Despite the distance, Jean was able to keep the team in psychic communication. They all agreed the village was their best bet. Scott, Jean, and Hank arrived to find Logan waiting for them, trying out the local brew.
The village was a bustling metropolis, just in miniature. There were about twenty adobe huts and many people who slept on the ground, for no reason Scott could discern. Some fenced-in enclosures held the local herds, although a few were empty as the shepherds took them for fresh grazing. 'Town square' was a great clearing with the grass stomped flat, surrounding a well. Even now, people were lined up to drop their bucket down and get back their water. Off to the sides, one tribesman had recently sheared his sheep and was now offering woven blankets for trade, while a woman was selling goat milk in earthen jars. There weren't many takers, though. Most of the attention was on Wolverine, in his strange yellow and blue garb, and the adamantium claws he showed off at every opportunity.
"Yeah, happened to save the local big wig's son, so 'his Kaaness' put me up. We're having a feast. You're all invited." Logan took another gulp from his wineskin. "By the way, 'fore I forget..."
Moving fast, he grabbed Scott by the lapels, swung him around over a low fence, and dropped him into the local pigpen. Scott landed on his back in the muck and sank a good few inches. He was up with fists clenched in a second.
"You wanna explain yourself, mister!?"
"Just always held that a good leader should never ask a soldier to do something he wouldn't do himself. Seein' as how I had to hit every tree and branch on the way down 'fore landing with my snout in the dirt, I knew you wouldn't feel right just floating down like a feather thanks to Jeannie. No need ta thank me, slim, just helpin' out."
Scott's hand twitched toward his visor, but Jean stepped between him and Logan. "Alright, that's enough! Logan, if you've got that out of your system, maybe you could ask the Kaaness—"
"Kaa," Logan corrected snidely.
"
Kaa
, where there's someplace we can bathe. It was a long walk; we're all sweaty and gross."
"Speak for yourself," Kurt said, dropping down into the conversation on his tail just to show off.
***
Storm and Nightcrawler had landed on the opposite side of the village from Jean's detachment, Kurt winded from teleporting and Storm exhausted from carrying him. They sat back on the white boulders they'd landed among, catching their breath. Storm summoned a light shower to cool them off, and Kurt stuck his tongue out to catch the quenching water. When he stopped to wipe at his face, Ororo knew something was off.
"Ororo," he said seriously, "would you like to talk about it?" She said nothing, though he didn't know if she hadn't heard him or was ignoring him. "What happened when you broke free. Scott and Piotr may not know, but the rest of us have caught on. Obviously, none of us are going to gossip or anything—"
"No, I don't want to talk about it." Ororo stood, the rainfall ending.
"Okay. That's fine. But, apropos of nothing, sometimes I feel things, even when it might seem strange or inappropriate. Remember last month, when Mystique had me chained up? I have to admit, part of me found it a little..." He bobbed his head. "What's the harm? It's not like she's my sister or anything." Kurt stopped, frowning. "Actually, my foster sister would be another case in point... whoa, I am
weird
."
"You're German," Ororo replied.
"That too. My point is—" Kurt paused to wring his tail out. "It's not weird to like something that's outside your comfort zone. It happens to everyone. Maybe, now that it's happened, you can learn something about yourself you didn't know before."
Ororo rubbed the moisture into her skin, thinking. She'd never considered it before—but her costume was rather skimpy. "Thank you, Kurt, I—"
Then she heard Jean's telepathic broadcast and learned of the long walk ahead of her.
***
While Scott tried to think of a way to explain to the Kaa why he was covered in mud, Jean quietly detached herself from the group and walked to the outskirts of town, where Piotr and Shanna had arrived at the treeline. She wondered if Piotr had walked the entire way with his hands cupping his penis.
"You two crazy kids," she said good-naturedly, already enjoying the thought of perusing their memories later. But, as prim, proper Jean Grey, of course she was nice enough to repair Piotr's costume without being asked.
"Thank you, Phoenix." Piotr moved his arms out in a stretch. Apparently he had preserved his modesty from all the voyeuristic trees and rocks on the way there.
"Don't mention it. Who's your friend?" Jean smiled at Shanna, eying the tanned animal skins straining over her chest and curtaining her genitals. "And what's she got in her pouch?"
Shanna clutched the hidden dinosaur tooth protectively as Piotr explained "This is Shanna. Honestly, we just met..."
"And already you're comfortable taking long walks in the nude. Scott and I still aren't at that stage. Piotr, you dog you."
Piotr blushed, while Jean turned away to get back to the village. Shanna could wait. Judging from the neurons firing away in her noggin, the prospect she'd entertained upon seeing Jean in skintight spandex wouldn't be dismissed anytime soon.
***
As the Kaa explained it, most of the tribe washed either in the bathhouse, or when that was full, down at the nearby lake. As neither were in use at mid-day, his honored guests would have their privacy. Scott quickly declared that the women would have their choice of them, while he and the other men would bathe in the other location.
Ororo, guessing that she and Jean would be more comfortable bathing out in the open, voted for the lake. Jean agreed with her reasoning. Beast and Nightcrawler declined a soak, not wanting to ruin the feast with the scent of wet dog for hours afterward.
"Then please," the Kaa said, nodding agreeably, "enjoy our bathhouse and river as long as you want. You won't be disturbed, except by the village girls who will bring you clothes to replace those that are dirty or damaged."
The X-Men agreed readily.
