by Aaron Hicks
Repus said, “At least the guy who likes your girl isn’t her husband in the play, like Curiel is playing Leilani’s husband.”
Esolc laughed and said, “Yes I am.” With the understanding that he, himself, liked Pamfilo and he, himself, was playing the part of her husband in the play.
“You know what I mean,” Repus said peevishly as they walked through the gate that led to the pool and the dining area.
Esolc said, “About Curiel. Yeah. It is a shame for you that, that bastard is handsome, funny, his grandfather’s the director, and his family owns half this island.”
“Thankfully, he can’t kick us out of the houses we’re living in, because we paid in advance,” Repus said with glee.
Esolc said, “No, his grandfather wouldn’t do that, we bought them for six months, and he likes that amount of money more than his grandkids love life.”
When Curiel had heard about Leilani and Repus’s nightly trysts he’d tried to force them out of their homes. But not only had they already paid the full amount due for the six months they had been helping out the people as part of Uktesh’s training. Curiel’s grandfather had refused to make them leave. Uktesh secretly believed that had he not continued his Heroes for Hire jobs, not only would Repus not have enjoyed the company of Leilani, but that, payment or not, they would’ve been asked to leave no matter what Esolc believed.
Uktesh instead said, “That reminds me that I have lists for your next training job for the three of you in my house. You don’t have to do them today, they are for tomorrow.”
After the first week word had gotten around that they would help people for free and all five of them had been flooded with requests for help. Uktesh had had Repus and Esolc build a Heroes for Hire job board where people could put a contract on the board and it would be up to Uktesh which jobs to take, but they no longer worked for free. Each person requiring help had to put their name, address, need, and price that they would pay. Once Uktesh had the paper, the first thing Uktesh’s three trainees did was meet with the person who had posted the job. They did this to ensure that the person actually existed and had put a job on the board. Then they would do the job and return for payment, which they then took to Uktesh along with the original job posting. Then they were done. Uktesh would then add the money to the Heroes for Hire fund. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it, but they had so much money that he wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to spend it all.
After the second round of jobs Uktesh had noticed two postings on the board that were for a fairly simple task, but for far more money than it was worth. Uktesh had gone to the addresses on the two posts only to find that the people there had not posted any jobs. Uktesh had been upset, but Laurilli convinced him that even though they were being generous with their time, a few people would still try to take advantage of them, but that most were honest and needed help.
The group got in line for breakfast and grabbed plates. There were eight lines--three meat lines, an egg line, a bread line, a line just for the different jams, a drink line and dessert line. Uktesh went to the meat line, then the egg line, then the bread line, and then the jams. Once he had two plates full, he went to the drink line and got a cup of a tart berry juice. He then found the table that they used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and sat at his usual spot.
They took their time eating as they had nothing that they needed to do until noon, then nothing until after supper. “I think I’ve become used to all the topless women walking around, if they’re just walking around, but when Leilani and Pamfilo talk to me, I get uncomfortable,” Uktesh said. “I mean give me a break at best I can only look at them from neck up, and with Leilani, I have to tilt my head back cause her, her,”
Repus supplied, “Fun bags.”
Heathyr exclaimed with a laugh, “Repus!”
Repus and hand to his heart, in mock shock, “What? I stand by my words.”
Uktesh continued, “Yeah, those are right at my eye level, because she’s so tall, I have to either look anywhere but at her, or I have to crank my neck back, to avoid her,” Uktesh paused.
“Fun bags,” Repus added with glee.
“Fun bags, fine, and with Pamfilo it’s the opposite, she’s so short I have to look down and I either have to look at the top of her head, or not at her, so that I don’t get them in my peripheral vision.”
“Why’s that?” Esolc asked innocently.
Uktesh didn’t catch on and said, “It’s because with her she’s almost all fun bags.”
“Yeah she is,” Esolc said with a laugh.
At the same time that Laurilli said, “Hey!”
Uktesh grinned but didn’t look at her, “But both of their fun bags can’t compare to a single one of Laurilli’s.”
“Damn straight,” she said.
At the same time Heathyr said, “You better not speak from experience!”
While Esolc sputtered, “What’s your math on those figures?” He grinned at his own unexpected pun and elbowed Repus, who rolled his eyes and nodded that he understood.
“No ma’am,” Uktesh answered Heathyr with a grin as he pointedly ignored Esolc.
Repus tried to steer them back to the theater discussion, “Yeah. But they’re not the only ones you avoid looking at. When you’re at play rehearsal I noticed that you pretty much only look at Laurilli. At first I thought it was a love thing, but now I’m thinking it’s an ‘ignore my surroundings’ thing.”
“I do?” he thought about it as he ate a crisp piece of razorback bacon, “I hadn’t noticed.”
The adults laughed at that, but Uktesh looked at Laurilli and could tell she didn’t know why they had laughed either, which made the adults laugh harder. “You two are sweet,” Heathyr said and patted Uktesh on the arm.
Uktesh contented himself with another bite of the bacon before he winked at Li out of view of the adults. She responded with a sultry look that caused him to suddenly need a drink of his juice. “Are you guys going to go to the bonfire after the play practice,” Laurilli asked to change the subject.
A woman from another table leaned in, smiled brightly, and asked, “Did ya’ll say bonfire?” She held out her hand palm down to Repus who grasped her fingers, shook her hand up and down, and then let go.
Heathyr said, “You’re supposed to kiss the back of her hand.”
The woman laughed it off, “S’okay! I’m Annabeth Laurant, this is ma husband Guy.” She pronounced it “Gee.” “We couldn’t help but overhear ya’lls lively conversation. We’re new to this island, just landed yesterday. We were too gall-darned tired from travellin’ to explore this beautiful island. We’re gonna do that taday, but if there’s a bonfire, we’d love to go! Wouldn’t we Guy.”
Guy just nodded tiredly. Annabeth frowned for a moment, before she smiled widely and said, “Well, ignore him. I always do! Anyways, I don’t want to intrude, but I’ll say, ‘Hey,’ to ya’ll at the bonfire. Ya’ll go on back to ya’lls conversation before I so rudely interrupted ya’ll.” She turned around and began to eat her food.
Uktesh noticed that his cup was empty and before anyone said anything he asked, “I’m getting myself a refill. Does anyone want one?”
Heathyr said, “A glass of the sweet berry, please.”
Laurilli said, “I would like a glass of the tart berry, thank you.”
Repus said, “I would like just some water.”
Esolc said, “Just water for me too.”
Uktesh frowned at them, and sent a level look their way, “You guys suck.” They all laughed, knowing he didn’t have enough hands for five drinks.
Laurilli got up and said, “I’ll help you.”
“Thank you, fiancée of mine,” he said and kissed her cheek. Impulsively, he then kissed her passionately on the lips.
Breathlessly she touched her lips and said, “You’re welcome.”
“Okay, let’s go.” He offered her his arm, and they walked two steps away before his blush became noticeable. He looked over his sho
ulder at the stunned adults, “That’s why we got the lead roles.”
They made it to the food and drink room before their blushes became noticeable. She turned to him with a huge smile and said, “Did you see their faces! That was amazing, and that was an amazing kiss! What was that thing you did with your tongue?”
“I saw some of the people on beach doing it and I was going to try it with you last night, but well,” he felt his blush deepen along with hers. “Yeah, that happened.”
“A total disaster,” she said with a smile.
“Total, but I would be willing to try again.” He literally could not stop his smile from growing.
“I know you would. It was your idea!”
“It felt good at first,” he said.
Then together they said, “Until the fishes!” and had a laugh about their first attempt to swim in the ocean without any clothes. They quickly filled the drink orders. Li took three of them and Uktesh two since his hand still didn’t grip well.
The table was silent when they returned and Li asked, “So tonight?” as she handed out the drinks.
Heathyr said, “Oh, I think I’ll go. I don’t know what to expect, but it’ll be a new experience no matter what, and new experiences are fun as long as you don’t get hurt.”
Uktesh had started to take a drink at that moment, but ended up snoring into his cup so hard juice came out his nose, “Sorry, wrong tube,” he choked out. He caught the glance Li sent his way and they mentally communicated, by mutual decision, that they would take it to their grave that he had said those exact words to Laurilli the previous night. It didn’t help that Laurilli was once again bright red. He knew he was too, but he, at least, could blame it on near-death by fruit juice. Uktesh knew that the three adults knew they were in the dark on something, but couldn’t figure out what.
Laurilli stood up and said, “I’m full. Are you Tesh?” She had decided to rename him Tesh in a failed attempt to stop his use of the name Li, but Uktesh liked the nickname, as he’d never had one before.
“Indeed I am,” he said as he gulped down the rest of his juice, grabbed his plates and cups and dumped them in the dirty dishes bin.
He took her offered hand as they Rushed out of the eating area. She shouted back to her mom, “We’ll see you at the docks!”
As they ran back to their house, Uktesh relished the feel of the wind through his hair, but the feeling was over too soon. Laurilli unlocked the door and they went inside to for towels. Once inside, Laurilli slammed him into the door, with a kiss that took his breath away. She tried the tongue thing too. “‘Fare thee well my love, may my love guide and protect thee,’” she said her line in the play.
He kissed her back with equal passion. After a time he broke away and said, “‘With this kiss I know that no arrow will pierce my armor, no sword my skin, and no fear my heart.’” She kissed him again, and he returned it until they were equally breathless. As they broke away he saw real heat in her eyes, “‘I will come back for thee, wait for me, I will come for thee.’”
Following the direction from the play, he walked away without a glance back. He went into the bathroom and came out with two towels.
“I think that we should do it like that tonight,” she said, still breathless.
“I don’t think, ‘exactly like that,’ will be good,” he said with a smile.
“What? Why? That was hot, and no one will expect it!” she cried.
“Well, unless the next scene is a love-making scene, I won’t be in the right frame of mind to go fight an Afflicted beast.” She gave him a questioning look to which he responded, “Well, a part of me is ready for a different type of engagement.”
“Oh,” she said and smiled. “Did someone enjoy that too much?”
“Well, you are tremendously beautiful, and that was extremely enjoyable. I will simply need a minute,” she gave him a look that made his heart beat faster, “or two before we go to the beach.”
“I need to go to the restroom anyway,” she said. He sat on the bed, unable to focus on anything except how she had looked last night, just before going into the water. In order to distract himself he thought about the perfect form of spear. By the time Laurilli was ready to go, he was too.
They locked up the house and began their trip to the beach. It was a quick walk and they enjoyed it, holding hands as they went. A group of kids their age ran by, and one stopped to shout, “Tesh, Li, der’s a baby leviat’an in da lagoon! Come on! We’re goin’ ta wa’ch da hunta’s kill it!” The boy who stopped was named Cimmie. Like the islanders he had long dark hair and tan skin. At five feet five inches, the same as Uktesh, he was tall for an islander. He had a deep scar from his right shoulder to his left hip where a blade bird had nearly killed him.
Uktesh turned toward Cimmie and asked, “Is it bigger than the one last week?”
“Na,” Cimmie said and jogged backwards to try and keep up with his friends. “D’ey t’ink it’s t’irty feet.”
Uktesh turned to Laurilli and asked, “Do you wanna see it?”
“No, thank you. Cimmie, come join us at the beach when you’re done.”
He said, “I’ll do d’at!” He sprinted to catch up with his friends.
They stopped by the bar that Leilani worked at and said, “Hi,” to her, and bought a bottled drink to share before they continued on to the beach. They had finished the drink before they arrived at the beach and sold the bottle to one of the bars by the beach for a copper and got another drink this time they had to pay four coppers, as they hadn’t made a deal with this drink vendor.
Once they got to the beach they laid their towels down with rocks to keep them in place. It was already hot by this time of the day. Uktesh removed his sweaty shirt and sandals. Laurilli took off her sandals and her pareo and asked Uktesh, “Are you just going to stare at me or are we going to swim.”
Uktesh said, “I choose stare!”
“I choose water,” Laurilli said coyly and ran toward the water.
“Out-voted again?” Uktesh asked as he chased after her. As she plowed into the water he Rushed, then Soared past her, dove over her head, and into the water. When he hit the water he felt his trunks slide off. He quickly pulled them back up and tied them tighter. He came up for air and found Laurilli in the middle of a laughter fit.
Laurilli laughed, “That’ll teach you to try to beat me!”
Uktesh blushed and said, “You saw?”
Laurilli gestured to the water and said, “The water’s like glass. I can see everything now that the sun’s out.”
He smiled and wiggled his fingers at her suggestively, “I guess it’s time to get even.”
“What? No! You stay away,” Laurilli said with a smile as she backed away from him.
He followed with grin and said, “You know, I never did pay you back for your ambush in the woods.”
He dove under the water toward her and reached out for her feet only to find nothing to grab onto. He had to surface again to relocate her. He saw her back-paddling away toward someone and shouted, “Watch out!”
She turned in time to avoid a collision and turned to apologize for the near miss. That’s when Uktesh caught up to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. She leaned back into him and he kissed her neck. She whispered, “You know you didn’t catch me. I just stopped out of common courtesy.”
“I’ll take a win when I can,” Uktesh said as he kissed her jaw, then her ear.
She let out a sigh and turned in his arms, “You better cool your jets before the clear water get you in trouble.”
“I’m fantastically cool, cool as ice,” he said, and without looking at the beach he said, “Your mom’s about to arrive.” He kissed her quick, then went back in for a longer kiss, and when he felt himself start to become excited dove away. When he came up for air he looked over to the shore and saw Heathyr and Esolc emerge from the break line and he waved to them. They waved, but stopped mid wave, right as Uktesh felt Laurilli jump on his s
houlders. When she pushed with her arms he quickly went under the water. He felt her jump off him and forcefully pull him toward the surface of the water.
He surfaced to see panic in her eyes as she continued to pull him toward the shore. Forty feet away, he could see the distinctive fin of a shark as it cut through the water toward them. He Rushed, grabbed Laurilli, and Soared with her in his arms, to the safety of the shallows He put Laurilli down and heard, then turned to see an explosion of water, followed by a shower of shark chunks raining down on them. “Eww!” Li said as she pulled a large piece of shark meat from her hair. “What happened to the shark?”
One of the kids who had been in the water said, “’e threw a bomb at it,” and pointed to a man on the dock who held a ball in his right hand and a lit torch in his left.
“What’s a bomb?” asked Uktesh.
“Dat’s a bomb,” said the kid, as if it should be self-explanatory. “It goes,” he started with his hands clasped together then as he said, “boom,” he flung his arms out wide.
“Oh, thanks,” said Uktesh. He was still not sure exactly what a bomb was. Laurilli started to walk deeper into the water and began to use water to clean her skin.
When she began to go deeper the same kid said, “Hey what’re ya do’in? Wata’s gonna be full’a sharks wit all t’at blood.”
Laurilli backed out of the water. After another thanks to the kid they walked to Heathyr and Esolc, who had started to walk toward them. “Are you two okay,” Heathyr said.
“Nothing a shower won’t cure,” Esolc said.
“You mean to say, ‘nothing two separate, solo-occupancy, showers’ won’t cure,” Heathyr admonished.
“Of course that’s what I meant.” Esolc said, but when Heathyr looked over the two of them he shook his head with a grin. Uktesh smiled as Heathyr pulled several bits of shark out of Laurilli’s hair.
“We do need to take a shower, before the smell sets in,” said Uktesh, but after a quick glance from Heathyr he amended it to, “Two solo-occupancy showers.”
“I think we should hurry. Everyone else who got hit with shark pieces has already left the beach. I guess we’ll be back once we’re freshly scrubbed clean,” said Laurilli as she took Uktesh’s hand and together they started to walk back to their house, and she said, “I call first shower.”