2199 Extinction

“I can’t believe we are to be married, tomorrow,” Xuves whispers in my ear.

“I can’t believe you asked me,” I whisper back, turning my head and kissing him on the lips. We are laying on the lush yellow grass of his mother’s backyard. We are on top of the hill, with a nice view of the thick, underground forest that separates the capital city from the next city over.

He pulls away for a moment and replies, “I can’t believe you said yes.”

“I can’t believe your mother said yes,” I say, suddenly giggling. Giggling. Such an odd thing to do, and only one other man has been able to bring that out of me. I give my head a slight shake to push all thoughts of Amlican back out of my mind. I’m with Xuves, now, one of my own kind. I won’t have to worry about people staring at us. We belong together and everyone seems happy at the matchup. I just love everything about this man.

His big bulky muscles, and his many black stripes, both of which lead me to feel safe with him. He’s really good to me, too. He treats me like I am the most important female in the world. And he’s not much older than me, only forty years old. How lucky am I that another female didn’t snatch him up?

“You win the ‘I can’t believe’ argument.” He says kissing me. He stops kissing me to lay a hand on my stomach, swollen and stretched so far that it looks like the slightest movement will cause it to pop. Sudden movement causes his hand to move off my stomach.

“I was worried, with the babies on the way, she would change her mind. I mean, she still could change her mind. Maybe we should have waited for marriage.” I say, placing my own hands on my pregnant belly.

“What for? She loves you, and she is thrilled that we are having twins. In fact, she scolded me for not discussing marriage with you nine years ago. Besides, Copaie law states that the female must get pregnant before the couple can marry.” Xuves says, laying his head in what’s left of my lap.

“Oh, I didn’t know it was law. But you said your mother wanted you to discuss marriage nine years ago? I didn’t even know you back then. I mean, I noticed you, how good-looking you were, how strong. But you never asked me to dinner.” I say looking down at him and rubbing his cheek with my left hand.

“I wanted to ask you, back then, but I wasn’t sure how you felt about me. I told mother about you, she told me I needed to marry you, right away. She said you were a baby factory. ‘Built strong to have many babies.’ Looks like she was right.” He lets out a deep laugh before continuing. “Besides, don’t you realize how rare twins are amongst our people?

Only one out of every million births result in twins. Out of that, only one-half of a percent are twin boys, the rest are girls. The chance of a female carrying both twins to term is slim to none. With the babies due next week and both in good health, I guarantee if Mother had any doubts about you, they have long since vanished.”

I feel the familiar tightening in my stomach, that hurts enough to bring tears to my eyes. “Xuves, darling, I don’t think we are getting married, tomorrow,” I say, my breath catching as another round of pain hits my stomach.

He sits up immediately, alarmed. “What’s wrong? Is it the babies? Are you having more false labor pains?”

“Yes, it’s the babies.” I manage to huff. “But it isn’t false labor. They are coming today.”

Xuves jumps to his feet and holds a hand out to me. “Are you sure it isn’t false labor, like last night?” he asks, concern filling his voice.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” I say as I struggle to my feet. I lift my dress high enough for him to see the water that’s running down my legs.

“Oh, yep. Okay. Can you walk?” “Um.” I take a small step and pain washes over my entire body. “No. Nope. No movement. It hurts.” I whisper.

Xuves scoops me up, before I can protest, and starts carrying me down the hill towards his mother’s house. I let out an ear-splitting scream as another sharp pain ravages my stomach. The screaming brings his mother, Faya to the door. She takes one look at us and understanding fills her face. She holds the door open and steps out of the way.

“Take her to your bedroom, now! No time for the hospital.” She commands her son.

He carries me into the house, through several long hallways, through an open bedroom door, and carefully deposits me onto the bed. “This isn’t quite the way I imagined you seeing my room for the first time.” He whispers to me, kissing my forehead and sitting down on the bed next to me. I scream again.

“Get her undergarments off her and move the blankets off the bed! You don’t want blood and fluids to get on them.” Faya barks at Xuves.

I feel him get off the bed, but the pain is so intense that the rest of the world seems to fade into the background. I hear Faya whispering softly to me and placing something cool and damp on my forehead.

“Faya? Faya? Am I dying?” I ask in between contractions.

“Ssshhh. It’s okay Vos, dear. Copaie babies are much larger than Talfarian ones. Even larger than the half Copaie you had ten years ago. You will be okay, I promise.” She whispers in my ear.

I know she is attempting to soothe me, but the pain is so intense I can’t help wondering if she is wrong. I feel something touching the inside of my thigh and then I barely hear Xuves whisper.

“Mom. Come down here. I’m pretty sure I see a head already.” Two hours later I have successfully pushed out two very large but healthy baby boys. They nurse, one on each side. After a while, I feel their suckles start to become sporadic, before ceasing. “I think they are asleep,” I whisper.

“They are,” Xuves whispers back, gently taking the babies from my arms. He passes one to his mother and holds onto the other. “Go ahead and get some rest. We will watch over the little ones. We will call the General in to marry us, in the morning. Instead of the big fancy wedding we had planned, we will just have a bedside one.” He lets out a quiet chuckle, kisses me on the lips, and then leaves the room.

My eyes start to droop, immediately, and I fall off to sleep, dreaming of the big wedding we were supposed to have. Lots of guests wander about, and I find myself surrounded by children that I’m guessing are supposed to be mine. The dream starts to fade, and I awaken to find Xuves laying beside me in the bed. Morning light is pouring in through the bedroom window. The babies! Where are they?! I sit up too fast and am rewarded with sharp pain. I am unable to stop myself from crying out in pain.

“What’s the matter, dear?” Xuves asks.

“The babies. Where are they?” I ask, feeling panic starting to flood my veins.

“Mom has them. She kept them for you, so you could rest. Don’t you remember pumping enough milk for that, last week?”

“Oh, yes,” I say, feeling my heart rate slow back down. I recall my milk coming in last week, and pumping some, to put away. Copaie custom is for the new parents to sleep while the Avia, or grandmother, takes care of the baby. It’s such a relief to have twenty-four hours of rest. This is supposed to be time for the new parents to reacquaint themselves with each other.

Which usually means another baby the following year. Xuves sits up and looks over at me. “I’m so excited! It’s finally here. The day of our wedding.” I say.

“The day you officially become, mine.” He whispers, lovingly, in between kisses.

A few hours later we are showered, dressed, and the General is standing in front of us. Since I am still sore from birth, I am allowed to sit through the ceremony. The twins are the only reason we are allowed to marry. Copaie laws state that a couple cannot marry unless they first produce children. Usually, the happy couple marries the week before the first child is born, but in cases like mine, they marry right away.

With the amount of pain, I’m still in, our wedding is smaller than we originally planned. Just Xuves, me, Faya, Amancia, and the General are attending. Amancia is sitting off to the side, under the window, holding the boys. She softly coos at them and kisses each one on the forehead. I sit on the bed, and Xuves stands next to me. In front of me stands the General, and beside him and off to the side a bit, stands Faya. The General starts off by talking about the importance of marriage and having many children.

He then mentions the sacred act of Lending. This is when a female Copaie doesn’t get pregnant within three months. When this happens, she is “Lent” out to another male. Children are very important to Copaie culture, so a female is expected to produce at least one child every year until her childbearing years end at the age of two hundred. I’m getting started a bit early, most females don’t start bearing children until the age of forty or fifty, and I’m only thirty-one. All children produced by a “Lending” belong to the male who loans out his female.

As you can imagine, this leads to a fair amount of inbreeding. Usually, it isn’t a problem, while taboo on Talfar, it’s not on Saltu, but occasionally you end up with sterile females. These females end up divorced and finding a job to support themselves. It’s all a bit strange to me, having been raised on Talfar where monogamy is key to a happy marriage. And then the General informs us of how it’s the wife’s duty to keep her husband happy, in whatever way the husband sees fit.

He pauses for a moment, clears his throat, and turns to Xuves, “Since she is of my bloodline, if you harm her, you are forfeiting your own life. And since she has royal blood, I expect to be part of the decision-making before any Lending occurs. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” Xuves says.

“Now, Vos,” the General says turning to look at me. “Do you agree to all the duties that are expected of a wife? All the duties that I mentioned above plus any more Xuves may come up with?”

“I agree,” I say, turning to smile at Xuves.

“And do you, Xuves, agree to take on the role of husband, provider, and protector of both Vos and your children?” the General says, turning to Xuves.

“I agree,” Xuves says, with a smile.

“Do you agree to keep her with child from now until her childbearing season ends? And if you can no longer give her children, do you promise to inform me of all ‘Lending’ choices?”

“I agree.” Xuves says, again.

“Okay, good. I want you two to clasp arms.” The General says.

We do as instructed, clasping our left arms, at the wrist. The General takes, Faya by the hand, and places both of her hands on ours. “Do you, Faya, agree to let this marriage happen? Do you agree to let this female join your family?” He asks.

She looks from me to Xuves, to the twins, before answering, “I agree.”

“In that case,” the General stops and pulls a long piece of vine from his pocket, handing it to Faya. “You may bind them together.”

Faya binds our left hands together, and then kisses the top of each of our hands, before reciting the mother’s blessing. “May your marriage be as long as the Teffle Tree is tall. And may you have as many babies as the Kalmazo Tree has branches.”

“With that, I say, you are now husband and wife. Faya, welcome your new daughter to the family. Vos, give the kiss of respect to your new Mala. And Xuves, tonight you are expected to begin the work of making a large family. You will be excused from work for the next five years. Enjoy yourselves, children.” He walks over to me, takes my hand in his, and deposits two small, round, green pills onto my palm, before turning and walking off.

“What?” I start to ask.

“They are to kick start your reproductive system. To make sure that you will produce a baby before the year’s end. It is considered bad luck if a newlywed female does not have a new baby before the first anniversary.” Faya says, handing me a glass of water, which I didn’t notice before. “Go on and take them.”

“But we already have two babies,” I say.

“Superstition states that it has to be a newly born baby. One conceived on the wedding night,” she says turning away from me. “Come on Amancia, let’s go enjoy our grandchildren.” With that, she turns and walks out the door. Amancia follows close behind, with the babies. Once she leaves, Faya sticks her head back in the door. “We are going to the palace for the next few days. Have fun.” She winks before closing the door.

I’m still holding the pills in one hand and the glass of water in the other. “Do we really need to do this? I’m not in any hurry to repeat the pain of childbirth.”

“It is a tradition.” He says, shrugging his shoulders. “Besides, you want to be on mother’s good side, don’t you? And what better way to do that than to have more children.” Xuves leans in and kisses me softly on the neck.

“Alright. Why not?” I say, swallowing the pills and chasing them with water.