“Bit cold?” Perian demanded, teeth already chattering. “Cold! Definitely cold!”
“You’ll warm up if you swim around for a bit. Or ask Brannal to warm you up!”
And then he splashed Perian in the face. Perian spluttered and tried to remember how to swim when the cold was leaching into his bones.
After a couple of minutes, it was actually better. He wasn’t sure if that was just his whole body going numb, but moving around did seem to help. He ducked his face in a couple of times, then scrubbed at his arms, legs, and body. If he was in here, then he might as well at leastget clean.
Something grabbed his leg and pulled. He shrieked, which turned into a gargle when he went under. He kicked out and spluttered back to the surface to find that Molun was cackling wildly.
Brannal caught his eye, winked, and a moment later an ocean’s worth of water dumped down on Molun’s head. After that, well.
It was a free for all, with Delana, Brannal, and Molun having the advantage of actually being able to manipulate water. Nisal could use air to push the water into waves, so they were doing all right, too. There was laughing, yelling, and a fair bit of cursing.
It was actually kind of hilarious, and he loved it.
After Perian had been pulled under in the third sudden undertow that shouldn’t have existed, he crawled out of the water, bundled up in a towel, and sat with Arvus as they watched the others screeching and splashing.
Because Arvus was awesome like that, he’d got out towels for all of them.
“A little too wet?” Perian asked.
Arvus’s lips tipped up in amusement. He was still watching the others play, just like Perian was.
“I do prefer to have my feet touching dry land,” he agreed.
“You could make a lot of mud?” Perian suggested.
Arvus laughed. “I think the actual inhabitants of the lake might prefer I not do that.”
Well, that was true enough. He wouldn’t actually want to make this area uninhabitable for anyone just because he liked to play a little bit dirty. Ha.
“Yeah, all right, that’s fair,” Perian agreed.
“But it’s nice to watch,” Arvus said, still gazing out at the rowdy, screeching group. “His ability to play and find amusement in all things is one of my favorite things about Molun.”
Perian smiled and nodded. He thought he had some of the same impulses. He felt like a happier person for being able to amuse himself with simple things. He knew Arvus and Brannal didn’t see the world in quite the same way, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t also join in on the fun sometimes, or participate in their own way—like making sure there were towels ready for them when they did get out of the water.
“Shall we build up the fire?” Perian suggested, and Arvus nodded.
He pulled on clothes, because it seemed like a terrible idea to try to light a fire while wrapped only in a towel that was not very securely fastened. He was trying to get warm, not wind up with sticks in awkward places.
They pulled out some of the stack of wood that had been lined up inside the cave. It was good and dry. Perian gathered up some smaller sticks and dried leaves that they could use as tinder. He dug through his bag and came up with his flint, then crouched down and tried to strike the right spark.
There was a sudden “whoosh,” and Perian reared back as fire engulfed all the wood in front of him. He half fell down onto his ass as he looked out to the water, where it seemed the combatants had decided they were done for the moment.
Perian raised his hand at Brannal as he shifted back to the logs that had already been placed around the firepit as seats. “Thanks, honey! I don’t need eyebrows. It’s fine.”
Arvus let out a chuckle, and Brannal made a face.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I’ll remember a warning next time.”
“Not that it’s not totally sexy, because it totally is,” Perian assured him. “Really, is there anything sexier than a man who can light things on fire while striding naked out of the water? Mmm…”
He got a little distracted and didn’t mind that everyone laughed at him while he gazed without shame at Brannal as he did indeed come striding out of the water, which might have been cold, but it didn’t seem to be slowing Brannal down at all.
He grabbed a towel and scrubbed himself dry, while Perian made soft protesting noises. Brannal huffed a breath, came over to press a kiss to the top of Perian’s head, then pulled on his own clothes before coming to sit on the chunk of wood next to Perian, cozying right up to him just the way Perian liked. He slung an arm over Perian.
“How are you?” he asked.
