Page 1454

~~((The 12 Pages of Christmas + Double Monday = Page 8 of 14))~~
“I will know,” said Jasirok.

“Y-yeah, but how?” said Diego.

“I simply will.”

Diego frowned but was not surprised. Was this just another one of their “close to the planet” things? Perhaps the Heart of the World or the God of Fire would tell them when the time was right. He’d heard those two mentioned frequently enough when asking the Hun’Sho about their beliefs.

But if that’s all it was, then why didn’t they just say so?

As they walked, Diego saw several other Hun’Sho coming and going, some of whom he even thought he recognized. It was hard to tell, though. He hadn’t gotten to the point where he could suss out the subtle distinguishing features between different Hun’Sho faces yet, and he was starting to worry that he never would. At most, he was beginning to see slight differences in the overall brightness with which some of the Hun’Sho glowed, but that was about it. Not to mention, looking directly into their faces for too long could be a bit hard on the eyes, like staring into a dim flashlight.

At length, they finally reached their destination when Jasirok stopped in front of a door and opened it for them. It had not been locked, Diego noticed, nor did it appear to have any sort of locking mechanism. It simply slid open with nothing more than a push.

Curious, Diego felt. “This is your home?” he asked.

“Indeed,” said Jasirok. “Please make yourselves comfortable.”

Diego wondered if he should add ‘privacy’ to the growing list of things that the Hun’Sho seemingly did not care about.

And perhaps ‘spaciousness’ also deserved to be on there.

The whole apartment, if it could even be called that, was little more than two rooms. Diego spotted a small shelf full of knickknacks, a tall stone cabinet, a few chairs, a large mirror, and a bed--which, after everything else he’d learned, he found somewhat surprising. So they really did need sleep.

Noticeably missing was a bathroom. He wondered if there was a communal one elsewhere in this apparent dormitory. Certainly, running water wasn’t really an option down here, so he was curious about what sort of facilities they did use. Carver’s biosphere had proved surprisingly well-equipped and even surface-like, sporting a functional sink and bathtub, though the water had been quite limited until Zeff intervened.

Diego had yet to broach that particular subject with anyone else, and by now, his curiosity was just about boiling over. He decided to just go ahead and ask the question that he most wanted an answer to. “Hey, do you poop?”

“Poop?”

‘Diego!’ said Yangéra privately.

“I am unfamiliar with that word,” said Jasirok. “What is poop?”

“Uh... like... excrete waste?”

Jasirok merely returned a quizzical look.

‘Why did you ask him that?’

‘I wanted to know!’

Diego scratched his head. “Heh, ah... well, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then I guess that answers my question.”