This got a laugh from everyone, including Lina, and a healthy round of applause once it was determined that this was indeed the end of the performance. The children left the stage and made their way to the front row to mob Arabel and I with excited chattering.
“Go to them,” said An Ming, patting Lina on the back. “Enjoy your moment of fame.”
Lina scampered down the low rise. She made it halfway to the stage when the mob surrounding Arabel began to elongate and stretch to encompass her as well. Lina stepped carefully, conscious of little feet.
“Did you like it?” an excited child asked, the one who had played the part of Lina.
“It was lovely,” said Lina, scenting joy. “I was really sick, wasn’t I?”
The little girl nodded vigorously and scented love, before squeezing Lina’s hand and bounding off. Some of the other children were leaving as well. They were being rounded up by their mentors, reminded to eat their fruits and vegetables, and told that bedtime was in their near future.
Lina turned to see An Ming had come to stand beside her.
“It was beautiful,” Lina said.
“It’s not often we get visiting dignitaries.” An Ming smiled.
Lina watched the children, clutching fruit and vegetable skewers, being herded back over the rise by their mentors. A few turned to smile and wave, so Lina waved back and put on her brightest smile.
* * * *
“Now it’s time for the adult party.” An Ming winked at Lina.
On the stage, previously occupied by the young acting troupe, diploid workers were busy assembling several large tubs elevated on sturdy wooden stands. People in the crowd, who were not busy with other tasks, began to pluck pieces of fruit from the lower branches of the Great Tree and deliver them to the tubs.
The music was starting up again with a low drone from the pipes, and a trail of young women filed in two by two and hand in hand. Each pair, clad in long white dresses, stood before one of the large tubs.
“What are they doing?” Lina asked An Ming.
“They are preparing to make the royal wine. It is a rite of passage for the young women of the colony. Soon they will climb in the tubs to stomp the fruit to pulp. When that is done, they will submerge and pleasure themselves to let their waters mingle with the nectar from the fruit. Is this not how it is done in all colonies?”
“Not in ours.” Lina thought back to the dark ritual at the Queen’s Gala. She shuddered at the memory.
As Lina was shaking off the images of her colony’s Great Tree swarming with masses of masked humanity, she heard the drummers retaking the stage. She turned toward the source of the new sound and noticed brightly painted dancers had joined in as well. The first pair of young women was being helped up into their fruit tub. They pulled up their skirts and began stomping. Soon the rhythm of drumming was their accompaniment.
Lina lost sight of the women in the tubs for a moment as her eyes were drawn to the dancers at center stage. Each woman was completely nude, except for intricate and bright, monochromatic, bio-luminescent ink designs, covering the front of her from head to toe. On the back, the dancers were covered in a dye so dark that it appeared to pull in light from around it. As they began to move, the dancers would employ their alternate bright and dark sides to put on a beautifully choreographed light show timed with the music. Lina’s jaw hung open in awe.
All at once, the dancers turned to face the elevated wine tubs, throwing their arms back and arching their backs to concentrate their combined bio-luminescent glow onto the young women in the tubs. The women, bathed in light, still marching in place to the pulse of the music, held their skirts high, showing the crowd the sticky nectar clinging to their calves. The low hum from the crowd increased two-fold.
The crowd began writhing with the beat, and the endless parade of fruit-delivering diploids was a long, undulating serpent-like thing, kissing the skins of the ripe fruit in their hands, twirling to present it in the direction of the colony’s Great Tree. After a bow of respect, the individuals in the line moved to the stage to hand the fruit up to the young women. In exchange for the fruit, the receiving woman would offer herself to be touched or kissed, while her partner continued stomping the mash.
Soon there was enough fruit in the tubs that the first of the dresses came off and flew through the air. The young woman tossing it reached down into the tub, grabbing handfuls of the fruit mash and began covering herself from the neck down. She twirled once around, proudly displaying her sticky, naked body. A wild cheer went up from the crowd. Her fruit stomping partner did the same and no more fruit was delivered to their tub.
A moment later there was another loud cheer as the women in the next tub undressed and coated themselves in sticky nectar. With each full tub, the music reached a new crescendo, as did the humming from the crowd. The dancers continued their movements, alternating intricate patterns of light and dark over the entire scene. The crowd moved as one with the music. Even Lina and An Ming twirled, pressing their bodies together. As the last white dress was thrown, the dancers all turned outward to bathe the crowd in light as the music swelled to a new height. Everyone cheered.
The young women standing in the fruit barrels turned toward each other
