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Day 34
Shuffling some maps and diagrams in her quarantine bed, Marlena said, "I just can't figure out where they're depositing the tailings from the mine operations - I guess I'll just have to find out when I visit my holdings - any idea when I'll get to do that, Trin-Lor?"
The healer smiled to herself. The alien visitor had asked some version of that question, often with profanity, every single day since her arrival. But today, Trin-Lor finally had a clear answer. "Good news, milady. If your recovery continues on schedule, your casts will be removed six days hence, and you'll be discharged to your own apartment near the tech lab the day after that."
At that, Marlena exclaimed a joyful, "OH! Thank you!" Smiling, she looked over at her nurse, whom she considered a good friend.
"Well, you'll have to come visit me then at my family farm," Nurse Tasha said. She set up a dinner tray over by the bed, glanced at the maps that she was moving out of the way and fluffed up some pillows while speaking. "My parents and daughter all want to meet you. What's the rush to travel to Westfarland, anyway? You'll still need physical therapy here, after all! Why are you so concerned about those tailings?"
"Because…" the scientist answered, rolling her eyes. "They've only been using mechanical extraction in the underwater mine, and if I can teach them how to apply chemical extraction, then we can re-process the refuse, and double or triple the yield. It saves time and effort in the long run."
"Huh. Good luck getting the Westfarlanders to try something new," said Trin-Lor, as she made her final notes of the day and gathered her things. "My shift is over now, but, Tasha, maybe you could tell her what happened to the last duke we sent out there. See you in the morning...good journey." With that ominous suggestion, she made her exit.
"Good journey, Trin-Lor," Marlena called out after her. Then she turned to her nurse, and cocked her head at an inquisitive angle. "Tasha, what was she talking about?"
"Oh, that's old news. King Miro gave the province to one of his friends, and he never returned. Mining accident. No other explanation. But most people thought the Westfarlanders were withholding information about it."
"And what do you think?"
Looking straight at the astronaut, the nurse replied, "Anything is possible on Eternia."
"Anything?" Marlena mused to herself. "I suppose so. But what did Trin-Lor mean about the Westfarlanders resisting new ideas?"
"I don't really know much about them, to be honest. I don't know anyone - besides our king - who might know anything. But I can tell you where they dump the tailings from their mine - it's obvious." She held up one of the maps and traced a line with her finger.
"But that's the border wall."
"And what construction materials do you think they use? On my farm, we use any fieldstones that we find to build walls, fences and terraces," said Tasha. "The Westfarlanders have had a steady supply of rubble coming out of those mines for centuries, and their walls are famously formidable for such a small territory - it's because they have plenty of material to work with."
"That's a sound hypothesis - you're probably right, Tasha," Marlena agreed. "Now it seems to me that you do know something about these people - what else can you tell me?"
"I do know they keep to themselves and have a lot of traditions and their own language - and they look different -"
"Amphibious humanoids!" Marlena interrupted excitedly. "I can't wait to meet them! I've asked for more books about them - I'm simply fascinated by everything I learn about them, their land, their resources, especially the gadolinite, aeschynite, synchysite and - "
"And don't forget the coridite," said King Randor, waltzing into the room with dark eyes twinkling. He was carrying two tote bags. "I've brought some samples for you to examine." He started unpacking books and a few tiny boxes onto the nightstand.
Tasha respectfully backed up toward the door. "Good evening, sir, milady," she said. As the nurse exited, she gave the captain a funny look - she might have winked, but Marlena wasn't sure.
"Good journey, Tasha!" said the captain, distracted by the virile presence of the king. She looked up at him through seductive eyelashes, dark brown tinged with reddish-gold. "Randy, love, would you be so kind as to explain all this, while I eat my meal?" She gestured at the items he had just unpacked.
"Of course, my dear," said Randor, leaning over to kiss her forehead. He settled into his armchair, and showed her each rare mineral. Although he wasn't a scientist, he told what he knew about their properties and practical applications. The only mineral that Marlena didn't recognize from Earth was the coridite, which was also the most valuable one, with unique isotopes not seen elsewhere. Its properties were still being studied, but it was known to have military applications as well as use as a source for clean energy. Most importantly, coridite was thought to be the key material for developing interdimensional portals.
"Don't drop it!" Randor warned. "Coridite sometimes explodes on impact. And this is all classified information, you know, we don't want it falling into the wrong hands."
Putting her empty dinner tray aside, Marlena held the translucent crystal up to the light - it was as long as one of her fingers, with a yellowish tinge from one angle, and a pinkish color from another angle. "Incredible," she said, "I never imagined -" Then she looked over at Randor and smiled. "I never imagined a lot of things, but now they're all happening at once."
He gently took the crystal and placed it in its padded box, and tucked it safely away. Before she knew it, Marlena was in his powerful arms, feverishly necking and tugging away clothes. Skin on skin was the most delicious sensation to her - she just couldn't get enough of him after her long months alone in space!
Licking her palm, she vigorously massaged his most sensitive erogenous zone, but her royal love grunted, "Wait, I want us to finish together…"
So he licked and sucked at her breasts while expertly stimulating her vulva with his fingers. Just as she was on the precipice of a nuclear explosion, he grabbed her hips and aligned himself for penetration. "Oh, yes, darling," sighed Marlena. She was already so aroused that she climaxed as soon as he entered her body. But that was just the beginning - he kept going, turning her body sideways and manipulating her legs and hips to change his angle of entry, rapidly escalating their joint pleasure.
"Randy, I - I…" Marlena couldn't complete her thought before her muscles clenched tight. A luxurious buzz shot down all of her nerves from her core to the tips of her fingers and toes.
As he felt her body compress, Randor also reached his peak, and his passion was unleashed. All of his tension and emotion burst forth in an extended release. Finally relaxing, he lay down beside his beloved. He couldn't help thinking to himself that if she was so eager for intense, fiery sex now with her arm and leg still in a cast, then she'd be an absolute demon in bed once her health was fully restored. Kissing her ear, he murmured, "I love you, Molly."
It was all so sweet and heartfelt, Marlena felt a bit guilty for a sudden pang of jealousy. Where did he learn to fuck like a professional gigolo? How many other women did he have stashed around his palace and kingdom? With that particular set of skills, would he ever be able to maintain fidelity to her? Instead of accusing him, she flashed a sexy grin and fluttered her eyelashes, saying, "I want to thank the woman who taught you to do that."
Randor was both amused and ashamed - even though he knew she would eventually ask about his sexual history. So he dodged it: "There's no one else, Molly - and there never will be. Who could possibly measure up to your genius?"
She sat up. "Thank you, but that's not what I asked."
"You didn't ask. You simply stated that you wanted to thank someone."
"All right, then," the captain said, rolling her eyes. "I'll ask nicely: Who taught you the secrets of a woman's pleasure - and where is she now?"
Nervously, Randor sat up, too, and put an arm around Marlena's waist. "She's married to someone else now, and lives on her estate far from here, playing matchmaker for her adult sons."
"Adult sons? She's older than you?"
"By about fifteen years, yes...one of my mother's close friends, a widow -"
"What? You're serious?"
"Yes, quite," the king continued matter-of-factly. "You asked, after all. She was in mourning for her husband, I was grieving for my mother, one thing led to another...and I requested that she teach me everything she knew on this topic. She's very beautiful, and very kind."
"How - how long did you two - ?"
"Off and on until two years ago. Sometimes months or years passed without seeing each other - we were both preoccupied with our own work."
"Why did you end it?" asked the captain.
""Well, actually, she ended it! I wanted more from her, a commitment, but she didn't want to marry someone younger, and she didn't want any more children. She re-married an older gentleman and cut off our affair." It was obvious that the king was still sad about it - another love lost.
"So you haven't been intimate with anyone in the past two years?"
"Well, to be honest, no…" he began. "At Duncan's wedding last year, the bridesmaids…"
"Bridesmaids! Wait, Duncan is your Man-At-Arms, right? How many bridesmaids?" Marlena was trying to process all this new information about her lover.
"You - you're jealous!" declared Randor.
"Me? No! Never!" exclaimed the lady.
"Well, if it's not jealousy, then what is it?" he asked. "It's...it's fear, isn't it? Afraid of losing what we have...or afraid of commitment? Or both?"
"How dare you!"
"Yes, the fearless explorer - frightened of committing to love! Looking for any excuse to avoid it!" he teased.
"I'm not afraid of anything!" said Marlena, almost in a whisper - it took all of her strength not to shout.
Looking deeply into her lovely hazel eyes, flecked with green, blue and gold, now welling up in tears, the king triumphantly concluded, "Prove it."
Author's note: Duncan's wedding is a topic for another tale. Next update in a few weeks - I plan to finish this off before the end of 2020.