29 A pairing of opposites

 I swam toward the sampan and lifting myself up on the side of the boat, I peered in.
"You are not going to keep all this are you? How will you carry it for a start." I reached down into the boat and turned some of the stuff over, "No, this has to go back, you can't keep all this."
He brushed my hands away from the clothes, "Don't touch them, you're wet, you'll get them all wet! You! You! You're naked!"
I blinked, "and?"
"You can't come near me, you're, you're," waving his hands in my direction, "after all I have standards I have to live by, I don't touch ladies let alone look at them as undressed as you are!" He covered his eyes and I just looked at him both in shock and amusement.
" Look at me!" I growled, "If you want to learn about my world then you enter my world. You bring with you minimal belongings, a willingness to learn, and an acceptance of my ways." With this I looked deeply into his eyes, flashing the menace I reserved for marauding wolf packs, "and if it upsets your senses then go home!!" The final two words were emphasized in their ferocity, I really didn't want this young man around me what-so-ever.
With that, I lowered myself out of the boat and began pushing it to shore. As I reached shallow waters, I stood up in all my nakedness and pulled the boat ashore.
Ignoring him, I turned to my clothes and, drying myself off on a piece of muslin cloth I had saved as  a towel, I dressed in my soft skins and re-tied my boots. Shaking out the muslin cloth, I laid it out over a shrub to dry then turned to face the young man who had descended upon me. 
His face was a picture.

I was still in shock. I had rarely seen a man naked before, and she stood there without....( I couldn't frame the words) as if it was the most normal thing to do. I really didn't understand. How could she be so brazen? Does she have no shame? I shook my head and realised my face was burning with embarrassment.
She was already at the boat, picking over the belongings I had brought. She threw a few items onto the ground and grabbed two skins and a muslin bag.
"Right young man, this is what you keep," she said pointing at the ground, "and the rest you take back. When you get there, ask one of your servants for a set of their clothes and change into them. This is far too bright and there is too much cloth fluttering around to catch on things. It will place us both in danger. Oh," she continued, "that silver thing in your hair. That'll have to go too. Replace it with a strip of cloth or leather." I looked stumped, 'all of it back home? How will I survive?' but I didn't dare cross her, she had concluded her conversation.
"Right, back in the boat and do as I've said or stay away. Your choice." and with that she turned away and brightened the fire. She looked over. I hadn't moved.
"Well, what are you standing there for. Get!" and she gesticulated to the water, "I'll be waiting."
 

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