“Mushroom.” She repeated the word to herself. This was a good name for the funny plant.
“Want me to put it in your sack for you?” Erich asked.
Aizel nodded, handing him her treasure. She had taken the sack from her waist and placed it in Constance’s saddlebag for safekeeping.
“It might not dry out very well,” Erich commented as he walked toward the horses. “But there are plenty all over the mountain. They come in a few different colors, too.”
Opening her sack, he gently deposited the mushroom into it.
Aizel picked another from the ground to continue studying its plump little shape.
“What’s this?” Erich asked.
She turned back.
He was holding her mother’s pearl vial up to his nose.
Aizel froze, her whole body tensing. “Put that down!” she yelled in her head. “It’s dangerous!” She shook her head frantically, waving her arms to get his attention.
He didn’t notice her.
She pulled her ankle out of the water, pulling herself up into a kneeling position.
“It’s beautiful.” Erich closed the lid and dropped the vial back into her sack, leaving the horses. “Is that Istroyan craftsmanship?”
Aizel nodded relief flooding through her.
“The hammered pearl is elegantly wrought,” he said. “And that lotus scent... it reminds me... never mind.”
“Reminds you of what?” Aizel wanted to ask. “That time I saved your life by using its magic so you could breathe?”
Erich returned to her side. “Now, about that bath you were dreaming of earlier.” He crouched in front of her again, balancing on his toes as he held out the bar of soap.
She looked from his hand to his eyes, her smile fueled by relief and excitement. Cold water or not, she was going to get clean tonight.
Grabbing the bar from his hand, she lifted it to her nose. It smelled fresh. It was not scented with anything she recognized, it was just mild and sweet.
She held it back out to him. “You first?”
“Oh, no.” Erich pushed her hand back. “You need it more than I do.”
Aizel narrowed her eyes at the teasing boy in front of her. Two could play at that game.
“You first.” Reaching out, she playfully shoved him into the stream.
Balanced as he was over his toes, he toppled over, landing in the shallow water with a splash.
Aizel laughed soundlessly, swishing the bar of soap in the water while she waited for him to resurface.
At its deepest, the water was perhaps as high as her knees. Erich’s head was under the surface where he’d fallen.
He wasn’t moving.
Alarmed, she watched him for a moment longer.
He reached a single hand out of the water.
She relaxed. He was still toying with her. But he was taking an awfully long time about it.
