After a lot of exhaustive checking and re-checking, John Sargent finally entered the co-ordinates the computer had given him, then after a final check he threw the switch. The computer checking had gone remarkably well and with the processing capacity at his disposal it had taken only a little over a week for the micro-circuitry to come up with the co-ordinates which, when he checked, were only slightly different from those originally used. The idea had been to send a probe first then he would follow after, but what actually transpired was somewhat incredible.

It was a pure fluke that which found the three historians back at their arrival point when the switch was thrown. Cam was down by the woods, Adrie in the next field, the three time travellers were searching for any sign of their arrival when first the floating probe appeared from nowhere. At their shout of excitement Cam started up the field towards them, Adrie on the other side of the wall started to clamber over it much as Elke had several days before. However he hadn’t reached the top before a blinding flash erupted around them and the Midland Time Unit replaced H’llam.

Sargent at first did not realise what had occurred but hearing a moaning sound found first Adrie, then the missing party of historians. Although delighted to see some success for his work the non-arrival of Elke Jones sent him into a mood of some melancholy. Besides that he had a new problem, somehow they were going to have to return the young man who had appeared to his own space/time co-ordinates. The other problem was that the unit had been damaged and would take time to put to rights. A third problem was keeping the media at bay; the sudden rescue through time was unprecedented, Adrie’s arrival however they did manage to keep under wraps, at least for the time being.

Cam P’gnole sank onto the bench with an air of despair, barely noticing the arrival of a bowl of soup in front of him. Innkeeper, Elke and the inn keep’s daughters waited patiently while the Elder ate and drank.

“Where are the others?” Elke ventured.

“Gone.” His voice was not much above a croak. But finally getting his wits went on, “But you should hear from the start. When we left here what five – is it only five, days ago, er, yes, the first day we reached the lower fields soon after noon but decided to make camp before exploring the area, however we barely had camp set up when a mist enveloped us, so thick you could see only about two lengths” (Elke guessed that to be about twenty feet) The old man paused for a moment before continuing.

“The mists didn’t clear until late on the second day, we managed to cover only a small area before nightfall. Adrie went off to hunt the next morning, the rest of us set to surveying the fields, but perhaps their memory was not quite accurate for we didn’t find the place you all arrived,” he addressed the last to Elke, “Adrie returned with some ground squirrels for dinner and we decided to call a halt for the day.” He paused again and took a long swig from his mug before going on.

“Yesterday we started again, Sarah Balluntine found where we sought, I returned to camp, I forget why now. As I got back to the field I could see Adrie in the next field, then your friends started shouting. I started to make my way up to the field, I remember seeing Adrie climbing the wall, then there was a great flash that took away my sight for a moment. When I looked again up the field they were all gone. I looked all about where they had been, not a sign other than the trampled grass.

I must admit I went into a bit of a panic then, I sat by the wall, when I came to my senses it was well into the second part of the night. I went back to the camp, as much for the warmth of a fire as anything else, I fell asleep and woke again at dawn. I gathered what I could carry and set out to return, I lost my way more than once but made haste as best I could. I’m afraid they have gone for good, and I fear Elke that there will be no going back for you. I think too that we have lost Adrie to us.”

Silence descended on the little group, Elke left to find a corned on her own while the family comforted each other, Cam helping as he could with a kind word here and there.
 

The next couple of days were difficult for everyone. When news of Adrie’s untimely ‘demise’ spread the whole village wanted to pay their respects. In the absence of a body for a burial they instead held a wake for the lad, his family planted several acorns, if one or more produced a tree it would be a good sign for the village and Adrie would be well honoured. Elke kept herself out of the way but still hadn’t really grasped that instead of her high-tech life she would live the rest of her days in a fairly primitive society, and whichever way you looked at it she would be alone.

It was several days later when Cam sought her out. “Good morrow Elke”
“Good morrow Elder, what can I do for you?”
“Ah, more like what can I do for you. Do you wish to stay with us here in Streines or do you plan to move on?”

The question threw the young woman.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so abrupt,” Cam went on, “We know that you grieve for your own kind, so if you wanted to travel alone you may leave here with our blessings, we will help as we can. Against that you are more than welcome to remain here, the innkeeper and his family would like you to stay with them, or if you preferred we could find you other lodging. There, its out, we would like you to stay but will not force you.”

Elke was dumbstruck and not a little taken aback by the Elder’s speech.

“I will leave you now, let us know your decision.” With that the old man left her to her thoughts.
 
The way he had put it brought the whole subject into closer focus for Elke Jones. “Yes” she thought, “I could go and explore this strange land, I could always return here later”, but deep down she knew she wouldn’t, she would make Streines home – at least it had some familiarity now.
 
When she saw her reflection later that day she realised that it wasn’t a case of just settling here, she would have to become one of them with all that might entail. She held off telling anyone of her decision for a couple of days before going to Cam’s cottage to let him know.

“Hullo young lady”
“Hullo Elder, I’ve made my decision”
“Well come in, sit down, I’ll get you some refreshment”

She settled herself into a chair while Cam fussed with cups of a herbal tea for them both. She took a sip before speaking again. “I’m going to stay, I shall make Streines my home”

A smile crossed the other’s face, she continued.

“I think that will involve more than just arranging lodgings and that sort of thing, I am still quite ignorant of your customs.”
“For now child, just know that you are welcome. Yes there are many things, which you are as yet ignorant of, I, will speak with Cherryh and M’lenie, they can instruct you. This deserves a celebration!”
“No, no, please, I don’t want a fuss. I will let the others know and you may tell who you will but I don’t think I could manage any sort of gathering just yet.”
“Well, as you like, we’ll put it on hold. I’ll talk to the girls later.”

They made small talk for a while before Elke made her excuses and left. She had got to know a lot of the villagers since her arrival; they mostly thought her a relative of D’mecks, a story both she and Cam did little to discourage.
 
It was the next day that Cherryh and her sister took Elke to their room up in the eaves. Cherryh started the conversation.

“The Elder has asked that we instruct you on what will be required of you to become one of us, I think your ways are far different to ours. You know about our faces for you can see that plainly, but it would be easier to show you than to explain.”

Meanwhile the younger sister had disappeared, when she did reappear at Cherryh’s call she was naked, which in itself surprised Elke but that was not the only thing. Seeing her reaction Cherryh began to make her explanations. M’lenie had rings through her nipples and navel, that however wasn’t the thing that grabbed Elke for she knew people in her own time who wore similar appointments she could live with that, it was the girl’s crotch area which drew her attention. Where her own folds were there was nothing but a small hole. Cherryh was talking, Elke only half listening.

“…A year old all children, boys and girls, are closed, they won’t be opened again until they pair up in marriage.”

Cherryh, with a now re-dressed M’lenie, went on to explain in more depth but although she listened Elke wasn’t taking it all in, it only sufficed to say that she herself was going to be treated thus. She went over what she was taking on, facial tattoos, multiple piercing and enforced chastity. From what she could work out these young women would not have a period even until they were wed, apparently something in their diet prevented either sex developing, only when they wed would they be made privy to the antidote. She wondered how this would affect herself, then realised that she should have had a period last week, yep it was effective sure enough.

Generally a child’s mother closed them but that was obviously not on the cards in this case, friends would carry out the piercing and Cam was in charge of the tattoos. The villagers’ religious beliefs were few but things did have to be done in sequence, which meant that Elke would have to be closed first. Cherryh, although only having watched the practice once, was the only real choice, to bring in anyone else could endanger all of them.
 
So it was that two days later Elke shaved her bikini area and took a good dose of the painkiller the Elder had given her. It worked well; she soon had no sense of feeling below the waist, and needed M’lenie to help her onto the table where the ‘operation’ was to take place. Cherryh set to work with the catgut, Elke watched as the needle went in and out; she could feel a slight tugging now and then but nothing more. When it was threaded the two edges that would meet were opened with a sharp blade and then the whole thing drawn tight, the knot in the catgut pushed inside out of reach.

There was surprisingly little blood but Cherryh bound the wound with an antiseptic pad whose astringent qualities reached through the painkiller and caught the bearer by surprise. The feeling was however returning now to her lower body but at least she had not felt too much discomfort, the children would not normally have that luxury.
 
As long as it was in the correct sequence there was no particular time-scale to follow, so Elke decided to get as much as possible over as quickly as possible. Cherryh was even now sterilising the needles for the piercing procedure. Knowing from personal experience, M’lenie held Elke’s shoulder down whilst her sister carefully pushed the needle through a nipple then carefully positioned the heavy ring through and secured it. The other nipple didn’t seem quite as bad but Elke still only just prevented herself from screaming. The navel by contrast she barely noticed as her attention was on her throbbing breasts. Loose clothing would be in order for a couple of days.

Cherryh’s salve was remarkably good, within a couple of days her piercings were clear, she barely noticed the weight of the rings, each of which were over an eighth of an inch thick although only around three quarters in diameter. What really surprised Elke was the way her nether regions had healed, although when she moved in a certain way she could feel a slight pulling, on the surface only a quickly fading red line marked where her opening had been, she had seen on M’lenie that even that would disappear. Only a few fine hairs, more like body down, replaced her previously bushy mound, another result of the mystery dietary ingredient.

The temporary tattoo that she wore would suffice a while yet, the young woman wanted to put that off as long as possible, instead refining the design she would finally wear. Like Cherryh’s design it would run from her hair line down her face, over her eye, down her cheek then down her neck, finishing just above her collarbone.
 
She stayed on at the Moorcock and helped the sisters with the general chores, she was getting a dab hand on the beer taps too, barmaid came into the job as well and most evenings she would be between kitchen and bar. As her knowledge of the language improved she understood more of the stories and jokes and noted more than one favourable comment about herself. However, after the indignity of being ‘closed’ she had no intention of being ‘opened’ again so soon, however good looking the man.

Days and weeks passed, soon she had been in Streines almost six months. She spoke fluently in H’llam, even if she couldn’t understand everything. She now had her own wardrobe that she had, with some assistance from the sisters, made herself; she was learning to use a bow, D’mecks had given her one of his spares. The only thing that on sight drew her apart from the people of Streines was the stud she refused to remove from her nose, “it reminds me of home and someone I once knew”. It puzzled her actually, despite every woman, her included, wearing heavy rings in nipples and navel, they pierced nothing else, not ears or nose, or some of the other places Elke had seen pierced. Her own ears were pierced, twice in each, but from lack of use they were now closed and barely to be seen.

Eventually she could put it off no longer, the tattooing would have to be done – supplies of the professor’s ink were just about finished and without that her ‘virgin’ skin would soon become evident. She arranged to go to Cam’s house for a few days, she could hardly be seen in the village with a fresh tattoo, and for a last time scrubbed her face clean, after today it would always wear a design impervious to soap and water.

The tattoo equipment was fairly primitive but Cam was skilled in its use. However Elke knew remarkably little of the experience, she fainted much to her later disgust after only a couple of minutes. Cam skilfully drew in the outline, a series of blocks down the young woman’s face, tilted to the contours. The main block of colour followed, a turquoise that almost shone. The fine detail and colour of the surrounding borders took longer; it was well into the evening when Cam finally finished. Elke had stirred only once, he left her now with a blanker over her. He was exhausted himself after starting midmorning and pausing only briefly to eat an apple.

Elke woke with a start, not recognising her surroundings at first, when she realised where she was she tentatively touched her face. It was tender and slightly swollen, a fine scab covered Cam’s work, but the magic salve would have that gone within a day or two. She didn’t dare look in a mirror. Although she knew she had looked upon an almost identical visage for these last months somehow knowing it was permanent frightened her.

The salve duly did its work and only two days after Cam had worked his magic Elke’s face was healed and she returned to the inn. Careful not to be overheard her friends congratulated her and admired the Elder’s handiwork. When she got the chance Elke studied it closely too, the lines were so perfect and fine, the detail exquisite, the strength of the colour incredible, even by his standards he had excelled himself this time.
 
Along the way she had discovered a lot of the reasoning behind the various practises, strange, perhaps even barbaric, to someone from her own time. The tattoos were meant to show maturity – the wearer chose the design, and maturity would give them a design they could live with till they died. Only occasionally were changes or rather remedial alterations allowed, usually only if one became an Elder.

The women’s piercings were symbolic these days, but were the remainder of a tradition when the men folk pierced their women and chained them up, the women continued with the practice to show their strength over adversity, although the original purpose had long since ceased. Elke knew from the pain during the piercing where they were coming from.
 
The ‘closing’ of the sex organs and forestalling of sexual development was another concept again. In an age where rape and pillage were not uncommon, the only way to prevent misuse by unknown others was to seal a woman up. This eventually developed into the ‘organic chastity belt’ it was now. Mothers started carrying it out earlier and earlier to prevent unnecessary suffering, and the practice soon spread to the male babies as well, which served to confuse any raiders looking for the females.

The re-opening usually took place at puberty but as years went by that changed until the present state where only married couples could be opened. The tradition now was for the partners on the wedding night to open each other, it was actually less painful than you might think, however it was usually about six months before intercourse could be successful hence it was rare for a birth within the first, settling in, year of marriage. The associated dietary supplements, although closely guarded from ‘innocents’ were only common herbs.

With this information and a willing teacher in Cam, Elke was getting to grips with what made these farmer-hunters tick. Life in Streines wasn’t always the idyll that the young woman had so far encountered, war and strife were always only just around the corner, few people travelled in these days and few of them any distance but news was no slouch moving about the countryside. What Cherryh called the ‘arrow post’ could see messages travelling at surprising speed.

Elke studied with Cam so that she was soon proficient in reading and writing the runic symbols which passed as text hereabouts, it was in fact simple beyond belief to her twenty-first century eyes, once you had got the basics. With only twenty-four symbols you could convey easily even subtle nuances, although everyday use tended on the more perfunctory level. Although anyone could have access to learn the skills few bothered, D’mecks could manage the basics, his daughters could only recognise certain words and phrases, for example they knew it said ‘The Moorcock’ outside the inn, but they couldn’t read it.

Maddy Bell © 1998, 2004, 2010