Melissa went to the fire to fetch some roast meat so she could eat all her resentment at the two rascals who had treated her so inappropriately. And Daniel was a little surprised that she could get used to the bloody scenes of him slaughtering animals so quickly, and then a day later stop pretending to be a vegetarian and eat meat in peace.
It made him feel better, though, because he really thought he would have to finish the meat quickly and look for vegetables that might still be untouched by these plant-eating animals that were behaving like thieves. And finding fruit-bearing plants near the lake with untouched fruits/vegetables/berries was a very difficult task, for they had stolen their supplies for a reason.
Either these animals had grown too large in number and were struggling to feed their entire population, or they had just suffered a major extinction event due to predator attacks all around them and were trying to raise their young quickly to regain optimal numbers. Something told him that the second reason was the reason for the lake, because he hadn't seen many animals around when they had arrived, and there was still an hour before sunset, so the herbivores should still be on the shore in large numbers.
But Daniel was only happy about this discovery in his mind. He knew that the chances of any major attacks in this area were minimal, as there was no point in anyone fighting the predators that ruled this domain. There simply wasn't much food here to attract them. But that was why Daniel felt a sudden chill in his soul when he realised what would have happened if he hadn't drowned the wagon in the lake. The predators would have come to the lake even more ferociously to see who was preventing their pasture from recovering.
After about 15 minutes, their meal was over and the sun was starting to set over the horizon. The gecko simply began to run his tongue over his lips, which were by this time in a happy curve. Although a gecko without a snout didn't look happy, it was still something to try.
Daniel took off his now dry clothes and the girl's clothes were gone. Melissa decided to get her dress and... peace of mind from this troublemaker of hers just after eating. The guy didn't really care, so they quickly parted in different directions and got dressed.
When they gathered around the campfire again.
Daniel started to extinguish the fire, throwing branches into the water along with the newly made wooden utensils he had learned to make rather quickly the day before, while next to him Melissa asked him to give her a dagger.
"Decided not to get in my way after all?" He said with a grin.
"Just give me what I ask for." Quietly, not even angry anymore, Melissa asked him again and then held out her hand to him and said in a commanding tone only one word: "Dagger".
Daniel didn't care, because she couldn't go alone and he would notice, and if she wanted to attack him, she was just daydreaming. So he just handed her his dagger and waited for the show.
Melissa took the dagger from his hands and walked over to the wheels of the wooden wagon that Daniel had removed before he drowned the whole wagon so that there would be something to sit on and eat in front of the fire. And began to cut up her clothes...