After a long time, Murdock disentangled himself from Rose and returned to tending the fire. He was hungry, and Rose must be hungry as well. But Rose hindered his meal preparations somewhat. She took every opportunity to just lay her head on his shoulder and sigh deeply. Even though Murdock was not used to a lot of attention or affection, they were not unwanted. Quite the contrary; he found that he enjoyed it. He didn’t know if it was the attention and affection itself or if it was Rose. He didn’t care, and he refused to analyze it too deeply.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Rose asked, when Murdock handed her a good-sized chunk of cooked meat.
“We have to get the meat stored and figure some way of tanning the hides,” he said, as he took his own piece of meat and sat beside her.
“Any i
