The water is so cold it takes my breath away, but only for a moment. Then it's invigorating. I dip under the surface and pop back up, spitting out water. The breeze makes the air feel colder than the water, so I sink up to my shoulders, and rub myself, getting rid of all the sweat and the dirt.

"Dive in," I tell Hadrian.

"I'd rather not," he replies from the large boulder he's sitting on.

"You can only bath in the river," I say. "Nothing else is available."

"In such case I'll remain dirty."

"Then you'll sleep outside tonight," I say, scrubbing my hair. "You smell like a pig."

"I'm sure you'd know what that smells like," he says. "By the way, the hut itself is pretty smelly."

"We'll clean it."

"We?" He rolls his eyes and looks away in the direction from which comes the relentless muffled noise of the distant waterfall.

"We." I dunk my face one more time and then rub it, blink the water out of my good eye, wash the scars under my eye patch. "There're no servants here, you know."

He doesn't reply. I finish washing and return to the shore. Shivering, I pick up the old ragged blanket I brought from the hut and begin to dry myself. Hadrian's gaze slips down my torso.

"Like what you see?" I say.

"Not really, no. Apart from being generally ugly, you're not too well equipped for...well...reproduction? I hope for your sake that it's just the cold water."

"What?" This takes me by surprise, so I pause with the blanket on my head. "What are you talking about? I'm actually very..." I cut myself short. Am I really going to argue with him about the effect the cold water can have on the size of my manhood? He knows it. He's just entertaining himself, trying to piss me off.

I wrap the blanket around my waist and walk over to him.

"You know what?" I say. "Let's make a comparison."

He straightens up, instantly alert, but before he can slip off the boulder, I grab him by the waist.

"What? No. Wait!" He clutches at my hands and struggles, but I pick him up and carry him towards the river. "Wait! I mean it! I'm serious! Don't you dare!"

I make a few steps in the water, pause and swing him like a sack.

"No!" he yells. "Bruno, no!" But I let go and he flies forward, landing in the water with a splash that soaks my already wet blanket even more.

He gets to his feet, shaking. The water is waist high where he stands, but his whole outfit is now soaked, the wet fabric clinging to his body, his dripping hair sticking out. He looks at me furiously, like a mad mermaid about to drag me to some underwater hell.

"Get out of my way," he manages through his clattering teeth as he tries to walk out of the water, but I step aside to block his way.

"Come on," I say. "You're already there. Take off your clothes and wash yourself. Also, we could use this opportunity to see how well your equipment handles the cold." I cross my arms on my chest. "Although it's not really necessary—I've seen you bath in the castle, so I know there isn't much to talk about."

He glares at me some more, probably too paralyzed with cold to reply. Then, with jerky, wooden movements, he begins to strip out of his clothes. I wait a little longer to make sure he's not intending to leave the water. Then I return to the shore.

Something cold and wet hits me in the back and I whirl around. A bundle of drenched clothes drops to the ground, and Hadrian grins at me viciously, his wet skin glimmering in the sun.

"A perfect hit," he says.

"You will have to wash them after that."

"It was worth it." He goes deeper into the river, stops as the water reaches his neck and begins to wash himself, keeping his back to me.

I finish cleaning my clothes, squeeze them and spread them on the boulder. He will have to find a different drying spot for his things. Now I feel warm and comfortable, my skin bathing in the midday sun. I sit on the boulder and squint at the river and the lonely figure in it.

After a few minutes, he returns to the shore. He pauses, noticing that I watch him, but then raises his chin and walks confidently out of the water. His slim figure and his pale skin look very much out of place here, as if someone placed a marble statue in a river. Now he looks more like the Hadrian that I knew in the castle, some of his looks and his confidence returning. It's a miracle what a bath and a meal of asparagus can do to a person.

"So," he says, stopping in front of me, careless about his nakedness.

"As I said." I look him over. "Not much to talk about."

"I don't mean that," he snaps. "What am I supposed to wear?"

"You can use my blanket." I unwrap it from my waist and drop it to the ground.

He looks at it with disgust. "It's wet."

I shrug. "Don't use it, then."

After a moment's hesitation, he picks the blanket and wraps it around himself, cursing under his breath. He looks even more like a mermaid now, of some kind of a nymph in a ragged tunic. He secures the corner of the blanket under his arm, then looks at me with defiance.

"Now wash your clothes," I say. "Then, you will gather some wood for the fire, and I will find something to eat. Afterwards, we will need to fix the roof. It looks like the weather is about to change."

He stares at me a little longer.

"I'm not sure." It looks like he's speaking more to himself than to me, his eyes lingering on me but not quite seeing. "I'm not sure I can adapt to...all of this." There's no mocking or arrogance in his voice now, only the dry stating of the facts.

"I don't think you have a choice," I say.

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