Relief on her face and in her voice. “I can’t go back to the camp looking and smelling like this. Will you get me a change of clothes and I’ll try and find some clean water for both of us to scrub up with. I think I saw an inlet near here.”
“I shouldn’t…if you were a guy…” He didn’t get to finish as Vitaria interrupted.
“I deserve that and you’re right. I’m…I’m asking as a friend and fellow soldier.”
His eyes narrowed to slits, contemplating her request, relishing in her discomfort for the moment. Another exaggerated sigh of being greatly put upon gushed out of him, but Darius acquiesced to her request.
“Oh…Alright. You find the freshwater and I’ll go get your clothes. I’ll also let the other guys know you’re okay.” Darius began to walk away.
“Oh…and Darius?”
Darius stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around. She could see his head fall forward until his chin hit his chest. Twisting his head slightly he peered over his shoulder at her, groaning out, “What now?”
“Thanks.” An appreciative smile gracing her mouth.
“Yeah…yeah…yeah. Just go find that clean water.” She didn’t see the half smile on his face as he walked back to camp. Those two were going to love this. It didn’t take long for him to reach the campsite and two inquisitive faces of ‘okay you’re back’ to serious concern when Vitaria did not appear. Darius spoke as he headed for her pack, both of them approaching until they caught a whiff of the putrid, smeared mud on his arm.
“Vitaria’s fine…her clothes…Weeelll that’s another story.”
“I’m not above cuffing you for an answer.”
“I’ll explain when we get back, she’s a little indisposed at the moment.”
Confused looks before Brian spoke, “You didn’t do anything did you?”
Darius didn’t answer right away as he rummaged through her pack to find everything he thought she might need.
“Darius?” Brian growled.
“Me? No, but let’s say there’s a swamp, a large one, over to our left I’d say about two hundred feet or more.”
Brian and Gregan exchanged looks before Gregan spoke. “And I take it, she found it?”
A grin split Darius’ face as he held up the clothes. “Oh yeah.” And he left to go find her.
While Darius was gone, Vitaria scouted around until she found what she was looking for. Luckily it wasn’t far away from where Darius had left. The clean water was just past where she took her putrid misstep. A fair sized feeder stream flooded clean water into a bowl shaped area. Vitaria spied some red willow close by and snapped off the longest piece she could find. She went back to the inlet and poked the bottom to see how deep the silty mud was. It wasn’t too deep, being as it was a feeder stream it pushed the silt further into the swamp. Next point of business was to find a large, large stone so she could scrape the bottom free of soft mud and hit a firm bottom. When she accomplished this she would be able to stand up to wash off. It didn’t take long to find it. She managed to pull it free with a fair amount of effort and a moderately large sucking sound. It seemed that the mud was unwilling to yield its treasure even for an elf willing to give up her life to protect it. It was icy cold and wet, causing her hands to almost immediately begin to ache from it.
No point putting off the inevitable. Taking a deep breath she jumped into the thigh deep water. Grabbing the rock with both hands she quickly began to scrape the bottom. Swirls of soft silt rose in a brackish cloud that was quickly carried away from her with the incoming current. Working as quickly as she possibly could in the numbing cold, Vitaria cleaned out a fairly decent sized area. Standing in the water had loosened some of the foul-smelling muck so Vitaria went to one of the bogs and grabbed a large handful of the dried grass growing on top of it. She cut her hand on the course, brittle grass as she tried scrubbing at the gross gunk. The harder she scrubbed the more it dawned on her that she might get the mud out, but the smell was there for good. She gave up as she climbed out of the water. She shivered in the sunshine, quickly looking about for some soap weed. She saw nothing. Her gazed switched from down to up. Vitaria saw the witch hazel. She went to the thicket and snapped off some of the lower branches, stripping them of their leaves until she had a large pile. Gathering them up she was headed back to the water when she heard Darius’ whistle. Vitaria whistled back. It didn’t take him long to find her and took a second to speak.
Vitaria was soaked to the skin and her clothes clung tightly to her figure. Darius couldn’t help it as his gaze slid down then back up to her face. She saw it, but said nothing. His expression was more of a surprise than anything else.
“Ahh…did you find any soap weed?” Darius asked. His eyes fixed on hers.
‘No, but I did find some witch hazel.”
His nose twitched slightly as the smell wafted his way. She saw the face even though he tried very hard not to let the smell bother him.
“Well maybe it will help with the smell, but I’m sorry to say I think your clothes are done for.”
The sun warmed the clothes enough for the stench to drift up to her own nose. She wrinkled her nose. “I think you’re right Darius.” She looked at the clothes in his hands and reached out for them. Darius pulled them back out of her reach.
“Hey! Give them to me.”
“No. I’ll set them over there for you so you don’t get any of that nastiness on them.”
She looked at her hands before nodding her head in agreement. “Did you get the right stuff?”
He gave her a dumbfounded look. “Just cause I am a guy doesn’t mean that I got out of doing laundry. And you forget I do have a sister. Remember?” His eyebrows arching up and down for emphasis
“Yes, I remembered just set them over there please.” As she pointed to an area that was dry, but quite near to where she was going to wash up.”
“Go ahead and wash your arm so I can clean up.”
“Yes Mame.” His voice slightly mocking, but he did as he was asked. When he was finished, he began to walk away. “I’ll leave you to your privacy.”
“Don’t go too far.”
“Oh” His expression changed.
She gave him a hard look. “I need you to keep an eye peeled while I wash up, and don’t look at me.” She paused for a second before adding. “Just pretend that I’m your sister.”
Darius made a disappointed face. “Oh, you’re no fun.”
“Nor am I an exhibition. Just do your job as a fellow soldier.”
“Most fellow soldiers.”
“Darius! I’ll have to hurt you.”
“Spoilsport. I’ll wander over there and admire the scenery.”
“Don’t just admire it, be watchful.”
“Yes Mame.”
A grumbled “You’re impossible.” dogged his footsteps. He just chuckled.
“Stop laughing.”
“Who’s laughing. Just doing as asked.” A clod of dirt whizzed past his shoulder.
“Missed.”
“I wasn’t aiming, smart man.”
“Heh heh.”
Vitaria waited until he was several yards away before she began to peel the wet clothes off, throwing them away from her. Darius heard them land with a wet plopping sound as they hit the ground. Gritting her teeth she slid back into the cold water. As cold as the water was with her clothes on