Breakfast with the parents

The next morning, I wake up at the usual time. I get out of bed and get dressed and put on the black necklace with my name on it. Tiona and Gwyneth are going to want to know what happened last night. The best way to let them know would be to show them. I do hide the necklace under my clothes. I don’t want the rest of the village to know. Then I head to the kitchen for breakfast. My parents are already awake and waiting for me there.

“Good morning, Rowena.” My mother tells me. “So, how was your big night?”

“Not very spectacular.” I tell mom with some disappointment in myself. “I just wasn’t ready to stray this year.”

“Well, that is nothing to be ashamed about.” Mom says. “There are a lot of girls who don’t stray their first year. Isn’t that right honey?”

“If you’re not ready, but you feel pressured so you do it anyways, you will inevitably end up regretting it.” Dad answers. “Only stray when you are ready to do so. Then at least you won’t end up with regrets.”

Dad is right. Just because I wasn’t ready this year doesn’t mean I also won’t be ready next year. I’ll be a full year older, and a lot more courageous … maybe. Who knows, maybe Rowen or uncle Kenric won’t be participating then. That should help me a lot.

After I finish breakfast, dad tells me to go wake up my brother. He has slept long enough and needs to wake up. I head over to his room, but he is not there. In fact, his bed looks like he hasn’t slept in it. I go and tell my parents who start to get worried.

“I hope he just got lost in the woods and didn’t just get drunk.” Dad complains.

Mom and dad then both leave the house. They are probably going to inform the hunter and his apprentices that Rowen hasn’t returned home yet. It’s not the first time they had to go out and search for people who got lost during Samhain night. I’m sure my brother will be fine. Maybe he stepped into a trap and hasn’t been able to get out.

I instead head out to meet up with Tiona and Gwyneth. We agreed that we would be meeting each other at the town square. I am the first one there. Gwyneth shows up second and she looks grumpier than usual. I wonder what happened to make her like this. I at least wish her a good morning and talk to her about some of our usual stuff. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for Tiona to show up as well.

“Hey, you two.” Tiona greets us. “Oh, man. I had such a great time last night. I can’t wait to brag about it. So, who wants to start?”

“I’m sorry.” I apologize as I pull the necklace from under my shirt and show both of them that I didn’t get caught. “I was too worried about getting caught by a bad match, so I was too afraid to stray. I just wasn’t ready for it this year.”

“Aww, too bad.” Tiona laments. “But yeah, last year I wasn’t ready myself. So, I get it. I understand. This year however …”

Tiona smugly pulls one white necklace from under her shirt. Rolls up her left sleeve to proudly present us with a second white necklace. And then also rolls up her right sleeve to show us a third white necklace.

“I got caught by 3 guys last night. Three of them! Can you believe it? And yeah, I drew seed from all three of them.”

I am shocked. People are supposed to pair up with only 1 person and Tiona got 3?

“You didn’t!” I say, while unable to hold in a smile. “You’re supposed to catch only 1.”

“You’re supposed to collect the necklace of the guys that catch you.” Tiona corrects me. “So yeah, I am quite proud of all my trophies.”

I can’t keep a hold of my curiosity and blurt out the question “How did they do it?”

“Well, the first guy put me against a tree and then shaved it in me from behind.” Tiona says proudly. “The second guy had me on my hands and knees and pounded me like I was his bitch. But only after I sucked on his dick.”

“Ieuw!” I say, unable to hold in my disgust after imagining myself sucking on a guy’s dick. “Guys actually want to put it in our mouthes?”

“You know, it actually wasn’t that bad.” Tiona replies. “It was in fact kinda nice.” Then she blushes and admits, “I kinda want to do it again.”

Tiona and I both start giggling. The only one not replying to anything is Gwyneth. It is quite unlike her. Normally she would have at least complained about something.

“Well, what about you, Gwyneth?” Tiona asks. “How did last night go for you?”

Gwyneth sighs and rolls her eyes. She looks away from both of us with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She is clearly thinking about something. Like how to reply to Tiona’s question. But then she gives up and simply pulls the necklace from under her shirt. To both mine and Tiona’s surprise, it isn’t black but white.

“Wait.” Tiona says. “You actually strayed? After all your talk of being against straying, you actually went and did it? And you also got yourself caught? Shit, Gwyn. You’re not as much of a prude as you make yourself out to be.”

I’m sure Tiona is just teasing her, but her words result in Gwyneth tearing up, and then she starts crying.

“Oh, Gwyn. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like an insult.” Tiona quickly apologizes. “I was just trying to be silly.”

“No, it’s not that.” Gwyneth replies. “It’s just … I went off the path because I had to pee, that’s the only reason I strayed. And then I got caught by your damn uncle.”

“My uncle?” I ask and lean in closer to read the name on the necklace. Yeah, the stones spell out my uncle’s name. That’s bad. Knowing my uncle, I can already expect what he did.

“Gwyneth.” I ask. “Did he seed you?”

Gwyneth takes a deep breath, and then she nods.

Now, my uncle is actually not a bad person. He is really nice and very friendly. He is just **** to finally have a wife and a family. It is his one dark side. But I am pretty sure that right now Gwyneth will not be very interested in hearing how nice her future husband is going to be.

“Hey, think of Mearna. She has been getting herself seeded every year with the very specific intention of getting a Samhain child, and she never succeeded.” I try to console Gwyneth. “And my uncle has been trying it as well, except he only ever impregnated 2 traveler girls. He was never able to do it to one of the village girls. I would think that is evidence it’s actually pretty difficult to have a Samhain child. So, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll fail with you too.”

That seems to help Gwyneth calm down and stop crying.

“But I’ve still been used.” Gwyneth complains.

“Gwynni, babe, the guys in this village don’t care about that.” Tiona tells her. “Ask around among the married women, and you will find that a lot of them lost their purity to a guy that is not their husband.”

We talk to Gwyneth some more and learn that her parents were very disappointed in her. Fortunately, they seem to understand Gwyneth didn’t want to stray, so she won’t be facing any punishment. Thank the gods. I would hate for her to end up like Gwendolyn.