Daniel had already finished his bath and picked up his cloak to return to Melissa, leaving her where he'd been watching her while she was washing in the lake. He'd thought she couldn't rise to the level of her own cuteness, ridiculousness... He still couldn't find the right word.
But she had hit him again. When he returned to the place where he had left her, he was greeted by the image of a red-faced girl shaking her dress in all directions with all her might. Her face was already covered in sweat and her breathing was ragged, as if she had been running for half an hour without stopping. All in all, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Why are you laughing?!" Outraged by his laughter, Melissa's already red face somehow got even redder, and then she just started shouting, "Fool! Don't look! Don't breathe! Go away!" She didn't even know what to say to her, so she just shouted whatever came to mind. It was the first time she'd been worried for two days (although it hadn't even been 24 hours, considering they'd walked in the evening), so her mind was always in chaos at the sight of his laughter.
"Okay, okay, I just wanted to tell you that we've got about an hour before nightfall, and that I'll be making a fire and drying my stuff soon..."
He didn't even get a chance to finish before he...
"Why didn't you say anything? I've been shaking my dress the whole time?" She struck a pose with her front turned towards him, and in her bent, outstretched hands she was shaking the garment in front of her.
Only it was unclear from what exactly her hands were shaking. From resentment, or from the long shaking, or perhaps from all of it....
"I didn't hide the fact that I could make a fire in the forest from you. You saw me making stew this morning." He could only throw up his hands at her claims, but decided to continue with a sigh, "True, you never tasted it..."
After that it was quietly moving the pair of teenagers closer to the water, as starting a fire in the middle of the forest with no way to extinguish it was only asking for death. It could quickly go up in flames if they were distracted, and that would only lead to two outcomes: burns and possible death in one case, and the fire would not be extinguished until morning, and they would have to hide further away from the predators the bright light might bring. But whether they'll be able to get out of here in that case is another question...
Daniel quickly prepared the fire and stretched the vines so that the clothes would dry away from the fire, as a few sparks could set both the clothes and the treated vines ablaze. But the little girl looked at him strangely when he asked her to give him her clothes, and then, without explaining anything, gave him the dress, but hid the small piece of cloth behind her back to hang on its own when he made the fire.
"What's he like..." She was used to his lack of tact by now, so she sighed softly to herself. She did not have the energy to wonder about him today.
Meanwhile, the boy quickly gathered some dry twigs and started a fire. When the fire was burning, he went to the wagon to get some food, but he saw that there was only meat left....
He had forgotten that vegetables and berries were too attractive to the animals around the lake. He wasn't angry with them, but he was a little angry with himself, and he made a mental note for the future.
The lakes weren't safe either....