Ethan wrapped Penny in it, and he snuggled up from behind, fiddling, covering himself with a sleeping bag. The generator made a quiet noise, Penny quickly became hot, she stirred, but Ethan only squeezed her harder.
"Sleep." You're not going anywhere.
It was not possible to disobey such an order. Penny sighed, tried to relax, and somehow imperceptibly drowsy from the warmth, Ethan's measured breathing, and the heavy arms around her.
She didn't want to think about the moment when she would be woken up and thrown out of this tent, and Penny fell asleep. She dreamed of the sky, wings, and other good things.
***
Penny woke up early in the morning, a dull gray peeking through the film-covered window. Ethan never let go of her, so Penny was afraid to wake him up by moving. The realization of how close Ethan was, her lower abdomen felt heavy again and her legs became wet, and Penny exhaled, trying to distract herself. Lying on her side, she began to inspect the tent. A modest, even ascetic atmosphere reigned around. A simple table, a roughly hammered rack with some folders, several sleeping bags stacked on top of each other and blankets instead of a normal bed.
The High Inquisitor could claim better terms. Even here, in the field camp, one of many scattered among the wilderness. Penny had heard that there had once been a big city here, with markets, merry-go-rounds, and high-rise buildings. But now it was only brick ruins and some iron frames, like cages, sticking out of the ground a few miles from the camp.
Penny had never seen the city, and there were not many left. It was safe there, they were the cradle of civilization, its storehouse. Most people lived in villages in the wilderness, and the Inquisitors sent troops there first if they received distress signals.
Ethan squirmed, raised himself on his elbow, and Penny closed her eyes. Nothing happened for a while, and then a heavy hand went down my back, up and down, down and up. Penny exhaled softly, and Ethan touched her hair with a familiar gesture. He threw the blanket back from her shoulder and pulled it down. The cold air licked her skin, and Penny shivered. Ethan froze, and traced the scars on his shoulder blades with his fingertips.
"Do they hurt?"
— No, I don't.
After a pause, Ethan touched them again.
"Red. Inflamed. And then there is blood. Gore. Are you doing anything?..
"No," Penny cut him off and turned around. "I don't remember anything. And I don't feel anything.
"I'm not even sure that an angel, like all of you, people think. My name is Penny. You called me that." Ethan was disheveled and covered with blanket marks on his face, his face swollen from sleep, but he looked at them attentively, as if they were under interrogation. His gaze slid somewhere to the side and froze. Ethan reached for it and picked up a small white feather, and then another.
"You're molting, angel. Is winter coming soon? Without waiting for an answer, Ethan carefully folded the feathers to the floor. "They're out of the pillow, I suppose." Your eyes seem to glow, do you know?
He pulled the blanket lower, nudged Penny in the shoulder, forcing her to roll over on her stomach again. Measurement. Ethan must have been intrigued by the scars on Penny's shoulder blades, as well as her body, not a human body. Penny didn't mind being a museum exhibit for him. If Ethan wants to. Anything. Ethan touched it, felt it like a blind man studying a new subject. Although Penny's body was completely ordinary, female: face and neck, black hair and several moles in various places, breasts, abdomen, legs and a hollow between them.
Bleeding scars on the shoulder blades and mercury, poisonous, irises of the eyes.
Penny sighed and fidgeted, not knowing what to do with herself. It was embarrassing, she felt too vulnerable, she was scared, but she didn't want to change anything, what was happening was too valuable. And Ethan didn't seem to notice anything around him, completely absorbed in touching every part of Penny's body: back, shoulders, neck, even elbows and lower back.
Thighs and lower legs.
"You don't have hair on your body.
It probably wasn't sexy and arousing like the medical check-up, but Penny felt good and warm.
"Never was," Penny squeezed her eyes shut and buried her nose in her sleeping bag, inhaling Ethan's scent.
"I know. I found you. You were naked.
Ethan slid his hand between Penny's thighs, and she spread her legs and lifted her hips without urging. If Ethan wants to explore her body, he can do so. Without commenting on Penny's gesture, Ethan drew a line from the lower back to the navel, and then back. He put his fingers on a sensitive spot that Penny couldn't find a name for, the one that felt good when touched, where her pubis went into a hollow between her legs. Ethan pressed lightly on the spot, pulling a surprised sob from Penny.