Her eyes felt gritty, and her muscles ached. She could have slept at least another five hours, but there was something that kept kicking her head and pulling on her hair.
Ugh.
She opened her eyes and found herself looking at a cute fuzzy face with a dog nose, round yellow eyes, and a mouth with no teeth.
"Ooooeeee...gaaa," he babbled.
"Good morning to you too, whoever you are." She smiled at it. "Since I don't know your name, I guess I have to come up with a name for you." She sat up and looked at him for a moment.
"Let me see. Nothing too cutesy, nothing too stuffy, and definitely nothing too boring. Hmmm." She rubbed its head and got out of bed.
There was a pitcher of water standing on the table, so she used some of that to wet a handkerchief.
"How about...hmmmm...Felix?" Mira smiled at the baby, who looked at her with bright yellow eyes. She washed her face and then wiped him down. He was filthy.
"Maybe I should call you Pigpen, 'cause you're so dirty." She laughed.
"Gaa...aaaeee..." he responded.
"I hear you Felix." She laughed and took the bandanna she had wrapped around him the night before. Because it was so dark last night, she could not see, but it was the pink and white Hello Kitty bandanna that she normally used to clean her guns with.
It was so filthy from the bog mud, it would now belong exclusively to Felix.
She rinsed out the mud as much as she could and hung it on the chair back to dry.
Mira did not want to get back into her filthy clothing, but she really did not have anything else to wear, so she picked up the clothes she dropped on the floor the night before and pulled them on. Shoving the cap back on her head, she turned towards Felix.
"Come on, child. Let's go find Nonna." She picked up the little tyke and walked out of the chamber.
The first sight that met her eyes was the tiny courtyard that was created by the five mushrooms that clumped together to create Nonna Pearla's home. In the middle of the courtyard was a water pump, and next to the pump was a large wooden wash tub.
Nonna Pearl was pouring boiling water into the basin and looked up when she saw Mira and Felix.
"Good morning Mira Lee!" Nonna Pearla called out. "Come. I pumped some water for you to clean yourself with. I also added some hot water so it's nice and warm."
Mira looked around. There was no one in the courtyard other than Nonna and herself, plus the boy.
"Don't worry. My husband has gone out with some of the men and will not be back before lunch time. Take off your clothes and get into the tub before the bog mud eats into your skin, and then you will get rashes that take forever to heal."
Well, that convinced her quick enough!
"Give me your clothes and I will clean them for you." She held out her hand.
Mira pressed her lips together and stripped off her leather jacket. Then she slipped off her boots and the rest of her clothes.
"The hat too." Nonna insisted. "You have to wash your hair. It's got mud in it."
Mira bit her lip and slowly took off her hat.
Nonna stared at the crown on her brow, and then tsk'ed tsk'ed. "Well no wonder you didn't want to take off your hat. That is an expensive looking piece of jewelry."
Mira looked up at Nonna. "It is quite valuable, yes."
"Is that why you are on the run, Mira Lee?"
Mira stared at Nonna blankly.
"Don't be afraid, child. You are a hybrid human. Who are your parents? Why are they not protecting you?"
"I am….I--"
Nonna put up a hand. "Nevermind. I don't want to know. The less I know, the better it is for everyone. Go get into the tub and clean yourself. Don't get water on that nasty claw mark. I'll bring something and bandage it properly for you."
She watched as Nonna gathered her dirty clothes and took them away to be cleaned. Then she slipped into the tub with Felix.
By the time Nonna came back out, she and the boy were both squeaky clean and smelling of the herbal soap bar that Nonna had left out for her. Felix turned out to be a really good natural swimmer, and he splashed about as she washed their hair and bodies.
"Are you done Mira Lee?" Nonna's voice could be heard from one of the rooms. "The water is probably getting cold. Come on out, child, before you get too chilled."
Nonna pulled a chair and had Mira sit while she looked at Mira's shoulder wound. She cleaned the dried blood off around the wound and once it air dried a bit, Nonna dusted a white powder on the gashes and bandaged everything up with fresh clean strips of cloth.
"It seems to be healing quite nicely, and there's no obvious infection. You took care of it well, at the time of the injury. Lord knows what's in that bog water or on the bogwarg's claws." Nonna nodded with satisfaction.
Seeing Mira's curious gaze at the white powder, Nonna handed the small bottle to Mira. "Here, you can have this. Once or twice a day, put this on the scar. It's to keep the wound from getting infected. "
Mira took the bottle with grateful hands, even as Nonna shook her head. "I'm sorry I don't have the kind of medicine that will treat the scarring. This is most likely going to leave a permanent scar on your beautiful skin."
The old dwarf then took a rag towel and handed it to Mira. "Dry yourself and put this on." She handed Mira a soft brown homespun dress that was basically a loose bag with arms, and a thin black rope to tie around her waist.
Then, Nonna turned her attention to the little baby that was still playing and swimming in the water.
"Aaaeeee...woooaaa...aagaaa" Felix chattered, laughing with joy.
"And look at you, little man! You cleaned up nicely!" Nonna Pearla smiled and picked the little boy out of the water. She wrapped his body in another rag towel and tucked him under her arm, carrying him like a log, "You, my man, need a diaper."
She muttered half to herself as she walked into another mushroom chamber with Felix. "You peed all over the bed and now I have to wash the sheets. I got some warm milk in a mug for you. Let's see if you can drink from a mug..."
Mira laughed and dressed quickly. The dress was plain, but it was warm. She stuck her feet back into her boots and found her leather jacket. The tears on the shoulder had been mended by the old dwarf with tiny stitches that were barely visible.
She touched the repair with glistening eyes. Then she threw on the jacket and followed Nonna Pearla into the main mushroom chamber.
What was a bit mysterious and slightly scary the night before turned out to be warm and friendly in the morning.
The main room was painted a cheery yellow with white polka dots, and the center of the wood slab table held a bowl filled with white snowdrops growing in profusion. On the floor was a living carpet of green and blue grass, and in the air, a heady mixture of roasted game hen and cornbread.
"Come, Mira Lee. I made some hot food for you. Eat, and then you can tell me where you are needing to go. I will see what I can do to help you get there."