The following morning started with another revelation; fish is awesome.

I'd always thought they were pretty amazing animals, swimming in the ornamental pool at the center of the temple precinct with such grace and ease, I now discovered that they tasted great, too. I did feel slightly guilty that these poor dumb animals had been taken from the river and killed just to feed me, but that guilt dissipated when I tasted the first breakfast of my life consisting of something other than nuts and fruit. Still, I said a prayer for the soul of the fish when the men weren't looking. That may have been the first voluntary prayer I said in the last ten years. Funny how, when people aren't forcing you into it, stuff like that seems more important.

"How are we set for food?" asked Jax.

"We'll need to forage as we go," replied Killian, checking the horses' saddlebags.

Jax nodded. "Adrien, take the girl and forage - no reason she shouldn't earn her keep. The rest of us will go hunting. We'll meet back here before noon. Questions?"

None of them had a question but I nervously raised my hand. "Does it bother anyone that you don't even know what my name is?"

"No," said Jax. "Should it?"

"I suppose not."

"Good. Move out."

Although the men clearly enjoyed a joke between themselves, they were, in the end, trained soldiers and when Jax gave an order they obeyed immediately and without question. As I watched, Gage took a pair of spears from one of the horses, where they had hung long-ways at the animal's flank. Killian slung a bow about his lean body and attached a quiver of arrows to his waist. Knowing that most of the girls in the temple precinct would not have recognized these weapons or known what they were for, made me feel special and I wanted to tell the guys that I knew. I wanted to impress them with my knowledge, show them I was not the naive girl they might have thought me after last night. But I held my tongue. Actually saying 'I know what that is' might have made me look more naive, not less.

"Come on." Adrien, standing at the edge of the clearing with his horse, beckoned to me. I went to him and he untied my tether from around the tree and looped it into his belt. "There, if you try to run then you're going to have to take me with you."

"That doesn't sound so bad." I had no idea why I said it, the words were out of my mouth before I could check them and I instantly turned a bright red afterwards.

But Killian just grinned. "Either you know more than you let on last night or you're a quick learner. Either way; good."

"Okay, do you know what you're looking for?"

I nodded. "Edible fruits, berries, nuts, mushrooms - edible stuff." Finally, this was one area where I wasn't completely useless. Foraging in the area of forest that lay within the temple precinct was a regular job for the Chosen - sometimes it's like we were chosen to do chores. I also took my turn in tending the temple gardens, which contained a wide assortment of fruit, vegetables, herbs and so on. This was right in my wheelhouse.

"Good," smiled Adrien, "because, to be honest, I was never so much with the foraging. I always just come back with the same stuff. I was supposed to learn all that from a lovely girl when I was in school but... You know." He raised his eyebrows and then frowned. "Actually, you probably don't know. Anyway, I'll be relying on you to tell me which of these berries are delicious and which are deadly."

I laughed. Adrien was definitely the easiest of the men to be around, and it was almost as if we were just two friends out berry picking, if you could ignore the rope tied round my ankle that kept me secured to his waist.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"You don't trust me?"

Adrien shrugged. "You're a Sudder. I was brought up to not trust you. I know I seem like the cool one – and, obviously, I am - but you people can't be trusted."

"You people?"

"Calling it like I see it. Although," he went on, "I will admit that meeting you is making me potentially rethink my engrained preconceptions. But, on the other hand, you might just be putting on an act and using your feminine wiles to wind me around your little finger. And the guys would not be happy if I let a female prisoner go just because she was flirting with me. Not again."

"What are 'wiles'?" I asked. I was learning a lot of new words and I had a hunch they were all related somehow. "And what's 'flirting'?"

Adrien nodded. "I'll give you this; if it's an act, then it's a convincing one."

We walked on, stopping here and there as we went to collect whatever food the forest had to offer. The trees here were similar to those in the temple precinct so, once again, it was almost as if I hadn't left, which was disappointing. But the company was a dramatic improvement.

"How about these?" asked Adrien.

"No."

"Will they kill me?"

"No, but they'll give you uncontrollable diarrhea."

Adrien nodded. "Okay, maybe we'll leave those then. I prefer my diarrhea to be controllable."

I laughed. I had been laughing a lot, in fact. Adrien wasn't one of those people who seem like they have to be funny all the time, he was just effortlessly witty. He made me laugh without even trying, just by being himself. I'd never spent time with anyone like him. Come to think of it, I'd never spent such carefree time full stop. Laughter, while it was acknowledged to be one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon mankind by the gods, was also deeply frowned upon by Caretakers and Priests alike - which had always confused me. The more I thought about it the more counter-intuitive it seemed. In the temple precinct there was never any chance of us starving to death and yet foraging was an extremely serious matter, and anyone not taking it seriously would find themselves punished. Out here we were hunting for the food that would keep us alive, and yet it was lighthearted and easy-going. I felt as if I was experiencing a whole other way of living - a way that allowed you to enjoy life.

Or perhaps it was just that Adrien made me feel that way. At first, it was simply that I found him good company, something I had previously only experienced with Sadie. But as we moved on through the forest I became aware of something else, something for which I had no prior frame of reference. I was noticing the way he moved, casual but deliberate - like a jungle cat on its day off from hunting. My eyes picked out the way the muscles in his arms moved against each other when he reached up to pick a berry, and the way his calves bulged as he stood on tip toes. I found my gaze lingering on the stubble that had formed overnight on his chin, making him look rough and ill-kempt and yet... and yet also something else that I couldn't put a word to. I dwelt too long on his sharply blue eyes, that sparkled like sapphires when the light caught them just right. Sometimes I was sure I felt those eyes moving over my body in the same way mine moved over his, though I could not imagine the reason why. The sensation of looking at him - and the realization that he might be looking back at me - made me feel a strange tightness in my tummy, as my whole being was converging on that point and twisting into a knot. In addition, I felt hot and sticky, as if Adrien's eyes were superheating my body.

All in all, they were symptoms similar to having the flu, but instead of feeling icky I felt amazing, like happiness was dancing along every nerve in my body.

"Look." Adrien pointed upwards and I saw a beehive hanging from the branch of a tree. "Honey would be a nice treat for everyone. Gage loves honey. You want to get Gage onside? Give him honey. He's like a bear."

"I'd noticed."

"Hold my bag, I'll climb up."

I looked at him incredulously.

"What?"

I pointed. "Look at those branches. You think they'll hold your weight?"

He wasn't wearing his armor and he wasn't as big as Gage, but Adrien was still a lot of man - a lot of muscle - and I couldn't imagine the bough holding him.

"I think that's a mean thing to say but I guess you do have a point."

"I'll climb up," I said, resolutely.

Adrien frowned. "Are you sure? I'm not sure how safe it is. If you fall..."

"Then you'll catch me." And there was a tone to my voice I hadn't heard in it before and hadn't intended. "That is; we're tied together. If I fall then the rope will snag a branch and your weight will keep me from hitting the ground."

"There you go; harping on my weight again."

Before I began to climb, Adrien unfastened the rope from my ankle and tied it around my waist instead, 'for safety'. He then let out a bit of slack on my tether to allow me to climb up the trunk. It wasn't like this was my first time taking honey from a wild hive - we did it in the precinct when the bees we kept were under-producing. There was an art to it - bees aren't looking for trouble, they're not looking to sting anyone, so if you just go in gently and don't get greedy then you'll be fine. The hard part, I found, was not freaking out when you had all these little animals crawling across your skin. Gives me the heebies.

Reaching the slim branch from which the hive hung, I began to crawl out along it. It was immediately obvious that there was no way Adrien could have done this, but it was also starting to look like maybe I couldn't either. The branch was starting to bow to an alarming degree. From up ahead of me I heard a pitch change in the constant buzzing that emanated from the hive - they had noticed that shit was going down. Back at the temple, I would have quit at this point, even with the knowledge that Caretaker Harvest and her switch were waiting for me if I failed - I'd rather a beating than bee stings - but with Adrien looking up at me and the others waiting and the prospect of making Gage smile, I went on. I think that I wanted to impress them.

"Umm... Are you sure this is a good idea?" Adrien's voice came nervously from the ground.

"Not as sure as I was," I admitted.

"I think maybe let it go. Honey's not so great."

"No, I can do it." I edged on another few inches. The branch moved and the buzzing up ahead intensified. "Okay, maybe you're right."

I started to edge my way back, but as I reached the trunk and safety, I let go of the branch too sharply and it twanged back up, shaking the hive.

"Oh no."

A cloud of angry bees emerged, and I would have been prepared to swear that they all turned to look right at me.

"Get down," yelled Adrien.

"Great idea, why didn't I think of that." That was the sort of sarcasm that got me in serious trouble back in the precinct, but I was already in serious trouble. I'm a great tree climber. I've been climbing trees and getting punished for it my whole life. But no matter how good you are at climbing, up is a hell of a lot easier than down, especially when you're panicked and being pursued by bees. I lost my footing and fell.

I heard Adrien say, "Oh no," as I fell, then the rope around my waist pulled me up short, caught around a branch and with Adrien acting as a counterweight on the ground. I dangled there in mid-air, a sitting duck for the angry bees. With a grunt of effort, Adrien yanked the rope hard enough to break the branch around which I was caught and I fell the remaining six feet to the ground.

But the bees were still after me. I remembered that we had passed a pool on the way here, fed by a stream that wended through the forest. Springing to my feet, with the buzzing loud in my ears, I took off in the direction of the pool as fast as I could go.

I heard Adrien behind me, laughing at my predicament, and then heard him say, "Oh shit," as he realized we were still tethered and that I was stopping for nothing. Next moment, I heard him running, too, forced to follow me.

"Where the hells are you going?"

I saw the pool up ahead.

"No. No! NO!"

But I could hear the bees buzzing close to my ears, moving in for the attack and I was stopping for no one. Reaching the edge of the pool, I threw myself into the water. As I did so, the rope around my waist pulled taut and I heard a loud following splash as Adrien was tugged in after me.

We both sat up in the water as the bees dispersed.

"Didn't you hear me yelling?"

I shrugged innocently. "I didn't know you were talking to me."

Adrien eyed me. "Alright, you win. What is your name?"

"Aleah."

He shook his head, water spraying from his dark hair. "It's nice. But I do hate to humanize prisoners."

"I'm human."

"I know, and it was a lot easier to ignore that when you didn't have a name. It's like giving a name to a stray dog. Once you've done that you've got to keep it."

"You're comparing me to a dog."

"I wouldn't do that. You're a Sudder, and I like dogs."

We both stood up in the water and I bit my lip as I noticed the way Adrien's robe clung to his body now it was wet. Parts of him that I had hitherto only been able to imagine were now outlined by the wet fabric. I found myself staring at the taut cheeks of his bottom. Why would I be looking at that? And why would it make me feel that strange tightness in my tummy stronger than ever? I tried to look away but my eyes only lighted on his chest, where his tunic had fallen away, disheveled to reveal the sculpted muscles, gleaming with water.

It was only then that I noticed Adrien's returning stare and looked down at myself. The pristine white robe of the Chosen that I still wore was soaked to transparent impropriety. The cold water had made my nipples hard and pointed and they pressed urgently against the see-through material, as if they were trying to get through it, while the gentle swells of my breasts were now delineated by the wet cloth. I cringed beneath Adrien's gaze, which seemed almost pained. I saw his eyes travel down and gasped as I realized that the clinging fabric had also outlined my most private area, that place in which, the Caretakers insisted, nothing of any interest ever happened. Adrien seemed pretty interested in it right now. Showing a modesty that I did not even know I had - for once following the guidelines of my upbringing - I turned my back on Adrien, though I quickly realized that this just meant I was displaying my backside to his unflinching gaze.

"We'd best get dried off." There was a thickness in Adrien's voice as he spoke, and when I turned to look at him as he got out of the pool, I saw him surreptitiously adjust the front of his tunic where a curious bulge had formed. It seemed to move like a living thing.

Averting his eyes as much as was possible, Adrien helped me out of the water and then led the way back to the tree where we had left our forage. Though I felt guilty for doing it, I could not help staring at his bottom as he walked in front of me. The firm oval cheeks moved against each other as he walked in a way I found almost hypnotic.

So captivated was I that when he turned around suddenly, I almost walked into him and found myself standing close enough to feel his breath on my forehead.

"Aleah..."

Of its own volition, my body seemed to sway towards his, but Adrien took a step back.

"I think we've got enough food now. Let's head back."

I nodded. As we set off back through the forest, I found myself embarrassed by what had happened and confused by how I had felt at the time. But also very curious.