When my eyes came back into focus, Victoire was leaning over me, her hair falling down to my chest.
"Ryan! Ryan! Are you okay?!" She asked desperately.
I moaned and got back up to my feet. "What happened?"
"You sort of swayed and fell down! You were unconscious for a whole hour! Oh my gosh! I was so worried…" Her voice trailed off. I looked around. The lion cub…
"Where's Treble?" I asked her.
"On your bed, sleeping," she replied.
"Good… Victoire, can you weave me a towel really quick? I need one to wipe myself dry after I bathe. There's a nice little lagoon I found beside the house. I'm going to bathe there."
"Alright, just give me a few minutes." Victoire got to the chest and took out some excess wool from my previous sheep hunt and quickly got to work. I, on the other hand, put Treble on my lap and stroked his soft fur as he slept. So quietly… So peaceful… So soundly sleeping… He almost tempted me to sleep on the spot.
Ten minutes later, Victoire passed me a really large towel, in fact, large enough for two people. Beads of pesperation dripped down from her forehead - the sign of hard work.
"Why one towel, but so big?" I asked.
"Well, two towels are too much of a hustle, and since both of us are using one towel, might as well make it larger." She replied.
"Oh, alright then. I'm off to the lagoon."
It was only 8 trees away from the house, quite hidden behind hanging vines and little boulders scattered everywhere. But it looked wonderful. A little freshwater spring pouring down from a crack between two rocks, a stone overhang beside the spring, and most importantly, warm water.
I dipped my foot in tentatively. Comfortable warm water greeted me. I hung the towel on a low-hanging tree branch. Oh, what bliss! Just then, I looked at my reflection in the crystal-clear water. I touched my face – was that how I looked like? My fingers traced my electric-blue eyes… My slightly bruised face – possibly from the little spider incident Victoire and I faced. My dark black hair. That was surprisingly neat. It wasn't long nor short… Somewhere in between. My clothes… When I hung them up on the low branch… A light blue hoodie with a weird face on the back, black pants, black sneakers. Not too bad of a set of clothes, if I do say so myself. But still, they were a little torn and muddy from the adventure I had during the last three days.
After the refreshing soak in the lagoon, I got up, dried myself, put on my clothes and headed back to the house, bringing the towel along with me. When Victoire went to take her bath, I crashed on my bed and immediately blacked out. Good thing the bed was comfortable.