"You both did fairly well today. Do you think that you could come back later today, King Peter?" Oreius asked as an exhausted Peter and I collapsed onto the ground.
"Just Peter, Oreius. What time would I come?" Peter replied.
"After lunch. When Patronus and Queen Susan are at their archery lesson. I thought I could give you a lesson on using your shield." Oreius explained.
"Yeah, that would be fine." Peter nodded. Oreius bowed his head at us, and turned to walk off back towards the camp.
"Well, I'm going to go get cleaned up before lunch." Peter sighed and stood up.
"Same here." I stood, brushing off my dress.
We walked back into the camp, talking about…well…nothing, really. But just talking to Peter was good enough.
"Oh, Phoebus." I stopped the Elf as we passed her.
"Yes, Patronus?" She faced me.
"It's Sam. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew a spot I could wash off? Bathe?" I asked.
"Of course." The Elf nodded.
"I'll show you now, if you want." She added.
"Umm, ok. But I think I'll see if Susan and Lucy want to come too." I said.
"They're in the tent." Phoebus told me.
"Great. If you're not busy…" I motioned for her to follow me. She did.
When the three of us reached the tents, I gave Peter a smile, which he returned, and Phoebus and I went in us girls' tent.
"Susan, would you and Lucy like to bathe? Phoebus said she'd take us to a place." I took my swords off my back and laid them beside my bow.
"Sure." Susan shrugged, and turned to Lucy.
"Lu?" She asked.
"Yes." Lucy nodded, smiling.
"If you'll follow me." Phoebus turned and walked out of the tent, the three of us trailing behind her like ducklings.
A while later, after she had led us through the woods to a stream, we stood in the cold water with our shoes off and big smiles on our faces.
"Here is a bar of soap. I'll go ahead and go back now, if Your Majesties and Patronus need nothing else." Phoebus stood to the side.
"We're fine. Thank you, Phoebus." Susan took the soap and smiled at the Elf, who bowed and then walked off.
"This feels so good." Lucy rubbed some of the water on her face.
"Should we take off our dresses?" Susan asked, looking around nervously.
"I guess. We could leave our under dresses on. Then if we get them wet they'll dry really quickly, because they're thin." I pointed out.
"Ok." Susan nodded, and we all moved to the side of the stream.
After we had helped each other unbutton the dresses, and taken them off, we walked back into the water.
"Oh!" Lucy slipped and fell into the water. The sight of her sitting there, her face red and the water swirling around her, was almost comical. I chuckled, and then began to laugh. Beside me, Susan did the same and, after a moment, Lucy even broke into giggles.
"Here, Lu." I offered her my hand, and pulled her back up.
"That actually felt good. You should try it, Sam." Lucy grinned.
"Ok, then." I laughed and plopped down. It did feel good. Susan and Lucy smiled, and then sat beside me in the water.
We scrubbed our bodies with the soap, and let the water flow through our hair. That little bath in the stream was probably the most refreshing bath I've ever taken. Better than any high-powered shower or Jacuzzi with fragrant shampoos and conditioners.
After we were rinsed and feeling cleaner than we had in a long time, we laid out on a large rock in the sun on the water's edge.
"Tell me more about 2006." Lucy said, as the sun began to dry our clothes.
"Well, we have a lot of technology. No flying cars or anything, but we have these things called cell phones. They're basically small, portable telephones that you take with you." I said, closing my eyes as the warmth of the sun reached me.
"Portable phones? With no cords?" Lucy asked.
"Yep." I nodded.
"Wow." Lucy murmured.
"What about Britain? Does it recover after the war?" Susan asked.
"Yeah. Now it's ok." I replied, lazily.
"Good." Susan said.
"And Germany?" Lucy asked.
"I guess we're friendly with them, now. They're fine. Hitler's dead." I shrugged.
"Oh." Lucy nodded slowly.
After a while, I realized that our under dresses were dry, and that if we didn't hurry back to camp, we'd miss lunch.
"Come on." I sat up and told Susan and Lucy my realization.
"You help Lucy put her dress on while I help you." Susan suggested, and I did as she said. Once Lucy and I were all buttoned up, I quickly helped Susan. After I buttoned her dress, and we all put on our sandals, we looked around to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything.
"There. Let's go." I grabbed the bar of soap and we took off through the woods.
As we came into the camp, I noticed Peter sitting at the table, leaning back and looking as if he were waiting for someone. Us.