Soft light flowed in through the window. Misty shifted on the bed, stretching until she felt the blood in her limbs course through her fingers and toes. The clothes she wore were filthy and Misty was ready to immerse herself in a bath.
She looked around the room. Last night in the darkened glow of lanterns and horns, she could see the grass walls and furs, but the light of day revealed a charming décor. The bed was made with cool natural cloth sheets and the blanket looked to be some kind of gray animal fur.
The walls were made of thin red and green grass stacked horizontally in sections with heavy wooden supports between them. A mirror hung on the wall and Misty walked in front of it. She stared at the image of herself. It was her, but not her. Astara had said that she had retained her body but that it had been changed from the passage through to this world.
She thought back to all of the diet plans and plastic surgery brochures she had back in her old world. Turns out, all she had needed was to get teleported to a place with magic and voila! Her face had slimmed down. Instead of acne scarred skin and a double chin, high cheekbones and a graceful jaw stared back at her. Her skin was blemish free and there wasn't a pore in sight! Her still heavy breasts were no longer losing the fight with gravity, and she no longer had a stubborn belly peeking over the waistband of her jeans.
The woman in the mirror also looked younger and she finally had curly hair! The kind she was sure had to have some kind of magic spell on because no way could curls look that cute and bouncy after spending hours in salt water and a hot humid jungle. It isn't that Misty missed the frizz, but there were obviously some laws of physics and logic broken when it came to her hair.
"Before my vacation I was worried that my life lacked adventure." She shook her head. She thought back to that one movie that talked about doing impossible things every day from the other world. Misty chuckled to herself. At that moment, Misty decided to embrace whatever this world threw at her.
She started to unbutton her blouse. As she did, she noticed a lotus tattoo over her heart. It was about the size of a palm. The one she had seen on Jay was just the flower, but hers was a little different. Both lotus flower tattoos had five petals arching up from the flower base, but on her mate mark, one of the petals had a tiny image of a jaguar in it. The other petals were empty. She gently brushed the jaguar petal and shivered as she thought about her new mate.
The door opened and Misty jumped around, startled. She grabbed the sides of her blouse to cover her bra. Jay stood in the doorway staring down at her chest before blushing. He averted his eyes to the ceiling and covered his face with his forearm as he flushed a fiery red.
"Uh... um..." Misty tried to slow her racing heart as she stumbled over her words, not sure of what to say.
"Do you want to take a bath!" Jay exclaimed.
"Y-ye-yes." Misty stuttered. She quickly buttoned her shirt and turned to face him. "Where is the bath?"
"Follow me." Jay turned. Misty followed him out into the corridor. The same green and red grass lined the corridor. Large windows opened onto a wide courtyard. Misty could see little straw dummies off in the distance. A few men were shooting arrows and she could hear the loud good-natured jibing between them. Jay had stopped a few yards away when he realized that Misty wasn't keeping up with him.
He looked over to the men training for the day and scowled in jealousy. When he opened the door and caught a glimpse of the swell of her breasts his mind had gone blank. Fortunately, he had been able to drag his eyes away before he made her uncomfortable. He had seen her mate mark though. He was one of five possibilities. Part of him was happy that he was her first though.
His father and his mothers all got along really well. He touched the lotus on his chest. It had been a surprise when he had opened his eyes by the river and seen the mark on his chest. Jay had always thought that he would also be the dominant in his relationship. He had felt when Misty had called him.
Jay glanced back at Misty. He wondered if Misty even knew that she had called him. He had no doubt that she had no idea about anything related to the mate rituals. Being able to summon your mate was rare. He only knew about it because his mother and father were able to. He smiled. It was a good sign for their future. She may not realize it yet, but she cared for him very deeply or else it wouldn't have worked. He could feel the eyes of his family taking furtive looks at his mate. He had barely gotten them to hold off on bothering his mate until she had rested a while. He let her into the bath.
Misty's eyes widened to the size of saucers! The bathing room was gorgeous. The floor was covered in pale wood and the bath was huge. Enough for not just her, but several people to fit in the tub. She saw a robe hung on the wall. Jay left the room so that she could get cleaned up.
She spent a lot of time soaking in the tub and used the soaps and oils to remove the grime from her body. She looked at her tattoo again. Did that mean that there were four other people out there that were supposed to be her mates?
"Yes" The answer came to her just like the information on the kaunak. Having this kind of knowledge was a little disturbing. As if she had gone to school as a baby and then woke up after having completed all of the classes. She shrugged. This must be what Melcar had meant when he said he would give her the basics.