Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 41

While our boat moved northward I had plenty of time to read through the book that Jobu had presented me. I read it through once and while I was reading I added his words, prayers and chants to my PDA for future reference. I figured that this might come in handy in the future, and I believe that Jobu felt the same when he decided to make it a gift to me upon my departure from the village.

After four days of traveling by boat we made camp for the night. We had come to a point where the river turned to the east and our course now was to the northwest, so in the morning we would continue our journey on foot. Upon learning of this I was tempted to change into something more suited for hiking, but thought it best to stay in costume and do my best to play the role of the demure Asian Priestess. I did well in the sandals that I was wearing, though I had to be careful of what I stepped on or stepped in.

When we broke camp in the morning we traveled along an old road that looked like it had not been maintained for several thousand of years. It was not the smooth pavement that you would expect on a modern road, it resembled something that you would have found in old Rome in ancient Greece. We were able to make good time and the men offered several times to slow down or stop so that I could rest, but since I was not the delicate flower that they thought, I was able to keep up and declined their offers to rest. When they rested, I would too but I would not allow them to stop because they thought I could not keep up the pace.

We brought along some dried fish to eat and at dinnertime the men would go out and forage for whatever the jungle would provide. Several times I found myself climbing a nearby banana, mango, papaya or coconut tree to help contribute to our evening meal. A few of the men caught me up in the trees on several occasions but did not make a big deal about it. Usually my getting caught brought me a wink and a smile as I sheepishly climbed back down to the ground with snacks for my fellow travelers.

Our first stop on the trail was beside a wide stream. A few of the men brought nets and were able to catch enough fish for us to eat pretty well. After dinner came the bathing ritual and for that I was thankful. After five days without a bath I was smelling quite ripe. I did my best to wash up by the river but for some reason my traveling party did not bathe so I followed their lead... I also followed their lead on the fifth day when they all stripped off their sarongs and slipped into the stream. As I removed and hung my garments on a nearby tree, I could feel twenty-two sets of male eyes upon me as I slipped naked into the stream. If the stream were deeper I could have made a dive into the water to see how many one eyed male eels were looking at me.

As I looked the young men over that I caught staring at me the most, a few of them blushed quickly when my eyes met theirs. Until I showed up in the village, none of these men had ever seen a "Priestess" and were unfamiliar with how to act in one's presence. I surmised from Earthly traditions, it was not a good idea to pursue a nun, Priest, or Priestess in a sexual manner, but of course this was not Earth. From what I could see through the water, a number of the younger men were having a few impure thoughts as they took in the sight of their nude bathing Priestess. Ah, but if they could only know the impure thoughts that their Priestess was having at the moment... twenty thee studs and a Priestess. One look at my poor needy little brown nipples was enough to show that I too was lost in thought. Thankfully I was too far away from the men for them to gauge just how excited I was, and if they did noticed I convinced myself that I could easily blame the chilly water.

The group concluded its communal bath and for some reason the majority of the men waited for their Priestess to exit the stream before they did the same. I had my suspicions as to their behavior and just the thought brought a smirk and a giggle as I dried and dressed my self in full view of my adoring travel companions. I was tempted to sway softly and dance about as I dressed but I thought that would probably be in bad taste so I just went about the business of dressing in as dull and boring manner as I could.

Before we headed off to sleep I led the camp in chanting the evening prayers. We did not keep to the regular order of praying, eating, and bathing while we were away from the village, but no one complained. I was complimented often on the soft sound of my voice while chanting, and once I over heard one of the younger men remark that my chanting was really sexy.

We had breakfast in the morning then broke camp. There was nothing elaborate about our morning meal, which consisted of leftovers from the previous night. As we traveled I moved about in the group talking to the young men and got to know them by name. Being the only woman in the group I was asked to keep near the Alpha as much as possible. There were no threats on the horizon but Raku informed me that he had made a promise to the elders, the Chief, and Jobu that he would keep me safe. Little did he know that his Priestess was a trained assassin with retractable claws that could easily disembowel any attacker. Even with this in mind I continued to play the demure Priestess in the presence of my traveling companions.

Our days were pretty much the same as we followed the stream to the north. On the ninth day of our journey we came upon fellow pilgrims from another village. They were similar in number to our group but they brought along their Chief and their village elders, which slowed them down enough that we caught up to them. They had a full eight days head start on us but being the youngsters that we were we covered the distance much faster.

We could have pressed on for a few more hours before making camp for the night but Raku decided that we would spend the night with the pilgrims from the village of Ant'uk. Our young men pitched our tents then together with our new friends they went to the stream for fish while the women gathered fruits and such from the near by trees. I attempted to go forage with the women but once again Raku put an end to that notion and sat me down under a tree to pray with the monks from Ant'uk.

To the monks from Ant'uk I was a curiosity. Like the women from Pa'u, the women of Ant'uk wore only a simple sarong that covered from their waist to the knees. The older women were permitted to cover their breasts but only a few did. Those that did were the wives of the village elders. The prayers that the monks were chanting were different than those that Jobu had written in his book. I was able to pick up the chant on the second time through and joined in with the monks. The prayer that they were chanting was for the men who had gone off fishing. They were praying for a good catch for the evening meal, and it seemed that their prayer worked as the men returned with enough fish for everyone.

After the prayers were concluded I made the first move and introduced myself to the monks as simply "Maew of Pa'u", and left off the Priestess honorific. They in turn introduced themselves as Soku, and Maruk. Both looked to be close in age to Jobu, which surprised me that they would make such a journey at their advanced age. Even though they were both carried in their own palanquin, the long journey had to be rough on them.

During the dinner hour I made small talk with the monks from the other village. Our conversation did not go into detail about anything and when I tried to inquire about their duties and customs as monks, they quickly changed the subject. I got the impression that they were not willing to share their experiences with a woman in monk's robes no matter how sexy she looked in them. They were cordial enough but not forthcoming with much information. They did ask how Jobu was, and were saddened to learn that he was near the end of his days. They did enquire about the healing light from the shrine. It seemed that it was well known that the light would not come in the shrine of the Pa'u. They finally began to take me seriously when I informed them that the light of the Great Maker was once again in the shrine of the Pa'u.

Now all of a sudden they wanted to talk to me and find out how the healing light was restored. This is when I began to ask more questions than I answered. The monks recounted stories of how the light had also left several other shrines through out the kingdom. One was even bold enough to volunteer that the light never came to the Grand Temple of the King. A fellow monk quickly hushed him as if he had spoken the unspeakable.

Now that I had their attention and they were hungry for information, I explained that my assistant Diya and I had convinced the light to return. The next obvious question from them was an inquiry as to why the healing light could not restore Jobu to health. Sadly I had to tell them that their friend was much too old and had been ill for far too long for the light to help him once it was repaired. They nodded then said a short prayer to the Great Maker to take Jobu peacefully into his care.

It was getting late and the monks had left me to turn in for the night, but I was not yet ready to sleep. The moon was still full and was close to setting for the night when I made my way to the stream. The water looked so inviting as the moonlight appeared to ripple across its surface. I slipped out of my clothing and slipped into the water. I wish it had been deep enough for a good swim but the water only came up to the bottom of my breasts when I reached the stream's deepest point. I just waded about in the gently flowing water as I pondered the day's events.

While I was in the water one of the men from the other group came to the stream as well. Since the moon was beginning to set he was unable to see me in the shadows created by the trees that acted as a canopy over the stream. I was able to see him perfectly as he stripped off his sarong and slipped into the water. He appeared to be a few inches taller than me but that was just a guess at the time. He was slightly older than me, perhaps in his middle twenties. His body was rugged and well muscled and built similar to Raffa and Palu. His hair was long and black and flowed down over his shoulders to the mid point of his back. As I drooled over this studly man I had to remind myself that a Priestess probably should not go catting around with just any naked young man that she just happened to come across in a poorly lit stream, unless he was the other tribe's Alpha.