It was a combination of several different things which caused Elissa to finally stretch and wake up the next morning. First, there was the warm glow of the morning sun caressing the early morning chill off her body, which sent slight shivers up and down her whole frame. Then, there was the dull throb which was slowly returning to her hips and backside, which was insistently progressing into ever sharper throbs as the numbing was wearing off. And last, but not least, was the tantalizing smell of fresh cook cooking tormenting her empty stomach with promised of succulent breakfast.

“What’s that?” Easing up, Elissa stretched, yawned, and inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of whatever was being cooked. “Is that fish?” Blinking a few times, she tried to convince herself that it was anything BUT fish which she was smelling cooking, but the more she inhaled the fragrance, the more her nose kept insisting that it was indeed fresh fish cooking.

Looking back from where he was squatting over a small campfire, Stone nodded slightly, before turning his attention back to what he was cooking.

“Are you serious?!” Elissa half gasped, while blinking several times in disbelief. “What about ‘don’t hurt the fishies?’, she asked, incredulously.

“Not hurt them,” Stone assured her ponderously. “Only kill them. Eat them,” he grumbled slowly, in his deep, rumbling voice.

Shaking her head from side to side, Elissa eased over around the campfire and sat down cross-legged in front of Stone. Wincing slightly at the throb in her rump, she squirmed several times and then finally sat on her knees with her rear resting several inches up off the ground. “So, are you a hunter then,” Elissa asked, while watching Stone slowly turn a long stick over the campfire with several fish pierced on it. “That sounds kind of like a hunter’s code,” she reasoned. “Only kill what you can eat.”

Shaking his massive head left to right, Stone just grunted slightly.

“So… “. Elissa sighed slightly to herself, then shrugged her shoulders minutely. Apparently the big boy simply wasn’t a big talker; she’d just have to learn to accept that for the next several days while he was her master. “If you’re not a hunter, what do you do,” Elissa asked, careful not to phrase her question in such a manner that he could just grunt or shake his head to avoid answering.

“Horse,” was the strange, single word response she got back in return for her efforts, as Stone never looked up or twitched from his cooking.

“Horse?” Elissa blinked a few times in confusion, having absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean.

“Me horse,” Stone explained, slowly lifting his head to stare at her with his bright brown eyes. “Me pull plow. Pull cart. Carry log. Stone. Me horse,” he explained once again, before looking down and turning the fish on the makeshift spit once again.

“You’re not a horse,” Elissa laughed lightly. “It sounds as if you’re what people simply call a laborer. Your job is basically just lifting and moving things. Right?”

“Like horse,” Stone agreed, nodding his head slightly, as he carefully pulled the spit with the fish on it up from the fire. “Stone big like horse,” he explained in his slow, ponderous voice, while slowly holding the end of the spit out towards Elissa. “Strong like horse. Stupid as horse. Stone job is horse,” he explained without seeming to hold any malice, as his gentle brown eyes seemed to twinkle in the morning sunlight.

“You’re not stupid,” Elissa told him firmly, as she gingerly reached out and took the spit from Stone. “Unless, of course,” she added, smirking gently, “you think I’m going to be able to eat all of these! I don’t really eat that much, you know.”

Smiling lightly, Elissa blew on the row of roasted fish several times, before finally working the spit up so she could nibble daintily on the edge of the fish on the closest side of the skewer. “If you were an idiot,” Elissa chided Stone gently, “you never could’ve found the medicine to numb my hips like you did. Healers aren’t idiots,” she told him firmly, “and you were a healer to me last night.”

“What was that medicine, anyway,” she asked, while taking another tiny nibble from the last fish again.

“Not medicine,” Stone rumbled slowly. “Poison.”

“Poison?” Elissa blinked a few times and stopped the skewer of fish halfway to her mouth

up or twitched from his coo, before taking another bite. “What do you mean, ‘poison’,” she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly, in concern.

“Purple Needleweed,” Stone rumbled, in the same slow, steady voice as before. For all the lack of changes in his face, expression, or stance, he might as well be talking about the rain in a different kingdom for all he showed it.

“Purple Needleweed?” Elissa frowned slightly, and softly repeated what he’d said a few times to herself. “Purple Needleweed. Purple Needleweed. I’ve heard that name before,” she mused to herself, wracking her mind to try to recall where she’d heard it before.

Gasping suddenly, Elissa’s hand quivered lightly from side to side as he face suddenly registered shock and understanding. “Purple Needleweed…” Staring directly at Stone, Elissa slowly placed the skewer full of fish down on the grass beside her and stared directly into his eyes. “Are you certain that was Purple Needleweed,” she asked, concern plainly visible on her face.

Raising a single eyebrow, Stone nodded slightly without saying anything in response.

“Purple Needleweed,” Elissa emphasized, “is also known as Deathgrass. That’s not what you had was it?”

Stone just nodded once again, remaining perfectly unmoving and silent otherwise.

“Deathgrass isn’t a medicine,” Elissa trembled slightly, while staring directly into Stone’s eyes. “Deathgrass is a purple weed-like grass that’s often found near stagnant lakes or ponds. The blades of the grass are thin and sturdy, and almost razor sharp. It oozes a paralytic sap which disables creatures that try to walk through the grass and get to the water, and then they lay there and slowly die from starvation or dehydration. Their screams and cries help draw other creatures to attempt to pray on them as they suffer, and once they’re dead, the grass grows from the rot produced as the bodies decay.”

“I’ve heard the merchants and guards talk about Deathgrass before and how it was so dangerous for travelers trying to gather water late at night as it’s hard to tell it apart from normal grass in the dark shadows of night.” Elissa half shivered, remembering some of the tells she’d heard. At the time, she’d shrugged most of them off as the merchants or guards simply not wanting to go fetch water, or do a lot of work once they’d stopped traveling late in the evening, but now she wasn’t so certain. Deathgrass had just went from a traveler’s tall tale to something concrete, deadly, and nearby.

Nervously, Elissa eyed up and down the edges of the nearby pond, looking for any sign of a purple-sheen weed in the light of day. “You weren’t chewing and spitting that Deathgrass on me last night, were you?” Staring unwavering at Stone, Elissa had a sinking feeling that she already knew how he was going to answer her question.

Nodding slowly and deliberately, Stone confirmed her deepest worries and made Elissa want to leap across the campfire and strangle him.

“How? Why?” Elissa half sputtered, staring with wide-eyed disbelief over at Stone. “Deathgrass isn’t a medicine! It’s deadly! You could’ve killed yourself,” she admonished him, completely in shock at how nonchalantly he seemed to be taking the whole situation. “Why the hell would you even thing about trying to chew up something like that?” Elissa asked, completely flustered.

Lifting one massive hand, Stone slowly pointed a finger over at Elissa. “You hurt,” he explained slowly. “Grass stop you hurt. Not hurt Stone. Stone strong.” Making a fist with both hands, Stone thumped soundly against his chest several times to show he was fine. “No hurt Stone. Stop ‘Lissa hurt. Why Stone not use grass?” Holding up his hands, Stone looked completely innocent, as if it was the simplest thing in the world to understand.

“But you could’ve died,” Elissa half screamed at him. Standing suddenly, she quickly walked around the campfire and wrapped her arms around his massive head, pulling it up tight between her ample breasts. “You could’ve died,” Elissa whispered softly, gently stroking his hair. “And just to stop me from feeling a little pain which I’d honestly brought on and earned for myself.”

“Maybe you really are stupid,” Elissa murmured softly to herself. How could anyone put themselves at risk chewing up something as deadly as Deathgrass, for someone who was basically a stranger to them? And not even to save that stranger’s life – just to stop that person from feeling sorry for themselves and having a bruised ass!! Never before in her life had Elissa been around anyone who would take such a risk to themselves for her – not even her own guards.

Shivering, Elissa couldn’t help but imagine what could’ve happened if Stone would’ve swallowed any of the paralytic poison, rather than just drooling it out all over the place. Honestly, he had to have been one swallow away from a terrible death – and all just to ease the pain from where she’d been spanked!

“I think you really are a stupid idiot,” Elissa muttered once again, trembling slightly while clutching Stone tight up against her. “A stupid idiot”, she added softly, while stroking his hair gently, “who seems to embrace the seven virtues more than anyone I think I’ve ever had the honor of meeting before – and that includes my own family!”

Stone sat perfectly still, head pressed tightly into Elissa’s bosom for several long moments while she gently stoked his hair and remained lost in her own thoughts, before he slowly pushed her away with his massive hands gently against her waist. “Food cold,” he muttered simply, tilting his head to stare directly into her eyes.

“Yes,” Elissa sighed, somewhat regrettably, in agreement. “The food is getting cold.” Gently disentangling her arms from around Stone’s head, she leaned down and gently gave him a quick lite kiss on his forehead, before turning and going back over to sit down across from him. Remembering the dull throb in her backside from before, she once again to chose to sit resting on her knees, to keep as much weight off her tender rear as possible.

Slowly picking back up the wooden skewer, she turned it first to one side and then the other, making certain to brush any stray grass, dirt, or insects off the roasted fish, before finally sliding one of the now cooler fish off. Holding it in her left hand, Elissa turned the stick which held the other two fish and offered it out to Stone.

“’Lissa eat first. Stone eat leftovers,” Stone rumbled slowly, making no move to reach for the fish on his own.

“Take this,” Elissa insisted, shaking the stick and fish at him slightly. “I won’t eat them. I don’t eat that much,” she informed him, honestly.

“Eat,” Stone insisted back at her. “One fish not feed woman,” he rumbled, unmoving.

“It will this woman,” Elissa insisted, before drawing back the stick and tossing it over the campfire and into his massive lap. Taking the other fish in her left hand, she held it up and then deliberately took a small bite from it to show that she was going to eat too. “You don’t have to worry,” Elissa assured him, “I’ve got both a blessing and a curse which affects my meals.”

“Blessed curse?” Raising one eyebrow slightly – which Elissa was beginning to associate as his way of showing confusion or uncertainly – Stone slowly reached down and picked up the fish in his lap. Unceremoniously, he lifted the stick to his mouth and bit off what looked like a whole half of one of the fish to Elissa, and began chewing it – bones and all!

Trying not to let her surprise show, Elissa forced herself to half laugh as she daintily took another nibble from her fish. “You probably realize that I come from a family with at least a little wealth,” Elissa stated, between small delicate bites, “or else I wouldn’t have been in the raffle so you could win me yesterday.”

Stone nodded, still chewing the large bite of fish which he’d just ripped off, but said nothing. His eyes stayed focused directly on her however, indicating that he was, indeed, paying attention to what she was saying.

“Since my family has a little extra coin to spare,” Elissa explained, giggling slightly to herself. A little extra gold? Her family was one of the wealthiest in the kingdom, but she really didn’t need to say all that at the moment. Bragging never accomplished anything good, and it’s not like she was actually lying about anything, she told herself. After all, they did have a little extra coin to spare…

Taking another small nibble from her fish to hide the smirk that threatened to cross her cheeks, Elissa took a moment to be certain to compose herself before continuing. “Like most people,” Elissa informed Stone matter-of-factly, “my family will also spend extra coin when we have it to make our lives easier. A farmer might get a new hoe,” she explained reasonably, “or a hunter might get a new pack or bow, to help make their live simpler.”

Stone simply nodded to show that he understood what she was trying to say and then pulled off the rest of the fish he’d bit into and popped what remained of it into his mouth, head and all, and began slowly crewing on it.

“Well… umm…” Elissa blinked a few times, shocked to see someone chewing up a whole fish in just a couple of bites, but she stubbornly shook her head slightly from side to side and refused to let it bother her. “Err… Anyway,” she finally continued, taking another small nibble from her own meal, “my father let me spend some of our coin to make things easier on me, much in that same way as a farmer or hunter will spend to make their lives easier.”

“Except,” she giggled again slightly, “I didn’t get a new hoe or a bow.” Leaning forward a little closer towards she campfire, she whispered half-conspiratorially, “What I got was some herbs from an alchemist to make my life simpler.” Reaching down with her hand which wasn’t holding the fish she was eating, Elissa slowly caressed her leg up and down a few times. “You might have noticed how smooth I am,” she went on quietly, before sitting back up straighter and half laughing. “That’s all thanks to some herbal remedy which the alchemists produce which permanently remove hair.”

Stone raised one eyebrow while watching her, but said nothing, which made Elissa laugh lightly again to herself. “You’re a guy,” she told him, “you wouldn’t understand, but it’s a pain having to shave your legs every day or so, so the stubble won’t rip hose, or some guy call you a ‘wild wolf-girl’. And you’ve never had to try and shave under your arms and cut yourself half to death,” Elissa told him, snorting slightly.

“I got tired of dealing with all that,” Elissa laughed, waving the fish in her hands back and forth a few times, “so I bought some herbs for my bath. All I had to do is sit and soak in the water for an hour or so, and when I got out, everywhere that the water was, my hair was gone. I just had to be careful to keep my hair up in a bun and keep it from getting wet, and keep it away from my eyebrows, but in the end it was worth it,” she explained.

“No bush,” Stone rumbled, the left side of his lips twitching slightly, almost as if he was trying to hold back a smirk. “Baby bottom,” he added slowly, and with a twinkle dancing in his eyes.

“Yes,” Elissa sighed, while nodding her head up and down slightly in agreement. “It did also leave me with a very smooth front and ‘no bush’ as you oh-so-elegantly put it. Not that that’s ever been much of an issue really,” she laughed, squirming slightly, once again glad that the white dye the priests had painted her in was hiding the blush which she felt spreading warmly throughout her body.

“I guess if you want, you could call that ‘side effect’ part of the curse that goes with not ever needing to worry about shaving again,” Elissa shrugged slightly. “Most things in life come with both good and bad attached to them. We just have to decide if paying the price with the one is worth it for the benefit of the other. When it comes to not cutting myself anymore, having to deal with stubble, or the bumps which come from shaving, I don’t even think the loss of a little extra hair there is even worth mentioning in the long run.”

“But,” Elissa frowned slightly, sitting the half eaten fish she was holding back down on the ground, “when it comes to eating, I’m not so certain the blessing was worth the price of the curse that I got.”

“What blessing? What curse?” Pulling the last fish off the skewer, Stone slowly took a massive bite out of it, while raising an eyebrow in Elissa’s direction.

“I took some a different elixir from an alchemist at another time,” Elissa informed him, still frowning slightly. “The choice was entirely mine, and I bought the elixir myself, knowing full well what it did, but I’m not so certain if I’d make the same choice again, if I had it to do over. I don’t think I would,” Elissa sighed ruefully to herself.

“What I took was an elixir which strengthens the stomach,” she explained sadly. “What it does is really rather simple – it makes a person’s digestive functions much more efficient. Food digests quicker. You get more nutrients from a meal, and you don’t have to pass waste products like other people.”

“Waste products?” Stone asked, shrugging to show he didn’t understand.

“I don’t have to go poop,” Elissa told him plainly, while turning her head and looking out into the woods and away from him.

“HUR! HUR! HUR!!” Leaning back, Stone laughed loudly and heartily for several moments before finally leaning back up with a large smirk across his face. It was the first real sign of true emotion which Elissa had seen from him, and she couldn’t help but be half annoyed and half embarrassed to think that it was because of something as strange as her bathroom needs!

“It’s not funny,” Elissa snorted. “Sure, it means I don’t have to pack but about half the food as anyone else when traveling, but it also means that I can’t enjoy but half the food I used to! There might be the tastiest cake in the world before me, and all I’ll get to have is one or two bites from it and then I’m full! That’s hardly worth the price of not having to wipe your own ass anymore!”

Pouting her lip out, Elissa crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked almost as if she was about ready to cry. From her forsaken expression and exaggerated reaction, she made it seem almost as if she was saying something like, “And it seems it’s going to kill me by suppertime,” to Stone. Getting up, Stone roared out another loud burst of laughter and turned and began to wander into the tree line, forcing Elissa to cry out, “Wait a moment,” before hopping up and scurrying after him.

“It’s not funny. Not funny at all,” Elissa muttered moodily to herself, before catching up and walking a few steps behind Stone as he wandered off, heading to some destination completely unknown to her.