lirvothethird
A small muddy camp came into my view. Various pieces of armor y strewn on the muddy ground. A campfire that radiated some heat in this wet environment.
I quickly grabbed the embers and stored it in a ball. Blowing gently on it, a orange flicker gradually expanded. Nabbing food and a pot as well, I hurriedly continue.
If they can make a fire in this weather, surely I can too.
With those thoughts in mind, after a certain distance, I set up camp. Dry spots after the rain should have dry wood.
Foraging underneath bushes for dry sticks and twigs, I grabbed whatever felt dry, before returning to the small clearing I set up camp in. Setting the pile of retively dry twigs and sticks in a pile, I brought out the embers, blowing gently to coax it to spread.
Hands shaking, I grabbed a handful of tinder from inside the satchel, pcing it on top. After igniting the embers, I pced it inside the cradle that I made. A small crackling fire started burning.
Putrid white smoke started rising, blowing right in my face. After collecting some more subpar wet wood, I started ying out our clothes, taking care to pce her close enough to dry off but not burn.
More slice of life stuff.
SpoilerClosing my eyes, I briefly remembered what happened when I got sick. Towel wiping off sweat, warm gruel to drink, and that's it. What I can do now is just hot water, if I can find some rain water to boil.
Leaving the smoky crackling fire behind, I started searching for water. A few rge leaves curled slightly into a funnel caught my eye. I hurriedly drained the water into the pot, as it would very quickly have all sorts of insects inside soon.
Returning once again, a different smell caught my attention. She soiled herself, a yellow stain forming on the cloth. A sigh left my lips as I folded the cloth.
Boiling the water by pcing it near the fire, ashes kept dropping into it. If only I had a lid... Oh yeah, I can just make one.
After a lid was made, it shook wildly as it was pced near the fire. Piercing a hole to see what was inside making the shaking released a blistering hot steam.
The tip of my finger burned.
I sucked on my finger, as the pain temporarily went away. Mixing in the coarse flour I taken, a simple gruel was made.
Using a stone spoon, I blew on the food before feeding it to her. One spoonful at a time.
The clothes were dry on one side but not the other, so I just stacked the dry side on Anna, using my shirt to wipe off the sweat.
[colpse]Several days had passed after we set up camp. After packing up our belongings in the soiled cloth, we left the earthen shelter I constructed.
"You should walk after resting for so long."
I twisted my body side to side, causing the person riding me on piggy back to wobble. She protested.
"Sick people shouldn't walk."
"That was a few days ago, if you don't walk now, what if your feet get weird?"
The worry in my voice caused Anna to reluctantly slide off. She started gasping slightly as she stumbled along, holding my arm to bance.
"Walking feels so weird now..."
"Imagine if you didn't start walking, never mind, that sounded better in my head."
I shook my head before ruffling her hair. Both of us looked ragged, hair sticking in weird directions, dust and dirt smeared all over. We were unsuitable for entering anywhere.
"Let's clean ourselves up somewhere."
She nodded with her head on my arm. We probably looked like a young vagrant couple, strolling through the mountainous road. She was dependant on me right now. But! Someday we will part, most likely when we reach Piltover.
Walking slowly on the road, the distinct sound of a horse trotting along with a rolling noise appeared. It was not in sight yet. I backed away with her in tow to the side.
"Should we hide?"
She replied after a second of thinking.
"Why hide? We did nothing wrong."
"It's better to be safe than sorry, after all, we look weak and young, who knows what will happen?"
She hugged me in preparation to go underground. Maybe this is the reason why I wanted to hide. I quickly sunk underground with her in tow.
Although dusty, my heart started to quicken. Surely she felt it too. She kept quiet, silently breathing in the remaining amount of air.
The clip clop of the horse passed by with a rumble following behind.
Even after we got back on the road we stayed silent.
It seemed that she knew as well that we had to separate in the future, so we just maintained how it is.
Eventually, the road led to a bridge. Metal chassis painted in a dull green supported the bridge with sturdy ropes of steel the size of my hands. A quick gushing rapids swept below.
"Let's go more upstream?"
She nodded. Every time she held me for support caused my heart to flutter and stomach to twist. Time felt like it passed quickly as we pushed through bushes to reach a small embankment by the river.
Another small temporary camp was made. The fire was started again using the embers that I stored. One time, I almost burned down our cottage by not properly checking if I smothered the firepce completely. It spread to a piece of firewood I put too close.
I had to first check how fast the water was flowing. Based on the rapids at the bridge and the rainwater from a few days ago, this slow looking water most likely had a fast flowing undercurrent, ready to harvest the lives of anyone that unknowingly fell into it.
I grabbed a rge branch before slowly lowering it into the water. It cleanly sliced through for a portion, until a sudden tug nearly sent it out of my grasp.
"It's not safe to enter the water."
"Then turn away."
She snapped back. Why was she moody all of a sudden? Women... especially girls. I'll never understand them.
The sound of clothes rustling never felt this weird before. I gulped as I made a thick soup of flour and gathered vegetables. It tasted bnd but why did I gulp?
"Can you wash this cloth a little?"
I held out the cloth without turning my head. The trees today sure are beautiful. A steady change was happening as signs of orange and yellow dappled the greenery.
The water dripping down sounded clearer than ever. I sharpened my gaze to be more vigint. Animals like to drink from the river. Although the rain wet the rest of the forest, there is still the chance that they can appear.
Insects buzzed above the river near the riverbank. I casually waved away them whenever they got close. The majority of the insects I heard went silent as we passed by.
Some rustling of clothes behind nearly caused me to turn around.
Instead, I started to strip, taking one pieceat a time to the water to rinse. The shirt hardened immediately back to it's natural stone hard texture the moment it passed my head.
"Is it okay for me to turn?"
"No."
(3rd person POV)
"Is it okay for me to turn?"
"No."
Anna held a hand to her mouth as she nearly giggled as he slumped down, his metaphorical tail drooping. Aerth continued to take his clothes off to wash, while Anna oogled him. Blushes appeared on both as he dropped his pants.
A dark shadow waited beneath the water's surface, waiting for prey to step into the water.
She hurriedly returned to eating the soup, turning her head away from his back. Aerth covered his waist as he turned around to dry by the fire. Silence fell as she held out the soup to him, but he pushed it back lightly.
"Are you sure you don't need to eat?"
"The only thing that happens if I do that is my muscles shrink."
Aerth replied with a nod. Anna mouthed 'what a pity', before handing the pot over again while expining her reasoning.
"If, if you don't eat you won't be able to carry me..."
A sigh left his lips as he grasped the pot and spoon before scooping a spoonful, blowing gently before eating.
Her entire face went red as they were sharing an indirect kiss. The time they spent together were precious to her, making her think of how to persuade her mother.
However, some things were suspicious about how raptors, a rare sight appeared on a road where countless Noxii warbands had walked.
After the meal and drying of clothes, they walked back to the bridge, continuing their trek towards a vilge.
lirvothethird
