He sat there stunned for several minutes before the night air told him that the padding under his armor was soaking wet. Frowning, he unbuckled the straps and discarded each piece until he was as naked as she, and huddled next to the fire's warmth, deep in thought. He nearly jumped straight into the fire when a blanket dropped about his shoulders.

He hadn't heard her return, hadn't smelled her. How could she move so silently this late in the year, with dried leaves on the forest floor? She squatted down beside him, a similar homespun blanket thrown over her own back.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly.

She tilted her head as she examined his face, brow furrowing. She looked like a wolf that has heard an unfamiliar sound. He half expected her round little ears to prick forward.

"I am me," she said simply. "Who are you, orc-not-orc?"

"What did you call me?"

"Orc. Not. Orc," she said slowly. "Not the same as tree-slayers."

Now he chuckled. "No, not the same," he agreed. "I am Uruk-hai."

She grunted and nodded, her gray eyes fixed on his face. He felt strangely self-conscious under such unabashed scrutiny.

"Hurt?" she said suddenly. Without waiting for a response, she stepped out of the warm blanket and knelt at his side. Her calloused hands probed his injured arm, feeling the damage done. She seemed to understand, and nodded to herself. "Huorn's wrath upon you," she stated matter of factly. "They do not think clearly. Look at you, see orc, not Uruk."

At the moment, all Ashûk could see was bare flesh, washed clean from the river, displayed without shame or concern. Had he not just taken an unwanted swim in a torrent of snowmelt, he might have been capable of sampling this feast so near to hand, but the chill still sat in his bones, and his privates were loathe to part with what little warmth his body provided.

With the same deliberate movements, she pulled the blanket aside and examined his injured leg. He had taken many blows during the battle once the horsemen came out of their hole, but the axe that cut his leg nearly unmade him. He flinched from her touch, and found himself trying to cover his shrunken member with a corner of the blanket.