83 A little time

We walked back slowly. 
The greens seemed greener, the trees more vibrant somehow. Noises appeared more friendly, wrapping round me with a blanket of familiarity. The river stood cool and tranquil, inviting me to rest a while.
"I can't go back just yet Xin, I need some time in the greenery" I looked at her, hoping she would agree. "Let's stop overnight and breathe a while before we go back to the claustrophobia of the garrison."
She knew exactly what I meant. 
"Yep. Agreed. I need a quiet time too, just to fish, collect some vegetables and sit quietly watching our world, as it glides by."
We walked toward the water's edge and found a good resting spot. It had the shade from surrounding trees and shrubbery, as well as an open area on which we could camp. 
Stripping down to our under garments, we dropped ourselves into the water and tipped our heads back.
The relief.
The feel of the water as it flowed through my hair was exhilarating. I lay there with just my face above the water and relaxed.
Some time later, I reached for my comb and pulling mud from the bottom of the river, plastered it over my face, neck and hair. Rubbing it in, I could feel the layers of dead skin sloughing away. The mud softened my hair and cleansed my scalp. After combing it and idling in the luxury of the waters, we hunted around for fish.
By this time the waters had cleansed not only our skin but our minds. Much of our experiences became past memories. The pain, the anguish, the tears were washed away in the flow of the waters.
We were on the road to finding ourselves once more. Laughter replaced tears, pleasure replaced the anguish and the mental pain moved from centre stage to stage right.
"Caught one!" Xin boasted, " so what you eating?" With that she wrapped her fish in her loose top and waded out the water. "I'll start the fire. Come on slow coach, catch your dinner." Her laughter peeled out and lifted my spirits further.
"Alright, give me a moment.....come to mama.....that's it....." with that, I grabbed a fish with my muslin, wrapped it up tight and waded out after her. "So where's this fire then? Come on slow coach, cook your dinner" 
We burst out laughing as we set about preparing our fish, wrapping it and lighting our fire.
Xin unrolled her skins and gathered the grasses for her mattress. 
As soon as I had my fish in the fire I too set up my bed. Without thinking we gathered the wood, collected vegetables, set up cooking pots and found our utensils. 
When we were done we both sat down and sighed, then looked at each other and laughed again.
"Freedom," it's all I said, but it said it all. Xin reached into her pack, " fancy a tea? I brought some with us just in case we stopped off?"
I nodded. She'd become like a sister to me. I felt I had known her all my life....she knew me so well, too. We shared an unspoken bond.
I laughed, "you didn't bring any sticky rice balls did you?"
"I tried," she said, " but they'd not been made when I went along to the kitchens."
I poked out my bottom lip, pretending to sulk.
"Careful, a bird might land on that!"

Second Master paced back and forth, "where are they? They should be back by now!"
He looked on these two women as important members of his family. He clucked over them like a mother hen, worried when they were here, worried when they weren't. He'd received word they'd be returning today but.....
His mind raced and like any worried parent, imagined different, and progressively worse possible scenarios. 
The only one he didn't think of was the most obvious; they'd stopped off to be themselves.
It was his chief aide who spoke first, "Sir? Is it possible they have stopped off and camped for the night? They do prefer being outside to being indoors." He always spoke such sense. Second Master turned and earnestly looked at him, "go on.."
"Well," replied his aide, "after everything the ladies have been through they must be mentally exhausted. The sight of quiet countryside would be a perfect invitation for them to rest and recover?"
"I hope you're right. Even so, send out two scouts to see if they can locate them. If they are camped, leave them and report to me. I don't want to disturb them, but I'd feel happier if I knew where they were."
'I'll still worry until I see them,' he mithered inwardly at himself.

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