I do not like this.
I sniff the air, but there is no scent of bad meat or any other animal. No one would know this cache is here except for another hunter. I look around, turning, but there is no one to be seen. I run my fingers over the bark again, and the last notch is one that I made yesterday, sticky and fresh. If a hunter was here, he did not take food from the cache.
Just a wandering animal, then. All the same, I dig up a frozen dvisti and mark it off of the tree. It is the largest kill in the cache, and far more than Stay-see and I can eat by ourselves, but the thought of leaving the meat makes me uneasy. We will smoke the extra and store it, I decide.
When I return to the cave, Stay-see looks surprised at the amount of meat I have brought, but does not complain. We move the fire to the front of the cave, remove the screen, and proceed to smoke haunch after haunch. We work as a team, and Stay-see tells me stories of when Pacy was in her belly. The time passes pleasurably, and Stay-see even manages to make me a few of the meat pies before Pacy wakes up and demands her attention.
By the time the suns go down, the meat has been smoked but is not dry enough to serve as trail rations. I will smoke it again in the morning to dry it out so it can be stored easily. We move the fire back to the pit, return the privacy screen to its spot, and settle in for the night.
Stay-see sniffs her braid and wrinkles her nose. “I smell like smoke and sweat.”
She does. I do as well. I do not mind her scent, though. I could happily bury my nose in her cunt and inhale her muskiness for days on end. “Do you want to bathe? I can get snow and we can melt some.”
Her eyes light up. “I would love a bath. Pacy needs one, too.”
“Then we will all bathe,” I tell her. “There is enough snow for all of us.” I dig through one of the packs and produce a small pouch of soap-berries. “My mother’s store. We will have to bring her more when we return.”
“Soap, too? I’m in heaven,” Stay-see exclaims, taking the pouch from me. “This is wonderful.”
I am pleased such a small thing makes her so happy. I set up the tripod over the fire and hang the pouch and go out and scoop snow. I repeat this until the pouch is full of fresh water. While the water warms, she strips Pacy out of his clothing, and my son crawls around the cave, naked, his little tail flicking as he tries to grab everything possible—my spear, the plates, the meat hanging on the smoking racks, everything. His small face scrunches up with anger when Stay-see pulls things out of his grip, and he looks over at me each time as if asking me to give it back. I feel my heart melt when he looks to me, like ice left out in the sun for too long. I hold my hands out to him, and when he laughs and crawls toward me, my heart feels whole. I hold my son close, his small, naked body against my chest, and feel true happiness.
Until he pisses on my chest, that is. I hold him away from me, giving Stay-see a troubled look. “He is wetting himself.”
“I noticed,” she says, amused at my shocked expression. “Though it is more like he is wetting you.” She plucks the kit from my hands and holds him close, kissing his cheek as if he has done something to be proud of.
Amused, I wipe my chest off with a scrap of leather, watching as my son’s little legs jiggle and dance in the air. “He likes being naked.”
“Takes after his father,” she says, and her cheeks grow red.
Her reaction is interesting. “Do I wander around naked, then? In front of you?”
“You have in the past.” Her lips twitch. “You are very proud of your, ahem, assets.”
“My cock?” I ask, unsure what she means by ass-etts. “It is a healthy one. And I have a large sac.”
“I am not having this discussion.” Her voice is prim, but her expression is one of embarrassed amusement, and I know she is not offended. I wonder if I can make her cheeks red again. She splashes a hand in the water and squeezes a few of the soap-berries into the pouch. “All right. Bath time for my little man.”
“And then bath time for your big one?” I ask hopefully.
Her cheeks turn bright red, and I feel pleased. “You can bathe yourself.”
“I can, but I imagine it is more fun if you do it.” I rub my chest idly, thinking about her small hands on my skin. I like this idea a lot.
“You’re very flirty tonight,” she comments as she dips the bit of leather into the pouch and begins to wash Pacy’s wriggling body.
I watch them both, fascinated by my mate’s graceful movements and my son’s joyous ones. “Am I?” Perhaps I am. Being here with her, spending time together alone, it fills me with agreat sense of pleasure. Together like this, with little Pacy between us, it does feel as if we are a family.
It makes me…happy.
She finishes washing Pacy, rubbing the tufts of his mane with the cloth to clean it, then swaddles him in a fresh, warm fur to dry off and hands him over to me. My son gives a screech of delight when I pick him up, and it makes me grin. “If only my mate made the same noise when she saw me,” I tell him.
Stay-see just chuckles. “I’m making that noise on the inside. Promise.”
I play with my son for a time, and when he gets sleepy, I hold him and rock him against my chest while Stay-see tidies up the cave. Pacy’s plump little face is so small and trusting, and it makes me feel both powerful and vulnerable to look down at him as he drowses into sleep.
This is my son. A kit made from my body and Stay-see’s. It is incredible to behold. He is the same color as me, and his face looks similar to my brother Zennek’s, and to Farli’s, which means Pacy must look like me as well. I could stare at him for hours, memorizing his small features, and never grow tired.
Stay-see moves back to my side, and there’s a soft look in her eyes as she kneels next to me. “Do you want to hold him for a while longer, or should I put him to bed?”
