Evie

I didn’t know it was possible to be this happy to see someone. At first when Gil found me this morning I was in shock. I’ve grown up in these woods, and I’ve never seen a man this far up the mountain in all my time out here. But I should have known—Gil isn’t like other men.

Honestly, I thought he’d be mad at me for running away to live on my own, and I’m a little surprised he hasn’t told me to come to my senses already.

Instead, he asks to see my cave. A little shyly I invite him inside the humble place, with its freshly laid floor and a pile of pine needles for a bed. I show him the crate with my stores, some coffee, a large sack of flour and a small barrel of salt.

Inspired, I decide I’ll make him breakfast, too.

After washing out my cook pot I mix flour, water and a bit of salt inside, kneading it together to form a flat cake of dough. Then I put it back on the fire to cook. We drink the last of our coffee together while we wait. It doesn’t take long. In just a few minutes I have it out of the pot and split the piping hot bread with him. It’s dense and plain, but edible, and I feel satisfied watching Gil wolf it down hungrily.

It’s kind of nice, I think, seeing him enjoy the food I cook. It’s a sight I could get used to…

After breakfast at Gil’s insistence I show him my plans for gathering winter stores. I take him deeper into the woods to show him a patch of wild strawberries I found yesterday, still white and not quite ready to harvest. I take him to a shady place where mushrooms grow, the good kind, not the ones that make you sick. I pick them all and put them in my sack, explaining that what I don’t eat in the next few days, I can dry for future use.

I show him the wild carrots, and the wild leafy greens. I harvest various lichens from the trees, some to eat, some to brew in teas and some for medicine. As I go along I point out different trees that will be full of edible nuts in the autumn; I show him the apple and cherry trees, fragrant with blossoms.

“I’ll prepare all of these for my winter stores. I’ll catch fish too, and dry them. This whole mountainside is my pantry,” I say confidently.

“You’re incredible,” he says, and I get the feeling he’s genuinely impressed. “I’ve learned more about foraging in a few hours with you than I did in ten years in the army.”

I blush, pleased with his compliment. “Father used to call my knowledge of the forest useless. I was always too wild for him. I never felt like I belonged.”

“That’s because you’re a changeling,” he says with a kind of certainty.  

“A what?”

“A fairy.”

Was that a compliment? I can’t tell, but I’m blushing even harder now.

 Just then I hear a dove call, and my hand goes automatically to my sling and the stones in my waist pouch. Loading the stone, I hold the strings between my fingers as I cup my hands and lift them to my mouth. Blowing through the slits in my thumbs, I imitate a perfect dove call.

Gil watches fascinated as I slowly coax the animal out of her tree. When she finally takes flight I’m ready with my stone. It whizzes through the air, sailing just past its mark. Cursing, I reload my sling and take another shot, but I’m too short. She’s already gone. I turn to Gil with an embarrassed smile.

“I’m still working on my aim.”

“That was closer than I’d have gotten.”

“You could have taken the shot, too,” I say, gesturing to the rifle he carries with a strap over his shoulder.

“And spoil this beautiful morning with noise and gunpowder?”

His sentiment brings a smile to my face. “I feel the same way about guns. I’ve never liked them.”

“They have their uses.”

“I realize that. I’ll be glad you have it if a hungry bear shows up.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

The sun is high when we come to the clear mountain lake, and it’s hot.  

“Could really go for a swim,” Gil remarks, stopping to fill his canteen.

“Why don’t we?”

I take off my coat and shoes. If I were alone I’d swim naked, but since Gil’s here I dive in fully clothed.

He laughs at my impulsivity. “You never stop, do you?”

“Not if I can help it,” I grin.

“See, this is what I like about you, Evie,” he says, and he sits down to start unlacing his boots.

“You like me?” I say, and suddenly I’m very shy. I go down in the water, so my nose is barely above the surface, and watch him with a strange sense of wonder.

Gil looks up from his boots to give me a look that makes me forget for a moment how cold the water is.

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

Gil

It feels good to get my hot sweaty boots off after a long morning on my feet. The May sun is blazing in the cloudless sky, and I strip out of my shirt and vest, glad to feel the breeze on my skin.

“You have a lot of scars,” Evie remarks with the same morbid fascination most get when they see me like this. But those people have all been men, fellow soldiers. Feeling this woman’s eyes on me, it might be my first time being a bit self-conscious of them.

“Too many stations on the front lines will do that to a man.”

“Which injury was the worst?” she asks, drawing nearer to me for a closer look.

“That would have to be the one I got on my butt,” I confess, and I turn a little so she can see where it starts on my lower back.

“Cheap shot,” Evie murmurs, and I laugh at her observation.

“I thought so, too. But there are no rules in war.”

I start a little at the feel of her fingers as she traces the upper line of my scar. She realizes a moment too late what she’s done, and she pulls back suddenly.

“Sorry,” she says. “They’re just kind of interesting. I’ve never seen someone with scars like yours.”

“I don’t mind,” I say, and she takes those words as an invitation to poke around my body some more. I feel my skin prickle and tingle everywhere she touches; my whole body is electrified by her nearness.  

She’s so curious, I think, feeling heat gathering in my face and in other parts of my body as well. She really isn’t thinking about what she’s doing to me.

“Aren’t you embarrassed?” I ask finally, when I can no longer bear the torture.

“Me?” she looks up at me innocently. “I’m sorry, I guess it’s rude after all.”

“Not that. It’s just, aren’t ladies usually shy when men take off their shirts? Or do you stare at half naked men all the time?”

“Of course not,” she answers easily. “The only boys I ever see without their shirts are the kids in the village.”

“It’s not exactly the same, is it?”

Evie’s awareness of me, of the situation comes slowly. Her face is way too obvious as she begins to look me up and down with newfound wonder and appreciation. This isn’t the thin body of a child, but the hardened body of an athlete, a man who’s profession and lifestyle has kept him at peak physical condition all his life. Every muscle is perfectly defined, cushioned only by curling wisps of downy hair that leave a light T impression across my chest and down my belly.

Realizing she’s been staring, Evie’s face blushes crimson. She turns from me instantly and dives into the water, swimming away like a frightened fish. I want to follow, but I’m shaking too much with silent laughter to move.  

After a minute, I catch my breath, and I dive too, and let the cool water wash away my fatigue. Revitalized and hearing the frantic sound of splashing ahead of me, I begin to chase after Evie.

She’s a strong swimmer, but so am I, and weighed down as she is by her clothing, I catch up to her in no time. She dives and I dive too, enjoying the chase. I catch her foot and she kicks at me, and I laugh under water, sending up great bubbles of air that have me grasping for the surface early. I wait here and watch for her to surface, which she finally does, fifteen feet away from me.

The chase is on again.