"Seriously speaking... Eggs" Chester carries the rolled-up sleeping bag under his arm. In front of him, the barren earth glistens like a yellow bone overheated by the sun. He wipes the sweat from his brow and continues speaking. "All your people's beliefs revolve around the best element of breakfast"

Nadjela nods doubtfully, finding the summary a bit disrespectful.

"I've heard worse," Chester adds.

"Worse?" she asks, moving more freely than Chester in these warm surroundings. The white outfit she's wearing helps her cope better with the heat. Woven from yarn created from El-nido-de-todas-las-plantas stems, the top is sleeveless and reaches above her navel. The bottom is a thong of stems with two thick strips of fabric, one at the front and one at the back to preserve modesty. The fabric slides down the curvatures of her tanned legs as she walks. Both pieces feature a design of zigzags and red lines that mimic the wings of birds, dyed elaborately from the guts of infernal ants.

"Once, a woman dressed as a penguin told me that when someone hits you, you have to offer the other side of your face," Chester says. "All because a guy who got nailed to a piece of wood said so. Eggs! Compared to that, it even makes sense"

They travel along pathless trails, with the giant at their backs, now relegated more than half a mile in the background.

"Is it right to abandon it?" asks Nadjela.

"It's not abandonment. It's a See you later!" Chester says with a confident smile. -It doesn't matter if I end up at the end of the world, North Star will always make it to my side. Our bond is indestructible.

Nadjela interprets the mechanic's theme as some kind of witch doctor specializing in giants. Likewise, the invisible bond that Chester claims to possess, the princess considers it a mystical power similar to the disembodied contact that her father has with the ancestors and the mother bird. Chester will insist on denying his divinity, but that hair, and that body capable of withstanding komodo poison, were signs of a different nature. Whether he is the promised hero of La Cuna, or a fallen demigod, Nadjela longs that, after returning to her village, Chester will somehow solve the problems. Or at least that he would enlighten with his wisdom, because even looking young he seemed to know everything, although he also sometimes gave the impression of being the biggest jerk.

"A deep, wide and fierce river that under the whims of the sun turns into a series of puddles without substance. This man is a real enigma that I don't know if I can decipher."

She decides she will at least try. Under that sun, under any moon, she will investigate and save her people.

"Are there several truths, several beliefs like the man in the wood" Nadjela asks.

"The truth is whatever you want it to be"

"That doesn't make sense. Are you testing me?"

Nadjela, wielding a sly look, thinks she guesses the trick. She speeds up and plants herself in front of Chester causing him to stop and look at her.

"I am obedient and devoted. Firm in my values. Able to sacrifice myself for my people if necessary. I swear it on the mother of all birds"

She brings her determined expression closer until it is reflected in the swordsman's visor. Chester leans back.

"Good for you. If you're happy with that..."

"Happy?" She clasps her hands together as if praying. "How, great sir?"

Chester spasms and straightens his back. Now it's Nadjela's turn to back away.

"First: Don't call me "Great Sir", it doesn't fit. Second: You'll know how to be happy, everyone has their own way. Third: I'm roasting. Let's get somewhere to rest."

Nadjela had been so accustomed to a single landscape for fifteen years that such vastness and lack of boundaries seems sinful. Where is the flat-faced mountain? The clay brick houses and their domed roofs? The proud hunters patrolling on majestic ostriches?

"It feels wrong not to see any of that. Compared, he walks so free..."

Even if he wanted to mimic Chester's confidence, the warm earth beneath his feet feels so unfamiliar that feigning willingness costs him. That wind stirring his long black hair is simply not "his wind." Though to more surprise, none of it is tinged with the malignant depiction that varnishes the elders' stories about the outdoors. It is wild, yes, but also new, and perhaps hesitantly Nadjela would admit, attractive.

"Green!" Chester exclaims, and points his finger to a precipitation in the open field that leads to a slope where families of white-trunked trees grow in a cooler environment, with branches full of intertwined green leaves. The largest of these families stands in the center. That's where he points.

The intertwined canopies create a filter for the light, allowing the nature below to grow without being scorched by the sun. Nadjela wiggles her toes to feel the grass and fresh earth between her toes. There are flowers with white and yellow petals that she sees for the first time in her life. She plucks one, holds it to her nose, and inhales the sweet scent.

In the center of the grove lies a small lake fed by a subway spring. Nadjela sits down on the shore and dips her feet in the cold liquid, which brings a shudder and a gasp of pleasure.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Chester asks as soon as he arrives and sees her.

Nadjela opens her mouth to say no, but her stomach growls first, and she blushes. She hasn't eaten for at least a day. Chester, a real gentleman, says he'll take care of it.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A short time later the swordsman returns carrying on his shoulders a beast taller than he is, with a disproportionately large snout compared to the body, and three white stripes on its black, furry back. A Tasmanian devil. Chester drags the animal from the front legs, careful enough not to cut himself with the six-inch claws, while the hind legs leave furrows in the earth offering post-mortem resistance. Chester reaches the oasis and discovers that Nadjela is absent. There is no sign of her. He opens his mouth to call out to her, but realizes he doesn't know his companion's name.

Branches shake and a few leaves fall off. Chester drops the demon's legs. He spreads his legs apart, and brings his hands to the hilt of his katana, ready to raise it in a second by snapping his wrists.

Nadjela slips and lands. Chester, seeing her safe and sound, understands that there is no danger and moves his fingers away from the scabbard.

"I went up to look for clues about the whereabouts of my village," Nadjela says. Her lack of joy in explaining herself is evidence of failure.

"You're good at climbing"

"Near the mountain where I live there are very big rocks. When I was little I used to compete with my friend Majani to climb them, and then we would climb the mountain itself. There wasn't much else to do..."

It pains her to admit to such a tawdry activity, so she chalks it up to a silly childhood pastime. It was Majani who recommended giving it up, arguing that it was inappropriate for the princess to be seen jumping around like a crazed dingo.

"Sounds like fun. Let's do it!" Chester exclaims.

Nadjela tilts her head to one side, not understanding.

"Are you serious...?"

"After lunch! Let's climb trees like monkeys. Everyone likes monkeys. Deep down we're all one"

(That's crazy) she thinks. But since Chester's optimism is dangerously contagious, she agrees.

Chester disembowels the demon. Nadjela uses dry grass to light a campfire. She lights the flame at the edge of the family of trees, because she shies away from lighting fires indoors.

Under the midday sun, Chester appears with pieces of meat skewered on sticks. They cook the meat, then divide it up, and though tough, Nadjela eats with pleasure until she is satiated. A trail of fat runs down the corners of her lips. Chester passes her a thick leaf he plucked from some plant. The princess uses the leaf as a napkin.

"You didn't tell me your name," Chester says.

The girl is stunned, swallows, and admits that this is so. She was so busy distrusting, thinking and wondering, that she forgot the courtesy of introducing herself.

"Excuse my rudeness. I'm Nadjela."

"Nadjela. Nice name. Sounds like Nutella"

"Nutella is bad?"

"Nutella is the best invention in the world, next to Bimbo bread"

Not knowing what Nutella or Bimbo bread is, the princess nods and accepts the compliment.

Finishing their meal, they put out the campfire and lie down to rest, each in the shade of their own tree. It is not fifteen minutes before Chester jumps to his feet.

"Either I stretch my legs or I'll grow roots!"

"Really?" asks Nadjela with frank naivety.

Chester shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out. Let's climb!"

They find the tallest tree growing at one end of the oasis, its tip slightly curved toward the water. They get into position, each standing at opposite ends of the trunk, peering into the leafy canopy. Chester shouts "Go!" and they both jump.

The princess plants her hands and feet in the bark. She reaches the branches in seconds. She hears the leaves on the other side rustling. Her heart races, and she deduces that at most she had a second or two head start on the swordsman. She hurries up the climb, her movements are natural and she doesn't even sweat. The light filtering through the leafy summit is getting closer and closer. A little more and she wins. But in her haste she takes a wrong step... She slips.

Nadjela spins among the branches, which hit her and scrape her arms and legs. She receives the wind, and then the slap of cold water all over her body. She sinks into the oasis without touching the bottom. Nadjela flails, kicks, and rises. She sticks her head out and spits out the water. She rinses her eyes before looking up, discovering Chester looking back at him with a triumphant smile.

"Cannonball!" The Lancastrian shouts without waiting.

Nadjela doesn't need to understand the meaning of those words to read the man's intentions. She barely manages to move half a meter away when Chester crashes, dives, and raises a brief downpour. With his garments and sword soaked through, Chester surfaces. He guffaws with his wild locks placated by the wet.

"I needed a good cooling off!"

Nadjela, aware that she almost fell on him, glares at him. But her sternness softens as she notices the Lancaster's face twitch, and he adds in a tortured voice:

"Shit, I forgot!"

He waves his hands, but that doesn't stop his nose from disappearing. His forehead. His wet mane of hair. His fingers in the air.

"It's not funny. Stop it," the princess says when Chester is slow to come up.

Air bubbles stop projecting. The princess tenses.

"He's playing...isn't he?"

Almost a minute, and still no response.

"By heaven, which is holy! "

She takes a deep breath and then dives madly. Underwater she glimpses Chester's blurry figure in a cloud of sediment, which Lancaster himself raised as he hit bottom. Nadjela wraps her arms around Chester's shoulders. She swims with all her strength to ascend, and then up she drags him to shore.

After leaving Chester on land, Nadjela kneels on the side and pales when she realizes that the swordsman is not breathing. She urgently searches her memory for Zakary's teachings in case one day a child should fall into the river. As the children of the tribe are not stupid, Nadjela has never needed such maneuvers, but now....

(The kiss of life... No! There are other options, Nadjela. Other options.)

She places her hands on Chester's chest, presses and softens her thrust repeatedly, but there is no improvement. Chester is getting colder and whiter. His visor is missing, his eyes are sealed shut. He looks peaceful, if it weren't for the ethereal trace of an occasional wound, his face would be typically angelic. Nadjela thinks again of....

(The kiss of life...)

She swallows saliva. Her gaze drops from his eyes to the man's mouth, tightly set in a strong jaw. Nadjela licks her own lips reflexively, hesitates, and shakes her head.

(If you wait too long you will die! You will be left alone in the forbidden zones. You'll never get back to your people because a big, ugly monster will appear and eat you!)

She argues with herself.

(Isn't this adultery!)

(It's a matter of life and death!)

(But I save my lips for the love of my life!)

(The mother of all birds will forgive you! It's not like you want to kiss him either, or that you were going to enjoy it!)

(Of course I'm not interested...)

(Of course not... Now to save!)

Nadjela takes a breath again. She bends down. She places her trembling hand on his mouth to half-open it, and plants her lips. Nadjela's blood rushes to her face, she takes a few seconds to remember that it is essential to blow. She gives Chester her first kiss and her breath. She repeats both the mouth-to-mouth breathing and the pushing with her hands, faster and faster because of the growing urgency.

Chester gradually regains his color. His heart overcomes the slow march. From one moment to the next he opens his eyes, rolls onto his side, and vomits the water from his lungs. Nadjela steps back and waits for the swordsman to calm down. Chester stops coughing and lies on his back, his doughy gaze fixed on the treetops.

"I never learned to swim," he reveals hoarsely.

Nadjela backs up to a tree, leans against the trunk, and slides down to sit among the roots. She lets out a breath that leaks both her feelings of joy and fury. Happy that it is alive. Furious that he is alive. She covers her face with her hands and says:

"Great idiot"

Chester lets out a bruised laugh and replies:

"That does fit me like a glove"