"I don't know much about what happened way back when," King told Annie. "I don't think anyone does."

Annie had no reason not to believe him; she was an intelligent, fast-learning girl, but she lacked an understanding of the world that had once been, so there was little to no way for her to question what might have come before.

Soon, they were again on the water on the way to rescue the girl from King's boat. Annie had smiled with delight when her father told King to ride with her, and now out on the gentle waves, she was doing as he was, dividing her attention between the other boat and her boatmate.

"So ... can you tell me more about this ... breeding custom of yours...?" King asked.

The question surprised Annie, then caused her to blush as she recalled flashing herself to him the night before. Oh sure, each of the three men had had the chance to see her, but Annie had done it for King's benefit. (Bran and Paul had each seen Annie in her underclothes over the years while she swam with others in the surf down from the village; and once, she and several of the girls had been skinny dipping in a hot spring while on an overnight hunting trip and had been caught by some of the men, including Paul.)

King continued, "I mean ... I've seen my share of customs when it comes to marriage, raising families, and the like. But this is the first time I've heard of a match maker arranging breeding ... as opposed to marriages."

This didn't surprise Annie. Her village and several others across Southern Greenland worked together in what King had described as a breeding custom, ensuring that their populations created genetic diversity. But there were other villages, most of them farther to the north or on the islands to the west of Greenland's extreme north.

"Can you tell me more about it...?" King continued. "...and ... if it's not private ... personal ... can you tell me about you and Paul? I mean ... how do you feel about that?"

Annie turned her face away at the mention of Paul, fearing King would see her grimace. When she looked back, she told him bluntly, "Paul wasn't my choice. Tyka chose him. She chose him, and my father approved. But ... I'd rather..."

She hesitated, drawing and releasing a deep breath as she considered whether she should say what was on her mind. Feeling bold, she confessed, "I'd rather it was you."

King saw the surprise in Annie's face when he asked her to better describe her community's breeding custom.

Rather than explain it to him, she spoke of how it was currently affecting her. "Paul wasn't my choice. Tyka chose him. She chose him, and my father approved. But ... I'd rather..."

King was expecting her to say that she had a different man in mind, and -- deep down -- he would have loved to hear her identify him as that man. He was a stranger, though, a castaway in a sense, who neither Annie, Bran, or anyone else from her community knew well enough to even consider him for participating in the breeding of the next generation in their village.

And yet, to King's surprise, Annie confessed, "I'd rather it was you."

He stared at her in silence for a long, long moment, uncertain as to whether what he'd heard had come from her mouth or from his imagination. King looked off toward the other boat, as if fearing that her father had heard Annie's words and was now sailing this direction to retrieve her, beat King, or possibly both.

Looking back to Annie, he smiled and chuckled lightly. He was unsure of how to respond, despite knowing that he, too, wanted a sexual relationship with the young beauty. Eventually, he said, "I'm honored, Annie. I really am. I, um..."

King looked to the other boat again, this time finding the girl's father looking this way. His heart leapt in his chest as he realized that the other boat was in fact turning this direction; he just knew that his time with these people -- with Annie -- was about to come to an end, possibly with Bran tossing him into the sea, pointing to the east, and telling him Iceland's that way, swim hard..

But a signal from Annie's father indicated that Bran wanted the second boat to change course, and -- to his great relief -- King realized that the alteration in direction had nothing to do with his conversation with the man's teenage daughter. King and Annie tacked the boat to the northwest, after which the former looked back to the latter to finish his response to her stunning proposition.

"You're a beautiful young woman, Annie," he began, choosing his words carefully as he was certain her father would object to the entirety of the conversation. "And ... like I said ... I'd be honored to, um ... how do I put this...? Honored to be with you."

King knew he was seriously screwing this up. The issue at hand, of course, was that Annie was speaking of breeding for the purpose of procreation, and he was thinking about fucking for the purpose of sexual gratification. Of course, Annie might have been thinking of the latter, too, but ... how did King verify that without asking her if she was horny for him?

He chuckled, embarrassed that at his age he was befuddled by a conversation with a teenage girl on the subject of sex. King glanced toward the other boat again, finding her father no longer paying him attention -- due or undue -- then looked back to Annie and said, "I don't think your father would be very happy with me screwing up the plans he and your match maker have for you."

King paused a moment, again considering his words carefully, then finished, "That being said ... I would love to be your lover."

Annie's heart was pounding after telling King that she preferred to have him deflower her, opposed to Paul having the privilege. She was sure he would laugh at her; she was a girl, innocent and naive about so many things, particularly the ways of sex and love.

Instead, King said, "I'm honored, Annie. I really am. I, um ... You're a beautiful young woman, Annie. And ... like I said ... I'd be honored to, um ... how do I put this...? Honored to be with you."

Be with you. Annie had never heard it put that way before. Of course, she'd only ever talked about her upcoming coming of age and the associated, impending loss of her virginity with her father and Tyka, the Clan's match maker.

Well, no, that wasn't true, she remembered suddenly. Annie had had an intimate conversation, followed by a very intimate physical exchange, with one of the young women in Black Rock some time back. Annie and her father had been in the village to the northeast for, of all things, Bran's breeding with one of Black Rock's fertile women. The two teens had shared the other girl's bed, shared a giggling conversation about what her father was doing, then shared the pleasures of soft lips and probing fingers.

It had been a wondrous moment for Annie, one she'd wanted to repeat again on a subsequent visit to Black Rock. Knowing that she and the three men on this mission were heading for the village had caused her to think about the other girl several times. Ironically, every time she recalled that incredible time, Annie looked to King and imagined him causing her such pleasures in both similar and very different ways.

King chuckled, seemingly embarrassed about the ongoing conversation, telling her, "I don't think your father would be very happy with me screwing up the plans he and your match maker have for you."

Annie considered responding with You might be surprised. Bran was all too aware of his daughter's dislike for Paul and, obviously, her preference that he never lay between her thighs, filling her with his seed. Annie had never actually told Bran this outright, of course; she would never disappoint him by bucking the Clan's customs. But still, he knew.

At the same time, Annie's actions regarding King had made it clear that she liked him, and again, while she hadn't said it out loud, the man had to know of Annie's attraction to the man. How could a father miss that?

"That being said," King continued, "I would love to be your lover."

Annie's lips spread in a wide smile of delight as a chill ran up her spine and gooseflesh erupted over her arms and legs. She responded with a simple but blunt, "Me, too."

Motion attracted her attention, and looking toward the other boat, Annie found her father gesturing northward to a point of land much as she had the day before toward the threatening storm.

"Black Rock," she said, nodding her head toward the point to draw King's attention to it. "It's just on the other side of that point. That point is Black Rock, actually ... the source of the name. It's called obsidian. We make arrowheads out of it."

She carefully tossed one of her arrows to King, continuing, "Humans have been making arrow and spear points and knives and other sharp edged tools from obsidian for thousands of years. That's what I'm told, anyway. It's one of Black Rock's most important products, 'cause there's not a lot of known obsidian beds. Here and another spot to the north, plus one on the other side of the island, beyond the Great Lake."

Seeing Bran and Paul tacking to the northwest, Annie instructed King to begin the same thing. Once they were on course again, she turned her attention back to King. Knowing she was being forward but not caring, she informed the man of her lustful dreams, "I come of age in three moons. There will be a ceremony ... and ... after that..."

Annie didn't think she had to actually finish that sentence; King surely knew where she was going with it. Still being blunt, she told the man with firmness, "By then, I will have convinced my father that -- as I do now -- he should be excited about you being min første ... my first."

She glanced toward the other boat, this time toward the man who, for at least three years, had imagined that it would be he who made a woman of Annie. Knowing how this would affect him and yet not caring, Annie said, "Paul will have to wait for his turn."

She wasn't really thinking about what King might think about her meaning when she said he'd have to wait his turn. Even though Annie wanted her first breeding to be with King, she would still be obligated to birth a child with Paul one day soon, perhaps two or three years from now. King didn't know the particulars of her Clan's genetic diversity culture, so he couldn't know that most of the females of the Clan would have at least one child with at least three different unrelated males.

Often, a female would have a male or female child with a male, then have a second child in an attempt to produce a child of the other gender. This didn't happen all the time, obviously; there were many couplings that had resulted in two or three children of the same gender. These genetically similar children of the same gender weren't really needed in a single village, of course, so there was a second custom in which some children were adopted to families of other villages. This wasn't a mandatory thing, of course; many women were unwilling to give away a child, and in such cases, no demands were made. Honestly, Annie only knew of two women who'd ever chosen to do this, and -- because of the honor bestowed upon them for their sacrifice -- neither of them had suffered deeply emotional distress for what they did.