After three days of intense training, Adina's body complained as she sleepily rolled over on the tarp. Training with Asher seemed to be made up of equal parts exhilaration, frustration, and to her surprise, fun. She'd never felt much like a fighter. She knew enough to keep people's hands off her and had been shown how to use a gun, but beyond that, fighting wasn't something she ever thought she'd be good at.
She still wouldn't say she was any good, but even the little she'd learned so far made her confidence swell. Asher let her throw him to the ground over and over, so she understood how the techniques worked. Then he cajoled her to focus when she laughed as he got up off the ground. She wasn't laughing at him - but she just couldn't help it. It was like a tickle, a giddy giggle that bubbled up from somewhere inside her.
"I'm sorry," she'd said, covering her wide smile. "I don't know why I can't stop."
He smiled as he dusted himself off. "It's alright. You're recognizing what you can do." He stepped to her and grabbed her again. "But you still need to focus on the technique. Alright, again. Remember to turn your foot as you pivot so you don't put stress on your ankle."
But it came at a price. He was careful not to hurt her, and strong enough that he could control her body weight when he threw her, but she still hit the ground a
lot
more often than he did.
She grimaced at the sudden pain in her bruised shoulder as she pulled the blanket up, then fell back asleep, a smile brimming. Part of her soreness had nothing to do with training. Their sex was as physical as their training. They were fucking at least twice a day, napping and just lying together for long hours in between.
As they lay sweating together or tucked up against each other under the blanket against the night's chill, he'd told her more about Cosanti and other city states. Images of Cosanti played through her mind like the movies she'd heard about as she drifted back to sleep. Asher's descriptions of the vibrant city crept in often when she wasn't thinking of something else. The lush gardens that topped the faded and sunburned yellow stone of the outer walls, the expanses of green that spread out for hectares in every direction were sensuous fantasies of abundance. He said tens of thousands of people lived in and around Cosanti. She saw them walking down the lanes and streets he described. There were so many different colors and styles of clothing, newly manufactured, of hemp, bamboo, wool and even silk. And there were market stalls and cafes. Her mouth watered at his description of the foods and exotic spices. She could almost feel the cool breezes that sighed through the streets, moved by the giant windmills and turbines that dotted the rooftops and walls. Some of the turbines even hung mid-air, held aloft by huge balloons he'd described as
sky fish
, their long, brightly colored trailing tails and fins helping to keep them aligned to the wind.
Adina knew about honey. Years ago, one of the towns that had been razed by raiders had raised bees. So, she'd had it before, even though she barely remembered the taste. When he'd produced a straw of the amber liquid, she thought it was a trick. Until he'd cut the end off and put a dot on her tongue. They'd spent the rest of that evening reveling in the honey's sticky sweetness, enjoying it one drop at a time. He'd put a drop on her nipples, licking and sucking them until they weren't sticky anymore. He'd kissed down her belly and followed suit, putting a drop on her clitoris. She'd cum once as he licked and sucked her to clean it off, then again, her legs trembling, her hips bucking as his tongue played inside her, following where the honey might have gone.
The scene was happily replaying in her mind when she felt him press against her, pulling her body against him through the blanket.
"Come on sleepy." She leaned into the contact as he kissed her ear. "Time to get up, we've got work to do." He gave her a peck on the cheek then pushed up giving her a light swat on the backside as he stood up. "We're running today."
She grinned, her cheeks pulling hard as she rolled and stretched.
Their makeshift bed was still in the shade, but the sun was already cresting over the ruined buildings that towered above the bleached red stone walls of the rift. She got up and grabbed her clothes then went around the corner to where their latrine was. When she came back, Asher was sitting in the bearcat's open side hatch with a plate of food. There was another full plate sitting next to him.
He'd surprised her when he showed her the small crate of honey he had hidden in the bearcat. There were more than two hundred straws of it.
"I like honey," he'd told her. "And it's got a lot of uses." He held up the small box filled with straws. "For trade if nothing else." He nodded to her. "Your reaction is pretty typical."
"You're not testing it out on other all the girls the way you did with me, are you?" She'd leaned on her hands, watching him with narrowed eyes and a grin.
He cocked his head. "Do you think I go through all of this..." He gestured to the canyon, bearcat and their camp. "With every girl I run into in the wastes?"
"I don't know. Maybe you're just,
industrious.
" She leaned in and gave him a long kiss, their lips and tongues playing lightly.
"Too much of a pain in the neck." He eyed her. "Like you."
She dramatically feigned offense. "My delicate sensibilities!"
He sat back and closed the box. "If you had delicate sensibilities, I'd have left you behind."
She picked up the bowl he'd made up for her, a corner of her mouth up, stuck in a half smile at the memory of their honey play. She sat against the other side of the hatch, putting one of her booted feet on top of his.
"Running? Isn't that a bad idea?" She took a bite. It was the same thing they ate every morning. It wasn't very interesting, but she wasn't complaining. They ate three times a day,
every
day. And none of it had the skunky, spoiled flavor of things she'd eaten so often in the past.
"What do you mean?"
"Running is bad for you. You burn energy you don't have to, you breath harder, take in more toxins, and if it's cold, you can get pneumonia because of it."
He stopped eating, just watching her. It was his turn to look like he was trying to figure out if she was joking. When she didn't seem to be, he set his plate in his lap. "Are you serious? People say that?"
His look of unvarnished shock and disbelief drove into her like a boot heel through her center, right to her backbone. Any kick he might have landed was carefully controlled, but his expression... the sheer weight of his surprise and disbelief - almost
disgust
; he couldn't hide that.
She suddenly felt
stupid
; like a little girl making pronouncements in front of a room of adults who all clearly knew she was wrong. She knew his expression wasn't aimed at her, but it felt like he'd kick in the guts just the same.
"Yes. Well, it's..." she stammered. "It makes sense, right?"
He opened his mouth to answer, stopped, and just watched her. He closed his mouth again.
Now everything inside her was whirling. She could feel her cheeks redden as her embarrassment grew. And with it came anger. "What were you going to say?"
