Bob

Loni was in trouble and she knew it. Her rebellious nature had finally gotten her in real trouble. She'd taken a necklace out of old Wauna's hut while Wauna was out gathering fruit and she'd gotten caught with it. Now she was being called in front of the village wise men for punishment. Loni stared at the entrance of the cave where the wise men sat each day to settle disputes, answer questions, tell people when to plant and all of the other things the wise men decided for her people. She'd never been in that dark place, and had never wanted to.

She had to duck when she went in. Loni was tall for one of her people. She was also slim. She could run faster than any of the boys, though when she did that now her breasts sometimes hurt. They had grown a lot in the last year or two and stuck out from her slim chest in what she thought was an ugly and misshapen way. The soft cotton tunic she wore shifted and slid over her long brown nipples as she ducked. That was another thing she didn't understand. Those nipples caused her more trouble than anything else about her body. They were always in her consciousness because they always felt so ... so ... good. She'd been seized by the urge to rub and squeeze them a lot lately, and when she did it caused the most lovely sensations to run through her body. It also made her feel ... well ... good between her legs.

Loni knew about where babies came from. She'd seen several childbirths. But she couldn't believe some of the stories she heard. Like that one her friend Manu had told her about a man sticking his penis in the hole a baby came out of. Of course a baby was lots bigger than a penis, so she knew it would fit, but those women in childbirth didn't act like they were having a fun time, and Manu swore that when a man stuck his penis in that hole it felt really nice. Loni had asked Manu how she knew and that had bothered Manu for some reason. She stammered and finally said her brother had told her about it. Loni had thought about that a lot. She knew that some girls got a baby inside them before they were married, but they were only the bad girls, who were being punished by the wise men. It was a puzzle to the girl.

But all those thoughts were far from Loni's head now, other than the twinge of pleasure she felt in her nipples when she ducked and entered the wise men's cave. Right now she was frightened. Who knew what those old men would do about her theft?

It was too dark to see who the individual men were. There was a smoky fire burning in the fire pit, but it was mostly coals. Every once in a while a disembodied hand appeared over the coals and dropped some herbs into the fire. Sweet and somehow scary smells came from those herbs, and they made Loni's head spin. She had wanted her mother to come with her to the council, but she'd refused. She'd said something Loni didn't understand: "You're a big girl now Loni. You've seen fourteen summers, and you knew that what you were doing was wrong. Now you must pay the consequences."

Loni stood there in the dark for a long time before a gruff voice came out of the dark. It told her to stand by the fire, and when she did, it said to remove her tunic. She thought that was odd, but the fumes from the fire made her pliable and she lifted the garment over her head. There were murmured voices and the voice came back. "You stole from one of our people. For stealing, you will be assigned to the baths for six moons." The voice fell silent.

Loni shook her head.

Something was wrong here! She couldn't be assigned to the bath house.

Only the girls who got pregnant before they were married were punished by being sent there. She knew this because all the girls who worked in the bathhouse were pregnant. She saw them every time she took a bath herself. They were required to help all the bathers, and dry them with the big soft towels that could only be found in that place. Her rebellious nature surged to the surface of her fogged mind. "But I'm not with child! I can't be sent to the sauna! Only the bad girls are sent there!"

It was silent for a few seconds and a different deep voice came out of the darkness. "Loni you ARE a bad girl. Stealing is bad and you have stolen. This is your punishment. Now leave, and report to the Baths."

Loni stumbled out of the cave and looked around with bleary eyes. She realized she was still holding her tunic and she put it back on. She thought briefly - very briefly - about running away. But life outside the village was very hard and very dangerous. Besides, it was only six months.

Loni stood before Valuna, the mistress of the baths. Valuna's stomach was swollen and heavy with child, but then Valuna had been pregnant for as long as Loni could remember - sometimes more and sometimes less. Loni was friends with two of Valuna's daughters, who she had been in school with. Valuna had always worked in the bath house. She was perhaps thirty summers old, and living in the humid atmosphere of the bath house had kept her skin soft and supple. Her hair was black as night and hung to her bottom. She was naked, but that didn't seem odd. Everyone in the baths was naked. She examined Loni with a critical eye. "I've talked with your mother. You may be a difficult case" she said. Loni didn't understand, but the first thing she had learned in the baths was not to ask questions. Girls who caused trouble in the baths got assigned to making soap or laundry, and that was hot, hard work that Loni wanted no part of. Valuna went on. "The last time you bled was last week, yes?" She looked at Loni expectantly. When Loni nodded she said I'm going to start you out on the boys and young men pools. Then maybe later we'll try something else. You have a brother, yes?"

Loni thought that was an odd question. Valuna had to know about Loni's older brother. He took baths too. Everyone in the village took baths, and Valuna saw them all, every week, usually several times a week. "Yes, Valuna. His name is Robana."

"Well, then" said Valuna. "You will bathe the young boys for a week, and then you will bathe your brother Robana."

The enormity of those words sunk into Loni's brain and she couldn't keep a comment from coming out of her mouth. "But the boys ... my brother ... they'll see me ... naked."

"Yes" said Valuna. "They will." She turned and left the chamber.

It wasn't until Loni had to work her first full day in the baths that she realized the other side of the issue. While the boys got to see her naked, she also got to see them naked. Much more, in fact, since she was required to help them bathe. That meant they stood in the pools of hot water while she ran her hands all over their bodies, using the sweet smelling soap that her village was known for. There were six large pools of bubbling water that came out of the ground very hot. Each pool drained into another, lower down. By the time the water left the bathhouse it was only warm. So there was a pool of water in the house that was the perfect temperature for every bather. Another thing about her assignment was that she only had to work half a day. Bathing was done by age and sex. Early in the morning the women came to the baths. They were done in a few hours and young girls were next. After lunch the young boys came to bathe, and after them the older boys. The men didn't bathe until after the evening meal, and they sometimes lounged in the baths until well after dark. So, being assigned to young boys meant that Loni only had to work for a few hours after lunch. It wasn't so bad.

Loni learned very quickly that when she washed the boys, many of them reacted in a strange way. As she washed each little penis, it often enlarged and began to stick out from the boy's body. Most of them didn't say or do anything when this happened, but some of the older ones sighed a lot and asked Loni to wash them very much down there. She didn't mind. This punishment wasn't nearly as horrible as she thought it would be. There were only two other bath girls who worked with Loni. The others worked with other ages. Loni noticed that the girls who were heavy with child, like Valuna was, worked at the times the women and girls bathed.

Her first week passed quickly and it wasn't until she came to work one day and Valuna reminded her she was to work with the older boys that day that she realized she would have to bathe her brother, Robana. Her face burned red as she thought about this and Valuna noticed. She frowned and said "Now, Loni, washing the older boys is different. Sometimes they wish to wash you as you wash them. This is normal, and is not something you are to resist." She looked at Loni's wide stare. "Don't be afraid. Being washed by a boy is quite often fun." Loni stared even harder. How could being washed in the baths be fun? She'd been washed in the baths by other girls since she was a baby. It felt good, yes, but she'd never had called it 'fun'.

Loni thought about all this as she folded towels, waiting for the young boys to leave and the older boys to come in. She heard them before she saw them. They were loud. The girls who were working this shift were different too. Their eyes were bright and they smiled a lot. They acted like they were looking forward to their jobs. Just then six of the older boys came noisily into the bathing chamber. One of them was Robana. She stared. The first thing she noticed was that the penises dangling between the legs of these boys were much bigger. One of them - the one belonging to a boy named Safoto - was already hard and sticking out from a thatch of black hair surrounding the base. It was this penis that all the noise was about. The other boys were pointing at it and laughing. One of the bath girls, the one named Fenila, skipped over to the group and announced "I'll take care of this problem. You boys go on and leave us alone." Now even more catcalls, shouts and whistles rang out as she led Safoto to the pool farthest away from the rest.