Finally, they both fell asleep locked in the arms of which ever female was lucky enough to have been deemed the last one for that night, and awoke next morning feeling tired, sore, and not a little confused.
Before they were too sure of what was happening, they were back in the large main hut and being confronted by the older female.
‘That was good fun for you each.’ she cackled, showing a semi-toothless grin, and Moss later told Kel he hoped he hadn’t mated with the ‘scraggy one’, but couldn’t remember if he had or not, much to his dismay.
‘You must eat now, and replace your strength.’ she said, replenishing the food platters with more fruit and pods.
Both realized just how hungry they were when they eventually came out of their sleepy stupor, and tucked in with a willingness which belied the size of their bellies.
Feeling full and bloated, and not a little tired, they were led out into the bright light of day to bathe in the strong light of the Greater Sun, while several strong looking young females stood around doing nothing in particular, but were always close to hand.
By midday, Moss and Kel had recovered from their previous nights exertions, and were feeling a little more refreshed. The fact that they were, in effect, being guarded by the females only caused them to wonder what was going to happen next.
‘I don’t think I could keep that up for too long.’ was Moss’s comment, looking around at the well muscled females who were keeping an eye on them.
‘I don’t think the normal mating thing is as strenuous as last night, as we are only supposed to have one mate instead of a whole series of them,’ Kel interjected, ‘anyway, I don’t remember too much of it after the first few huts, which is probably just as well.’
Kel beckoned one of the females over to him with the intention of asking a few questions about the group, but she either didn’t understand him or pretended not to. He tried several of the others, and eventually one responded to his smiling request, and came and sat next to him. This caused not a few dirty looks from the others, and then Kel knew that they had been instructed to keep an eye on the pair, but not to get involved.
‘Where do you get your fruit and pods from?’ was his opening gambit.
The female pointed over towards a low hill covered in a dark and broken rocky formation,
‘Down there’s a deep valley where the big water go, and it is full of trees and bushes of food things.’ she said smiling,
‘I show you, yes?’
‘Yes, I would like that, can we go now?’
The female got up and extended a hand to Kel, helping him onto his rather shaky legs. Moss somehow staggered up, and they began to move towards the stony hill.
The other females immediately gathered round and stopped them, angry glances being given to the bold one who’d dared to make contact.
‘You must wait here, I see if you can go.’ one of the larger females said, and walked off in the direction of a hut.
She returned a little later to say, somewhat reluctantly,
‘You go, we come too.’
The party trooped off, the larger female leading the way and the more brazen one having got Kel’s attention, helping him along by holding his arm.
They climbed the stony rise and before them was a deep valley, full of trees with the river running through it. The sunlight glinting off the water where it had broken through the green coverage, gave a gentle peaceful appearance to the scene, and Moss and Kel visibly relaxed in the false security engendered by what they saw before them.
As the first low bushes and smaller trees were encountered, the little group went in single file, some females leading and the rest bringing up the rear, the brazen one holding onto Kel’s hand as there wasn’t room on the narrow path for them to walk side by side.
‘Looks like you’ve found a friend,’ Moss quietly said to Kel, with a grin, ‘perhaps she missed out last night, and wants to be first in the line tonight.’
‘You mean we do it all again tonight?’ Kel looked a bit surprised at the suggestion, ‘I don’t think I could, I’m too sore.’ Moss just extended his grin with a knowing wink, and strode on into the small forest.
The path widened, and they could see that the trees had been trimmed to make access more available, and probably boost the fruit crop, of which there was a plentiful supply.
The river was slow flowing and looked very deep when they came to it. Being only a little below ground level, it was easy to gain access to the water, and Moss asked if he could enter it to wash.
The females looked at one another, none wishing to take responsibility for the possible escape of their prizes if they let them out of their reach.
‘One stay here, one go in.’ was the compromise reached after a lot of subdued chatter among them. So, before they knew what had happened, Moss sprinted for the river bank and plunged in.
They had swum in a restricted fashion in the giant Water Plants back in the forest, but this was a kind of freedom they had never even envisaged, and Moss took full advantage of the open water to show off his swimming abilities, diving beneath the surface to come up some distance away, causing a lot of concern among the females.
‘You come back.’ one of them screeched at Moss, who gave her his cheekiest grin and promptly dived under the surface. He broke water near the bank after some considerable time, and even Kel was getting worried
