I didn’t want to refuse the boys, because I feared that would be rude for a ve to do. It wasn’t clear to me that I should nurse
another woman’s child. None of the women Looking down at me appeared upset with this, though.
The first taste of milk must have been different for Aiden. He seemed surprised, but swallowed it after a mere moment. Evidently
it was deemed fit because he started to suck ravenously burying his hands in the soft tissue and gripping fiercely.
Halil fell gracelessly to her side and watched us with half lidded eyes.
“Aiden will not die, then,” she whispered watching her son drink Like a starved man. “I have not been able to feed him for two day
cycles.”
Nu-reeh made a horrified sound, “You should have brought him sooner. My ve can feed them both.”
“Your ve,” Halil repeated sadly, “my male offspring is your ve now also. How I wished to save him from this life. He should
have been like his cousins and bonded with free boys in other camps. I prayed he would be like the many we have bred and kept
from your ways.”
‘ousins?” Nu-reeh asked suspiciously.
“We have our own gatherings before we bring our boys to these vile events,” Halil whispered.
“Our numbers are not small and we will grow quickly. very stifles men, they cannot reach their
potential with your ways.”
Aiden continued to drink as Jonathan crawled up beside him. My little one wiggled around until I held
both of them, Jonathan wasn’t hungry and just watched his Brother. He wanted, he needed, to be close
to him.
Nu-reeh’s voice was thick with emotion, “What do you do to our men?” she asked. “How do you force
them to breed with you?”
Halil’s voice became ragged and her breathing wasing in gasps, but she answered.
“We treat them as equals,” she said. “They choose us as we choose them. We are all part of a happy,
functional home. My men are my beloved as are my Sisters. I care deeply for all of them. My emotions
for my male offspring I cannot describe…”
Halil’s eyes closed and she took a few more gasping breaths. A small tremor passed through her
hands and feet and then she moved no more. Halil had died less than five handspans from me.
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The little boys didn’t notice the drama that unfolded just behind them. Women came and took Halil’s
body and the boys did not see them. Aiden finished drinking from both breasts and then his eyes drifted
shut. Jonathan did the same thing and they were soon snoring softly.
Sitting on the floor and holding both boys was difficult, getting up with them would have been impossible. Tosu took Aiden and
Dinah picked up Jonathan. I got to my feet and followed as we walked back to the area we’d been in prior. Nu-reeh asked me to
sit on my cushions while I ate and drank. With two children to feed I would require more water and food.
“Aiden is weak,” Tosu told me as she tucked him under a soft nket on the cushion beside me. “Jonathan ispleting the
bonding with this child and it will affect him. Feed them both so they will be strong.”
Dinah put Jonathan down next to Aiden so they were touching and seconded Tosu’s statement. If Aiden got too weak it would kill
Jonathan. They were both my responsibility to feed back to health.
The women stood around me talking. Nu-reeh had heard the things Halil had said in the past. The beaded women always
imed the same thing. She had not heard what prolific breeders they were before this.
I sat silently with the children while the women discussed. In my own heart and head I mourned for Halil‘s loss. She had been a
brave, noble woman. Her son would be the same and I felt honored that he was bonding to my baby.
Nu-reeh walked off with her Sisters to talk to other women. I was left with the two sleeping children. I just watched the room with
amazement about what had just happened.
After a long while, Aiden woke and started to fuss. Jonathan woke instantly and assisted as I pulled his Brother back into myp.
I nursed Aiden again and checked the absorbent wrap on his bottom. It was bone dry.