. "I remember studying ancient cultures and languages, as well as oriental healing, but I don't know where or for how long... I also remember that my mom, dad and sister died years ago."

"Oh." Karen looked like she regretted asking. "Sorry to hear that."

I squeezed her leg. "Not your fault, so don't be sorry... Now, what else... My mom was a painter, my dad was a teacher, and my twin sister was a student... hmmm... My mom insisted that we, my sister and I, learned the classical social skills, so I can play music and dance and I faintly remember something about drama classes." I smiled slightly. "On the downside, I don't think I ever learned how to drive a car and I don't remember anything about electronics and computers."

Karen chuckled again. "Not much of a computer geek, eh?"

"Not that I know of."

"Thank God." Rita said with a laugh from behind us. "That would have made you too perfect for real life."

Looking back, I saw that the brown beauty was standing within hearing range of Karen and me as she placed a towel and some water bottles on a table in the shade.

"Too perfect?" I asked as I looked at her.

She shrugged her shoulders with a grin and as always, I had to admire the way that movement made her breasts bounce.

"Yeah," she said and walked over to us. "You're not perfect, but you're pretty close."

"Well, since I think that you are all pretty close to perfect that makes six of off us." I said,

"Six?"

"Yeah. The four of us and... "I nodded in the direction of the twins, "... the two racket wielding terrors over there." As the twins discovered that I was talking about them, the game suddenly got a lot slower.

I chuckled as I looked at Karen and Rita again, counting the good things on my fingers. "As far as I have seen so far, they're well behaved most of the time; they listen when you ask them to do something; they do the dishes without complaining much; they're pretty even tempered and more often than not, they're smiling and in a good mood. They're also smart, curious, and quick learners." I looked down on my hand. "Nine good things without really thinking about it. That's pretty close to perfect."

Karen leaned closer to me, whispering. "Warning, you just made a mother really proud."

I glanced over at Alice, who was looking at me with a soft expression in her eyes.

Unfortunately, the twins were making victory poses behind her, so I had to laugh, followed by Rita and Karen, causing Alice to whirl around towards the twins.

A moment later, they were all three signing to each other.

"Okay," laughed Karen. "They're adorable."

"Agreed." Said Rita and put an arm around me. "And so are you, mister. That's the first time I've seen anyone count in Babylonian style outside a classroom and the nerd in me loved it."

"Ehh thanks." I said with a slight smile, while Karen looked at Rita. "I'm so gonna regret asking, but you simply have to explain that 'coz that's bullshit."

"Love you too, Sweetie." Said Rita with a grin and held up a hand. "Normally when people are counting something off on their fingers, they do it one finger at a time, so you can only count to five on one hand. However, the Babylonians used the thumb to count of the joints or finger bones of the opposing fingers on the same hand, which is twelve." She showed it on her own hand as she explained.

"God, this is nerdy." Mumbled Karen with a chuckle. "Please continue."

"Now, they multiplied this by the number of fingers on the other hand, so using two hands, they could indicate numbers up to five times twelve... which of course is sixty and the number they based their number system on." Rita grinned at Karen's expression. "So now you know why an hour has sixty minutes and a minute has sixty seconds, 'coz that's where we got it from."

"Okaaaay." Karen held up a hand, with the thumb pressed at the outmost finger bone of her little finger, "What you're too nerdy to know, is that almost the same way of counting is used in Asia today."

Rita looked shocked at that information, so Karen continued. "I'll now count to twelve just to demonstrate this, but if you're not in the pool by the time I'm done, I'll throw you in for telling me random strange information."

Rita was off in heartbeat, aiming for the pool, followed by a loudly counting Karen.

A moment later, the twins ran past me as well, also aiming for the pool.

Laughing I stood up to follow them, but suddenly found myself embraced from behind by my Blonde Goddess instead. Not that I minded being hugged by more than six feet of sexy hotness.

"Thanks." She whispered and kissed me softly on the neck. "They rarely hear that from others."

"As long as it's true, they should." I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well most people don't really see past the fact that they're mute."

"Damn it! I knew I missed one." I said as I held up a hand and indicated a tenth thing. "Not that they are mute, but that they don't run around making a lot of noise as some kids do."

Alice blinked a few times in surprise. "No... They can't, 'coz they're mute."

"In my experience, kids can make a lot of noise without using their voices, so that's beside the point." Since my hand was near her face anyway, I poked her nose. "I wasn't counting things they can or can't do; I was counting reasons for them to be close to perfect."

"Hmm good point." She grinned. "I guess, I'll settle for having 'close to perfect' kids."

--------

After lunch, the women decided that it was too hot to do any work, so Cyra and Zena borrowed Rita's computer again, while the rest of us relaxed by the pool.

At least I tried to relax, but with three beautiful women walking around in bikinis, it wasn't easy. Especially since I had sex twice this morning without coming.

To make matters worse, Rita sent me a teasing grin and turned to her stomach. "Ivan, could I persuade you to put some lotion on my back?"

"Yeah... It will be a nice little torture." I said with a mock sigh, as I walked over to her. "I hope the water is cold, because I will need it afterwards."

She snorted with a smile, "Be a man and enjoy it."

"Okaaaaaaay." I said slowly, as I took the bottle of oil. "Then you must be a woman and enjoy it."

Karen turned over on her side, looked at the expression on my face and laughed softly at Rita. "You know, Honey, for one as smart as you are... you can be really stupid from time to time."

Rita looked up. "What do you mean?"

The Asian's laugh turned into a smirk. "I think you'll have to figure that one out for yourself."

Ignoring their talk, I started on Rita's shoulders and smoothed the oil into her dark skin, making it shine in the sun. I didn't know if it was all the sport and training, she did or something else, but her shoulders and back were hard as rock, which isn't healthy.

So, I started squeezing and kneading her muscles, giving her a nice massage at the same time, before I continued down her arms and started rubbing her back slowly. The strings on her bikini top were in the way, so I undid the bow that held it together, letting fall them to the side of her body.

Rita gave a sigh, as I started massaging her from the base of her spine, just above the rim of her bikini bottom, moving slowly towards her head and then traced my hands down her sides.

Sometimes I'd roll a bit of skin upwards between my fingers, other times I'd let the tips of my fingers trace down her back.

"God, this is nice." Rita mumbled into her arms as I rubbed her shoulders, and the back of her neck, and slowly but surely the tenseness of her muscles faded.

Smiling to myself, I let my hands slowly drift down her sides. Her breasts were pushed out from the pressure of lying on them, and I slid my fingers down inside her bikini and round them, massaging them gently, causing her to groan and ask. "What're you doing?"

"I'm being a man and enjoying it." I answered with a grin.

"Stop it." She hissed. "The twins can see us if they walk out on the balcony."

"No, they can't. They're not there and even if they were, I'm in the way." I said, as I gently pinched her nipples between my fingers, causing another groan, before I returned to her back, working downwards.

When I reached the swell of her hips, I rolled her bottoms halfway down her butt, before rubbing the oil in. She sighed with a slight shiver. I let my hands wander under the material, giving her well-shaped ass a thorough massage, taking my time, and occasionally reaching into her crack to tease her a bit.

That caused a fit of heavy breathing from her, so I rolled the material back up and moved on to her thighs, pouring more oil onto her smooth, dark skin.

She gasped and then sighed as my hands followed the oil.

I oiled both legs from top to bottom and back up again, working along the inside of her legs on the return. When I reached her butt again, I reached between her legs and tugged the bikini aside, so I could rub the oil over her shaven pussy, taking my time caressing her lips with my oiled fingers. Then my fingers slid in between them, lightly rubbing the slippery flesh, before stroking the edge of her opening with featherlight touches, making her shiver, as ripples of pleasure ran through her.

"Oh my God." Rita moaned into her arms, causing Karen to laugh softly again. I looked over at the Asian. She was following the process with great interest and a gleam in her eyes.

When she saw I was looking at her, she smiled widely. "I think that my back could use some oil, when you're done with Rita, but without the 'extra service', please."

Going by feel, I slid my fingers along Rita's wet lips, easing my middle finger into her, followed by another, feeling the muscles inside her contract slightly around my intruding fingers.

I smiled at Karen. "Do you mean without this?", as I wriggled my fingers inside Rite. She moaned softly and in an instant response, I could see Karen's nipples harden under her bikini top.

"Yes, without that." She confirmed with a slight look of regret in her slanted eyes. "It's too public for me."

"It would be my pleasure. Even without the 'extra service' as you call it."

She nodded with a shiver "Thanks."

Turning my attention back to Rita, I rested a hand on her upper back and shoulders, softly caressing her, and preventing her from going anywhere, while I let my fingers play inside her, enjoying the feel of her pussy responding by slightly clenching my fingers again.

Holding my arm still, my fingertips found the pleasure-centre inside her and I started massaging it, taking a moment now and then to let my thumb tease her clitoris.

Shuddering, Rita hid her face in the towel, moaning softly, while becoming wetter by the moment. Feeling it, I kept my thumb on her clitoris, moving all fingers in the same slow circles as the fingertips pressed down on both pleasure centres.

"Ohhhh Lord." Mumbled Rita into the towel, causing Karen to giggle.

Ever so slowly, the muscles inside started to tremble, sending almost invisible shivers through her body, causing goosebumps to appear on her skin.

The hand on her back travelled to her neck, where I found the pressure points in her neck.

"Bite down." I advised and sent a short burst of Vis energy into her nerves like I had done two days before in the living room.

Her body shivered as the energy travelled down through it and she groaned and gasped into the towel as the wave of pleasure passed her abdomen. As the wave reached her crotch, I channelled the wave directly into both the clitoris and internal pleasure centre, making it feel like they were both being licked at the same time.

Rita gasped softly and bit into the towel beneath her to mute the sound of a small shriek as she came. Every muscle in her body locked up for a few seconds, followed by a full body shiver, and her quivering pussy tightening around my fingers.

Removing my thumb from her now sensitive clitoris, I kept massaging the internal pleasure centre. Not only would it prolong the orgasm, but I loved the feel of her pussy around me. Only when I was sure the orgasm had faded, I slowly removed my hand from her and bent down to give her black hair a kiss.

She lay still, breathing heavily into the towel for a moment, but then lifted her head enough to look at Karen. "You know, if this is the result of being stupid, I don't mind being stupid from time to time."

"Or..." said Karen while she rolled over on her stomach. "You could ask the guy nicely."

"I'll try that later." Rita mumbled as she lowered her head again.

I took a bottle of water and washed my hands to get rid of Rita's juices and the smell of sex before I walked over to Karen. "Next."

"I really need to figure out who invented this and send him a thank you note." Said Karen with a satisfied sigh, as I spread the lotion on her back. "I would burn without it."

"Put my name on the note as well." Said Alice from the edge of the pool.

"Since that person has been dead for a few thousand years, you might have problems with that." I said absently as my hands glided over her shoulder blades.

That made Alice blink in surprise. "What?"

"As far as I know, it was invented by the ancient Egyptians."

Karen turned her head to look at me. "Is it really that old?"

"Ivan's right." Mumbled Rita lazily and looked up. "They used it when building the pyramids, so they wouldn't get burned from the sun. There's even a record of workers going on strike because they ran out of sunscreen."

"I thought they were built by slaves." Said Karen.

"Myth." Replied Rita with a yawn and sat up on the sun bed. "Invented by the Greek as far as I remember. They were built by skilled artisans and either hired help or pilgrims. The pharaohs were considered gods, so helping with building a pyramid could be pilgrimage of sorts, but to be honest, we don't know for sure."

I wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying, because the drops of sweat that ran down her brown skin like small translucent pearls, following the curvature of her stunning body, were an extremely erotic sight.

"Stop looking sexy, Rita. You lost Ivan. He's not even massaging me anymore." Complained Karen with a grin and poked my leg with an elbow. "Wake up!"

"I'm awake but mesmerized by the beauty I'm surrounded with." I said in my own defence.

"Yeah, yeah." Said Alice, but winked to me, before turning her attention back to Rita. "You were saying?"

"Ehh... I could bore you to death with a long explanation, but I'll try to cut it short."

"Oh God... She's in nerd mode again." Mumbled Karen with a little smile.

"Yeah, watch out." Said Rita with a chuckle "You might learn something."

"Sorry, darling, but I'm really not that interested in the ancient past." Declared Karen. "It's the present and the future that interest me."

A quote popped into my head. "Study the past if you will define the future."

Karen was silent for a few heartbeats, but then laughed. "You're quoting Chinese philosophers on me again, aren't you? Confucius?"

"Yes, it's Confucius." I said with a smile and gave her short black hair a kiss.

"It's the revenge of the nerds." She sighed. "They have come to take over the world." Looking from Rita to me and back again, she added. "But at least you look good doing it."

Rita ignored her "The Ancient Egyptians invented, or at least used, make-up, lipstick, perfume, the mirror, hair remover and the wig, while the Minoans on Crete had running water indoor and on Santorini, they even had running warm water from hot springs." She thought for a moment, before she continued. "Oh, they also had indoor toilets and Knossos was built so it was secure against earthquakes. The Phoenicians invented high-rise apartment buildings, which the Romans later improved on. The same goes for floor heating, public toilets, and take-away food."

That caused Alice to look up. "Take-away food? Really?"

"Yes. Really." said the brown beauty with a smile, as she took a water bottle from the cooler. "Mostly because some of the ancient cities were so populous, that transporting enough fuel for everybody to have their own cooking fire was simply impossible."

That made me nod. Pi-Ramesses had about three-hundred thousand people living there and Rome had been three times the size of that, making the number of people there go up to about a million.

Rita opened the bottle and drank some before continuing. "Many of the things that we think are new inventions are in fact ancient and all these misconceptions are the main reason why I started studying ancient history... oh... And I haven't even got around to the wonders of Alexandria, where the vending machine and steam engine was invented by an Egyptian."

"That depend how you look at it." I said absently as I massaged the oil into the soft skin of Karen's shapely legs, causing Rita to look at me. "What?"

I looked up. "I guess that you're talking about Heron of Alexandria, and he was actually ethnic Greek like so many inhabitants in Alexandria in that period. However, as Egypt was a part of the Roman Empire, he was a Roman, Greek, and Egyptian all at the same time, which makes his nationality a matter of opinion."

Rita looked absolutely stunned for a moment, but then smiled widely, looked at Karen and Alice and said in a pleading voice. "If he follows us home, can we keep him?"

I didn't get the reference, but the others clearly did as they started to laugh.

------

It was a hot day, and I was in the kitchen to get some more water, when Alice came in, still dressed in her bikini.

Smiling widely, I admired her long legs, curved hips, flat stomach, and the bounce in her breasts as she walked over to me. She was six feet of blonde healthy sexiness, looking very much like the Blonde Goddess, she had become in my thoughts.

"You're staring." Alice stated with a flattered smile.

"Yes." I admitted. "I can't help it... You're just that beautiful and sexy."

Shaking her head, she drew me in for a kiss, before she whispered, "I don't know what it is with you, but you make me extremely horny." She pressed her body against mine, one long leg sliding its soft skin against mine. "I'm going to take a bath and the twins are occupied. Care to join me?"

"Oh yeah." I mumbled and followed her to the bathroom.

Ever the practical one, Alice walked over and started the water, before she turned towards me with teasing smile. "I trust you remember how clean a woman."

"I think I can manage." I said as I walked closer. "At least I remember how to wash as woman's feet."

"I'll take the bait." Alice laughed softly. "How do you wash a woman's feet?"

"From the neck and down." I answered as I reached her.

"Ohhh... Sounds like a good way." She said and bent her head slightly, so we could kiss and as always, I shivered at the feel of her soft lips against mine, combined with the sensation of her bikini-clad body pressing against me.

My hand found the little knot that held the bikini together and loosened it. Caught between our bodies, the top stayed where it was, and I used the opportunity to loosen the knot on the side on her bikini bottom. That too stayed where it was, but not for long, as Alice went down to her knees, sliding her body along mine all the way and pulling down my pants at the same time.

No longer caught between us, her bikini fell to the ground and just like that, she was naked.

Without missing a beat, she caught my hard cock with her mouth, taking as much of it into her as she could, licking and sucking at the same time. Then she brought her hands into play, stroking me with one hand and fondling my balls with the other.

"Damn, that's good." I groaned softly in appreciation.

She didn't answer, but let her wet mouth run up and down my shaft, covering it in saliva.

Then she stood up with a grin on her face. "The shower can wait. Despite the sex we had earlier, I'm sooo horny."

She clearly had an idea, so I just nodded and let her guide me to the toilet, where I sat down.

A moment later, Alice swung a long shapely leg over my and carefully lowered herself, using a hand to guide my hard cock in between the lips of her pussy. There she paused and stroked the head of my cock back and forth, smearing her juices over it and teasing her clitoris.

"Ohh fuck yesss." She hissed, lowering herself further down and making my cock slide into her.

She started rotating her hips, lifting, and lowering herself on my shaft, slowly lubricating and working me deeper and deeper into her until her bare butt was slapping against my thighs.

"So fucking good." She moaned, massaging my cock with her inner muscles.

Nodding my agreement, I reached out and slid my hands over the soft skin of her legs, going upwards over her hips and up her flanks, making Alice hiss in delight. Then I let the hands travel to her chest and cupped her firm breasts with my hands, rubbing my palms in a circular motion around her hard nipples and squeezing them slightly. As always, they felt larger than they looked.

Placing her hands on my shoulders for support, Alice started a rolling motion with her hips, sliding my cock in and out of her wet pussy, while clenching and unclenching her pussy muscles around me. She was breathing heavily, moaning in a low voice.

Groaning, I leaned back on the toilet, enjoying the fantastic feeling her rolling hips gave me.

Alice looked at my face and smiled, obviously enjoying being in control. She picked up the speed, riding me faster. The inner walls of her pussy slid over my dick and caressed my entire dick each time she moved, panting each time my dick went all the way to the bottom.

She closed her eyes and with the golden hair falling around her lovely face, waving every time she moved, she looked incredible erotic.

Pulling her closer, I took one of her hard nipples into my mouth and sucked gently, while flicking it with the tip of my tongue.

"Yes!" Alice whispered. "This is awesome."

Having her nipple in my mouth made me unable to answer, so I just nodded as she moved forward, making my cock slide almost all the way out of her, before she moved back again, pressing my dick back into her tight slick tunnel.

The feeling was incredible and while I can normally last a long time, I could feel the effect of having been aroused several times and it was getting closer faster than I would have liked.

Removing my mouth from her breast, I groaned. "Too good... If you keep doing that, I'm gonna come."

It was meant as a warning but caused her to smile widely and continue in the same pace. "Good, coz so am I."

She started to press down a little harder with each thrust, whimpering and shaking as she did and I could feel her pussy clenching tighter and tighter with each moment, adding to our pleasure.

Suddenly she sat up straight and arched her back, her body shuddering as she gasped. "I'm coming!"

Her face contorted and she clenched her teeth to avoid screaming as she thrust her hips back and forth madly. Her pussy spasmed around my cock, sending me over the edge as well. With a groan, I came in her, shivering as she continued to move through her own orgasm.

With a grin Alice almost collapsed on top of me, the hands moving from my shoulders to envelop my head in a hug. "That was a perfect quickie."

Despite not having heard the word before, the meaning was obvious, and I agreed. I do like taking my time with a woman, enjoying every heartbeat of it, but sometimes that just wasn't possible.

We kissed, while enjoying the feel of each other, but then Alice stood up and quickly walked over to the shower. "Now for the washing and then I'll go lay down for a bit."

With a smile I stood up from the toilet and walked over to join her.

--------------------

"God, I wish that we could stay here forever." Mumbled Rita later, when the two of us were relaxing in one of the enormous and very solid hammocks that the owner of the house had installed in the shade.

Since Alice had gone to the bedroom to sleep, I had relaxed in the hammock, until Rita had joined me and was now cuddled up to me, with her head on my shoulder and an arm around my chest.

"You're too smart for that." I chuckled and lazily caressed her back. "If you didn't use your brain on a regular basis, you would get bored to death."

"Oh, I meant all six of us here in this house... but you're right." She looked up at me. "Without school and volleyball, we would quickly get bored... but it was a nice thought."

"Very nice." I agreed as I gazed at her. Her lips looked inviting, so I bend my neck and kissed her. Unlike most kisses with Rita, this one was a soft tender kiss as her mouth opened slightly, and our tongues met briefly, before we both pulled back to relax again.

"< What are you doing? >" Cyra's mental voice suddenly asked in my head. I had a feeling that she was really asking, why I was kissing Rita and not Alice, but since she didn't ask, I ignored it.

"< Relaxing with Rita >" I answered, as I looked towards the house. She was standing in the door looking at Rita and me. "< Are you done listening to music? >"

"< Yeah... Zena fell asleep >" From the feelings that leaked along with her thoughts, I got the impression, that she was feeling slightly lonely and more than a little bored. "< Why were you kissing Rita? I thought you liked mom >"

Feeling that she wouldn't let the question go, I answered. "< Because where I come from, it's okay to kiss people you like. I like you mother, so I kiss her. She like me, so she kisses me. The same with Rita >"

"< So why aren't you kissing Zena and me? Don't you like us? >"

I sent some mental amusement to her. "< Yeah, but adults don't kiss children they're not related to. At least not in my culture >"

"< Oh >" Cyra sent and thought for a moment. "< Is it okay, if two women kiss? >"

"< Yeah... or two men for that matter... but remember that it's still my culture, not yours >"

"< Can they get married too? >"

I quickly searched my memory to find out exactly how they defined marriage now. Finding no information on that subject, I search Cyra's mind instead and discovered it was when the religion or state blessed the union.

"< Yes, they can, >" I answered. "

"< Who do you like the most? Rita or Mom? >"

"< It doesn't work that way, honey. Not for me anyway... let me show you what I mean >" I said and instead of continuing the explanation, I simply let her experience my affection for all three of the adult women, carefully filtered for anything sexual. "< Did that help? >"

Cyra nodded with a smile. "< Yeah... Thanks >"

"< No problem. Now come here and relax. There's room for another >" I sent. "< Just don't tip the hammock >"

She walked over to us.

"Incoming." I whispered to Rita. "Hold on."

Rita just had time to lift her head a little, saying "huh?", before Cyra carefully climbed into the hammock and lay down on my other side.

"Hey Cyra." Rita grinned and lay her head down again.

Cyra smiled back and did a little salute before she signed something, but at the same time she sent "< Could you tell a story? Just a little one... The other story is for tonight >"

"I think, she wants a story." Chuckled Rita.

I thought about it and nodded. "All right, but just a short one. Anything special you want to hear about?"

Cyra shrugged to visually indicate that she didn't care and thought "< Not really... I just want a story >" as she snuggled up to me.

So as the hammock kept swinging gently in the warm breeze, I told the story about how one of the greatest tricksters of all time, Sun Wukong, became king of the island called Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, taking the title of Handsome Monkey King.

It was a fantasy version of the real story I had stumbled upon in Lescare and I had found it entertaining, since it wasn't only a good story, but also involved a person I knew personally.

Both Cyra and Rita were amused most of the way through it, but when the pace of the story slowed as it came to an end, I could hear their breathing deepen and when the story was finished, they were both fast asleep.

Since I couldn't really leave the hammock without waking them, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment, dozing off as well.