Cold Camp Hand Job
Camp first night since fleeing Shadar Logoth and being separated from the rest of the traveling party.
"Perrin, your lips are blue and your clothes are still wet, give them here," Egwene ordered as the sunset on their small campsite among the pine trees.
Perrin was freezing. In the cool evening air, his body shivered as the sun sank lower in the sky. After the deep dunking in the river even a day of walking and the occasional ride on Bela had not dried his clothes or relieved the cold from his bones. He lost his horse, cloak, and meager possessions as he swam to safety. While Egwene made camp, he had brushed Bela's coat and used the feed bag with a small handful of oats to feed her. She had been watered earlier. Now he knelt by the fire his mind foggy having only eaten a small wedge of cheese on a hard cracker for super. Egwene spoke to him, reaching out a hand. It took a moment to process what Egwene had said.
"What, my clothes?" he said numbly. He was having trouble focusing. Had it really just been last night they were running for their lives from the Myrddraal and Trollocs as they escaped the cursed city.
He stood looking at the small fire that Egwene had made while he tended Bela. A simple circle of stones encircling a small crackling flame. He dropped a few small pieces of wood he had feathered with his axe head on the flames. Still, he was not warm. The small kettle used for boiling water was sitting on a rock in the fire. The firelight barely lit the small hollow of ground they had taken shelter in.
"I will give you my cloak for now," Egwene said as she untied her heavy traveling cloak from her slender shoulders.
He was cold, back in Emond's Field she was treated like an apprentice Wisdom, having learned some of Nynaeve's knowledge. Egwene had worked hard after the attack in Two Rivers to save lives and give comfort. So tonight, as he shivered cold, he listened to her orders.
Perrin stood and unbuttoned his wet coat and handed it over to Egwene who dropped it over a piece of cordage strung between two trees near the fire. He doubted the small flames could do much, but he did not want to fight with the small girl. Her big brown eyes were watching him as he pulled his dirty white linen shirt over his head and handed it over.
"Now your pants after you set your wet boots near the fire." She said having continued to drape clothes over the line. She held her cloak bundled in one arm. Egwene stood a good two heads shorter than him in her flat shoes.
Perrin sat on Bela's saddle which was laid out at the head of Egwene's blanket roll near the small fire. He removed his boots and then socks until he sat only in his damp undershorts. Handing each to Egwene in turn. He folded his arms across his chest and put his hands under his armpits. His nipples were hard from the cold but sheltered under his arms. Behind him, he heard Egwene before he felt her fingers touch his damp curly hair.
"Here you go, wrap this around yourself and lay down." He felt the heavy cloth of her traveling cloak drop onto his shoulders. He snugged it over him as he did as he was told laying back on the blankets, head on the saddle. "Now your drawers," she said matter of fact, hand out. He sighed, then handed them over.
He must have dozed off. Opening his eyes, he felt her small body next to his. Perrin lay on his back with the cloak spread over them like a blanket. The night was pitch black and the partial moon was hidden by the trees, the small fire now amber coals. The cup of shared tea had warmed him briefly enough to let him doze.
Now he felt her small hand on his naked chest. She lay on her side on his right, also under the cloak on the blanket.
"Put your arm around me," she said in a quiet but sure voice.
Perrin lifted his right arm. First finding her silky curls in the darkness at his shoulder. Then his hand found her naked back at the same time he felt the flesh of her heavy breasts pressing against his chest.
He was more awake now, his heart pumping blood through his body. "What are you doing?"
