Page 20 of Raw

Not necessary.

Two pairs of boots were enough as well.

I watched Vespyr climb down the ladder before I followed her, then I watched her walk toward Papa and hug him, showing him how grateful she was for him.

“Sleep well, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Yes, you? Have you been up for long?” Vespyr asked back, and to not stand there like an idiot, I walked over to the bin to wash my face.

“Not really. I’ve tidied around the camp a little. Still have a few things to do, but we’ll get to have some time together later tonight, deal?”

“What about breakfast?” Ves asked.

“I had some of the salmon jerky earlier. I’ll pack you some for when you and Fennec go down to the river, sound good?”

If she had asked him to go fishing, and if I had other things to do like hunt, he would’ve gone with her.

No doubt.

But it was me he was avoiding, and at times, I was doing the same.

It was messy before she came.

Real fucking messy.

“That’s perfect. Thank you, Papa.”

I finally turned back around after splashing water into my face and letting the air dry my skin again.

“I’ll leave you two to it. Have fun, and don’t forget the worms.”

Papa brushed along Vespyr’s hair before walking past her and heading over to his tent to continue fixing the holes in the fabric.

He’s been fixing them for days now, and it seemed whenever he closed one, a new one right next to it appeared.

“Breakfast?” Vespyr asked.

I gave her a quick nod and pointed to the portable cooler close to the firepit.

It didn’t keep our food as cold as in the winter when we had snow, but it helped keep it safe from animals who tried to get into it and steal our food.

We’ve only ever had one bear try and take the box but instead of getting food for himself, we had gained dinner and lunch for the next week or two.

That’s how it worked in the wilderness.

No empathy.

*

“Oh, my! Look at all these fish!” Vespyr called out as we arrived by the river where I was always successful in catching fish for lunch and dinner.

“Told you I found a great spot. We can’t catch too many though. They’ll go bad unless you wanna eat fish jerky for the rest of the month,” I joked.

“I wouldn’t mind,” she said with a grin.

After we both took off our boots and rolled up our pants, we headed into the water and got our net ready.

As much as I liked catching them with my spear, this was the easier method.

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