Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

“Oh yes—it’s so awkward just wearing a blanket,” Bobbi said, nodding down at the patchwork quilt she still had wrapped around herself.

“I understand completely,” Res. Tizlah said, nodding graciously. “Please take the garments into the bathing chamber and try them on—I’m anxious to see if they fit.”

“Thank you.” Bobbi gathered the bundle of clothing—which felt silky and smooth and heavy in her arms—and trotted into the bathroom with it.

Once she had shut the door behind her, she placed the armful of clothing carefully across the sink, which was high and had three knobs and spouts. It was dry at the moment, though, so she thought it was a good place for the clothes.

Then she went about figuring out how the toilet worked. It was made of some shiny black stone and it was high—extremely high, actually—so that she actually had to hoist herself up onto it. Once up there, she was finally able to let loose—which was good—she’d had to pee almost since the moment she’d woken up!

She could hear the low murmur of voices outside and she wondered what Dragon and his adoptive mother were talking about. Was she telling him it was safe to “breed” Bobbi now? How embarrassing!

The thought should have repelled her, but she found instead that she was imagining how it would be to make love to a man so much bigger than herself. How would they even manage it? And how in the world would that huge shaft of his fit inside her? The thought gave her a sexy little shiver and she felt her nipples tighten with desire.

Hey, what’s wrong with you, thinking like that? an angry little voice shouted in her head. You’ve been taken against your will to a whole different planet and that’s your kidnapper you’re thinking about like he was some sexy guy you met in a bar and decided to take home for a one-night stand! Stop it, Bobbi! You must have Stockholm Syndrome!

Shaking off both the illicit thoughts and the little voice, she looked around for a way to flush the toilet. There was a handle hanging from a long chain with several buttons on it. Maybe one of them would do the trick.

Experimentally, she pushed the blue button on the side of the handle.

At once, something icy cold and wet hit her undercarriage.

Bobbi bit back a shriek of surprise and nearly jumped off the toilet before she realized what it was.

“Just some kind of bidet,” she told herself, putting a hand to her hammering heart. “God, but it’s so cold!”

If she hadn’t had some of Dragon’s blood, she was certain she’d be going into hypothermia right now. But sipping from the big Kindred seemed to have inoculated her against the freezing temperatures—though it still wasn’t pleasant to be squirted in her most delicate areas with what amounted to ice water.

Well, now her bottom was cold and wet but the toilet still wasn’t flushed.

“Time to try another button,” Bobbi muttered to herself. “I wonder what this one does.”

Biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut, she pressed the red button on the other side of the handle.

There was a whooshing sound and a gust of hot, dry air suddenly bathed her bottom. Bobbi gasped—it was so strong it nearly lifted her off the toilet seat! After a moment, it actually felt good, though. It was the warmest she’d been since she got to Saurous.

Well, except when you were sleeping naked all over Dragon, whispered a snarky little voice in her head. Bobbi did her best to push it away—she still had unfinished business to attend to. Her undercarriage was clean and dry but the toilet still wasn’t flushed and she didn’t feel comfortable leaving it like that.

She examined the handle on its long chain, but there were no more buttons to press. How in the world was she supposed to flush this damn thing? There was only one other thing she could think of to try.

Experimentally, she pulled on the handle, yanking it firmly down. At last, she heard a sound but this time it wasn’t water or air. It sounded more like kerflump.

When she scrambled off the toilet and looked into it, she saw that a pile of sand had fallen down into the bottom of the deep bowl. As she watched, it was slowly sucked down the hole at the bottom. Then a very little bit of water squirted out the sides of the bowl, washing away the gritty residue of the sand and leaving the inner part of the toilet squeaky clean.

“Hmm, interesting,” Bobbi murmured to herself. It was a good system which didn’t use nearly as much water as the toilets she was used to back home on Earth.

Of course, on Avria Pentaura, she’d used the communal waste pit and wiped herself with large bantha leaves, which grew all around it. The leaves, when broken, released a slippery sap which was a kind of natural cleanser. It had been a primitive arrangement, but an effective one, since the torn leaves also released a strong, fresh scent that covered the smell of the pit.