“Isla is with me.”
“Very well.” Tam’lah’s eyes were wide. “Though I thought you were the lady-wife of Lord Baslik.”
“I am, but he’s going to be very busy during this trip,” I said, thinking quickly. “And he hired Mr. Sark to protect me, so he needs to stay close.”
“Damn right,” Sark growled. “So do you have a place where I can keep Lady Isla safe? Preferably away from Lord Baslik?”
“Yes, indeed. We have some lovely little huts built along the inside of our mountain. And Lord Baslik will be in the old research facility, which has been converted to private apartments for important guests and visitors. See there?”
She pointed to something which might once have been a kind of high-rise building. Now, however, its rusted metal exterior was nearly covered in various plants and trees and the vines and flowers of the jungle had taken it over. It was quite lovely in a way, but I was rather glad not to be staying there—it looked like some kind of ancient ruin that the jungle had reclaimed and I wondered with a shiver if it might be haunted by the ghosts of those ancient researchers who had lived and died there so many years ago.
Our lodgings, as it turned out, were a kind of hut which seemed to have been cunningly built from scraps of metal welded together. Sark put me down so that I could explore it and I walked around, looking at the amenities.
The little hut was quite cozy inside, though there was barely enough room for Sark to stand upright. There was no place to sit or lay, either. Or at least I didn’t think there was until I asked Tam’lah.
“Oh, your bed is there,” she said, gesturing to something on the floor. It was a kind of mattress covered in large green and purple leaves. “You can also sit on the sleeping platform if you wish,” she told us. “And lean your backs against the wall—it is quite comfortable.”
“Er, I’m certain it is,” I said, eyeing the mattress uncertainly. “What about a bathing chamber though? With, er, facilities for, er, you know…?”
I gave her a meaningful look, hoping she would understand my meaning. It had been a long trip and by now I greatly needed to relieve myself.
Tam’lah gave me a puzzled look but Sark seemed to understand.
“Do you have toilet and bathing facilities?” he asked bluntly.
The Fenushian’s face brightened.
“Ah yes—of course. Right this way, Lady Isla.”
She brought me to a little door which opened onto the place where the metal hut joined the side of the mountain. I could tell because the bare rock was exposed and over it ran a steady stream of glittering water.
“Is that the bathing facility?” I asked, frowning. How would one get enough water onto one’s skin since it was all trickling down the rock wall?
“Ah yes—let me show you how to use it.”
Tam’lah went to the rock face. Grasping a rocky protuberance, she twisted it counterclockwise. Suddenly a narrow shelf of rock, about a meter long and half a meter wide, came out of the rock wall with a grating sound. The water, which had been falling straight down the rock face, was now diverted over this long shelf. It ran off the shelf and formed a kind of waterfall which one might stand under in order to bathe.
It was a far cry from my soaking pool back in the palace, but it looked unique and refreshing. Tam’lah also showed me another rock—or I at first thought it was a rock—which turned out to be a substance she called “Foam stone.” One only had to get it wet and rub it between one’s hands for it to begin producing a sweet-smelling lather. I liked the scent at once.
The “toilet” I regret to say was a hole in the grassy ground on the far side of the room—it was covered by an earth and grass lid so one wouldn’t accidentally step or fall into it and there were piles of absorbent and fragrant leaves to use for cleaning oneself. Tam’lah assured me if I kept the lid closed except when I was using it, there would be no noxious odors.
“But what about a kitchen or food preparation area to make food?” I asked her, for the hut appeared to consist entirely of the two rooms.
“What—to make food only for yourselves?” She laughed as though the idea was extremely funny. “There is no need. We have communal kitchens and all eat together in the Central Glade. In fact, it is nearing time for our evening feast now. I hope you will join us.”
Since there was nothing else to eat, I nodded and said that of course we would join them and thanked her for the invitation. Though I confess, I would far rather have spent time alone with Sark.