“I didn’t know you could swim,” Drakis said, moving to the shore of the pool and sitting down.
Mala took in a luxurious breath. “Neither did I, but I must have learned at some point. It feels so right. . and I’ve probably left so much of the road in this pool that it will probably foul the stream for several months. Oh, but it’s good to be clean again! What do you think of my hair?”
Mala turned around. Her red hair was wet, but he could already tell it was shaped differently than he remembered. “That’s a new look for you. When did that happen?”
Mala smiled and turned her head. “Several of the women from Nothree took it upon themselves to trim my ragged mop into this more pleasing form. Do you like it?”
“Yes,” Drakis said as he reached down and removed his sandals, “I like it a great deal.”
“Now, you can stop right there,” Mala said, though there was a smile still playing at the edges of her pout. “I said this is my pool, and brutal warriors are not allowed to share it.”
“I just want to put my feet in,” Drakis complained. “Surely you cannot deny me the opportunity to wash these travel-weary feet?”
“You? Travel weary?” Mala said. “You’ve done nothing but travel, Drakis-and dragged us all along with you.” She affected a serious look on her face, lowering her voice. “We go north! Keep going north! Don’t know where it is. . but it’s north!”
“Fine, have your laugh,” Drakis said, though he was chuckling as well. He slipped his feet into the water. “But it got us here, Mala. . and here is not a bad place to be.”
“No,” she said softly. “Here is a good place.”
Drakis paused for a moment and then, reaching up over his shoulders with both arms, grabbed the back of his tunic and pulled it off over his head.
“You can just stop right there, warrior-boy,” Mala said sternly.
“It’s a mess!” Drakis replied holding out the rumpled cloth. “Look at it! Hasn’t been washed in weeks. . I’ll bet it would move on its own if I left it standing. People won’t talk to me, Mala, for the stench of it. This shirt needs a cleaning. . it’s just a courtesy.”
Mala giggled. “Those are the worst excuses I have ever heard! Can’t you come up with something more creative?”
“ ‘Warrior-boy?’ ” Drakis smirked.
“Very well, that wasn’t my best either, but you have me at a disadvantage.”
“So you need clothes to think?”
Mala smiled through her pout once more. “I don’t seem to be thinking very clearly without them.”
Drakis laughed again, plunging his shirt deep into the pool. Then he drew the wet cloth up, wrung it out and then stopped, just holding it.
“What is it, Draki?” Mala asked, her lithe arms making eddies in the surface of the pool.
He stopped. “It’s good to hear you call me that again.”
“So what is it?” she urged.