"72 hours of immersion" (or, "Happy First-of-winter festival!") by GrandMoff
This story features female, male, and intersex ("kurouhd," futanari, hermaphroditic) as well as homosexual, pansexual, and heterosexual characters. This chapter also contains fungiamory. This story is fiction. Any character's resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental. The word "kurouhd" is the term for intersex individuals who have the Psi-chromosome described in part four.
Part Six: Crescendo
oOOOo
Only the LED lanterns Ms. Garrikoet and her helper had brought lit the cave. This cave was obviously volcanic and quite old; it was also damp. The floor was rough at the edges of the cave but smooth elsewhere, worn nearly flat by hundreds of generations of feet. The passage kind of corkscrewed its way into the low hill above us, but the passage didn't go far back. The entrance wasn't quite visible when we assembled in a high-ceilinged, oval chamber. The noise of the Norwegian Sea was low and constant: waves echoed quietly around us.
The temperature of the cavern became warmer and warmer as we left the cold air of the winter night behind us. Iceland has geysers and volcanos all over, so geothermal heat in an underground passage was to be expected. Actually, when we got to large chamber, I was a bit too warm to be comfortable.
Along the western edge of the cavern, the walls were slick. Ground water was seeping into the cave from this part of the hill. Some of my companions were snapping glow sticks and with a bit more light, I could see more detail. At the slippery western wall, the floor of the cave disappeared from view. The missing section was probably about 30 to 75 cm (12 to 30 inches) wide, but very long, maybe 13 m (40 feet) of sudden darkness. I guessed that this gash in the chamber floor must be shallow; it wasn't marked or roped off and people were milling around near it unconcernedly.
The murmuring and talking from my group grew quieter. As I turned my attention back to the people I was with, I saw Ms. Garrikoet setting a small gym bag on a folding camp stool one of her friends had brought. "Would anyone like the honor of calling the Fothnira this year?" she asked once she saw that everyone was watching her.
As I was wondering what this new word meant, I heard two of my companions volunteer enthusiastically. All the others in the group laughed; this was something they'd seen before. "Dhjpan, you had the honor last year!" one of the ladies of our group said loudly.
"That's right," Ms. Garrikoet's assistant said. "Yovynth, I think it's your turn."
"Can't blame me for trying," said the thin, brown-haired person (woman or kurouhd, I guessed) named Dhjpan good-naturedly. (Those weren't her exact words, but that that was the gist of what she said.) I laughed with the rest of the group.
Yovynth strode forward.
Ms. Garrikoet had taken a large white jar from the gym bag; she was loosening the lid as she watched Yovynth. The person who'd been standing next to Yovynth opened the belt of Yovynth's long coat. She eased it over Yovynth's shoulders and down her arms. Clearly, Yovynth was excited; her nipples and penis were swollen in arousal as she stood naked before us. I hadn't known that she was a kurouhd, but as I considered, I thought I remembered seeing her through the telescope while I'd been hiding. But I hadn't recognized that it was her until now.
Ms. Garrikoet held out her open jar. Her assistant reached into it, fingers extended, and came out with a viscous fluid coating her hand. The fluid looked a bit like vanilla pudding, though with a thinner consistency. Yovynth stood steadfastly, feet apart, hands on hips. Ms. Garrikoet's helper smeared the translucent fluid deliberately on Yovynth's inner thighs, perineum, rectum, and external labia. The motion was solemn and intimate, despite the onlookers. Ms. Garrikoet put the lid back on the jar; Yovynth and the assistant went to the western wall of the cavern, putting their toes almost at the edge of the unexplained opening in the floor. Yovynth turned around. Ms. Garrikoet and her helper stood on either side and held Yovynth steady, grasping her armpits firmly. When she was in a squat, mere cm above the opening in the floor, Yovynth put her right hand on her crotch and began to gently frig herself.
Everyone in the chamber was motionless--nearly breathless. The sound of the Arctic Ocean was the only auditory stimulus.
But then there were sounds of flowing water, higher-pitched and much closer to us. They were coming from the long slash in the cavern's floor.
And something small and wet was emerging from the shadowy space. In the light of the lanterns and glow sticks, it was almost invisible at first.
"Hngh!" Yovynth's hissed moan made me jump. The thing--or things--had touched her. She lowered herself even farther. Whatever it was that was splashing and wriggling, it wasn't distressing her in the least.
"What is it?" I forced myself to whisper to the fifty-something kurouhd woman who was standing to my left.
"The Fothnira," my companion answered. I heard fondness in her voice. (I was going to have to ask Harkje or Qenefvere about this the next time I saw one of them.)
"Come, join me!" Yovynth said loudly. It was very hard to see, but these things from the long narrow pit were apparently writhing in and around Yovynth's pussy and butthole. Sometimes there would be a gleam of reflected lantern light and I thought I saw ashy grey cylindrical forms churning, producing small frothy bubbles.
Seven or eight of the women and kurouhds, including the one I'd just talked to, took off their coats and set them on the dry eastern floor of the large chamber. Then they approached Yovynth, to her left and to her right, and sat, knelt, or squatted. "Mm!" Yovynth sighed. A few seconds later, the young kurouhd to her right gasped in delight; then the woman to the left of Yovynth groaned, "Yes...."
If they hadn't been enjoying themselves, I would have been terrified. I was still quite frightened. But my curious heart had to know what was happening. My brain forced my reluctant feet closer to the gash in the floor.
My logical mind scoffed. First an exhibitionist sex festival which was a holdover from several millenia earlier; next an unknown mutation of the human genome, reproducing itself; now cave creatures which seemed to have sex with human beings? Absurd! One little fishing town couldn't have so many aberrations!
But maybe...maybe this explained why no one born here seemed to leave this area. Maybe this was why Harkje had said that I didn't know all of the town's secrets and why she said there was nowhere else on earth for her to call home. Maybe this town was so unique that it felt like another world to its inhabitants....
In the meantime, I had dropped to hands and knees in front of Yovynth, gawking shamelessly at what was happening to her private parts. Perhaps I could accept what my eyes would see.
All I saw was a glimpse of sickly grey stalks, rather bulbous in places, gleaming with fluid which might have been theirs, might have been Yovynth's, retreating from between her thighs, silently slipping into the deep darkness. The appendages had been of varying widths: some were barely wider than my thumb; some were as wide as my ankle; most were somewhere in the middle.
Ms. Garrikoet and her assistant helped Yovynth to her feet, but Ms. Garrikoet was looking into my eyes. "If, and only if, you want to carry, you will have to hurry and kneel next to one of the others," she said to me, taking off her knee-length parka and revealing her nakedness: wide hips and waist, a bit of cellulite at her butt and thighs, strong arms and muscular legs, rosy stretch marks on her lower tummy. Not only was she inviting me, but also leaving me to decide.
"What would I 'carry'?" I asked, aware that I probably sounded frightened.
Ms. Garrikoet sauntered to an open spot along the cave's missing floor, next to a pink-haired, omni-pierced kurouhd who was about 30 years old. "Fothnira fry. The Fothnira's young, you may say." Ms. Garrikoet spun and dropped to her knees, waiting expectantly for the Fothnira to notice her presence and make contact with her body.
"I will may carry them 'fry' long how?" I asked, butchering the grammar in my haste.
"Not long!" Ms. Garrikoet said lightly. Then she whimpered and her eyes narrowed to slits. "Ah!" she said, drawing out the sigh of bliss.
Fear of missing out is real! I was afraid of what this Fothnira was and what it might do to me. I was more afraid of losing my chance to experience this unknown creature. I had very little time; soon, the choice would be made for me. I'd like to say that my anthropologic duty motivated me, but that would be a lie.
I went to the southern end of the cave chamber, where the gash in the floor was narrow: perhaps 35 cm (14 inches) wide. I lay my coat on the bare, dry stone in front of me and crouched.
Next to me was a young townswoman named (if I remembered correctly) Omikjo. She was saying with Ms. Garrikoet temporarily. I'd seen her at meals once or twice; she had a baby who was 18 to 24 months old. As the child wasn't with her now, Omikjo had undoubtedly asked a relative to babysit tonight. Observing her from the corner of my eye, I realized that she was pregnant with her next child; her tummy, thighs, and breasts were round and firm; blue veins on her swollen tits were barely visible in the dim light. This pony-tailed young mother's presence calmed me. Omikjo wouldn't harm her baby. This ritual had to be safe.
It was chilly, but not icy. I gasped; I couldn't help it. This thing was soft and mushy, with firm, thin-scaled skin. It was coated with a liquid which felt oily but pleasant. It touched my ass cheeks and upper thighs first, but moved quickly along my flesh. No, I should be saying "these things." There were at least two. One was rapidly worming its way between my cheeks and into my ass. Another, a second or two later, found my pussy and wriggled and pushed past my labia. So much cooler than a penis or a dildo! I shuddered, finding that I liked the feeling of being prodded by these odd cylindrical appendages.
But it was over in a few seconds. I looked around, wondering if I'd done something to scare off the Fothnira. I saw most of our group already up. Two or three were rising to their feet, including Omikjo. Ms. Garrikoet's aide offered me a hand. Feeling underwhelmed, I took her hand and stood. I was relieved, but this felt anti-climactic. About a dozen of our group had offered ourselves as carriers for the Fothnira and except for me, they all seemed happy, maybe even giddy.
"Back to the vehicles, please," Ms. Garrikoet called, mostly for my benefit because everyone else was already heading for the exit.
"You offered yourself last," Omikjo said to me as we walked back through the short cavern passage. "Did the Fothnira honor you?"
"Yes," I answered. She spoke reverently; maybe this strange, mostly unseen creature had some part in local legends? "Does the Fothnira select people to carry its fry every year?"
"Once every winter," she said, brushing back a loose strand of her coarse, dark brown hair. "Maybe you understand a little wrong? People volunteer themselves. The Fothnira orders no one; demands nothing. Carrying is an honor."
"Are there any qualifications?"
"Well, only adults are allowed. But the Fothnira chooses among volunteers; some are skipped."
"Is this ritual always held at the end of the solstice festival?"
"Always. People are ignored if they offer service at other times."
That made sense; nearly all plants and animals on Earth have breeding seasons.
Our little group of vehicles wasn't going back to town. We passed a few vehicles going the other direction and very shortly we arrived at another natural passage. A different group of townsfolk--a dozen or so, in five cars and trucks--had emerged from this cavern a minute or two earlier and were moving on. It reminded me of different exercise stations during physical training.
We followed Yovynth and Ms. Garrikoet under the weathered arch of iron-hard volcanic rock. The ceiling of this passage was lower and the passage itself twisted much more than the first one had. Soon, we came to a place where the passage branched. We could follow one path rather steeply down or the other fairly level. Yovynth took the level branch and we all followed her. No one said anything about Yovynth's choice, so I supposed that the paths led to the same spot.
The curves and dips in the passage made it seem long, but after 200 or 300 meters, we reached a wide, roughly wedge-shaped chamber. At its highest point, the damp cave was at least 5 meters (16 feet) high; at its lowest, only about 120 cm (4 feet). It was a quieter place than first cave we'd visited, but it echoed more. It was just as warm as the previous one.
The floor was uneven, but it was all there. Along the left and right walls of the cave, there were long gashes where the shadows were deep, too deep to be lit by our lanterns and glow sticks. The openings in the walls started about 70 cm (2' 4") from the floor and reached to about 150 cm (4' 11")in height. Above the inky niches (if niches they were), the walls were slippery with fresh water.
Ms. Garrikoet didn't need to produce her jar of goop this time. Yovynth took off her coat and gave it to one of our companions. She walked--practically swaggering--to a place where the left and right walls nearly met and where her hair almost brushed the low ceiling. She spun and pushed her hips back, so that her calves touched the cool stone. The LED light made the moisture between her thighs gleam. Her firm, reddish penis had produced a large drop of pre-cum which started to fall under its own weight, making a long, thin, transparent line of fluid.
There was a sudden reverberating slap; it sounded a lot like a small fish hitting the water after a fisher tossed it back. Yovynth grunted and put her hands on her knees. She opened her mouth, but said nothing. A second later, her eyes rolled up and closed. Her throat began to make gasping noises. I felt my pussy throb; these were the sounds of profound sexual fulfillment.
"Hm-ngh!" Yovynth shrieked. I glanced around me. I was the only one still wearing a coat; all the rest were on the floor. My fellow revelers were watching Yovynth with palpable anticipation. The women were petting their pussies; the kurouhds were jilling their twats and jacking their cocks; the men were stroking their penises.
"Oh!" Yovynth bent at the waist. The Fothnira worked almost silently, but it was rapidly thrusting its tube-shaped, slick, scaly appendages into her cunt and asshole over and over and over, giving Yovynth what looked like an unbelievable fuck. For several seconds, the sight kept us all rapt. "Ah!" screamed Yovynth. Her head and chest came up and an instant later thick, opalescent sperm shot in an impressive jet from her cock. Her friend Dhjpan (standing two meters away!) got her ribs and tits sprayed with gooey drops of semen. Dhjpan wiped them with her fingers and popped her fingers into her mouth.
"Mm-mm-mm-ungh..." Yovynth was panting. Her hips were making short thrusts, smacking her lower legs against the wall behind her. I guessed that she, as a kurouhd, had gotten her first orgasm from her prostate and now she wanted one from her clitoris.
Ms. Garrikoet cleared her throat forcefully.
Yovynth was standing mostly erect now. She supported herself with her left hand on her knee while her right squeezed and tugged her breasts. Her lips were parted; her teeth gleamed in her mouth. Her eyelids were closed tightly.
"Yovynth! May we?" Ms. Garrikoet said clearly.
The sweating, trembling kurouhd opened her eyes. Everyone around me laughed. "Sorry. Join me?" Yovynth stammered. Part of the ritual was an invitation from that year's leader, evidently.
I needed no one's urging this time. Every one of us who'd been penetrated by the Fothnira in the first cave threw ourselves at the slashes in the walls.
The knobbly, squishy, well-lubricated tendrils of the Fothnira touched my dripping holes. The appendages speared me smoothly and deeply. I shuddered. The ends of Fothnira's arms began to writhe inside my body while their shafts moved like pistons, deliciously rubbing my swollen vulvae, exciting my over-stimulated clit. My knees knocked and I nearly fell. A broad, steady arm caught me. I looked to my right and saw Yovynth herself. She and I were somehow only a few mm apart. We lunged for each other and kissed lustily.
By my third orgasm, I'd forgotten all about the disappointing visit to the earlier cavern. I held my breath and gripped Yovynth's mouth-watering ass and rocked my hips with the abandon of a rutting hind. There was nothing scholarly about this; there was no romance; there was only the hunger and thirst of an animal which had to breed. Sublime ecstasy washed over me and through me.
Another couple of orgasms--while the ash-grey appendages of the Fothnira buffetted my body, I looked around me and saw long, tubular protuberances boiling from the gashes in the walls. All which had not already found a vagina or an anus to plumb or a penis to wrap around and coax to ejaculation were waving and wriggling in search of human orifices.
Four or five (or twenty) orgasms later, I collapsed against the wet body of whoever was nearest me. It felt female. I was so spent, I thought even opening my eyelids would take more energy than I had. My groping fingertips and thirsty mouth vaguely registered maternal curves and the taste of thin milk; I had found Omikjo, or she had found me. The widest, firmest tentacles the Fothnira had were hammering my stretched and satisfied pussy. I dropped to the floor, splashing into musky, bubbly, pale pink cum. My consciousness left me as I quivered in the puddles of sex fluids.
oOOOo
"The Fothnira has left us. And it's nearly midnight."
Someone was rubbing my wrists.
My eyes focused slowly. Rhonav (she'd been in our group? I didn't remember seeing her earlier) was standing above me, smiling placidly. When the friendly, plain-faced kurouhd saw that I was awake, she helped me sit up and handed me a bath towel. I needed it; I was in one of the larger puddles. The cave floor had been dry when we had arrived: what was that, just a bit more than an hour ago? Now condensation dripped from the ceiling and only a couple of small high spots on the basalt floor weren't wet with sweat, water, and sexual fluids.
Not too unsteadily, I clambered to my feet, grateful for the helpful, strong arm Rhonav extended to me. "Sorry about your coat," Yovynth said, offering it. I'd dropped it when the fun began; now it was partially soaked.
"No problem," I replied. I saw Ms. Garrikoet and her assistant helping Omikjo wipe her drenched body; the Fothnira had lavished attention on her. Pinkish-white streams of blobby liquid still ran from her gaping rectum and parted outer labia. These were only dimly visible, shadowed as they were by her pregnant belly.
There was no shame in being tired. Everyone was. Those whom the Fothnira hadn't selected had spent their time fucking and getting fucked by each other and fucking the pussies, cocks, mouths, or asses of those who had been selected, whenever the Fothnira wasn't occupying them.
After the short ride back to Ms. Garrikoet's neighborhood, our group split up. I went to the shower in my room and took my time under the warm water. I relaxed and breathed deeply, calming myself so that I would be able to sleep. Packing would only take five minutes and that was good, because my pilot was due to return in the helicopter just nine hours from now. I gently washed and rinsed, carefully cleansing my bumhole and my pussy in particular. As I dried myself again, it occured to me that this festival had to be good for the laundry business!
There was a rapping on my door. I shut off the blow dryer and answered.
"Ms. Garrikoet," I said. "What can I do for you?"
She said, "Dyannj, please. May I come in for a minute to talk?"
"Of course!"
She bustled inside and sat in the armchair across from the bed. She looked at me. The silence grew. I was starting to feel uneasy, like I had been called in to the principal's office. As I was about to speak, she shook her head solemnly. "You are a person who studies other people," she said. "I am this village's spokeswoman.
"I must ask you to remember who we are; we are people just like you and your family.
"You came to learn about our speech. Maybe you will write about us. If so, maybe you will also write about the many ways our lives differ from yours.
"Even though we are different, we have souls. We have minds and emotions. We can be hurt."
Several seconds passed. Neither of us blinked as we regarded each other. "I know," I whispered at last.
"Our village will not be overlooked forever," Ms. Garrikoet said softly. "But if people talk or write about us thoughtlessly, carelessly...we will be destroyed."
I stepped forward and laid my hands on her shoulders. As best I could in her dialect, I declared, "I love your village. I will not sensationalize you. I will remember your humanity and say nothing that could lead to harm."
She stood and leaned forward, touching her brow to mine. "I believe you. Thank you, Xi-Lin." She went to the door. "Good night," she said.
oOOOo
People were going about their business. In the low light of predawn, I glanced at the western sky every minute or so. My personal pack was on my shoulders; my wheeled suitcase was near my feet. Harkje and Qenefvere were chatting with me.
"What are the Fothnira?" I asked as casually as I could. My two friends had been expecting this topic.
"They are colossal lichen," Harkje told me. "The species doesn't need light, despite looking like a plant. So it can live in caves with no trouble."
"Maybe herders did discovering it eight to ten thousand years ago," Qenefvere said in her flawed but cute plain Icelandic language. "Reindeer eat it; even humans in hard times to eat it. But never more than needed--and lichen has getting genetic diversity and spreading colonies because humans and reindeer spread 'fry' to other caves."
Symbiosis of that type usually existed between insects or birds and plants or fungi. It made sense, actually. The climate was too cold for insects except in summer, but winter was when the Fothnira reproduced.
"Do these lichen have anything to do with the Psi-chromosome?" I asked.
Harkje said, "Oh, no. Dr. Tomassov ruled out that possibility years ago. You know that creatures fit their environments. The Fothnira were widespread during the last glacial age. Fossils have been found on most continents."
"They have?" I asked, quite startled.
"Fossils did can not tell behaviors," Qenefvere said, smiling at my expression. "Fossils just did show large big lichens, but is that interest to people? Maybe not: only except scientists."
The three of us heard distant sounds made by helicopter rotors. The noise grew quickly. There were only thin, low clouds, but in the dim, frosty air, they could obscure aircraft. I looked up. The tour helicopter appeared, descending carefully to afford a better view to the pilot.
I looked at my new friends. "Please stay in touch," I said to them. "If nothing goes wrong, I will see you in August!" I put one of my arms around each of them for a quick hug. They hugged me back. Qenefvere and Harkje each gave me kisses on the cheek.
The tour pilot helped me with my luggage. I blinked to clear my teary eyes and got into my seat. A minute after takeoff, I lost sight of the village.
oOOOo
End of Part Six
author's notes: i read all comments, reviews, and suggestions. i respond to more than 90% of feedback. please drop me a line if you have a reaction to the story. thank you, all those of you who have done so!