Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 106646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106646 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
"Do not be angry," he murmurs. "I am simply trying to help."
"I don't need your help." Everyone's going to look at me like I'm weak and useless. Compound this onto the whole “rescue by A'tam” and the tribe's going to be talking about us for weeks now. I think of a fresh round of smirks and whispers behind my back and I want to just cry. "Just go back to your partner, okay?"
A'tam watches me for an angry moment and then storms back to Daisy's side. I swipe at my wet cheek and a smear of pinkish blood coats the back of my hand. It stings a little, which means I should probably go see Veronica, but it can wait. The last thing I want is to seem like a big baby at the slightest scratch and give up. I need to be made of sterner stuff.
With another irritated swipe at my cheek, I shiver at the cold wind. I'm not leaving until the contest is over, I decide. I just need to suck it up and get back to work. I climb up the rocks again, gritting my teeth, because it's a lot harder to be agile when wet leather is sticking to your body. The cold is incredibly unpleasant, but it won't kill me. As I move back to my spot, I watch as O'jek chases down my pole. The bone rod floats atop the water, practically pointing an arrow at my fish that's still zooming around in the shallows. He finally grabs it and reaches under the waves, then comes up with my fish. It's an ugly, plated monstrosity. It's also barely the size of my arm, which is depressing given that it felt like a whale on the end of the rod.
O'jek unhooks it and heads to shore with my catch, holding my pole up to me to take again. I grab it from him and nearly spear my hand with the barbed hook.
I'm apparently as terrible at fishing as I am at pottery and everything else.
13
BRIDGET
Even though it's an utterly miserable afternoon, I stick to my guns and manage to catch a few fish. Most of them are smaller, since I keep my fishing efforts nearer to the tide pools. I don't bring in anything like O'jek does, who, with his net, hauls in three enormous fish and a host of smaller ones.
We end up squarely in the middle of the pack. R'jaal and I'rec catch the most, and F'lor and Sessah catch nothing at all. They're full of giggles, having too much fun cutting up, playing pranks on one another, and generally being clowns to actually get any fish. They're out, but they also don't seem to care all that much.
A'tam and Daisy catch a few, which means they're still in the competition.
"If the weather's nice tomorrow," Lauren announces as the men string up the fish by their gills, "we'll do the hunting portion of the contest. If not, we'll proceed to cooking." She claps her hands, gesturing at the fish. "For now, though, bring your catches to the fire and we'll have a big fish fry for dinner!"
"Wait!" a voice cries, and Devi rushes forward, her eyes wide. "I have to catalog everything before you cook it! Just in case there's something new! Let me see your catches!"
Someone groans, but the men obediently put down their hauls so Devi can pick through them.
I turn to O'jek, shivering. "I'm going to put some warm clothes on."
He gives me a blank look. "Why do you tell me?"
Right. We're not friends, we're just working together to try and win a knife and then fight over it, I suppose. Something tells me that if we win, I wouldn't walk away with it anyhow. O'jek would want it, and to be fair to him, he would get a lot more use out of it than me since he hunts a lot.
Why am I doing this ridiculous contest again? Oh right, because I wanted to show everyone I'm not messed up over A'tam. Yeah, that's going great for me so far. Really working out well.
A short time later, I'm back by the fire, shivering despite my change into warm clothes, and I wrap my hands around a cup of tea, not caring that it's so hot that it's practically burning my hands. It feels good. I watch everyone as they clean fish nearby, and Devi swoops in and steals the heads of two of the fish, racing triumphantly over to her mate N'dek's side so she can chatter eagerly about them. I really envy her happiness, I think, as I watch her and N'dek together. She's got the goofiest hobby but no one cares. N'dek supports her in everything she does. She adores being here and loves her mate. Everything's turned out just perfectly for her.