Kitalia’s finger seemed to move incredibly slow, as if through a vat of thick syrup. The anticipation was such that when she finally touched the side of his nose, he let out an audible sigh of relief. He felt his hands move slightly, as if by reflex to try and hug she who had saved his life, but he was able to keep them under control such that she wouldn’t have to make good on her threat.
“There,” she said after scratching his nose for about five seconds. “Now, go over to that pile of mud and spread it all over your hands. Every nook and cranny. Under your nails and halfway up your forearm, just in case.”
He was already diving for the indicated salve and was applying as much of it as he could as quickly as he could. Oddly, the mud was slightly warm rather than cool as normal mud would be, but Kre dismissed it as waves of relief were immediately felt on his hands.
After about a minute of smearing the mud all up and down his arms and all over his hands, he began to play with it a bit. He rolled it up into tiny balls and then smashed them between his fingers. He smacked his hands together and listened for the gratifying squelch of the mud. He even playfully cocked his arm back to throw a mudball at Kitalia, but one look at her face told that she would not find that amusing or playful at all.
“If you are quite finished?”
Kre sighed and nodded. Truth be told, he hadn’t felt this good in a while. Completely carefree and feeling like he was back in Mintas playing in a mud hole with his friends. “Sorry Kit. Let me just get cleaned off. Where was the stream?”
“What stream?” she asked, slightly confused. “We are headed to the river.” She gestured off in the direction they had been heading. “We might reach it tonight, but only if you stop taking so many breaks.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re ruthless and a cruel taskmaster?”
“Why yes, but they only say it once.”
“Understood,” Kre said with a grumble. “You can’t expect me to walk all day with mud on my arms. Just tell me where you found the water and I’ll go wash it off.”
Kitalia pressed her lips together and considered his request for a moment. “You should leave the mud on, just in case the irritants of the flower have not been completely nullified. You can wash off at the river.”
“Great,” he muttered. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic by covering every bit of my arms.”
“It will be good for your skin too,” Kitalia offered by way of trying to make him feel better.
Kre shuffled his feet and realized that he hadn’t put his boot back on yet. Cursing softly under his breath, he bent over and started to correct his oversight, all the while little bits of drying mud were flaking off and drifting down to the ground.
“Ready,” he called out as he stood back up. He glanced over and saw that Kitalia had already started hiking up the hill. With yet another sigh and a curse under his breath, he followed suit with his arms held slightly out to the side as he jogged.