Chapter 4
Nightfall brought more walking, more silence. Clarke liked it better when they could chat. She liked talking to Andes. She felt so at ease around her, like they’d known each other for much longer than three days. By day break, there was a shift in the weather, it was warmer, and the forest got denser.
“This is the border of Azgeda lands, here.” Andes told Clarke. “And, in about an hour we can get that bath.” That was the best news Clarke had heard in days.
The hour passed, and Andes led them to a small pool, in a secluded area, tucked behind a thicket of trees and bushes. She immediately stripped off her clothes and waded in. It was deep, but not very large, maybe ten feet across. Clarke turned away quickly, not wanting to see something she shouldn’t be seeing. Andes went under and surfaced in the middle of the water. “C’mon Clarke, it’s wonderful.”
Clarke was a little hesitant, a little modest, she looked at Andes and made a circle with her hands, “Turn around.”
“Really, are you shy?” Andes laughed. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before you know.”
“Well, I’m modest, so I would appreciate it if you would please turn around.” Andes splashed water at her and turned around. Clarke quickly undressed and stepped in the water, she made sure she stayed down so the water hid her nakedness. She looked over at Andes, who had a bar of soap and was scrubbing herself clean.
“Hey, where’d you get that?”
“From one of my friends with benefits.”
“Oooh. She likes you clean, does she. Can I please have it after you’re done?”
“Of course you may, after all, it is in my best interest if you smell better, I’m the one standing next to you all day. “ After she was done washing her hair, she swam over to Clarke and handed it to her.
“Don’t drop it.” She moved her hand away just as Clarke reached for it. Clarke grabbed her arm and pried the soap out of her hand.
“I won’t. Turn around.”
“Oh my god, really?” Andes swam back away from Clarke and Clarke noticed that her hair wasn’t dark at all, but so blond it was almost white.
“Holy crap, your hair! I thought it was dark, it’s like, bleach blond.”
“Yeah, it’s unusual, “ she said, turning back to talk to her.
“Turn around!”
“Oops, sorry.” She really wasn’t sorry, she smiled to herself. She caught Clark half out of the water, and decided that Clarke looked real good without clothes. “I don’t know why you’re so shy Clarke, you have beautiful a body, you should be proud of it.”
Clarke felt herself blushing now. “Shut up. You shouldn’t have looked.” She said with a little smile. Andes was done and stood up out of the water. Clarke didn’t avert her eyes this time. She watched every inch of Andes climb out of the water. Holy shit. She was like a fucking amazon. She was perfect, Clarke couldn’t find a flaw on her. She had the standard grounder tattoos on her back, and she was ripped. Her abs looked like they were carved from stone and they stood out a little from her body. She turned back to the water and began washing their clothes, the veins standing out in her forearms. Now Clarke saw a flaw, she had scars around her wrists. That was curious. A question for later perhaps. Her blond hair was chin length and started to wave as it dried. Her thick eye lashes and eye brows were black, making her gray eyes stand out even more. Her breasts were high and firm, a necklace hung at her throat, a leather necklace with a silver piece on the end. She had prominent cheek bones and a wide generous mouth capped the whole thing off. She was gorgeous. Now Clarke felt self conscious. Andes looked over to the sky girl and saw her staring. She raised her eyebrows.
“Nice tattoos,” was the first thing that came out of Clarke’s mouth, and she cringed inside. That was stupid. She started to feel a little something deep in the pit of her stomach. She found she was enjoying the show a little too much. Shake it off Clarke, shake it off, she told herself. And stop staring.
Andes knew Clarke was still staring, and she didn’t want her to stop. She continued to flaunt herself, enjoying the fact that she was making Clarke uncomfortable, getting her a little out of her comfort zone. They both knew what she was doing. When Andes was done washing their clothes, she spread them out on a rock in the sun to dry. She then stretched out herself, basking in the warmth, the water drops all over her body evaporating in the heat.
“Are you getting out soon Clarke, you’ll be as wrinkled as a raisin.”
Now Clarke was in a pickle. Her clothes were wet, and wouldn’t be dry for a little while, and there was a goddess with the perfect body lounging on the rocks, making her self-conscious, but also making her feel a little something else. Andes eyes appeared to be closed, so Clarke thought maybe she fell asleep. She crept out of the water and set up on the other side of the pond. Andes cracked an eye and watched the whole thing. She shut it quickly when Clarke looked over at her. She couldn’t hold back a smile.
“What are you smiling at?” Clarke called to her. Andes ignored her, and decided she needed a little cat nap.
“Should one of us keep watch?” Clarke asked.
“The dogs will tell us if someone is near. Relax and try and get some sleep.”
Clarke woke up a little while later. She looked over and Andes was nowhere to be found. She noticed that her clothes were folded neatly and were right next to her. She groaned. That means that Andes walked over here, and got the full monty. She was mortified. Then she decided that she shouldn’t be embarrassed. She knew she had a nice body, maybe not as firm as Andes, definitely more curves, but in all the right places. Fuck it, let her look. She wondered if Andes found her attractive, if her body reacted to Clarke’s like Clarke’s reacted to hers earlier. Now why did that thought pop into her head? She was still in mourning; she should get her thoughts out of the gutter. Disgusted with herself, she got up and dressed. She thought she should start a fire, since Andes was probably out getting dinner. She gathered up some sticks and rubbed them together, softly blowing on it when the sparks started. She kept it small, the smoke to a minimum, since they still could be in danger. Finally Andes came back with a few fish. She looked at the fire and gave Clarke a “well-done” nod. She set about cleaning the fish, threaded a stick through it and set them on the fire. Clarke decided that she wasn’t so intimidating when she was clothed. She watched her profile while she cooked the fish. Andes looked up and caught Clarke’s eyes. Clarke swears she saw her eyes change color, darken slightly. But then it was gone, as fast as it came.
“Feel better after your bath Clarke? I know you smell better.” She smiled at her.
“As a matter of fact, I feel great, thanks for asking.”
“Hm, feel better after your nap?”
“Yeah, thanks for washing and folding my clothes.” Clarke looked at her, putting it out there that she knew Andes probably got a good look at all of Clarke, hoping for a blush, but none was coming.
“I have a surprise for you. Tonight we can sleep in a real bed.”
“How will that happen?”
“There’s a village about 2 hours south west of here. I have a friend there, I know she’ll put us up for the night, and be very discreet about it.”
“A friend?” Clarke asked knowingly.
“Yes,” Andes winked, “a friend.”
“Well, I hope she has more than one bed.”
“She does, you’re safe.”
“From you or her?”
“Both.”
Clarke blushed again. “Clarke, I’m just teasing you, you blush so easily. You’ll have your own room, and we’ll have a nice dinner, and go to bed with our bellies full.”
“Well, that does sound kinda nice.” Clarke said, as she fed some scraps to Jaks. The dog had taken a shine to Clarke. “Your dog loves me by the way.”
“I’d love you too if you hand fed me.”
They made it to the village before nightfall. They stayed on the perimeter, and finally stopped at a small house. Andes let out a slow low whistle. Suddenly the door flew open and very pretty woman stood in the doorway, older than both Andes and Clarke. Clarke guessed that she must be in her late 30’s.
The woman said something in Trig, as she looked Andes up and down, not even noticing Clarke.
“Sara, this is Clarke,” taking Clarke’s hand and pulling her forward. Sara looked Clarke over too, switching languages, “What’s this? You’re bringing another woman to my house?”
“Relax, she’s a friend, we need a place to stay tonight, there may be Azgeda looking for us.” She turned towards Clarke, “The ice queen killed her son years ago.”
Clarke said she was sorry, and Sara stood aside and let them come in. The house was very clean and neat, there was a fire place, a table and four chairs, and two rooms off the back. Clarke craned her neck to look inside the rooms, they both appeared to have beds in them, thank god.
Sara made them dinner, which was a delicious stew, filled with meat and vegetables, a far cry from rabbit and fish. After dinner, she brought out a plate of fruits and nuts. Clarke couldn’t help but notice the sly looks Sara gave Andes all night. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be getting much sleep, the walls looked a little thin. Pretty soon, the girls were yawning. Sara got up from the table and cleared away the plates and went in to her bedroom and closed the door. Clarke looked at Andes, “I guess that’s my room, “ she pointed to the one next door to Sara’s .
Andes smirked, “Yes. Are you going to be ok?” Clarke walked into the room and Andes came over and leaned on her door jam.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Clarke asked.
“It’s just that, if you want someone to warm your bed, I’m sure I can find someone.” Clarke just raised her eyebrows and gave Andes a look.
“Or if you would like me to do that, I can, now, or anytime.” She said with a sly smile and husky voice.
“Somehow I don’t think that will go over very well with your friend there. Now go, take care of those needs, I’m tired of hearing about them.” And with that she closed the door.
She was right, sleep was spotty at best. The noises coming from the other room caused her to put her pillow over her head. When the sun came up, she struggled to get up, groggy from lack of sleep. She finally pushed herself up and opened her door. Andes was seated at the table, chipper and smiling, with the telltale look of someone who just got laid.
“Good morning Clarke.” Clarke just grunted in response.
“You look tired, didn’t you sleep.” Clarke turned around and stared at her, still ignoring her.
“You two were a little loud last night.” She finally said, as she shoved some fruit into her mouth.
Andes made a face, “oh, sorry about that.”
Sara was next to appear, she was still in her night clothes. She came over and put her arms around Andes and kissed her on the neck. Clarke could have strangled both of them.
“Sara packed us some food for our travels, so whenever you’re ready, we should probably get going.” Clarke disappeared into her room. She reappeared a couple minutes later, dressed for the day.
“Sara, mochof, thank you for your hospitality, it was very nice of you to put us up for the night,” Clarke said as she reached her hand out to the woman, who just looked at it, looked at Andes, who motioned with her head that she should take Clarke’s hand. She reached out and clasped it, Clarke shook it. She walked out the door and waited for Andes to come out. A few minutes later, hair mussed, and a shit eating grin on her face, she came out the door and shut it behind her. She stood for a minute and took a deep breath, stretched her arms up, looked up at the sun shining, “It’s going to be a beautiful day.” She casually draped an arm over Clarke as they headed out into the woods. “It was nice to sleep in a bed, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t think either one of us actually slept.” Andes laughed and Clarke pushed her arm off her shoulders. She really wasn’t mad, just giving the girl a hard time.
“So, does she love you, do you love her?” she asked Andes as they walked through the forest.
“Love? No, “she laughed. “That’s just a little lust.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so? I think you would know.”
“Well, if I should know, then I guess I’ve never been.” They walked on in silence for a little bit. “Have you? Been in love?”
“Yeah, I’ve been.”
“Well, what does it feel like?”
“C’mon, you’ve must have seen it, seen somebody in love?” Andes just shrugged her shoulders. “Oh please. You expect me to believe that you don’t know anything about love?” Clarke asked.
“I’d like to hear you describe it.” Clarke remained silent. “I swear I don’t know what it feels like, so tell me.” Clarke looked skeptical. “I swear, I don’t Clarke.” Clarke looked into gray eyes, and couldn’t decide if she was telling the truth.
After a couple of moments, Clarke said, “Ok. Love is,” pausing to gather her thoughts, “love is the best. When you’re in love, the other person is the most important thing in the world. You would die for the person you love.”
“Sounds serious.”
Clarke looked at her to make sure she wasn’t making fun of her, then continued, “When you’re falling in love, you get a funny feeling inside when you’re around the person. You can’t wait to see them, to be around them. You could spend all day talking to them, all you want to do is kiss them, and hold them, and see them smile. You feel so much, sometimes it hurts. And forget about getting anything done. They’re all you think about. You walk around in a daze, your chest hurts, your insides are twisted.”
“That sounds kinda awful Clarke.”
Clarke laughed. “It’s not, it’s the most incredible thing that can ever happen.” Clarke’s eyes suddenly darkened, “but when you lose someone you love, your life feels like it’s over. Your heart is destroyed. You can’t get out of bed, nothing feels good, tastes good. The days are dark, and you feel empty. Cold and empty.”
Andes made a face, “god, that really sounds awful. I can say without a doubt that I’ve never been in love. I’ve never felt like that for anybody.”
“Then you’re missing out, because when it’s good, there’s absolutely nothing like it on earth.” She looked over at Andes, “I’m sure you’ve broken some hearts in your time though.”
“Why do you say that? God, I wouldn’t want to cause anyone that kind of pain.”
Clarke gave a slight shake to her head, “I just mean, look at you, you’re the complete package for god’s sake. You’re gorgeous, you’re funny, charming, smart, I can’t believe some grounder down here hasn’t wanted to domesticate you.” And Clarke thought she saw a blush. “You’re blushing. Ha!”
“I’m not blushing.”
“Yes you did, just then.”
“Clarke, I don’t blush. Now you, you’re a serial blusher.”
“Serial blusher, where the hell did you get that from?”
“I don’t know, I must have heard it somewhere.”
“You’re strange.”
“Well, anyway, back to you statement, no, nobody has wanted to domesticate me, which I think you mean move in with me, or me with her.”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean. Well, maybe you need to be more open to it. More open to love. “
“I’ll try. Cause god knows I would love to feel pain in my chest, and whatever other ailments it causes.” Clarke looked at her and laughed, then gently pushed Andes.
“I bet Sara would want to domesticate you.” Now it was Andes turn to push Clarke.