Rindargeth had liked to help me, mostly by spreading the wet clothes across his hot, scaly flanks to dry. I would have to lay them out somewhere else, now.
The day was beastly hot, for all that autumn was only weeks off, and I was soon wet through with perspiration wherever I was not wet with simple water. When the assortment of gowns, shifts, breeches, and tunics in the basket were scrubbed clean, I stripped bare and sank into the water myself.
Swimming in the ocean was all excitement and danger, very stimulating. It also left me sticky with salt, and, on this day, was more reminder of Rindargeth than I could bear. In the stream I always swam alone, or soaked rather, lying with my head propped on a pillow of stone, to feel the current wash over me, cool and gentle, undemanding.
How nic
