He swung her up into his arms againthe moment she stumbled and she didn’t argue. She settled her headon his shoulder gratefully.
She’d almost fully recovered when theyreached the spot that Xi had picked to camp. The ‘shelter’ wasn’tnearly as whole as the broken building they’d camped in the nightbefore, but it still had three standing walls and a partialroof.
There was enough light remaining whenthey stopped that Quan gathered the fixings for a small fire,skewered the meat and set in place for when they built the fire,and then disappeared again. When he returned he had a bundle offresh grasses he’d clearly gathered along some waterway because itlooked like marsh grasses. He arranged it in one corner and spreadthe blanket over it.
Ultima was careful not to glance inthat direction, but her belly shimmied in anticipation.
Which, she acknowledged wryly, wouldonly lead to disappointment.
It did and it didn’t.
When they’d eaten and taken care oftheir needs, Quan carried her to the place where he had found themarsh grasses and settled her on the bank while he stripped andwaded in. Tau and Xi, whom she discovered had followed, alsostripped and waded in.
For a few moments she was so rivetedby the beauty of their perfectly proportioned, muscular formsnothing else crossed her mind.
Then two things—whatever might be inthe water.
And the fact that she’d been left towatch while they bathed.
“You’re certain there’snothing in the water that might take a bite?”
“There are small things …fish,” Quan responded.
“No snakes? Noalligators?”
He was silent—apparently reviewingdata. “No.”
She immediately began struggling toget out of her uniform.
Not that it couldn’t use a goodcleaning, but she wasn’t up to doing laundry. She wasn’t completelyconvinced she was up to bathing, but she was grimlydetermined.
Tau left the water and collected herwhen she’d stripped, carrying her into the water and lowering herslowly.
She lost her breath.
Partly from feeling every inch of hiswater slick skin on the way down.
But mostly because the water was coldenough to make the skin all over her body pucker and draw up.“C-cold,” she gasped.
“Yes,” Tau responded withamusement.
She bit her lip. “That was mean,” shemurmured without heat.
“What?”
She gave him a look. “You know verywell.”
All three of them chuckled.
“If we had allowed you toknow it was cold,” Xi said, “We could not have gotten you naked totry it.”
She laughed softly. “So … it was aconspiracy! Anybody got soap?”
Quan went back to the bank for asliver he’d probably stolen somewhere. But it was enough to soap upeveryone and Ultima felt pleasantly relaxed when she’d thoroughlycleaned herself.
Baths, she thought wryly, were almostas rare a treat as food.
They waded out again when they’dfinished. Quan gathered up everyone’s clothing and they all headedback to the shelter naked and dripping—but mostly dry by the timethey got there.
