Bathing outside was an unnervingly new experience for Makoto. She was certainly aware of the concept, as she read stories of people doing such things. But those descriptions were usually brief and unimportant to the plot. The author had better things to be getting to, or perhaps they thought the simple act of bathing to be too mundane for a story of grand adventure and/or romance. So, other than providing Makoto the general idea that bathing outside could, indeed, be done- there left a lot for her to figure out.

The definition of 'privacy' needed a bit of changing in Makoto's mind before she could even get herself to start the process of undressing. She was a born city-dweller, and while she had been on trips outside the walls with Sae in the past, those had been night-trips only- they'd always returned to the city the day after they ventured forth, with no camping time in-between. So for her, the concept of privacy meant four walls and a shut door, and a privacy screen between the shut door and her naked body for good measure.

The pool of water she arrived at offered no such visual barriers. The water seemed fresh and clear, thanks to the flowing current which fed into and out of the area, and it was surrounded by a verdant screen of reeds, grasses, bushes, trees, and the other varied plant life of the wilderness. All of it healthy and leafy, presumably thanks to the ample source of fresh water that was this pool. Those plants and the trees did seem to create a sort of oasis around this pond- walls of sight lines that Makoto could accept as barriers of a different kind.

Still, as Makoto began to strip off her clothing, it was hard to shake the instinctive anxiety that people would wander by and see her doing such an improper thing as being naked outside under the sky. She needed to remind herself that she was deep in the wilds- perhaps nearly a hundred kilometers to another living soul that was not Ren. Assuming he had one…

That was an unkind thought. Of course Ren had a soul! There was plenty of evidence of that. But- logically- did that mean souls came from a human lineage? Or- was it possible..? That vampires could be said to have souls? Makoto's mind recoiled from that concept, but she stifled the reaction and forced herself to logically consider the idea.

As Makoto's mind churned upon the metaphysical concepts of souls; the reality or non-reality of their existence in humans, vampires, animals; their relationship with lineage and/or deeds; whether a kami was a soul and if that meant stones and other inanimate objects could have souls, too; and then she was beginning on possible ways to investigate such concepts… she suddenly realized she was naked and had folded her worn clothing into a neat pile next to the clean pile she had brought with her.

She blushed and covered herself with her arms, logical trains of thought derailing and evaporating as she looked fretfully around the serene pond glade. Well, here she was: naked in the forest. It was time to get to it? Was it not? Makoto forced herself to open up her arms and relax her stance, to move as normally as possible even though she was naked. And outside. At the same time.

She took up her soap, and with a first hesitating step and another glance at the pond- grabbed her pistol. Danger seemed unlikely, but just having the gun in her hand made Makoto feel like she was wearing clothing again. Comforted, she stepped again towards the water- and winced as she stepped on a particularly pointy rock. Ow! She sidestepped- onto a pointy stick. OW!

Makoto surged into the water, tip-toeing over a world suddenly gone hostile to the soft bottoms of her un-booted feet. The water was cold, but not terribly so- after a brief teeth-clenching moment, her skin quickly conditioned itself to the temperature. She was on the down-stream side of the pool, and a healthy amount of silt had gathered to create a pond-bed that was somewhere between mud and sand. It sucked at her feet a little like mud, but lifted up clean enough- trails of silt drifting away from her toes and in the general direction of the exiting stream. It felt a bit more slimly than Makoto would have liked, but what could one really hope for in a natural water source?

But- well- she was in the water and needed to get on with it. A nearby stone offered a close place to set the gun. And, lacking a bucket, Makoto looked at the water around her and took the expedient path towards submersion: a sort of hesitating flop, face-forward into the shallows. The chill water welcomed her with a chilling touch and Makoto immediately surfaced, sputtering and dripping- but quite successfully rinsed. She remained mostly underwater, curled into a kneeling position, just her nose and up peeking out. Makoto gave the perimeter of the pool a cautious examination, then stood and took up the soap, the gun nearby but thankfully unnecessary.

Makoto soaped and rinsed, twice, the suds of her washing coiling away lazily downstream in the lazy eddy current. She was just about to return to dry land when the sounds of rustling pine needles and branches seemed to begin and quite quickly grow louder, as if something was approaching. Makoto immediately reached for her pistol, and as she snatched it up, something splashed into the water with terrible force. Makoto's heart leaped into her throat, all her fears suddenly realized- she was naked in a pond, under attack by some- some- beast?!

But as she sighted down the long barrel of her hand cannon, the sprawled and soaked figure was dressed in black clothing of familiar cut- and a very familiar wide-brimmed hat slowly fluttered its way down into her field of view, like the first falling maple leaf of autumn. It landed in the water with a soundless ripple.

"R- Ren, what are you doing?!" blurted Makoto. She lowered herself into the water, trusting the waterline to cover her lower portion, her spar arm guardingly across her bare breasts- an instinctive reaction to the intrusion. Had Ren just fallen out of a tree? Had he been.. peeping at her? Surely not? But- could he have been?! He didn't seem the type.

"S- sorry!" mumbled Ren, his face obscured by his efforts to avert his gaze from her, though Makoto clearly saw his grey eyes flash in her direction. "I w- was looking-"

Makoto watched him attempt to drag himself towards the shore- it was a strange flopping movement with his arms. But she hardly noticed, a red-hot mix of anger and embarrassment shooting through her body. "You were looking?!"

Ren gave her a shocked and fearful gaze, which successfully muted Makoto's growing indignation- it wasn't a guilty sort of look. "Not at you!" blurted Ren, "The lumber camp. I was looking for it!"

"What?" It was Makoto's turn to blurt. "What lumber camp?"

Ren made another sort of flopping advance towards try land, his black clothing glistening wet and soggy like soaked blankets- but stretched thin and sheer over the armor plates that were underneath- in any other less-naked situation, Makoto would have liked to seize the opportunity to study the interior design of Ren's multi-purpose gear.

Ren grunted and moved himself a bit closer in the shore-ward direction. Makoto realized his legs were not working. Gods! He was injured!

"H- hang on," said Makoto. "I'll help you. Just- just let me put a little something on!"

Ren didn't answer and didn't look in her direction, but he doggedly attempted to flop himself a bit closer to shore. He seemed quite embarrassed and a little angry. Makoto decided to make a quick break for it, surging out of the water back to her neat stacks of clothing- she slipped on her underwear, and while it was not exactly modest- at least it covered all that was absolutely necessary to cover- and she ran around the edge of the water to where she could wade towards Ren in the ankle-deep water.

"What's wrong, Ren? You can't stand?"

Ren's grey eyes gave her a furtive glance, and seemed relieved in what they found. Her clothing somewhat returned, perhaps? Well, so maybe he had not been peeking, as he claimed.

"My spine," grumbled Ren, "I think I broke it on the way down."

So, that's why he wasn't standing up. Makoto knew a little from medical texts and had read that back injuries could sometimes cause legs to stop working, oftentimes permanently. But that was for humans- which Ren, thankfully, was not entirely.

"Will it heal?"

"Yes," sighed Ren, "In an hour or so. I hope."

"That long?" Makoto remembered Ren healing right before her eyes on multiple occasions. But perhaps a back injury was more serious. Anyway, this wasn't the time to ask for details. "Well- let's get you out of the water."

"Yes," said Ren.

Ren was not a particularly bulky man. He was lithe and corded with muscles that were capable of strength far beyond a human's capacity. His gear was also similar: lightweight but incredibly strong. But all of that together, plus all the mundane water soaked into Ren's clothing- made him quite heavier than Makoto's ability to lift. But with hands under his armpits, she did manage to unceremoniously drag him through the shallow water and onto the dry verge, Ren's lifeless feet leaving long trails in the damp earth.

Makoto feared she was causing additional damage to Ren's back with this dragging, but there was little choice. She managed to get him into a somewhat comfortable-seeming position, back against stone. While she leaned against it behind him, breathing heavily, heart pounding from the physical exertion, Ren was clearly avoiding her gaze, embarrassed.

"Thanks. Sorry. I really was not looking at you, Makoto. I climbed a tree to get a view of our surroundings, and I saw signs of logging, so I thought there might be a logging camp. I was trying to look to the west and a branch gave out under me."

Makoto was inclined to believe him. Climbing a tree would have made it harder to see her bathe, due to the foliage- and Ren's ungraceful fall to earth was proof that he had, indeed, been quite high up in a tree. But a logging camp? What was the significance of that? A logging camp was where brave laborers built a defensive compound to allow the harvesting of wood in the infested wilds, for shipment back to Tock-Yo or other human settlements. Which meant people. Which meant people could be nearby!

Suddenly feeling naked even in her underwear, Makoto looked around them- and realized she'd left her gun back near her clothing. She felt doubly naked without it.

"I'll get our gear, bring it hear, and get a fire going," said Makoto.

"We don't have time," said Ren, "Nightfall is coming. We need to get to shelter tonight."

"Ren, you can't walk," said Makoto with exasperation, "and I sure can't lift you onto your horse."

"I can pull myself up."

"I'm sure you can, but can you heal while bouncing around on the back of a horse? What happens if night falls and you still can't walk?"

Ren didn't seem to have an answer for that.

She looked skyward, and though the sun was obscured by trees, from its general angle, Makoto judged there was still a good three hours before real twilight. "We have a bit of time, so we may as use it to get you healed and, while waiting for that, dry. Night or not, I think we are both safer if your legs work like normal, don't you agree?"

After a moment of silence, Ren nodded his assent, but said, "Before I fell, I smelled- I smelled death. A lot of it. Human death. To the west."

That gave Makoto pause. A smell of human death? Way out here? "You didn't see the source?"

"No. But like I said, there are signs of logging. And I didn't see a camp north, east, or south."

Makoto's mind easily followed that chain of logic: by process of simple elimination, the logging camp was probably somewhere west of them. Which would mean a relatively large concentration of living humans should be west of their position. But that was also the direction that smelled of human death. None of that seemed to indicate a favorable scenario.

"So.. That means.." Mumbled Makoto thoughtfully, her mind searching for an additional conclusion that she sensed was there.

Ren finished the equation for her: "We probably didn't see any ghouls last night because they are all around here."

"All the more reason to get you on your feet, then!"