Zul tossed those to Suvesh, too. The castratus caught them and told the boy who demanded to put on his new clothes, “You must first bathe.”
“Mama, do I gotta?”
Ursula grinned at her son’s whining. The boy had vastly enjoyed the limited bathing and frequent rolling about in the dirt that seemed to be a hallmark of primitive camping. She supposed that was a trait universal to all young males, regardless of species. “Yes, you gotta.”
“Come, Crow,” Suvesh said with a gesture of his hand.
The child pouted, but demurred no further. Zul spied a spigot and metal bucket stamped with the Supreme Council’s crest. He filled the bucket with warm water and found a cake of soap, washcloth, and towel. While he did that, Ursula spied a folded privacy screen and set it up in front of the grate where water would drip through. Crow didn’t mind displaying his nudity, but Ursula had done her level best to maintain a respectable standard of modesty during their short exile, and she was determined to maintain it.
“Do we have enough water for four baths?” she asked.
Zul grinned at her obvious lust for cleanliness. “Yes, and plenty of soap.”
Ursula smiled, relief making her shoulders sag. She spread her hands over her thighs and smoothed the worn fabric. “I’ll besoglad to get out of these rags.”
Zul thought she’d looked no more beautiful than when she’d worked alongside him in the box canyon, making them a complementary team of fugitives. “You have endured well.”
“I used to go camping with my parents as a child.” She shrugged. “They were outdoors enthusiasts, but me? Not so much. I like being outside, but in a tamed environment without poison ivy or chiggers.”
Water splashed behind the privacy screen. Zul replied, “What are poison ivy and chiggers?”
“Leaves of three, let them be,” Ursula recited the old warning in a sing-song voice. She took a breath. “Poison ivy is a plant—a vine, really—that has leaves coated with an oil… urisole… ursoil… whatever. Ugh. For most people who have the misfortune of coming into contact with it, that oil causes itchy rashes that takeforeverto heal. And chiggers are tiny, bloodsucking insects that burrow into skin and leave nasty, itchy bumps that also take forever to heal.”
“I had not realized Earth was such a hostile planet.”
Ursula shuddered. “It’s not overly hostile—at least not where I lived. But anything that causes a rash or that sucks blood seems to be attracted to me or I to it. I learned in childhood that the wilderness was not my friend. I much prefer well-tended gardens and used to spend a lot of time at the local botanical garden. Admission to the outdoor gardens was free, so I’d spend many mornings or afternoons there sitting on a bench and reading.”
Fascinated, Zul asked her to tell him more. Ursula smiled and obliged and asked him questions in kind, having the kind of personal conversation that deepened bonds of family and affection.
After Crow emerged from his bath, clean and garbed in his new clothing, he announced he was hungry.
“Suvesh,” Ursula called out, “since I’m sure you’ve already been well-splashed, why don’t you go ahead and bathe? Zul and I will make sure Crow’s straight gut and hollow leg are filled.”
The castratus poked his head out from behind the screen and looked to Zul for confirmation. The big warrior nodded, turning the Prima’s suggestion into an order. He did not protest, knowing the futility of deterring the Prima from any decision she made, especially when any of her mates backed her up. He disappeared behind the screen.
“What is this ‘straight gut and hollow leg?’” Zul asked, puzzled. Surely, his mate was not so unfamiliar with anatomy that she did not realize how incorrect that was?
She gave him a small, sad smile. “It’s something my grandmother used to say before she died. It describes someone who is always hungry and consumes a lot of food.”
Finding the food storage, Zul nodded, catching the visual in his imagination by thinking of his mate’s ceramics: a figurine, hollow inside, with an empty belly leading directly into an empty leg, all needing to be filled. With deft efficiency, he assembled a hefty snack for the child and set the plate on a nearby table. Crow attacked the food as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
After Suvesh finished bathing, Ursula demanded Zul bathe before she did. He argued that she should go first, but she convinced him by stating, “I plan to soak a good long while. There’s no need for you to wait to get clean because I want to wallow in a bit of luxury.”
Zul bowed to her reasoning and took a brief but thorough bath so as not to delay her the opportunity to wallow in a bit of luxury.
When Ursula emerged feeling fresh and clean and dressed in one of the floaty, filmy dresses she had previously complained about as being utterly impractical, she, too, availed herself of the food Zul put out for her to eat. All three males shook their heads, not understanding her happiness as she crunched through vegetables and fruits and ignored the meat.
“When we get home, I think I’m going to eat an entire block of cheese,” she said with a sigh. “I do miss cheese.”
Crow wrinkled his nose. “Cheese is yucky.”
She chuckled. “Oh, son, cheese is often an acquired taste. I’m sure you’ll like it when you’re older.”
Crow shook his head. “Nuh-uh.”
Zul hoped the youngling his mate would eventually bear him would be just as carnivorous like all proper Uribs.
Soon the conveyance descended into a transportation tunnel and shot through the subterranean network spanning much of Uribern. It emerged to fly over four immense freshwater seas before again descending into the tunnels, connecting with trains when encountering other such carriages, and zipping through the tunnels alone when following its own programmed path. Zul, Ursula, Suvesh, and Crow used the six days of travel time to rest and relax and listen to the news broadcasts.
