“Mara!”Omira murmured.
I paused and looked back at her.She pointed to a bush with small red berries on it.She plucked one and popped it in her mouth.
“Wait!We don’t know if those are poisonous.”
“We eat,” Kintle said.“At home.”
I nodded.“You eat these berries in Zulen.”
“Yes.”He reached for a handful and popped them in his mouth.I did the same.The berries were small, probably the very last of the season.Their color was sort of a pinkish red, and they were slightly fuzzy on the outside and bumpy.Tentatively, I placed one in my mouth.It was a bit sour but edible.I waited a few moments, making sure my throat didn’t seize up from poison, but I was fine.I ate another, and after a few more, the sour taste didn’t bother me so much.
After we’d all eaten several handfuls, Yung produced one of the cloth wraps the cooks in the kitchens at Highcastle had given us to carry our food.We carefully placed as many berries as we could in it, and he tied it up.
I motioned for everyone to follow me closer to the running water, and about two yards later, we emerged through the brush and spotted a small, quickly moving stream.The burbling and splashing I’d heard were from the water connecting with smooth rocks at the bottom.The stream was quite shallow here, not even deep enough to cover my foot.In the wet season, it expanded and filled the bank.I could see where it had carved out a path from dirt and rock that was now dry.
Kintle said something and Taio translated.“He says we should walk along the bank and look for more berries.”
“I agree.”
“We might even find a pool deep enough to bathe,” Omira said.“I’m tired of dirt.”
I agreed with this as well.I wouldn’t mind washing these clothes and changing into my spare tunic and leggings.Taio took the lead, and we walked another hour or so before the stream began to deepen.We found some dark blue berries and the men began to pick those as Omira and I moved a few yards upstream, pushing through some brush to look down at a wide pool.I could see the bottom of the pool and estimated the water would only reach to my hips, but it was enough to wash in.The shallowness also reassured me no Hollows were trapped in it waiting to strike.Taio emerged from the brush behind us, and his face broke into a smile.I hadn’t seen him smile very much, and my heart almost jumped into my throat.He looked much younger when he smiled and even more handsome.His right cheek dimpled, and I fisted my hand so I wouldn’t reach out and touch that dimple.
“Go ahead,” he said.“We will pick berries and bathe after you.”
“You don’t have to wait,” I said, but he gestured to the pool and went back to the others.
“He wants to keep you to himself,” Omira said.
I unhooked my weapons belt and bent to unlace my boots.“What does that mean?”
“He does not want Yung ogling you.”
I removed one boot.“What about Kintle?”
“Kintle couldn’t care less about a naked woman,” she said.Same sex pairings were frowned upon in Earsleh but tolerated.After all, with the restrictions on marriages and childbearing, people needed safe outlets for their natural urges.I’d heard same sex pairings whispered about but never spoken of openly.I’d assumed Zulen had the same attitude toward marriage and children, but now I realized I knew nothing about Zulenii family life.I’d have to keep an open mind.
Omira stripped off her tunic and shimmied out of her leggings, then her undergarments.She tossed them aside and stepped into the pool, making sounds that indicated the water was cold.I laid my clothing out so I could reach it and don it again easily in case we were attacked.I’d need to teach the Zulenii to do the same.
Naked now, I stepped into the water and winced.It was cold, colder than the air pebbling my flesh.The best way to deal with cold water was to plunge right in.I lowered myself quickly and went under water, wetting my hair.When I emerged, the air had left my lungs, and I felt like ice needles pricked my body.Omira stared at me, still standing only to her ankles.
“How is it?”she asked.
“Refreshing,” I said.
She looked dubious.
“Do you swim?”I asked.
“Everyone in Zleyval swims,” she said.“We are surrounded by water, but much of it is warmer than this.It bubbles up.”She indicated water coming up from underground.
“Hot springs,” I said.We had one in the south, but I’d never been to it.But cold water?That I was familiar with.“Better to just dive in,” I said.“You get used to it faster.”
She looked at the water then looked at me.Then she moved deeper and plunged underneath as well.She came up sputtering and cursing in Zulenii.I laughed, and she splashed me and said more words I couldn’t understand but which were undoubtedly not complimentary.She reached out and opened a hand.In her palm lay a small piece of soap.“Wash,” she said.She had her own piece and went about washing herself quickly.I moved more slowly due to the cold and because I was becoming somewhat accustomed to the temperature.My stiff fingers fumbled to unplait my hair, and I let it trail out in the water.I lathered my hands with the soap that smelled faintly of flowers and scrubbed my head, dunking it under the water to rinse.
By this time, Omira was back on shore.She crouched, still naked, and washed her clothes with the last of her soap then hung them to dry.I washed myself all over multiple times, leaving a little of the soap for my clothes, but just enjoying a few minutes of floating.“I’ll be right back,” Omira said.I looked up, and she was dressed and pointing to a group of trees.She probably wanted privacy to relieve herself.I raised my arm and signaled I’d heard her then decided I had better get out of the pond before I turned blue.I stood and squeezed the water out of my hair then caught the soap floating by me and carried it to the shore where I’d laid out my dirty clothes.I knelt by a rock and began to wash them.When they were clean, I’d rinse off one more time and then dress in my clean clothing.
I had just begun to wash my tunic when a hand clamped over my mouth.I immediately jerked up, ready to twist and fight, but I felt the prick of a knife against my bare back.“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” murmured a familiar voice.
