Unconditional Submission

Insane Ideas

I didn't wake Clark when I slipped quietly from my cabin come dawn. I had woken while the sky was just barely blue and watched as the cabin slowly grew brighter and brighter. Behind the grey clouds, I couldn't tell whether the sun had risen or not, but since sleep continued to evade me, I shimmied from Clark's warm embrace and rose from the blankets to dress.

In a midi-floral skirt and a beige long-sleeve cotton blouse with little brown buttons down the front, I stood alone on the beach. The cold surf tickled at my feet, and my hair whipped around my face as the rough sea breeze whirled wildly around me. I wrapped my arms around myself and wiggled my bare feet as the sand slowly engulfed my feet a little more with each come and go of the tide.

"Kat?"

Turning at the sound of my nickname, I felt a sense of comfort at the sight of Dawson approaching. He was hunched ever-so-slightly as he walked into the wind, his hands buried deep inside the pockets of his jeans.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked first. "It's not even seven in the morning."

"Couldn't sleep," I said with a grimace. "You?"

"My father woke me up with a call about thirty minutes ago. Then I saw you out here, so..." he ended on a shrug, smiling as he stood beside me to stare out over the ocean.

"Is everything all right back home?"

"Yes..." he answered thoughtfully. "My father is setting up a place for me...for us...to live while I attend university this fall."

"Oh..."

"He, uh... wanted to know your color preference. He's having a loft refurbished close to campus and he's having the interior professionally painted this weekend, just before, uh... well, just before..."

"...before school lets out," I finished for him.

"Yes," he cleared his throat and both of us shifted uncomfortably.

"That's very nice of him... Please tell him I said thank you for thinking of me."

"I will, of course. He's always been very good to the submissives in our family."

"I'm beginning to see that..." I smiled wryly. "It's...refreshing and...strange."

Dawson laughed and some of the tension eased between us, allowing me to smile as well.

"Yes, that's one way of putting it." He grinned. "Our family has been eyed unusually for some time for my father's limitless consideration towards submissives. But, he believes that as an esteemed individual and medical professional, that he can influence other communities to do the same."

"I see." I nodded, feeling lucky to have fallen into such an open-minded family, despite my reservations of how I came to be there in the first place. "It's so different from everything I've ever known in my own family and all of my training..."

"Your family and your training is a more accurate depiction of our reality. My father just so happened to fall in love with someone and he fell in love so wildly that he couldn't bring himself to completely master her. He adored her wit and her intelligence so much that he made her more equal to him than I believe any submissive has ever been in the history of our culture."

"Your mother...?"

"Yes, my mother. She is a very kind soul and I believe you two will like each other very much."

I smiled. "I'm sure I will."

Looking ahead at the stormy seas, I wondered how alike Dawon and his father were. The memory of Dawson's punishment in Professor Adams' classroom resurfaced and I blushed just thinking about it.