“Of course you would.” Jemunu-jah’s tone was impossible to interpret. “I might be able to find you interesting fungus, or flower. But I only do such a thing for someone who helps me.”
Rising, Hasa moved to check his clothes. Bathed in the warming heat from the agitated nawenaa, they were indeed drying out. “Hey, we’re all in this together. Got to help one another or we’re not likely to make it out alive, right? You can count on my help, Jemunu-jah.” His smile widened. “As sure as my name’s Shadrach Hasselemoga.”
“I have no way of verifying that,” the Sakuntala replied dryly enough to earn a commendation from a Deyzara solicitor. “Will settle for now for you being a little nicer. No more insults.” Seeing the appallingly naked Deyzara staring at him, he added, “To either of us.”
The human glanced from one alien to the other. “All right, it’s a deal. The help I can promise. No insults—hey, we are who we are. But I’ll work on it. How’s that?”
“Enough for now.” The Sakuntala poked a nawenaa that was trying to crawl away back into the pile. “Another hour, you have dry clothes, I think.”
Jemunu-jah was as good as his word. Compliments spilled from both human and Deyzara the following morning as, for the first time since they had been forced down in the Viisiiviisii, they were able to don their respective rain gear over dry clothing. The gear kept the rain that began to fall with first light away from their attire.
By evening, as Hasa had observed the night before, both human and Deyzara were once again soaked with perspiration. This time, Jemunu-jah could only comment on their sodden clothing with a hum of compassion. Not for the first time, he was intensely puzzled by the fact that among all the advanced intelligent species he had encountered personally—human, Deyzara, and thranx—only the Sakuntala possessed a proper covering of fur. No doubt, he told himself, it had something to do with the rains of Fluva. An evolutionary adaptation, he had read. Quite possibly there was a direct link between inherent native intelligence and hairlessness.