Title: Stinkfoot, Chapter 2
Author: Ellen Million
Disclaimers: All the usual stuff, plus the characters all belong to Rushwater Holt: www.rushwaterholt.com, where you can also see a whole pile of my art. Hint.

Lovemaker had felt like a fool before. He had been embarrassed before. But he wasn't sure he had ever felt this keen a combination of the two. "Ah, er, Sweet Tear!" he managed unintelligently.

Sweet Tear looked back with huge blue eyes. "I think that there is something rotting in your boots," she said in her melodic voice. One finger was twisting a golden curl.

"Oh, that, ah...well..." Lovemaker tried to look anywhere but at the boots, desperately seeking an excuse or any semblance of his usual cool demeanour. He found himself caught in blue eyes again and was ashamed by the clear honesty that Sweet Tear always radiated. His shoulders dropped. "Please, promise me that you won't tell everyone about it."

"What is it?"

Lovemaker sighed and sat down on a convenient log. "Something is terribly wrong with my feet. They sting and stink and it is so embarrassing that I want to howl. Tailchewer doesn't even want to hunt with me right now. He says I scare away all the animals with my smell."

Lovemaker hadn't been able to have a female companion into his den for a hand of days as his feet and sleeping furs were so odorous. Then after Marshclay had teased him about being too impatient to even take off his boots, he had limited himself to encounters that involved swimming to wash away the smell, which built up so quickly. But he didn't mention that to Sweet Tear.

Sweet Tear cautiously sat beside him, at the other end of the log entirely. "Do they hurt?" She looked curiously down at his feet.

"It's not so bad with my boots off but running hurts a bit. It stings between the toes." He spread the toes to demonstrate, and winced.

Sweet Tear twisted her hands in her skirt and appeared to be considering deeply. Just as Lovemaker had decided to ask her what was bothering her, she turned and looked at him, and offered, "I could talk to Firemoss if you like and ask her about foot problems. She knows a lot about healing plants and illnesses. I won't mention your name."

Lovemaker gaped at her. "You would do that for me?"

Sweet Tear gave a little smile, "Of course." She stood up. "I can ask her sometime tonight. I'll meet you back here tomorrow early in the evening."

Lovemaker wanted to tell her that he would rearrange the moons in the sky to do so but it seemed too flirtatious and he satisfied himself by saying enthusiastically, "Yes, absolutely!" He stood and moved to his pile of clothing. Sweet Tear's eyes got wider, something he didn't know was possible, and she mumbled something about needing to go and fled away from the clearing.

****

Sweet Tear wondered what on in the world had possessed her to offer to talk to Firemoss about Lovemaker's ill feet. And to meet Lovemaker again? What was she thinking?! She felt very strange and feverish and her heart seemed to flutter in her throat as she thought about meeting him again.

Did he think she was a clumsy bird, the way she couldn't even look at him sometimes? She thought about every stutter and every awkward moment and thought about all the smart and witty things she should have said. But he had been sitting so close and was so beautiful it almost hurt. Sweet Tear felt like howling.

Instead, she went and walked close to the river's edge at the bottom of the falls. Lovemaker liked it here and was often found sunning himself on one of the rocks or diving into the deep pools from the high cliffs. Or flirting with every available elf, male or female, young, old or ageless, except for Sweet Tear. Sweet Tear took off her boots and dangled them in a still pool of water, wishing that she could cool her wayward heart as easily.

****

Lovemaker sat hunched uncomfortably astride Tailchewer. His feet burned at the ends of his legs. He had declined an invitation to join Redblade in a hunt for tallhorn with some flimsy excuse. Redblade had winked back at him, probably convinced that Lovemaker had made arrangements to meet some lucky individual for a romantic afternoon. Lovemaker snorted. He hadn't entertained himself in such a manner in at least a hand of days. Not since he had been swimming with Briarbrace. He had become more of a loner than he had been since he had recovered from the deaths of Ripple and Featherfern.

Lovemaker winced. He only thought about his former lifemates when he was feeling sorry for himself. Most days he happily existed in the NOW that hummed in his head and burned in his blood, but some days he thought wistfully of that special closeness that had completed him. He had many friends and many lovers but none of that feeling of family.

A soft humming from the clearing where he was meeting Sweet Tear interrupted his self-pity and he nudged Tailchewer towards it. He was early by a long while yet for their meeting.

****


Sweet Tear was daydreaming. Perhaps some day she would do something amazingly heroic and save Lovemaker's life. He would look at her with an amazed look, as if he had never seen her before and sweep her into his arms...and perhaps she would be horribly injured and the Holt had no healer right now. She would lie on the ground, lifeblood seeping from an artistic wound. Lovemaker would gather her into his strong arms, and locksend to her, "I have always loved you and never knew it," and she would look into his eyes with her last strength and give him her soul name and sink into oblivion. Perhaps he would cry over her limp and lifeless body, perhaps...

Something made her look up. She was sitting on the log, arms wrapped around her knees and across the clearing was the object of her imagining astride Tailchewer. Honeypaw, her wolf-friend, whined a greeting from her position sprawled on the ground below Sweet Tear. Sweet Tear hoped that it was dim enough that her blush wasn't apparent. "You're, ah, early," she said. So handsome, she thought.

Lovemaker dismounted from Tailchewer and limped painfully to the log. It wrung Sweet Tear's heart to see how he hobbled and wavered. Forgetting her embarrassment, she leapt to her feet and went to help him. She ignored the way his hand on her shoulder seemed to ignite a fire within her and supported him to the log. "How have you been able to go on this way?" she demanded.

Smiling wryly, Lovemaker explained, "Mostly I stayed away from other elves or was on Tailchewer."

"You treewee," Sweet Tear scolded, "No one is going to think worse of you because your feet are sick. Firemoss says that it is not that uncommon."
"Did you talk to her?" Lovemaker looked as hopeful as a cub being promised a sweet.

The blonde elf nodded her head solemnly. "I even managed to get her to tell me some plants that might help. They grow at the top of the canyons. We could even get some tonight."

Lovemaker jumped enthusiastically from the log, wobbling uncertainly as soon as his painful feet reminded him of their presence. "Can you show me?"

Sweet Tear slipped down next to him and lent her shoulder to help him mount Tailchewer. "Of course," she said, and she smiled shyly at him while she climbed up on Honeypaw.

****

The moons were nearly full and close together in the sky. Sweet Tear was on hands and knees inspecting a small green plant. Lovemaker, crawling around in some bushes to her left, sighed noisily. "Did you find anything?" he asked.
Sweet Tear knelt. "Not yet." She stood and turned to look behind her, and froze. She hadn't realized how close to the edge she had gotten. The fear which she had held at bay by concentrating on the task at hand overwhelmed her in one rush and terror griped her. She could feel her knees begin to quiver, and it seemed that the edge of the canyon was creeping towards her feet.

She must have made some small noise because Lovemaker limped to her side and looked out over the canyon. "What a beautiful sight," he breathed, then he glanced at Sweet Tear.

Sweet Tear hardly heard him over the rushing of blood in her head. She felt dizzy and weak and hot and as if the world were rushing at her. "Sweet Tear?" The words were so faint and far away. Were they really aimed at her? She knew she had to think about standing still, not shaking, or the yawning gap would suck her down. It was so far, so vast, so dark. And suddenly she was being pulled back, Lovemaker's strong arms were around her, leading her away from the edge.

She slowly came back to herself, sitting in a pile of green plants with Lovemaker stroking one hand. "Sweet Tear, come back to me," he was saying softly.

I should be more appreciative of this situation, Sweet Tear thought to herself but couldn't bring herself to do anything but shake and bury her face into her free hand.

"I didn't know that you were afraid of heights," Lovemaker said. "I can't believe you offered to come up here with me and look for plants."

Sweet Tear finally stopped shaking and went limp in Lovemaker's arms. She brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen in her face and laughed self-consciously. "I'm such a clumsy bird."

Lovemaker's arm tightened around her. "Nonsense," he said. Sweet Tear wasn't convinced.
Sensation was beginning to return. Sweet Tear could feel with agonising clarity the warmth of Lovemaker's body behind her, and the slight breeze. The moonlight was silver bright over the brush. And a distinctly foul smell was becoming stronger and stronger.

"Ugh!" Sweet Tear covered her nose with one hand. "Your feet are getting worse, I think."

Lovemaker helped Sweet Tear stand, covering his own nose. "That's not my feet! They smell bad, but High Ones! This is enough to make my eyes leak."

Sweet Tear faced carefully away from the edge. It was far enough away that it wasn't causing panic anymore. A crushed leaf was stuck to her skirt and she peeled it off. The eye watering smell seemed to be caused by the leaf and its bruised cousins where Lovemaker had pulled Sweet Tear to the ground. She was ready to toss it away and call Honeypaw but a distinctive red vein caught her eye.

"This is it!" She waved the leaf enthusiastically in Lovemaker's face. He blanched.

"This is the plant we've been looking for since moonrise? This vile thing is supposed to help my feet smell better?!" Lovemaker flapped his hand vigorously, trying to wave away the smell.

Sweet Tear looked more closely at the leaf. "This is definitely the one. Firemoss says that this will stop the pain and clear up the smell." She still held her hand over her nose. "And you thought nothing smelled worse than your feet."

Lovemaker groaned. "What do I have to do with them? It's going to taste awful, isn't it!"

Sweet Tear laughed. "Oh, no," she said gently. "You have to pack them into your boots and wear them for a few hands of days."

Green eyes met her blue eyes. "Tell me you are joking." Lovemaker knelt at her feet and grasped her skirt. "Please, please tell me that I do not have to smell like this for a hand of days."

"If you wish to heal your feet, I'm afraid you have no choice." Sweet Tear looked down at the soft tawny curls of Lovemaker's hair. She wanted to touch them, and see if they were as soft as they looked, but resisted. Lovemaker stood up and took the leaf.

"Do your worst, evil plant. Not even my wolf-friend will be able to abide me."