I learned of the occurrence from Herek the fisher boy. He brought the news straight to me. I am Jamjarew, the physician, of Baisya the beach village near the mouth where Vivish empties into the vast ocean Waabkloub.
"There are unconscious girls all along the beaches, washed up by the tide", he blurted at me.
"They are... um... unclothed."
"Gods!" That was all I could think of to say. "Who are they? Do you recognise them? Or are they strangers, slaves from a shipwreck perhaps?"
Then I came up with:"We must arrange volunteers to gather them into the hospice where they can be clothed and supplied with water until they revive."
"The fishermen... and others... are going out and... um... coupling with them. They are attractive young women. But of course it is forbidden." Herek shuffled with embarrassment.
I was hardly surprised at this. I had already considered doing the same myself. But it WAS forbidden, without consent. So perhaps I could get back to finding the volunteers and getting them to the hospice. Where at least the higher caste ones among them would be safe from predation.
Herek was ruffling his q'nik nervously. (A q'nik is a low-status nether garment, a rough loincloth or short trouser made from the fur of a predator.) This drew my attention to the wet patches, stains and matting in the fur of the garment. Herek had been partaking of the forbidden fruit it seems.
"Herek, you can get in serious trouble coupling with high-caste forbidden. Point me towards the nearest of them, then get a change of clothing and wash that q'nik. Properly. And no-one can see you in that state. Even your mother may report you!" Herek was the latest man in Baisya to have come of age, and all the men felt a little fatherly -- or at least, avuncular -- towards him.