Fishing

I listen to Rosa’s soft steady breath beside me as I lay there until the sky brightens to the point where I would have been waking anyway. Sitting up I rub my face. Around me a sprinkle of nymph voices tinkle through the grass and soon recede as my motion scares them off again. Had they been there last night? Had they watched me humiliate myself? Rosa certainly had. I shake my head.

Standing up I stretch and take a deep breath of the early morning air. All around me the world is still and silent. A light fog still hung in the air from the night’s cool. Drops of dew glistened among the grass, normally invisible spiderwebs in the bushes glowed a frosty white. The ground is damp and cool beneath my bare feet. The orange radiance of sunrise lit a clear sky. It would be hot today, I could feel it, but right now it was…perfect. I loved this time of day.

I look down at my sleeping ****, trying my best to ignore how beautiful she was. Most of her life in a single building? I couldn’t imagine a fate worse than that. The events of the night before run though my mind and again I find myself feeling bad about how I’d treated her. I despised speaking harshly to her. But…she shouldn’t have done what she did. She crossed the line. There were boundaries. Boundaries between master and ****, boundaries between men and women, boundaries between virtue and vice. Straying outside those limits had felt good, it felt SO surprisingly good, but it was wicked and wrong. We would start again properly today.

I move around Rosa to the pack. Kneeling down I dig through it to find my weighted fishing net tied up in its tight bundle. As my hand brushes against the pommel of my father’s pugio I pause. I run my fingers over the riveted brass of the sheath. I could still remember the day he volunteered. I could remember the elation of his too brief visits home. To my young eyes he looked like the Emperor himself in that gleaming armor. The glory of the Empire personified. I could also remember the day we received the news, along with this dagger. There would be no more visits. He wasn’t coming home. Closing my eyes I let out a sorrowful sigh.

Taking the net I quietly make my to the stream then follow it along the bank to a backeddy I discovered the last time I was here. As I approach I pad extra softly among the reeds and stay low so that my shadow would not pass over the water’s surface. Staying absolutely quiet I peer through the wide reeds and scan the dark eddy. I could just make out the dark shapes of trout lazily swimming against the flow. There had to be a dozen or more, some as long as my forearm. Very carefully I untie and unfurl my net, loop the handline around my wrist, then arrange the weights for a cast. Holding the net in my right hand and the and the lead line in my left I twist and tense my muscles as I prepare to cast.

“EEEEEE!” Just then I hear a piercing scream of terror come from behind me, from back at camp!

I drop the net where I stood and flick the line free from my wrist. Crashing through the reeds and grass and bushes I sprint as fast my legs would carry me. Stray stones bite against my bare soles and branches scrape my legs but I ignore it all. Bursting into the flattened area that was our camp I see Rosa, her magenta eyes wide with fear, huddled beneath her cloak. When she sees me she springs to her feet and rushes to meet me, and because she had been using the cloak as a blanket she is nude as she does so.

Rosa runs right up and throws her arms around me. I tense up and hold my arms out and away as the naked little Amazon presses her face into my chest. Clutching me tight she says through panting breaths. “I thought you left me. I thought you left! Oh gods. I thought I was alone out here.”

“You screamed because…gods damn it Rosa.” I grumble. “I was just fishing for our breakfast. I would have been back shortly.”

“I’m sorry Master. You were so upset last night…I just…I didn’t know.” With me there, knowing she hadn’t been abandoned, Rosa soon regains her composure. Her breathing settles and her tight body relaxes. “I’m sorry.”

Looking down at the top of her horned head I let out a sigh of exasperation. “It’s okay.” I lightly pat her bare shoulder…her skin is pleasantly warm and oh so soft.

She lets out breath and looks up at me. “I should have known you aren’t the type to run away from things. My master is an honorable man.”

“Er.” I look everywhere but her face. “Yeah. Anyway, I’m going to get back to fishing.”

“Of course.” Stepping back she covers her breasts with one arm and her crotch with the other hand despite the fact I’d seen her every bit of her in the **** market yesterday. This simple act of discretion was a welcome one. It felt right and normal…and it was really quite cute!

With a sheepish grin she bows her head and bats her big eyes bashfully. “Master! Look away.”

My cheeks glow with an intense blush and I spin around. “Uh! Yeah! Sorry! Sorry!”

She giggles. It was the first time I’d heard her laugh. It was whimsical and melodious and joyful. Just hearing it lifted my mood. How was I supposed to stay angry at her when she acted like that?

I stand there a moment flustered before retreating back toward where I had dropped my net. “Big fuss over nothing.” I grumble to myself as I find the net tangled and knotted in the reeds. “Gods damn it!” Looking over at the back eddy it is as empty as our bellies were going to be if I didn’t catch something. “This girl will be my ruin.”

I collect the net and take the time to get it all back to normal. I get it ready again then begin to creep down the bank to find a new spot to fish.

By the time I return the morning fog had been burned off and I could see a few travelers moving along the road across the wide grassy field. One of them waves to me and I wave back in a friendly manner. Sitting on my sheepskin blanket is Rosa in a simple short sleeveless tunic and shorts, neither of which had been here when I left. Her long wavy hair is combed smooth and she had it draped to the front over one shoulder. To her right are my shears and to her left the little sewing kit my mother had packed for me. In her hands is what I realize is the remnants of my paenula that she is transforming into a hooded capelet. I wasn’t upset at the use of my cloak in this way, in fact I was thrilled by it. Not only did it mean Rosa wouldn’t be just a breeze away from being exposed to the world, it showed that she had initiative and at least one useful skill. While the garments were simple they were crafted well. I also appreciated that when I told her these were our supplies, not just mine, that she took it to heart. She and I were in this together now…at least until I could sell her on. I should probably talk to her about that soon.

Looking up at me she spreads her arms to show off her new outfit. “What do you think?”

“Uh…great.”

Her ears perk up high and she grins wide enough that I could see her little pointed canines. “Thank you Master.”

“You’re feeling better today.” I toss my net to the ground. Inside four good sized trout were still twitching and gasping.

“Much better.” She says as she returns to sewing. “I’ve got a kind master who looks after me and rushes to protect me. A strong, handsome, hard-working young man. It’s literally all I prayed for when I was in that awful auction. I’m such a lucky girl.”

“Errr.” I scratch the back of my head. “Yeah.” Pointing back over my shoulder I say. “I’m going to get some sticks for a fire.”

“Okay!” She says as she hums a merry tune, her bare feet swaying back and forth in time to it.

I give a sidelong look. How could a new **** be this chipper? Was this all an act? Was she acting cute thinking I would be nicer to her? Shaking my head I turn and go to leave in search of dead wood.

“Master.”

“Yes Rosa?”

“I’m thirsty.”

The innocent tone of her voice made it impossible to tell whether it was a statement of fact or a request. Why tell me this? She could have easily gotten the water herself. I stand a moment then slowly look back at her. She sits there humming away, her focus on sewing her new garment. I see the empty waterskin just in front of her soft slender feet. Had she placed it there on purpose? I go to tell her to go fill it herself but the words don’t come. I would be right near the stream as I searched for wood in the bushes. It would hardly be any effort at all for me to do it. And she was busy with her sewing. I hesitate…then walk back and go down to one knee in front of her to pick up the skin. Pausing I glance up at my ****. She doesn’t look my way or even acknowledge me though I do catch a little smile play at her plump pink lips.

“I’ll get it this time.”

She peeks my way just for an instant before looking down again and says in her sweet happy tone. “Thank you Master.”