25 Watching and working

 I'd spent the rest of the day gutting, jointing and skinning. Anything I couldn't use or wouldn't eat I had taken some distance away and left it for other forest livers. We all deserved to eat and I wanted to return as much as I had been given.
The first light broke over the lake and the worst of the bloody activity had been completed. I deserved to be clean again. I had washed most of it the night before but in the moonlight it is hard to distinguish exactly which is dirt and which is not.
Stripping off I walked into the waters once more and let the garlic juice, which had stiffened in my hair, drift into the surrounding waters. 
Combing once more, the last of the lice came out with their eggs and I was free of infestation for now. Washing the rest of me I luxuriated in the pleasures of floating amongst the lotus pads. I swam out and righted the pads and flowers which had been disturbed by the young men  and started gathering some shoots, young leaves and a couple of flowers. I would gather some tubers nearer the bank.
Returning to my camp I combed my hair once more and tied it back in one thick bundle. Using several leather thongs I tied it at regular points all the way down its length. I wished I had a long length which would allow me to cross tie it all the way down but I didn't and made do with the shorter lengths I had cut from skins in the past. 'My hair has certainly grown since then,' I grinned to myself.
How I had changed over the years. When I left home I was no more than a girl. I had only just begun my moon cycle. Now I was a woman and by social standards should be married and expecting children.
This didn't sit with me at all and I mused on these thoughts as I continued to clean the skin, removing the fat and tissue which was still attached.
 
I saw her as she swam. She lay in the waters and combed her hair. The smile on her face was intoxicating, the ease with which she moved in the water, spellbinding. She hadn't spotted me so holding the sampan perfectly still I gazed at her from afar.
I watched her as she rose out of the water, lithe, muscled, scarred. She had no fear, no embarrassment. She lived by her rules in her world and I was the visitor here. I felt both guilty and ashamed to be watching her in this way but I couldn't help it.
Slowly she put on some clothes which only accentuated her boyish curves. My heart missed a beat, she was so very beautiful.
I watched as she tied her hair in pieces of leather and this huge mane hung down her back. I saw her dropping off her collection of pieces from the lotus plant and then returning to the water to root for a rhizome.
I saw her settle with the skin on her knees, held by her toes, stretching it out as she scraped it.
Quietly I sculled in her direction staying in open water. I hoped I was far enough away not to be a problem but close enough for her to see there was no threat intended.
 

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