The Fern Tender (5 page)

     Now firmly tied together, he raced his mouth to her neck and began kissing the tender parts of her exposed neck. Driving himself into her pussy over and over, he began to caress more of her with both his mouth and his hands. He finally found her mouth and pushed his tongue over hers. She was lost in his pounding writhing of cock and tongue. Letting him have her completely, she gave in to his throbbing piston and the feel of the wet kisses made her tunnel squeeze his rod. Both their bodies completely merged into each other. There was no wrong now, she could have done whatever she wanted with him and he could have done whatever he wanted with her.

     They had given in to nature’s most powerful drug. All of the day’s worries and details passed through them replaced with the ecstasy of human connection.

     Doing as he demanded, she kept her eyes focused on his face. After few minutes they began to find a slower more tender rhythm and gently rocked each other back and forth, back and forth. David letting her feel every inch of himself. Lillian letting him feel her wet pulses. At each thrust inward she rolled the deepest part of herself over the knob of his cock. She let him feel her second tongue across his manhood.

     During times like these when she knew it would be over soon, she began to long for the next time, and crave more of him. “Deeper, deeper,” she yelled.

     She said the words over and over. Then wrenching her hand from the back of his muscular thigh she smacked the left cheek of his ass as hard as she could. This just made his cock even harder, and with each spank she could feel another burst of growth between her thighs.

      As she pumped him with her spanks she demanded. “I want more of you! I want more of you!”

     Now screaming it in between slaps Lillian and David both knew what she meant. She wanted all of him to herself.

     Staring into each other and feeling her space continue to tighten around his pumping rod, he held his desire to cum. Instead he let her climax, then again, as he felt her straighten out her body and stiffen her pussy walls for a third time he couldn’t stand it any longer and released himself into her. His fluid washing throughout her and finding her every crevice.

     They closed their eyes and held each other gently the way young lovers do with their first kiss. Roiling theirs limbs and embracing each other, they let the present tense linger.

     It didn't last long enough for either of them. Their intimacy was always too fleeting. The bonding part of their interludes never got the chance to thicken with David always leaving for his other duties.

     David kissed her lightly and whispered the obvious to her, "I have to go now my love." She cringed slightly never opening her eyes, and burrowed further into the blanket that lay over her glistening post coital body. She listened to him rustle through their bedroom for his clothes.

     Lillian did allow herself the slight satisfaction of knowing he would show up to Elizabeth's house reeking of her. Whether Beth made him shower or not didn't matter, her scent, her mark would rise from his body and wind it's way through Beth's home either way.

     "Fuck!" Lillian shouted out loud as the front door closed behind David. Her reality was back now and setting in for the rest of the night.

      Alone and trying not to imagine what was happening in Beth’s bedroom. She turned her attention to what she felt was the root of her frustration; her problem with the Colony’s rules of surrounding marriage. She put the tea kettle on the stove and let her mind wander to her last meeting with the Colony elders.

     The Elders Board including her own mother had recently denied her request for re-evaluating changes to the marriage rules again. Despite her status and importance as The Fern Tender, there was little chance of monogamy ever being approved.

     "Lillian you are the brightest mathematician here so I don't understand how you can advocate for monogamy given our ratios of female to males not to mention trying to change a millennium of culture. Why now? Why at this point are you even questioning our customs and culture? Are you in love with someone?" were the words spoken by her own mother.

     At her mother’s comment, Lillian’s stomach felt like it hit a wall of butterflies. She opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it. Instead she just glared at her mother.

     Regina interrupted the volley, "It's not a question of values or morals, it's a fact of our survival."

     "Look I'm not saying that our marriages need to reflect those of the Capitol at all, but let's be serious, my marriage to my husband is joke. He has two other wives, wives who fuck each other and fuck other women by the way, which everyone here seems to act like it doesn’t occur. I fuck whoever I want too and however I want it at the Capitol,” The women let that comment linger and just gazed downward.

     Finally her mother spoke up, “Lillian your power and your fate can be used however you choose. That is your right, and it is also our right to ask that you keep your sex life to yourself please.”

     Sensing things were getting off track Lillian finished her point, “Whatever, my husband makes sperm deposits and fucks other women once a month and maybe I want a choice of who I spend life with!"

     “Yes Lillian. Call it what you will, but your husband’s sperm deposit is probably giving us our next Fern tender," quipped Tabitha, Edie’s grandmother. That stung. Another reminder that Alena trailed Edie in the Elder’s minds as well.

     Sometimes it all just overwhelmed her. The Elders, the intellectual and sexual inequality of her companion, the challenge of raising her own daughter into the rules she rebelled against, protecting the ferns, her two worlds, and above all her own fate.

     Once a Fern Tender was anointed, her fate began. Lillian knew she would never leave the Colony or try to outrun her duty like Ellen, the only Fern Tender to ever defect to the Capitol. So, she lived the opposite way and flipped it all back into itself using much of her power for sex with other men. And with that thought she began plotting her next liaison in the Capitol.

Chapter 3

Love Lies Bleeding

     Wading through the shoulder-high fronds, Lillian pushed into the deepest part of the ferns. Thick fresh air pressed against her breasts lifting her spirits. The beauty of the ferns was a comfortable familiar feeling. The past few days had been hard. Her mind relaxed and she quickly began to focus on the most important part of her life.

     Tending the ferns meant spending the next 24 hours observing. She had to deliberately and scientifically count the jaguars and monkeys. She must use her craft, subconsciously listening to her instinct. Measuring the current state of the balance within the last stand of ferns in the world was her job. Every Fern Tender went about their duty in a different way. Lillian was no different, her routines and patterns worked well and she kept to fairly strict orders of business while in the ferns.

     Within the heart of the ferns was a Spring, Beverly Spring. “Bubbly Spring” is what she and her classmates used to call it during their lessons to try and get a reaction from their teacher. The origin of its name was another mystery. Nonetheless, it was a pool of perfect turquoise. Beverly Spring was only ever seen by two groups. First, the generations of Ferns Tenders that monitored the ferns and then every president the Capitol had ever elected. The Spring was the hinge on which the unusual and highly secretive alliance between both civilizations hung. Each President had visited the spring in the Ferns at least once as part of their initiation to the truth. It was the most powerful water in the world.

     Long ago, after the world’s last collapse it was agreed by both the Colonists and the Capitol’s first president that only the Fern Tenders and Presidents would ever have access to the Spring. Limiting both access and knowledge to the ferns and the Spring meant that it’s magic was safe. No outside faction on a quest for power and domination could contaminate the spring if they didn’t know it existed.

      Beverly Spring pierced through a cap of limestone exactly 33 feet below its surface. It then gushed upwards coming to rest in a perfect circle exactly 13 feet wide forming a deep but narrow silo of pure water.  Inhaling the humid air and gently batting through the ferns, Lillian was anxious to get to the Spring. The observations of the ferns and jaguars were important, but monitoring the wheel inside the Spring was her priority as it had been the priority of every Fern Tender before her.  Now, walking with purpose towards the Spring, Lilian’s mind bounded into a state of hope. She let the warmth of it linger and mingle across her stressed mind for a minute, knowing that once she rounded the bend and knelt beside the Spring that that same sweet hope would probably vanish.

      Taking her sandals off gave her a better grip for hoisting herself on the boulder beside the water. Barefoot on her perch, she let her mind rest on the sheet of water. Training her gaze downward she let her eyes fall to the stones at the bottom of the Spring. The illusion of the clear water made it seem as if the stones were a just few feet under the surface, but she knew they were exactly 33.0 feet down, not one inch more or less. She closed her eyes and focused. Then as she’d done hundreds of time before she opened her eyes and looked at the wheel. Her latest fears were realized. The wheel was churning even more sluggishly than last week. It was moving at a pace now where she could read the writing, the words, the numbers, and the colors unblurred. Patiently turning one revolution after another. “Still getting slower,” she spoke to herself aloud while exhaling her last bit of hope.

      Letting out a sigh, she recalled her lessons all those years ago about wheel. Her mind flashing back to her final examination about the wheel when she was just a girl. Deduction, math, physics, magic, were important, but it was no secret to the girls that mastering the courses in the wheel was the most important part of their education as citizens of the Colony. It was also the priority for any girl wanting to win the right to be The Fern Tender, the post all the children coveted.

      Her mind wandered back to her childhood in the previous Fern Tender’s classroom. “Lillian, you did a great job on your final examination, would you mind seeing me after school?” asked The Fern Tender.

     Filled with exceptional intelligence, even in the Colony where every girl had exceptional intelligence, Lillian’s naivete got the best of her, she innocently asked, “Is this about me skipping last week?”

     “No, not at all” chuckled the Fern Tender. “Let’s talk about it later today, you are not in trouble.”

     Feeling better but still curious, Lillian couldn’t help but silently recount some of her latest rebellious acts or what they called in the Colony, waywardness. Besides being a top student, she was also the top girl in mischief.

      Later that same afternoon she popped back into the classroom. The Fern Tender politely folded her hands into her lap, and with a serious tone said, “Lillian you passed the test of the wheel with such achievement that you have one of the highest grades in knowledge of the wheel ever. Let me put this in perspective Lillian, our records go back thousands of years, there have been hundreds of Fern Tenders assigned to reading and monitoring the wheel. Very few showed the knowledge you recorded on your final examination of the wheel.”

     “OK, I guess that’s good?” Lillian replied.

      The Fern Tender answered, “Yes it’s very good and not surprising to those of us who are have been tasked with teaching you. Now, let me with honor ask you the traditional final question given to all of those who are worthy.” 

     While she spoke, the women of the board slowly filtered in, all taking seats in the classroom. They sat silently, waiting for the prodigy to give her insight on wheel, the center of their world and something Lillian had never yet seen. Only The Fern Tenders had ever even seen the thing that held so much interest in the room.

     “Lillian, the wheel is our world’s deepest secret and most important mystery, so here’s our simple question:
What do you think drives the wheel?” 
asked the Fern Tender.

      Still in a minor state of shock from all of the attention, Lillian took a minute to revel in the positive scrutiny even forgetting the question briefly. Usually attention Lillian received from adults and  especially teachers was a result of some bad spontaneous decision she made. Lillian was adept at  blurting  out a snarky stinging comments to rivals or teachers she felt weren’t smart enough.

     Finally gathering herself, she switched her mind to the task at hand, “ Hmm, I’ll start with the facts.”

     Lillian began with a touch of stage fright. “I mean it's in the 71 acres of the sacred ferns, surrounded by beauty, jaguars, and it resides within Beverley Spring. It’s been spinning on and off for thousands of years. It looks kind of like a bigger more interesting roulette wheel, but it has three independent spheres that spin in opposite direction of each other rotating at different speeds around a center of the color black. The inside wheel lists many of the original characters in the Christian New Testament, as well  Islamic prophets, saints, apostles, Jesus, Mohammed, Paul, Mary, Adam, and on. The middle wheel lists the more ancient characters in more desperate belief systems. All of the Jewish characters, again the Old Testament, also Buddha, Hindu Gods, Thor, Zeus, Medusa, are all there. Then the outside wheel, is filled with colors, it’s the true home of all of our colors. Green, the color of the land, blue the color of the water, pink the color of our sunsets, and the rest of our colors. The faster the wheel spins, the more the colors blur creating a striking violet band around all the names. The slower the wheel spun the more it blurred orange, the color of flames at first, then blood red.”