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Corrina.

Very nice chapter. You show us Clark's aversion to human contact coupled with his grudging acceptance of Lois' ministrations - followed by his disappointment when she stops touching him - then you tell us about Diddi being Lois' almost-foster-adopted child, along with explaining her complicated marital status. Not only that, you let Lois tell Clark that there is love after heartbreak without having her shove the concept at him. She can't know all that he's been through, although she knows some things - plus she has some incorrect assumptions - so having her tell this tale now, under these circumstances, puts no pressure on Clark to make a decision now.

But I'd bet real interwebz that this comes up in his thought processes later.

It's nice to learn about Diddi's birth, even though it was a tragic time. And it appears from Lois' narrative that her marriage is one in name only, to provide a secure home for her son.

Yet still, even in all this gentle goodness, you tantalize us.

Lois lied? What a shock! Where is my faith in human nature going to be placed now?

I'm sure you're going to tease us with that information, just as Clark and Lois are going to tease each other with the deep, dark, intimate secrets of their lives. Lois is still hiding from the gun runners and she's still keeping one very important thing secret. Clark is hiding from Lana's betrayal and doesn't want to share it with Lois.

They're going to have to learn to trust each other. It will be a fairly long, drawn-out process that you're going to shoehorn into seven days of quarantine. They'll both have to learn to open their hearts to a new person.

Hmm, where have I read that theme before? Seems like it worked well then, too.

The tempo of the story will have to pick up soon, because there must be a resolution of the Lana/Tempus situation and of the Lois-hiding situation, but right now both the readers and the characters need to move slowly in order to experience all the wonder of trust slowly regained and the seeds of love being planted and nurtured. My only real complaint is that there are too many hours between postings. How's about you step on the gas pedal a little more? I doubt your readers would complain.

I know I wouldn't.

Corrina,

You really has me going. After the first few chapters I came to the conclusion that there had to be an alternate explanation. Sure enough this is one of the scenarios I thought would fit. Thank you. That takes a load off.

This is developing nicely. Clark is slowly loosening up and Lois is becoming interested.

Only time will tell.

Nice, very nice. A little bonding, a little discomfort, Clark realizes that leaving now would not actually be smart, and Lois explains how she came to adopt Diddi. Wonder what the explanation of the extended quarantine is? The in-universe explanation, I mean, not the plot reason <g>

Looking forward to more,

PJ

he is still holding out on fully opening up. OK, if he was not, it would be hard to believe, but still.

Yes, he is making progess, even if he is still resisting it.

This seems a bit forward, asking him to come with her when she goes and bathes.

I guess it makes sense, but it still seems really forward. I guess you can bathe modestly, sortof, maybe, probably. Still, I can see why Clark is resisting. Well, OK, he is at the point of resisting everything.

This is really not going to make him want to go. So much for "modesty". I guess in some cultures it is actually normal for people to bathe in fairly public places with little or no clothing, but since Clark is not from such a culture, I can see why he is resitant. OK, his main reason to resist is still the Lana-induced pain, but it makes sense he would resist.

Now I see Lois' plan. Present the situation as worse than it is.

Non-Lana burned Clark: How is it an improvement that I won't get to see Lois bathing.

Well, small man sized. Tigerfish get to about 110 pounds.

Is this because it has not yet recovered to super-strength?

Hmm, it is probably good Lois did not point out that there is not much of his body she has not already seen.

he has procratinated leaving. That will make it easier to do so again.

Matymbou is a very distant husband.

Lois let loose a sigh of frustration. "How's Diddi?"

Well, probably at some level this is true, but saying yes would imply a connection that is not there. Although, if she knew the truth, she might have actually said yes. Hmm.

, although at some level I should only believe this applies if Clark leaves soon. If he stays a while and then wants to leave, Lois may change her mind.

Lois: How could being with Kent longer be a problem?

Wise move, that is the last thing she needs him to think.

I don't see how that could even make sense.

it might help an awful lot.

I really hope that Lois and Clark go back to try and fix things. However I guess that will not be for a very long time.

Hmm, I would find it hard to believe he knew nothing of her. Perry must have said something.

this is by far the best way to describe things. It makes it clear that she does not mind being with Kent.

she admits his existence.

So she just admitted to having an illegitimate child?

Hmm, so she is not Diddi's mother. Hmm, which makes me wonder why she phrased the above line the way she did.

Since she adopted Diddi at the age of two days, I get to say "I was right". Her "teaching him English" is effectively the same as if he were her own birth child, well unless you assume English is imbibed with one's mother's milk.

Well, now we better understand Romaric's connection with Lois.

One question though. If they are so isoltated from everyone else, why do they use French names?

What is this about the tempo of the story picking up. I figured it would be a 100+ part epic. No need for it to move faster.

I got to catch up with parts 7-9 this evening - yay, me! This continues to be an enjoyable story and an intriguing universe. (Yeah, that's cheating, but it's true. He said exactly what I wanted to. )

I'm really enjoying all the details that are coming out and how much we're learning about Lois's pre-Bangala life. I also love that she's stated in no uncertain terms that, even if she could return to her previous life, she wouldn't. I was hoping that was going to be the case -- I think you made excellent points in your earlier comments that the world Lois has left behind is very different from the canon-L&C's world, and that this is not "our" Lois. It's been clear to me from the beginning of this story that Lois is where she wants to be. And she seems comfortable and at peace, which is exactly what Clark deserves to be, too. I'm sure you have many twists and turns in mind for us/them, but put me in the camp that thinks Bengala sounds like a peaceful, wonderful, soothing place, and I hope that L&C ultimately make it their forever home.

Hee. So now we know what Lois will share with Clark near the end of the story to prove that she loves and trusts him like no one else.

Happy sigh. That's lovely, Corrina, just lovely. And I know I'm not the only one who thought of Martha Kent's love for her son when I read this. Wonderful parallel.

More, please.

Kathy

Sorry, Terry, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this first point. The pace seems just perfect for the slow healing process of the grief that Clark has suffered both at the hands of Tempus and that of Lana (especially Lana). It fits into the slow pace and peacefullness of the Bangala lifestyle. A fast-moving story set here, would feel out of place indeed. (I also agree with John that I wouldn't mind another 100+ part story from Female Hawk... ) On Terry's second point, yes, GET TO WRITING! Post more often! <<cough, cough>> I mean... Please!

Actually, I think all we were told was that Lois was not married to Didi's father. There was no indication that Didi's parents were other than married to each other.

You're right, John. I read that wrong when Lois said:

For some reason, I latched on to the "getting married" part and missed Lois saying:

I was thinking that was pretty progressive of the tribe to allow premarital sex. I should have known better. <<watches as anthropology minor goes up in flames>>

I love your details. Did you do research on Bangalese people? You seem to know a lot.

Is the mobembo like a walkabout? And is that even a real thing? I learned about it from the movie 'Australia,' but you can´t always trust Hollywood.

As to the development of L&C´s relationship, I´m curious to see if Clark will really try to leave. Hopefully, he´ll feel obligated to stay those extra two days, so Lois won´t be alone.

And we finally learned how Lois became a mother! Makes sense, and can´t wait to see how all this turns out.

Another excellent chapter!

I was very touched by Lois's story of her adopted son. I have an adopted son also. I know how much he is loved. He is my world. I loved the intimacy between Lois and Clark when they shared the bath. Some barrier was changed with that game and you can see it in their thinking about each other. This story, like your others, really touches on so many emotions and details. Beautifully done. More soon. Laura

Hey, Virginia, don't apologize for disagreeing with me. All I really meant was that there will be, at some point far, far down the line, a moment where the pace of the story will pick up and we'll all get excited and hiss at the bad guys (Tempus and Lana) and root for the good guys (we know who they are!) and post big long "Noooooooo!!!!!" when she throws a cliffie at us. For now, I agree, the tempo should be slow and easy, very "Hakuna matata" between the two of them.

Just remember to buckle your seat belt when the story dives into one of those sharp curves. Having read some of Corinna's stuff before, it might even turn us completely upside down.

But it'll be a fun ride either way.

You know, it strikes me that maybe the reason Lois is keeping that part about how she joined the tribe secret is because she knows that no one would believe that a time-traveling sociopath dumped her there. If that's true, then once Clark and Lois open up enough to compare their whole life stories, they're going to realize that they're both victims.

And I can't imagine Lois taking that news lying down. She's sure to goad Clark into helping her bring Tempus to justice, since he's responsible for both of their situations. And Lana will get her just desserts (gravel pie with a cow pattie on top) along the way.

This, of course, assumes that I'm not totally crazy. And I'm not crazy! My mother had me tested when I was a kid.

Not totally, anyway.

Terry's last comment just gave me an idea.

So far I have been assuming that the Bangala and Lois and Clark are all in about 1997, or there abouts.

However, since Tempus is a dimension-hopping time traveler, there is not anything that makes it so he had to dump Clark's body in the present. If he also captured and dumped Lois, it is possible that they are in some other time.

Hmm, it seems unlikely, but it might have happened. I guess we shall see.

Time for me to start reading this fic! Love what I scanned!

Terry I often wish I could write more quick-moving stories, but the slow-moving ones seem to hunt me down and find me. I'm glad you think the pace is working at this stage.

Ken Clark is slowly loosening up. I think a more realistic time-frame would be months, but that would drive everyone crazy - especially me!

Pam

LOL. Good point - because I could have simply made it seven days from the start.

John Lois has been living with the Bangala for five years. During that time, I imagine she has realised that the practicalities of life have to be dealt with. Such as getting clean. And she's probably still a little cautious that if she left him alone, he might be gone when she gets back. Therefore, they go together.

Ah ... yes. Although I haven't laboured the point (one comment about how tall Clark is going to be compared with Bangala men), Lois's adopted tribe are what we used to call pygmies.

It's really hard to get time in perspective when reading a story over many weeks.

Lana walked out on Clark.
That night, Tempus captured him.
He was flown over Africa and dumped.
Lois found him during the early afternoon and took him to the hut.
This is the next day.
So, allowing for time zone differences, he's had one day of wallowing in Metropolis, one day of having rock cut out of him, and one day of playing soccer.

Making up a whole raft of names is hard work. So, I used a wonderful site called Kiva.org which facilitates loans to people in developing nations.

I discovered that people in the Congo had very French sounding names, whereas people in the DRC had names that sounded more African to me. Therefore, although according to alt-canon, Lois was lost in the Congo, I've used mainly DRC names. Every name I've used is the name of a real person from either the Congo or the DRC.

Kathy



I realise Clark doesn't usually need extra incentive to fall in love with Lois, but this Clark is Lana-damaged, so I thought if I gave Lois an adopted son, coupled with the fact that this Clark lost his mom when he was ten ... he wouldn't have a chance of resisting.

Virginia

That was my thinking.

Thanks for the enthusiasm, but this won't be a 100-parter. There will be a sequel, though.

Diddi's biological parents were married.

MM

I have never been to this part of the world, which makes setting a story there a precarious business. My get-out clause is that this is the alt-world. As for research, I did some, but what I couldn't find out, I made up!

A 'walkabout' is a real thing. As I understand it, it is something Aboriginal people feel compelled to do at various points in their lives. 'Mobembo' means 'journey' in Lingala, but applying it to these people is my invention. I was thinking of it as a self-imposed test.

Laura
I'm glad you enjoyed this part of Lois's story.

Terry You're not totally crazy. In fact, in a roundabout way, you're close to the mark.

John It's still the mid-nineties. But alt-world Africa might have developed a little more slowly than our Africa.

Morgana Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for the comments and speculation, everyone.

Corrina.

Wonderful part, as always.

I am surprised that Corinna told us that there has been no time travel involved in getting to the location involved. I was thinking she would leave it as a possiblity until later, to let us work with off the wall ideas.

OK, so it is 3 days since Clark learned Lana had cheated on him, and totally rejected him. He is doing amazingly well for it having been so little time.