My Body Was an Altar and the Village Worshipped Me

The three months they promised me stretched into nine. The radio crackled now and then from the cabin, and on the other end there was always Mateo, the head of Green Compass, delighted with the maps I drew. Cliffs, swamps, rivers twisting like snakes, trails no one else knew how to read. “Six more months, Aurora,” he told me once. “Your work is out of this world.” And I stayed, because for the first time in my life an entire place had opened its arms to me without asking me to be different.

I grew up hiding what I am. I have a body that fits no one’s boxes: a cock and a cunt at the same time, a combination that earned me crooked looks in the city and lonely nights with my hand. But in the village, beside the river, no one looked away. They saw me work, laugh, sweat, fuck, and that was enough for them.

—Aurora strong, friend —they would tell me in their language, the one I learned through months of effort, mixing words with gestures and bursts of laughter.

The one who taught me almost everything was Liana. She had the fastest hands in the village for braiding palm fibers, and a way of looking at me that left my cock hard beneath my clothes before she said a single word. We became inseparable, like two vines tangled around the same trunk.

***

The first time we sought each other out was beneath a waterfall. Cold water fell over our shoulders and made us tremble, and that cold made everything more intense, every touch a lash of heat. Liana yanked off my wet loincloth and stared between my legs, without fear, with the hungry curiosity of someone discovering something new in the jungle. She ran her fingers over my cock first, her tongue peeking between her lips, and then went down to my cunt and opened me with two fingers, licking the other wet ones to taste me.

—Two gifts —she whispered in her language, and laughed to herself.

She knelt on the smooth rock, took my cock into her mouth, and began sucking me slowly, as though she were learning a new map with her tongue. She lowered it all the way to her throat and came back up sucking, drawing out strands of saliva that hung from her chin. With her other hand she sank two fingers into my cunt, in and out, keeping the same rhythm as her sucking, and I had to grip the moss on the rock to keep from falling.

—More, Aurora —she begged between gasps, looking up at me, her lips shining. —Don’t stop.

I lifted her, turned her against the wet rock, and spread her legs with a gentle kick. I ran the tip of my cock over her cunt, up and down, until she arched herself, seeking me. I thrust in, and she moaned so loudly that even the roar of the water seemed small. I fucked her hard against the rock, one hand on her waist and the other squeezing a tit, biting the nape of her neck while the icy water struck our backs. Her ass shook against my hips with every thrust, and the sound of wet skin slapping together mingled with the waterfall.

—There, there, don’t pull out —she gasped, taking my hand and guiding it to her clitoris.

I rubbed her clitoris in circles while I kept thrusting deep inside her, and felt her cunt clench around my cock in spasms. I came inside her with a shudder that buckled my knees, jet after jet, and she followed me at once, biting my shoulder hard enough to draw blood so she wouldn’t scream. I pulled out slowly and watched my cum trickle down her thighs, mixing with the waterfall, and I got hard again just from looking at her.

—I’m yours —I told her, still breathless.

—And I belong to the jungle —she replied, laughing, running a finger through her crotch and bringing it to her mouth. —But with you, who knows.

That phrase of hers, “who knows,” lodged itself in me for months.

***

Life in the village wasn’t only about desire. It was work from sunrise to sunset, and desire tangled itself into the everyday like a vine around a post. Liana wove baskets and sang stories of hunts while her fingers flew. The men returned from the mountains with game and brightly colored birds, which they roasted over clay braziers. The women ground cassava on smooth stones, and the rhythmic pounding marked the hours like a drum.

I joined in everything. I gathered sweet fruit that left my fingers sticky, cleaned fresh fish beside the water, and helped carry baskets to the market. One morning, while we peeled guavas in the shade of an enormous tree, Liana leaned toward me.

—Today, at the river —she murmured, running a hand over the bulge of my cock beneath the cloth. —You and me, under the water. I want to suck you until you fill my mouth.

I felt myself hardening beneath my clothes, that fabric lock I wore while working so no one would notice everything about me.

—Only if afterward you let me put it in your ass —I replied softly, and she laughed so loudly that the leaves seemed to tremble.

Inti, who was peeling fruit nearby with a bone knife, raised her head.

—Aurora, you’re strong as a jaguar —she said teasingly, openly eyeing my crotch. —When are you going to stick it in me?

—When you bring something good back from the mountains —I answered, and we all burst out laughing.

The air vibrated with camaraderie. There was no shame, no half-kept secrets. Only bodies that desired each other and laughed at their own desire.

***

One rainy afternoon we shared a thick fish-and-cassava broth in the plaza, all huddled beneath the palm roof while the rain struck like a drum. Yaku, the old man who healed with plants and prayers, took my hands, stained with red dye.

—Your maps are magic, Aurora —he said in a measured voice. —They guide our hunts like a spirit of the river.

—Your stories guide me —I replied, and I meant it. —You taught me how to name things in your language.

Amaru, a hunter my age, was sharpening a spear to one side.

—Sister, they say you’ve got a big one —he joked, with the easy smile everyone here had. —When do I get to suck it?

—When you let me go first —I shot back, serving him more broth, —and bring something fat for dinner.

Laughter echoed beneath the palm awning. I felt woven into the heart of the village, and that belonging healed something old in me, a wound I had carried since before I knew how to read a map.

***

But the radio wouldn’t keep quiet. My maps traveled over the airwaves to Green Compass, and from there jumped to other companies that began hunting for me like dogs on a trail. One night, beneath the trembling light of a torch, I was going over my sketchbook while Liana braided fibers beside me.

—Liana, look at this —I said, adjusting the crackling radio. —GeoNorte is offering me a fortune for a project in the south. They want my maps for an entire park.

She smiled without stopping her work.

—You good, maps strong —she said. —But stay. You ours.

—It’s not just that —I sighed. —TerraNova wants me in the Manu basin. And yesterday another company, AndesMap, offered me even more to chart a mountain range in the north. They all want me.

Liana set the basket aside. She knelt between my legs, untied my trousers, and pulled out my cock, already swelling beneath her breath. She ran her tongue over my balls first, licking them one by one, then went up, licking along the entire vein to the tip, drawing out a thread of saliva that clung to her lips. She took the head into her mouth and sucked it with her cheeks hollowed, leaving the rest untouched as she stared fixedly at me.

—You my blood, Aurora —she murmured, releasing me for a moment, drool running down her chin. —Don’t go. Here we fuck, laugh, live.

And she swallowed me whole again, sucking me slowly, choking a little each time she lowered me to her throat. I gripped her hair with both hands and began fucking her mouth to the rhythm she set, feeling her tongue press against me from below. When I couldn’t take any more, I lifted her onto my lap, still trembling.

—Lift your skirt —I whispered in her ear.

She lifted it without taking her eyes off me, straddled me, and lowered herself slowly, taking my cock deep into her cunt with a long moan. She began riding me, gripping my shoulders, rising and falling, her tits striking my face with every thrust. I sucked one and then the other, biting her dark nipples while she squeezed around me inside like a wet fist.

—What if I took you with me? —I said between thrusts. —We could map the world together. You and me, in every jungle that pays us to draw it.

She moved faster, grabbing her clitoris with one hand and rubbing it as she rode me.

—I jungle, not city —she replied, panting. —But with you… who knows.

She came on top of me with a long shudder, squeezing my cock so tightly with her cunt that she pulled my orgasm out of me at once. I filled her belly inside, and she stayed still on top, feeling my semen drip between her legs onto my thighs. Those same two words again. Who knows. Like a map missing its final line.

***

The next day, at the market, I carried baskets beside Killa, the oldest weaver in the village. The sky was heavy with clouds.

—Your maps guide us into the mountains —she told me. —You belong to the jungle now.

—Killa, they’re calling me from outside —I confessed, a knot in my chest. —Three companies, three countries. They all want me to leave.

She squeezed my hand with her wrinkled fingers.

—Stay, daughter. We love you here —she said, then lowered her voice. —But if you go, take our spirit with you. And if you take Liana, let her fly like a macaw.

That same afternoon I went tracking with Amaru, following fresh footprints through the mud.

—Your arrows are good —I told him, —but my maps are what lead you to the game. If I leave, who will guide you?

—If you go —he replied, wiping sweat from his forehead, —take Liana with you and love her for all of us.

—Come with us too —I laughed. —We’ll map the whole world.

—Only if you let me go first —he winked, grabbing his bulge over his loincloth, and the entire jungle seemed to laugh with us.

But beneath the jokes, doubt was rising in me like a tide. Liana, my blood, my love, will you come with me, or will I lose myself without you?

***

One hot afternoon, while I was charting a new trail beside a river that gleamed like a mirror, the radio spat out three messages in a row. GeoNorte again, with an even higher figure and a date. TerraNova, demanding an immediate answer. AndesMap, calling me a legend. Three paths opening at once, and all of them far from here.

I sat on a rock with the notebook on my knees. Liana was grinding cassava nearby, and the rhythmic pounding of the stone was almost a heartbeat.

—They won’t stop, Liana —I told her. —They all want my maps. But all I want is to stay here with you.

She looked up, the red dye shining on her skin.

—You make the jungle speak with your maps —she said. —But if you go, take me with you. I want to love you in other jungles too.

I approached her, knocked her onto the warm earth, and spread her legs. I licked her cunt from bottom to top, long and slow, until she clutched my hair and stopped grinding. I sucked her clitoris between my lips, tugging it gently, while two fingers slid carefully in and out of her. When she was twisting and pushing my head, begging for more, I moved up, put my cock in her mouth for a moment so she could get it thoroughly wet, and then penetrated her slowly, burying myself all the way in with a single thrust.

We moved without haste, as though we wanted to stretch time so we wouldn’t have to decide. I looked into her eyes with every thrust, sliding in until our pubic bones struck together, pulling out to the tip, then sinking back in. She caressed her own cunt with her free hand, sliding a finger inside herself while she rode from below, and that double touch tore an animal moan from me. I lifted one of her legs onto my shoulder and fucked her harder, feeling her whole body shake with every blow.

—Come inside me —she gasped. —I want to carry you inside me all day.

I released all my cum deep inside her as she came at the same time, biting my neck, her broken laughter fading against my throat. We stayed embracing, still joined, feeling our combined fluids trickle between us.

—I’ll go anywhere with you —she whispered. —But the jungle is my blood.

—And you’re mine —I replied.

***

The last sunset I remember from that season, we spent in a clearing full of wild orchids. The scent of the flowers mingled with the scent of our bodies, the monkeys sang above like a chorus approving everything, and the light turned orange among the treetops.

We were naked on a blanket, and Liana had me on all fours, my face pressed against crushed orchids. She had positioned herself behind me and was sliding two fingers into my cunt while licking my ass, her hot tongue moving in and out, preparing me. Then she switched: her fingers in my ass, her mouth on my cunt, sucking me while I trembled like a leaf.

—Now me inside you —she said, and made me turn over.

I lay on my back, spread my legs, and she sat on top of me backward, her cunt on my face and my cock in her mouth. I licked her from the inside, burying my tongue in her, while she sucked me whole, swallowing me to the base. I slid a finger into her ass while I kept eating her, and she let out a muffled shriek against my cock that made me arch.

—I don’t want to leave —I moaned, gripping her hips and sitting her onto my cock again, looking into her eyes as she let herself sink all the way down.

—Stay. You’re my blood —Liana replied, riding me slowly at first, then faster and faster, her tits bouncing and one hand on her clitoris, rubbing herself so she could come with me.

I gripped her waist and thrust up from below, fucking her hard, feeling her cunt gush and soak my balls with every thrust. I pulled out for a moment and turned her onto her side, entering her from behind with one leg raised, biting her shoulder while squeezing a tit and rubbing her clitoris at the same time. She came like that, screaming into the moss, and squeezed me so tightly inside that I emptied myself in three long spurts, coming while I bit the nape of her neck.

Still hard, I turned her over once more, and she took me deep into her mouth, sucking me clean of all the cum mixed with her juices, never letting me go, slowly, until she left me empty and trembling.

—Come with me —I begged, my breath broken. —We’ll map together. We’ll conquer the whole world.

She laughed against my skin, that laugh I would have followed to the end of the planet, her lips shining with me.

—I am jungle —she said. —But with you… maybe I’ll fly.

And there, among the orchids, with the echo of the radio cutting through my chest like a machete, I knew I had no answer. I could stay in this temple of flesh and mud where at last I felt whole, or let the world’s offers drag me far away. The only thing I knew for certain was that, whatever map I chose, I didn’t want to draw it without her.

I held her until the last light went out. Tomorrow the radio would crackle again. Tomorrow I would have to decide. That night, not yet.