Alexa did have soap in her car. She actually had a big plastic tub thing full of stuff for camping. In addition to both liquid soap and hand sanitizer, the tub had paper plates and utensils, a big skillet, cooking spray, sunscreen, rope, a collapsible shovel, a windup flashlight, a few loose batteries of various sizes, and a bunch of hair ties. Alexa didn't let Sarah rummage in the box, she made Sarah stand well away with her rotting snake body still curled around her wrist.

"Go downstream, please," said Alexa when she handed her the big jug of soap.

"Sure, sure," smiled Sarah. "Does it really bother you that much? I mean, there's probably dead fish and other stuff already in the water."

"Yes," said Alexa. "Maybe it shouldn't, but I know about that thing on your wrist, I don't know about whatever is already up there. And I'd rather not find out."

"Ok, if I see something I won't say anything," said Sarah. "Hey, come down with me, we can talk. I want you to think about something too."

"What?" asked Alexa. She was already stumbling as they walked away from the path between the fire and the car. Sarah was stepping around and over the tufts of grass and little rocks, but Alexa kept tripping over them.

"So when I blue a stick, it doesn't burn and it's harder to break, right?" said Sarah.

"Phrasing!" laughed Alexa.

Sarah blushed, and she was grateful that it was too dark for Alexa to tell. "Yeah, I need a better way to say that, if we're going to talk about this. Enchant? No, I hate that. I'll think about it. Anyways, you know what I mean. The sticks are tougher than they should be, yeah?"

"Yeah," said Alexa.

"So are you? Like when you're all green, are you harder to hurt?" said Sarah. "I mean, you kicked that rock apart and tore your shoes, but did it actually hurt your feet?"

"No..." trailed off Alexa. "I dunno. I didn't notice."

"So how tough are you?" said Sarah. "And if you're just holding the green, are you tough or do you need to actually be using it?"

"You know what, that's a very good question. You know what else? I don't think I want to test it."

"Really? We could start small. I could flick the back of your neck with a rubber band, or pull your hair. We don't have to jump right to bulletproof."

Alexa arched an eyebrow in the dark, "Sarah, I like you, but we'll need a bit more time before I let you pull my hair. At a minimum, you'll need to buy me dinner first."

They'd arrived at the stream - there was a spot where an eddy had made a deeper, clear pool that lay relatively still between stretches of babbling rocks. Sarah blushed, and instead of responding to Alexa she let the snake drop to the ground and began soaping her hands and arms. She knelt by the edge and began scrubbing off the crud the dead body had left on her hands, careful to keep water from splashing on the rest of her.

"I wonder if I can wear gloves," said Sarah, changing the subject.

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"That would probably be a good idea," said Alexa. "I'd guess you could - I mean, you moved your energy from one hand to the other without touching them, and didn't go across your arms and chest either."

"We'll have to try it. I'll have to try other stuff too. If I'm going to do this a lot, I'll need to figure out a way to carry something with me I can dump extra into. And as cool as Cuddles is, I'm not sure if it's reasonable to take him everywhere."

"Cuddles?" asked Alexa. "You mean that nasty piece of rotting crap you found?"

"Yes, Cuddles, say hi." The dead snake lifted its head half a foot into the air and began waving it back and forth vigorously.

Alexa lifted her arms up in front of her, "I have no idea what you're doing, but I'm sure it's creepy. Tell that thing there's no way I'm going to wave back."

"Maybe I can clean up Cuddles too," said Sarah. The snake uncoiled itself and slithered rapidly into the water. There was a teeny splash that Sarah could just barely hear over the sounds of the brook, and then the snake began writhing around under the water, scraping itself through the pebbles underneath. Alexa seemed to relax a bit as the snake moved away, standing flat on her feet and letting her arms drop back down. While it worked, Sarah kept thinking about Alexa's light.

"You can't really see yourself, but have you noticed your light moves around?" asked Sarah.

"Well, yeah, I can see my arms. It's just sorta drifting back and forth," said Alexa.

"When you're not doing much," said Sarah. "But have you looked when you're actually breaking something or whatever? It drifts - it seems like it focuses on where your muscles are actually working."

"I guess," said Alexa. "I mean, I haven't noticed, but it makes sense."

"Ok, so try something while I wash up," said Sarah. "Can you move it without actually using it? Like focus it in a hand, or your legs, or whatever?"

Alexa didn't answer, so Sarah glanced over at the girl. Alexa was standing still in the dark, looking down at herself. She had lifted both arms up, palms up where she could see them. The green light flared in her hands, letting the rest of her body dim until the light was almost invisible. Then it flared brighter in just her right hand, then flashed to the left, and back again.

"It's not that hard, I barely have to consider it and it moves," said Alexa. The light streamed from her hands as she dropped them to her sides, filling her legs instead. It flashed to one leg, but when she moved it back to her left leg Alexa suddenly toppled over. Sarah caught her before she could hit the ground, staggering just a bit under the Senior's weight. Both girls went down, although it was more of a sudden sit than an actual fall.

"Ok, I wasn't expecting that," said Alexa. "It was like standing up after one leg went to sleep and was suddenly numb. I don't think I'll do that again."

"Or you should do it lots, and practice," said Sarah.

"Or that, yeah."

"I've got another idea," said Sarah.

"Awesome. Can I catch my breath first?" Alexa wasn't breathing hard at all.

"Well, that's kinda it," said Sarah. "Can you use your light to help you catch your breath? Or something other than just muscles? Like what if you put the light in your lungs, or your eyes, or something else?"

"That's... yeah," said Alexa. The green light in her body suddenly concentrated in her eyes, giving the girl an eerie look in the dark. Sarah could make everything out in the starlight, but the green eyes shone in a way that made the rest of Alexa seem to fade into the background.

"Well?" said Sarah. "Any difference?"

"Just a minute," breathed Alexa.

Alexa was looking around the meadow, and then she looked up and froze. She simply stared at the sky while the two sat in silence. Sarah decided to let her be and concentrated on her snake. It crawled out of the water, and Sarah dumped out some soap on the flat part of a rock nearby, letting it coil and writhe around to cover itself in suds. After it got thoroughly soapy, she let it go back into the water to continue its exfoliation routine.

"This is incredible," said Alexa. It seemed like she hadn't even noticed Cuddles coming out of the water. She was still entranced by the sky.

"The stars?" asked Sarah.

"Yes," said Alexa. "No, sort of. I can see so much, I've never seen this many stars. I can actually see spiral galaxies up there. And I can see Jupiter, I know it's Jupiter because I can even make out the spot! I can't even..."

The two sat there by the bank of the stream. Sarah was happy to just sit in silence while Alexa enjoyed her private star show for an hour until the light in Alexa's eyes finally ran out.