The Island With No Parallel

Step Into Caorfi (part 2)

Manuel was coming this way. And here she was, completely naked laying in the shallows of the water. She didn't know what to do. She could hear his footsteps coming closer.

"Don't come any closer!" she shouted, scrambling to get to her clothes. Where did she put them?

"Yunara, is that you?" called Manuel's voice. He had to have been just around the bend now.

Yunara hurried through the water in a panic. In her confusion, her foot slipped on a rock smooth and slippery with moss. She was sent sprawling, floundering in the water like an idiot.

"Yunara?" Manuel said, coming around the bend.

"No!" Yunara shouted. She thrust a hand forward, a tendril of water following her gesture and pushing into Manuel's chest, sending him flying.

"¡Que--!" Manuel barely made out before hitting the ground hard in a gush of water.

"Close your eyes!" Yunara demanded, completely flustered, her brown cheeks tinting red.

Manuel grunted on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He covered his eyes with his hand, rolling to his side to get back on his feet. "Why did you do that?" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, I-I wasn't thinking. Keep your eyes closed!"Yunara got to her feet, trying to cover herself as much as possible as she started looking through the bushes for her clothes.

"They're closed, they're closed."

Frantically, she parted bunches of leaves and tall grass trying to remember where she put her clothes. Why did she swim so far away?

"What are you doing?" Manuel demanded impatiently.

"Looking for my clothes, I was bathing. That's why I told you not to come any closer!"

"How was I supposed to know? You just left without saying anything!"

"You were reading! I didn't want to bother you."

"You could have at least told me if you were going to be gone so long. You've been gone nearly an hour!"

Yunara didn't realize she had taken so long. Just where were her damn clothes? She had to admit she would have warned him about her leaving if he wasn't being so distant. But she decided not to say that, keeping her comments to herself to focus on looking.

"Are these your clothes? I think I just stepped on them."

Yunara's eyes fell to Manuel's feet. There was her bundle of clothes. "Yes, those are it," she said, her face turning a few tones redder.

Keeping his eyes closed, Manuel bent down and felt for her clothes. Sighing, he grabbed them and held them out. "Look at me. I'm completely wet!" he complained.

"I told you not to come any closer!" she said, taking them from his hands and hurrying to put them on.

"You didn't have to hit me!"

"I said I'm sorry. I panicked!"

"Are you dressed yet?"

"Almost, just wait."

Manuel sighed.

Yunara pulled her under garments on, then slipped her dress over her head. Her body was almost completely wetting her clothes, but she didn't have any other options.

"You can open your eyes now," Yunara permitted.

Manuel took his hand from his face saying, "Let's get moving. I'm tired of being here."