Chapter 17

After morning ablutions, some mating and a big breakfast I sat my mates down and I talked to them about indoor plumbing. I also explained the concept of cleanliness preventing sickness. They obviously had never heard of such a thing before. They were afraid of changing anything because they didn't want to mess up the home that most of us had spent the summer and fall building. It took some assurances on my part but I got them to at least try it out to see if they liked it.

I concentrated and figured out what was needed. It was more complicated than I originally thought. I created a 12 inch pipe in the ground from far upstream in the river below the level where the water would freeze and came out of the rock overhang to our house. It ran at a steep angle to ensure we would have decent water pressure. Then I ran three splits off the pipe under the peak of the roof. One was going to be for our bathroom area that was going to be in the middle of our cabin. The other two would come out near the fireplaces at each end of our house for a first and second kitchen sink. This way there would be running water wherever it was needed.

I added a nice granite sink and spigot at either end of the cabin in the kitchen areas. Then I added a large roman style tub that was 12 feet square with multiple high volume shower heads above it that would cascade the water into the bath. The whole thing was made of marble and had a drain in the bottom. The shower heads were more like a sluice that could be used as a shower or to fill the tub and could be controlled individually. I would have to figure out how to warm the water on demand later. For now it was cold showers, or I could just heat the water by wishing to.

I created a large drain field underground between the house and the fence for our septic system. It was probably too big but I didn't want to drain all of the water we used back into the river and take a chance of polluting it. Other people depended on the river as much as we did.

I also added a long wall-mounted mirror with a vanity under it with stools to sit on. My ladies were extremely happy with that addition. They could see themselves clearly for the first time in their lives. Each of the 10 seats had its own sink. I figured I could share one and nobody would get upset about it. I also added a set of three self-flushing toilets in their own cubicles and a urinal for me. I put in large cabinets full of fluffy towels and lightly scented soaps. I always loved the smell of lavender so I made it happen. I set it up so that when the door of the cabinet was closed, the soaps would be replaced automatically. I didn't want to have to worry about running out.

It took the better part of the day to show my mates how everything worked and for them to get done staring at themselves in the mirrors. Maybe I should have left the mirror out. When I suggested as much to Dawn, all of my mates told me that I would sleep alone that night if the mirror went away. It must be a woman thing.

I did notice how much like a wild man I looked when I looked into the mirror. My hair was long and tangled plus my beard was well beyond ZZ-Top. I created some combs, brushes, scissors, razors and toothbrushes and spent time with my mates working on improving our looks. I washed 10 sets of hair and gave them all haircuts with the scissors after brushing and combing it out. I also took the time to show my ladies how to shave their legs. Once they finished, I made it so the hair would not grow back. Smooth legs are a nice luxury.

My lovely wives all took me into the bath and washed me from head to toe. There was some sex play in the tub as well. After I was judged to be clean enough, my hair was combed and cut to just past shoulder length and my beard was trimmed back. I took the razor and shaved my neck as the women weren't practiced at it yet. When I next looked in the mirror, I saw a whole new man. He was a handsome son of a gun, that's for sure.

Clothing was on the hit parade the next day. The clothes needed to be made from animal hide but didn't have to look bad. I made soft buckskin pants for all of us with long skirts for the women to wear over the pants. Then I made blouses, dresses and vests of the same type of leather. Boots instead of the slipper type moccasins were next. The boots came up to above mid-calf height and had removable fur linings that could be used in cold weather. They were very comfortable.

I added some modifications to the new clothes like protection from cold, wearing out, weapons and fire to keep them safe. My mates all looked gorgeous in their new clothes. I made 5 sets for each of us including Mira and Adak and we placed them in the dressers and cabinets that I materialized in our sleeping areas. I also provided a tall stack of cured buckskin, needles, punches, thread, colored beads and lacing material so they could make more clothing if needed.

All of the changes seemed to be accepted and enjoyed by everyone. I certainly liked seeing my mates' forms in their new clothes and out of them. The smell of lavender seemed to be accepted by my ladies and I was happy with the change. They didn't stink before but the clean lavender smell was a little bit better.

More snow fell during this time. I decided that we needed to get in one more hunt before the winter fully set in. I could have just materialized beef wellington and chateaubriand for everyone but I didn't want us to get lazy. I grabbed my long spear with the alien metal point, two axes and my bow. Four of the wives came along with me. They had their crossbows, spears and knives. We headed into the woods just before dawn.

Wolf and I still "talked" occasionally but he was less than happy this morning. He sent to me that the large herds had moved south for the winter. The pack was hungry. He expressed a desire to go after the herds instead of just accepting meat from me. I agreed with him in principle so I let him know that we would be fine if the pack decided to move for the winter. I had expected them to hibernate or something but that didn't seem to be the case.

It took me but a moment to tweak the doorway to the den for the pack. It had bothered me that it wasn't perfect. Now it was like a large dog door that would swing both ways with less than an inch of clearance from the ground when closed. It would keep the weather out.

I let him know that he and his pack were always welcome here and that this was their den as much as ours. He did his usual nod to me and moved off. The pack left within an hour of our conversation. I would miss them and wasn't sure if they planned to come back.

We moved quietly through the woods on our hunt looking for fresh meat. I took us to the west around the hill our house was built on the south side of. We were out for several hours with no luck. I really could see wolf's point now. They must have hunted our area out and needed to move on. We didn't even see tracks in the snow. This was bad for us. I might really have to conjure some food before winter ended if things didn't turn around. We headed south to the prairie and what we found there was, in a word, awesome.