“Would you like to try?” Brexl beckoned me over and had me stand in front of him.
“You want to hold onto the pelt here and pull down.”
He placed his hand over mine, and together we pulled the pelt free from the meat and bones of the animal.
“You’re a natural,” he commented as we washed our hands in the ocean water.
“I’m not sure about that. You did most of the work.”
“You’re much better than I was when I first learned.” There was a hint of humor in his voice and a small smile that tugged at the side of his mouth.
“Uh huh, and how old were you when you learned how to do this, exactly?” I smiled back.
“My age is irrelevant,” he shrugged and smiled down at the ground.
“Irrelevant, my ass,” I laughed.
“I do not find your ass to be irrelevant at all.” His smile had grown even wider. He’d heard me use this phrase before, and he knew what it meant. He was being coy with me, and I was loving it.
“No? Neither do I.” I raised an eyebrow at him to playfully see where he would take the conversation.
He smiled and bashfully looked away.
I, too, looked out over the water, and although I knew it would be chilly, I still longed to take a dip. I hadn’t bathed in a few days, and I was feeling very grimy.
“Do you mind if I wash up in the water?”
Brexl nodded his head and I started to strip off my clothes. I laid them out on a nearby log and waded slowly into the cool depths.
It wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. It was only slightly chilly, instead of the cold water I’d expected to find.
I didn’t mind being naked in front of Brexl. We had a long life ahead of us, where we’d glow for each other every month. I didn’t want any awkwardness between us. So might as well get it out of the way now. I loved our little community, but everyone in our dekes was a gossip, and I wasn’t interested in Brexl and I being the top topic of conversation as we adjusted to our unique friendship.
I splashed the water onto my chest and face and peeked over my shoulder to find Brexl staring at me. He quickly looked away and busied himself with cleaning the jagwa.
“The water’s not bad. If you want to wash up, I won’t look,” I called over my shoulder.
I peered over at him again to find that Brexl had turned about three shades of dark blue.
“I’ll wash up later,” he called back.
“Suit yourself,” I replied as I dipped my hair into the water and ran my fingers through it in an attempt to get it clean.
I did the best I could to clean the rest of my body, and by the time I’d finished and gotten dressed, Brexl had started a fire and was roasting the meat for lunch.
“Can you watch the fire?” he asked as he adjusted a large bulge in his pants.
“Sure. Are you going somewhere?”
“I am going to get us some water from the stream.”
There was a small stream in the forest nearby where we’d refilled our water skins this morning. We hadn’t drunk much, so it was strange that he wanted to refill them already.
“Okay, I’ll stay here.”
Brexl gave me a tight nod and walked into the forest. It wasn’t until he disappeared through the trees that I noticed he’d forgotten the water skins.
Chapter 10
