THE WILD HUNT

Temptress

KONA

"Where did you get all of this?"

I dropped a bag of supplies at Sae's feet. She was leaning against a palm tree, admiring the sea green fabric that clung to her body like a second skin. I tried not to stare too long at where it hugged the curvier areas of her and the skin it didn't cover.

She used the knife I gave her to cut the long yard of fabric into two sections. One section she secured around her chest and tied off in the back. It's two long tail ends were pulled around her shoulders and  held up by a intricate bow at the center of her chest. The other section of fabric she tied around her waist. It's large knot rested on her hip and it's billowy ends draped down the shaft of her exposed thigh, in a modest way. The makeshift skirt covered all of her right thigh and leg, leaving a large portion of her slender left leg exposed. Even though the tail ends covered it while she stood, when she walked it parted and her full leg was out.

I nearly broke my jaw when she came out from behind a thicket of trees, where she had been changing. She blushed, staring down at herself in a shy way that set my blood boiling, then mumbled something along the lines of... this was all I could manage, before walking past me. I found my eyes lingering on the sway of her hips before I snapped to my senses.

"Where did you get the money to purchase all of this?" She said, stooping down to rummage through the cloth satchel.

The leather belt that held her knife hung low across her hips and pulled the fabric of her skirt down below her navel. I felt my face turn red and averted my eyes.

Get it together Kona! I mentally slapped myself in the face.

"That old women I helped fish for back in Kobe gave me a few stones." It was a lie, but she didn't need to know. I knew she was flustered as is after we left that hut- over stealing from the blind. If only she knew the amount of things I had stolen with being apart of the Tewase.  Most of the things I had stolen were ordered by Cheif Na-Wakee of course.

"Wow. How generous of her. What is this?" Sae held up a string of pearly white shells.

I felt myself blush and fiddled with the strap of the satchel. "It's.... It's nothing. It's for you." Damn. Why was I blushing so hard. It's just a necklace.

"I saw it and thought you might like it. It's a necklace. A souvenir, you know... that sort of thing."

I thought it was pretty and thought that it would look pretty on you. Gah! Who am I?

I nervously looked up at her  and she gave me the biggest smile before pulling me into a tight hug.

"Thank you! I absolutely love it!" She beamed, pulling back.

I rubbed my neck. "It was nothing. Like I said, it's just a souvenir or sorts." I'm happy you like it.

She fixed it around her neck and went back to digging through the satchel. She pulled out two flint stones and rolled them between her palms.

"What are these?"

I grinned. "You ready to learn some basic survival skills?"

I watched Sae struggle to ignite a spark for the.... what number was it? Nine or tenth time? She growled, striking the stones over and over until she flung them to the side.

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Here, let me show you once more." I grabbed her hands and directed the movement of the stones against each other. "Now do it one more time. If you can't get it we'll move onto something else."