The Garden

Part 1 - The Mourning

"I'll see you soon."

Tundé's warm lips caught yours in a soulful kiss. His broad arms snaked around your back and pulled you closer to him as if he wanted to completely consume you. You pressed the palms of your hands against his shoulders and jumped up, wrapping your legs around his waist and kissing him back.

"Just stay a little longer," you whispered, speeding up the rate of your kisses. Tundé groaned as you moved from his lips to the side of his neck. He loved that spot. Your kisses got sloppier until you were practically dragging your tongue against his jet black flesh.

You calculated that a nibble at the earlobe and a slight swivel of your hips against his growing erection would have him. You were pressing all of the right buttons. He'd be yours yet.

"I can't," Tundé grunted as you applied the pressure to his groin. "I have to get back up the mountain."

He loosened his grip on you and you slid down his hard body like a fireman's pole, leaving a noticeably wet spot on the fabric that had separated your genitals. Tundé adjusted his pants and reached for his fur coat.

Damn. You'd been so close.

"I'd stay if I could, my love, but I'm running low on money. The Mourning has lasted three weeks now with no end in sight. I'll be back as soon as it's over."

You pushed your bottom lip out in a pout, but you weren't going to force the issue. If he didn't have money left, you weren't about to give out charity pussy. Everyone was struggling.

"Hopefully, I'll be back next week," Tundé comforted you as he stepped out the door. You leaned against the doorframe, completely nude and visible to the village.

"I'll be waiting," you purred.

Tundé drank in one last long look at you before throwing his fur over his shoulder and beginning his ascent back up the mountain. You watched him leave, frozen in your sensual pose in case he happened to turn back.

Once he was out of sight, you leaned out the door and locked eyes with your friend Femi. She worked two doors down in a brothel type establishment, and had been assigned an outdoor post in an attempt to lure in any straggling customers.

"Anyone?" you shouted at her, shrugging your shoulders.

"Not a soul. It's dead!" Femi shouted back.

"Fuck," you murmured and headed back in to your house to put some clothes on.

Tundé was your most loyal customer. He'd made his way down the mountain multiple times during The Mourning, but no one else had. They had no money.

As is tradition in Jabari culture, the death of a monarch is observed through a mourning period where citizens halt regular life to take part in funerary events for a few weeks. The length of the mourning period depends on how beloved the deceased was.

The Queen had died three weeks ago now, so she must have been highly revered. You wouldn't know, you'd never met her. It was rare that a member of the royal family would come to the base of the mountain.

Jabari society was a literal hierarchy. The wealthier and more important you were, the higher up the mountain you lived. You lived at the base alongside perimeter guards, farmers and fishermen. You relied on patrons to come down the mountain in search of your sexual services. But during The Mourning, they weren't making any money.

Subsequently, neither were you.

How typical for a woman who lived thousands of feet above you to have such an affect on your life. Even in death, the royals had their fingers in your pockets.

Tundé had left his payment on your dresser. He paid you handsomely, even when money was tight for him. But his fees alone wouldn't get you to the end of next week. You had to draw in customers fast.

An idea forming in your head, you dropped to your bottom drawer and dug around. Many patrons would leave you tokens of affection and you were on the hunt for a specific gift from a River Tribe boy named Hakim. Your fingers closed on the cold, metallic beads of a bracelet and you stood up.

With a quick glance at yourself in the mirror, you tousled your hair to the side and put on a sultry face. You pressed the one button Hakim had taught you how to use and the bracelet began to chime. It rang merely twice before the image of a cocky young man with a tapered fade sprung from your wrist.

"Praise be to Bast!" Hakim gasped. "The most beautiful woman in the world is calling me?"

A raucous chorus of other men's voices sounded around him and his image shook a bit as he pushed his friends away.

"Hey hey hey hey! Privacy please!"

You batted your eyelashes and tilted your chin. You lowered your wrist just enough to let him see you were naked without giving away the goods.

"OOHHHH!" the gang of guys shouted.

"I miss you," you say, your tone slightly higher than your normal speaking voice.

Hakim's chest puffed and a small smirk pulled at the sides of his lips.

"You just say the word and I'm there, gorgeous girl."

You flipped your twists to the other side.

"Take me out instead."

"Oh yeah? Like a date?"

"Last time you mentioned... what was it called? The River Games?" You pulled your eyebrows together in mock confusion. You knew exactly what The River Games were. But Hakim needed to think it was his idea.

"Yeah, The River Games! That's wild you would call. They start tonight actually."

"Ask her if she's got any friends," a voice to the left of the hologram whispered. Hakim elbowed him but posed the question anyways.

"My friend wants to know if you have any friends who want to tag along. It could be like a double date. But he's just jealous that I'll have the baddest woman at the party."

"I can make it a quadruple date. I'll meet you there." You blew a kiss at his image and prepared to hang up. Hakim was too excited to notice that he didn't tell you where to meet. You'd been to The Games before. As he struggled to hang up the call, you could hear his friends say things like, "Yo, is she Jabari? You got a Jabari girl?! Yooooooo!"

You dropped the bracelet back on to the bed and exhaled sharply. Men would never understand how much one has to engage their core to hold these sexy poses. You walked back outside, still buck naked and called out.

"Femi! Get the girls. We're going on a field trip!"