Chapter 4

Surprisingly I wasn't sleepy at all the next morning. Needless to say the partiers weren't up with the dawn as they usually were. I knew that my new bride would not be fixing my breakfast this morning. I wasn't going to let her even if she tried. I fixed a pot of coffee and warned up a few of yesterday's feast's leftovers in one of my smaller skillets, thankful that I'd remembered to collect some before they were put away.

Shaeta groaned lowly three times before she finally managed to get her bloodshot eyes open and then she looked like she wished she hadn't. No, she wasn't looking at me in disgust after thoughts of what she'd done, as in mating me. I could almost feel her head pounding myself.

She didn't want to drink the water I offered but I kept at her until she did and then I made her drink another cup. She almost rebelled when I asked her to eat something but I convinced her that she would feel much better if she did as I asked. She had decided that I really was trying to help by this time and so she did it.

"Now, it's time for me to reveal one of my secrets to you," I said, after she finished the breakfast she hadn't really wanted to eat.

"Secret. What secret?" she asked.

I handed her one of my stock of Percodan. Percodan is a powerful pain medication. Normally using it for a hangover is contraindicated. Not because it won't do a bang up job, but because it can become addictive. Since my entire supply amounted to thirty-nine after she took the one I handed her I wasn't worried about that. I only had those because one of my best friends on my old earth had been a pharmacist.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It is the cure for your headache," I said.

"You mean this will make my head stop pounding?" she asked, looking at me with awe in her eyes.

"Yes, it will probably make everything stop hurting, but I only have thirty-nine more, and after they are gone you will be back to the pounding after a celebration, just like everyone else," I said, and gave her a short laugh to make sure she knew I was teasing her.

"If it makes this pounding stop there won't be any more celebrations for me, or at least there won't be any more gajee. Everyone told me but I had to try it this once. I did not find the experience very pleasant," she said.

"I noticed," I said.

"Oh, don't remind me. Now I must go and see what kind of mess I made that needs cleaning up. I hope that thing does help."

"I don't think you have any mess to clean up," I said.

"I must have. I can remember vomiting everywhere," she said.

"I can too, but I led you out away from everything before you got started. No one expects you to clean up the grass out there," I said, pointing to the place I'd let her do her duty last night.

"I remember you were there, but weren't you sick also?" she asked.

"No, I didn't drink any gajee except that first sip you gave me. After that first taste I knew what would happen and I don't like gajee or what it does anyway," I said.

"I have found a wonderful mate. I can't believe my luck," she said.

"Just keep reminding yourself of that, often."

She laughed then but stopped when it hurt. I told her that it would probably be half an hour before the pain went away, and that it would leave faster if she drank more water. By now she believed me and drank another cup of water right away.

Thirty minutes later my stock went even higher in Shaeta's eyes because her headache was gone and her mother told her that yes, I had made sure she didn't soil anything. Shaeta considered herself very lucky to pull her first big drunk and have basically nothing bad to bother her the next day. Her friend, Katia, was not amused.

Katia hadn't had anyone to look after her and this was the first celebration she'd been old enough to participate in. Not only was her head pounding, she had upchucked all over her own furs. At least she hadn't done it on anyone else's. Instead of teasing her, Shaeta was getting geared up to help her clean things up.

Sensing that it would be a good move, I dug out another pill and followed them to the stream to wash Katia's bedding. I took a cup with me also. When we were out of site of everyone else I had Katia drink a cup of water and eat one of the last energy bars I had left. She balked but Shaeta told her not to be silly and that it would help.

"I can share a pill with her too if you think she can keep a secret," I said, to Shaeta while we were out of Katia's hearing.

"Yes, she can. I will make sure she does. And I will let her know that you do not have many," Shaeta said.

" We do not have many, and I cannot get more," I said, and then took it to Katia.

She looked as if she didn't believe me but Shaeta set her straight again and she swallowed the magic with another cup of water. I told them to sit and rest until it took effect and then I took the bedding to the creek and dealt with her mess.

They hadn't noticed me slip off with it, but when I came back they were surprised to find out I'd cleaned it up already.

"But Carl, that is woman's work," Katia said.

"There is only work you can do or can't do. No work belongs to a woman or a man. I know how to clean up bedding," I said.

"But other men would make fun of you for doing it," Katia said.

"That would be unfortunate. It would make me want to make fun of them when they were lying on the ground, after I knocked them on their asses," I said, laughing a little to let them know it was mostly in jest.

"But almost all of them are bigger than you," Katia said.

"Zakat is bigger than Carl also," Shaeta said, "I don't think any of the men would laugh at Carl if he washed your bedding in the middle of camp. Surely a second one wouldn't."

"You are right. I wasn't thinking of that," Katia said, and she got quiet after that.

Shaeta helped me spread Katia's bedding on some bushes to dry and we mostly sat around doing nothing while it did. We talked some but mostly about nothing much. I didn't really have much to talk about yet, since I was so new and Shaeta and Katia seemed to have something on their minds but they didn't share it. Actually, it seemed to me that they were making sure they didn't mention whatever it was.

Ten minutes later Katia wasn't quiet any more. She jumped up from the log she'd been parked on and laughed.

"I can not believe what a man you found up in a tree, Shaeta," Katia nearly shouted, "the pounding is gone completely and even my leg isn't sore from where I bruised it, like it was this morning."

"He is a treasure already, and I had forgotten that he was in a tree when I first saw him. What were you doing up in that tree Carl?" Shaeta asked.

"I was watching."

"What were you watching from a tree?" Katia asked.

"Everything that was on the ground. I was also waiting for your Calak to pass?"

"But why?" Shaeta asked.

"I'd felt as if someone was watching me all day, but I knew no one was. Then I smelled your Calak and I decided to climb into the tree and wait."

"You smelled our Calak?" Katia asked.

"Yes. I had noticed it off and on for a few days, but you had traveled closer that day and I couldn't believe how large it was."

"You could tell how many were in our Calak from the smell?" Shaeta asked, clearly amazed.

"Yes, I have always been able to, but I've never told anyone before now," I said, lying slightly for brevity. I wasn't about to tell them that I hadn't had such a splendid sense of smell on my previous planet.

"I don't think you should tell anyone else either," Katia said.

"I hadn't planned to."

"I still don't understand why you wanted to watch our Calak," Shaeta said.

"I wanted to see if my mate was in your group," I said, slapping a four-bagger.

Her smile lit up her face but she didn't say anything.

"I want to go back there right away, to make sure there isn't another one like you hiding up in a tree," Katia said, and then laughed when Shaeta did.

"There aren't any more like me. If there had been anyone else around there I would have known," I said, avoiding any potential trap being set by innuendo.

"I guess you would have smelled them," Katia said, joking again I was sure.

"Yes, like I smell your mother coming to check on you," I said.

Katia and Shaeta gave me a wide eyed look and thirty seconds later when Caloe walked up their eyes got even wider. They seemed astounded.

"There you are. I was worried that you felt too bad to wash your furs," Caloe said, obviously to Katia.

"I feel fine, wonderful even, and I didn't even get to wash my furs. Carl did it for me," she said, and I could tell it surprised Caloe but she didn't comment on that.

"Is that why you two were looking so surprised at Carl when I came up, because he washed your furs?" Caloe asked.

"No, we were already over that shock. We were looking surprised this time because he told us you were coming about a minute before you walked up," Katia said, and now Caloe couldn't hide her surprise.

"I see," she said, but it was plain that she didn't. It was also obvious that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she shifted gears.

"We are cooking now. Come and help when your furs are dry," she said.

"I will watch the furs and bring them when they're dry. You two can go back now if you need to," I said.

At least this wasn't a shock to them, but I did get the feeling it was unusual. They took me up on it though and the three of them headed back toward the camp.

An hour or so later the furs were dry so I rolled them up and went back. Shaeta saw me coming and had me put them near ours. I thought this was a little strange, since it was a good way from Shaton and Caloe's furs but I didn't comment and I tried not to even wonder about it. I didn't want any damned information popping up right now.

No one said a cross word about me walking into camp with Katia's furs and I assumed they knew better, thought it was none of their business, or had too much hangover still hanging on. I didn't really give a shit anyway.

After the meal was over I spent the rest of the day mostly on my own. Shaeta and Katia stayed close to Caloe and Shata all afternoon, and then even closer when the cooking started. We had our supper just before sunset. Shaeta brought my bowl of grub first and then went back for her own. She and Katia joined me minutes later and we didn't speak much as we ate.

I was happy to see that she didn't bring nearly as much food as we'd taken from the feast after our wedding. I like food as much as the next guy, but it was possible to get too much of a good thing.

Most people here went to bed and to sleep after sunset. There was really no point in doing anything else, especially in a traveling camp like this. The night before had been a special case of course, but tonight wasn't one. To be sure, there'd be men assigned to guard the sleepers, but I wasn't asked to join the rotation tonight.

I felt a little awkward as we were bedding down. I'd never been able to watch this particular part of the proceedings before. That was because I'd never observed a mating ceremony taking place while a Calak was traveling.

In a normal camp a hut would have been constructed for the new couple and they would have already spent their first night in it. We didn't have a hut yet. Nobody in camp was sleeping in a hut in fact. It was too much trouble to construct one during traveling.

I assumed that Shaeta and I would sleep together now and the furs that had appeared for us indicated that I was correct. I was at a disadvantage over the exact specifics of getting into bed with my new mate though. It turned out to be a non-event.

We sat around near our furs, talking with Katia until it was fully dark and then both Shaeta and Katia began taking off most of their clothes. I did the same and soon enough we were bedding down.

That left me wondering about what would be expected under the covers tonight. My dick wasn't wondering, it was just hoping and it was at attention already just in case it was going to be called into service. I doubted it would be and Shaeta confirmed my suspicions.

"I hope we will find a new camp site soon so we can build our hut," she whispered, once we were in bed.

"I do too."

That let me know that she didn't expect to do any fucking out in the open and even though my dick didn't like it, I did. Fucking just wasn't much of a spectator sport to me.

That didn't keep Shaeta from snuggling right up against me and giving me a serious goodnight kiss. Her body felt fantastic against mine and it was even better when she turned over a few minutes later and worked her way back against me and into the spoon situation. I put my arm around her and we settle down to sleep.

Shaeta and Katia were both awake and out of the furs before dawn the next morning, but I didn't stir yet. I had been able to observe the general morning behavior of traveling groups before.

Almost always the women would wake and dress before the men woke, or at least before they began to stir. This morning I kept still but I was able to perv on both Shaeta and Katia as they dressed and it led to an interesting discovery.

Of course I'd known that Shaeta had not been completely naked the night before when we went to sleep, but I hadn't seen the details of what she was wearing to bed, so to speak.

This morning I saw that it seemed to be an undergarment made of carefully tanned soft skins. They were made with what I'd have thought of as crude stitching on my old world but I knew that it was about as delicate a stitch as they could manage with their limited tools and materials.

Her garment was basically a sort of shift; it managed to cover most of her breasts and came down slightly lower than her bugger. Of course any bending over gave me a peep show. I'll admit that even as a newly married man I spent most of the few minutes while they dressed trying to get good looks at Katia.

Katia was beautiful too, and I realized that soon I'd be able to see plenty of Shaeta. I might not get another chance like this to ogle Katia for quite a while. In any case it didn't last long. Most of the camps women were dressed quickly, and then Shaeta leaned down to shake my shoulder.