I didn’t understand a word he had said, but the decision in his mind was too strong to be ignored. I put my arms around him as I’d been ordered to do, eventually finding it easier to rest my cheek on him as well. The next time Tammad came by he didn’t stop, and the annoyance in Loddar’s mind faded to grim satisfaction.
By the time midday arrived, we were looking for a place to camp. The temperature had risen so high even the seetarr were having trouble breathing, and the dust of the road plastered itself to us as if we were mud people. No one seemed terribly surprised by the strange turn of events, but no one liked them, either. The only benefit to the heat had been the fact that Len and Garth had found the strength and resolve to come by no more than once each. I had managed to have my eyes closed each of the times, and Loddar had been short enough with Len to make his visit a very brief one. Garth, not yet able to speak Loddar’s language, didn’t even stop, and I felt Loddar’s amusement when Garth rode away. He had been saved from having to be short a second time, but he hadn’t seemed to mind being short the first time.
When he found a clearing large enough to hold us, we stopped immediately and began setting up camp. Loddar put his camtah up in its usual position in relation to Tammad’s pavilion, then led his seetarr away to be tied in the shade. When he came back he carried a large skin of water, which he put down near his camtah’s verandah. I’d just been hanging around, having nothing to do and not really interested in finding anything, but Loddar changed all that.
“I have been without my wenda for too long a time,” he said, frowning at his camtah before turning back to me. “My furs need airing, my camtah needs cleaning and washing, my possessions need straightening and polishing and washing. Such things cannot be put off forever.”
“Why do you tell me this?” I asked, looking up at him. I would have been happier off in the shade with the seetarr, but I couldn’t get up the initiative to walk over there.
“I have informed you of this need so that you might see to it,” he said, a considerable amount of patience in his voice. “I must attend a gathering called by the denday, but I will return at intervals to see what progress you make. Should I be displeased with the progress, you, too, will be displeased. Do you understand?”
“How might I fail to understand?” I shrugged, looking away from him toward the camtah. I didn’t need to ask what his authority was—on that world his being l’lenda was authority for anything.
“Good,” he said, a neutral satisfaction in his voice. “What worn haddinn of mine you find you are to set to one side, to. be washed later at the stream. The stream is a distance from here, therefore will the wendaa of the camp be taken there once only, in small groups, to bathe and see to their washing. You will be told when you are to accompany the l’lendaa who will guard you.”
I nodded to let him know I had his orders recorded in blood, then stood staring at the camtah while he, walked away. I was tempted to do some walking away myself, but the trouble that that would bring was more than I could handle just then. I wasn’t silly enough to think Tammad had forgotten about our date later, and that in itself would be enough to hold my interest for a while. If I had let myself think about it I would have shivered at the prospect, but I wasn’t letting myself think about it. Instead, I went to Loddar’s camtah and got started.
It was almost too hot to move around, but I got a lot done before a l’lenda came by to tell me it was my turn at the stream. The only break I’d had was when Loddar had come by shortly after I’d started, not to inspect but to bring me something to eat. The hot spiced meat chunks would have gone better on a cooler day, but I didn’t have much choice about eating them. Loddar let me know immediately that the alternative to the chunks was the thick cereal grain I’d eaten that morning, fed to me by a number of women who weren’t known for their patience with stubbornness. I ate the chunks under his watchful eye, shared some water with him, then watched him leave, and only at that point discovered that Tammad had been staring at us from the entrance to his pavilion. The barbarian’s mind had been filled with its usual calm, but there’d been something behind the calm that I just couldn’t get; he was too far away for surface probing. I turned my back on him and continued with the job I’d been given, and the next time rd looked that way he’d disappeared.
I followed the l’lenda through the camp toward the forest, carrying Loddar’s dirty laundry in the crook of my left arm. It would have been nice having a change of clothes for myself, but the other imad and caldin were still in Tammad’s pavilion and the pavilion had been put off-limits to all females. Every man in camp but the wenda-guards was there, listening raptly to Tammad and Garth. Whatever Garth was saying it was certainly making an impression on his audience, but only after his words of wisdom were translated. The system was unwieldy and annoying to both speaker and audience, and I could see where it wouldn’t be long before everyone was forbidden to speak to Garth in Centran. The way things had been going with Garth and Len, it couldn’t happen too soon to suit me, but it was a shame Len couldn’t somehow be included.
Another half-dozen women and three l’lendaa were waiting for us on the outskirts of the camp, and as soon as we got close enough to them they turned and started off into the forest. Most of the women had acknowledged no more than the fact of the presence of someone else, their minds saying they wanted nothing to do with the person who had played around with their emotions the day before. They all knew I’d been punished for what I’d done, but they didn’t seem to consider the punishment enough. I didn’t know how long it would take them to get over their anger—or even if they would—but it didn’t seem to matter. Even if they were willing to accept me I’d never really be one of them, and it would be foolish to believe anything else.
The best that can be said about that walk is that it was cooler in the shade of the forest than it had been in the clearing. We walked until we were out of sight and sound of the camp, but the l’lendaa seemed to have no intentions of stopping. One walked up ahead leading us, two walked to either side of our semi-column, and the fourth brought up our rear right behind me. Twice the rearguard had put his hand in my back to hurry me closer to the others, but the gesture hadn’t worked until he finally lowered his hand. He laughed softly when I turned my head to glare at him from a safe distance, and deliberately moved his eyes over me from head to toe, staring musingly at the bands on my ankles for a short while before returning his attention to the forest around us. I looked away from him and bit my lip as I walked, positive I knew what was on his mind. The last time I was on that world I’d been five-banded, but now I was down to two. Obviously the denday was growing tired of me and would soon unband me entirely, putting me up for sale to any l’lenda who wanted me. The rearguard did want me, that was clear enough in his mind, and I suppose I should have been pleased. There were a number of men on that world who wanted me for no other reasons than the ones their eyes gave them—but they were the wrong men.
After another couple of minutes one of the female figures up ahead glanced back, looked at the other women in front of her, then stopped where she was to give me a chance to catch up. She’d also been walking alone, and I didn’t understand why until I realized she was the blond tripper from the transport who had been appropriated by the l’lenda Hannas. She wore a light blue imad and dark blue caldin, one of the reasons I hadn’t recognized her. If I’d looked at her mind I would have known her at once, but I was too involved with my own thoughts to be distracted by the minds of others. She started walking again as soon as I reached her, and looked at me with serious brown eyes.