The Grand Mistress

After a few attempts, Hawk was able to light a fire, just at the right time that the darkness succumbed. When the fire started heating up the place, he turned to look at Cat who was at the bench and saw her wet clothes neatly laid on the bench she was sitting just next to her. She had covered herself completely with the blanket and was still shivering then.

"Are you okay?" Hawk asked and rummaged through his bag to find a bottle of water he had tucked inside. He unsealed it and opened the lid before he went to Simione and offered her the water. The poor girl drank as much as she could and only remembered then how thirsty she was. Earlier she decided to climb down at sunrise but with the accident that almost cost her her life on the way, she decided to climb back and stay in the clearing until the storms wore out. She did plan to take refuge in the campsite but she lost her goods and back pack, so was her supply of water that's why she went to the river. Unfortunately, a big branch fell on her and the rest was history.

"I think so," She answered, already clear headed. She really did think she was going to die and she was very thankful Hawk came to rescue her. With such a huge storm, she could not imagine the hardship he went through in his journey up. "How did you manage to climb up with such a storm?"

"I have my own set of experiences enough for me to get through it. However I had to admit it was the most challenging and dangerous out of all my climbs," Hawk told her and took her hand. "Come sit with me by the fire. You need some warmth"

Cat tried to stand because of Hawk's invitation but as she did, her weak feet outdid her and she somehow lost her balance. Good thing Hawk was able to catch her. 

"Careful. Is your injury that bad?" he asked, starting to worry.

"I don't think so. I guess my feet just needed some rest. I had been in the water for a while," Simione answered honestly. She knew her body was okay and just needed to recover. Phew! What a big relief that nothing happened to her despite her successive near death experience.

Hawk assisted her, or more like carried her to sit beside the fire and when she had settled there completely. He took her clothes one by one and hung them near the fire to let them dry.

"Thank you," Simione was very grateful with his consideration, more so with how he saved her life. "You did save me today,"

"You should have not gone alone," Hawk chastised her gently while he was starting to heat up some canned goods he brought. "Why didn't you ask for my help,"

"I didn't want to bother you, I know the temple keeps you occupied," She reasoned but Hawk could see through her eyes that she was lying and so he just shrugged at it.

"You just don't want to see me after that happened yesterday," He stated the obvious and the girl could only bite her lips with the truth he splattered. "You have some serious pride mi amore,"

"Alright I don't want to see you after what happened," She admitted then. "However I also did thought the problems in the orphanage was none of you business and the fact that there's a storm, I bet you don't want to leave you father alone,"

"Seriously?" Hawk turned to look at her eyes. Is that really how she sees things between them? "Mi amore, between my father and your safely, I'd choose the latter and you know that,"

"And between me and Feather?" She braved to ask. Truth was it wasn't really the most important topic then but Simione was trying to shift her focus from her shaking veins and terror that day she needed something more intense—like the conversation about Feather—to help herself calm down.

Hawk was surprised to hear it but when he saw that her eyes didn't give her question some determination, he knew she was just trying to keep the conversation up. However, since she brought it up and wanted to touch on such a very sensitive topic, he'd rather brought up some things too that he was curious about.

"How about between me and your ex?" he returned the question and only then did Simione's eyes gained some focus. Hawk's lips twitch frustratedly knowing that indeed the mention of her ex was more of a trigger than the name of Feather. Simione quieted right away. 

Leaving her to her thoughts, Hawk busied himself with the routine of heating up their food. He didn't have any cooking pot and so he did what he could with what he had. When the food was ready,  he gave Simione a can of pork and beans and a spoon. "Eat it while it's hot,"

Simione took it and helped herself with the meal. She was really hungry since she was not able to take a bite the entire day because she lost her backpack and supplies. When Hawk noticed how hungry she was, he heated up more food and gave her some more.

"You tried to climb down this morning, right? I saw your backpack and shoe," Hawk told her while she was still chewing her share.

"Really?"

"I thought you fell on your way down. I was really worried," Hawk added as he schemed at the girl who seemed not very interested in the conversation. Was she still terrified or perhaps she was not done reminiscing the memory of her ex-boyfriend. "I left your backpack and shoe in the clearing. If the storm calms down tomorrow, I'll get it,"

"And if it doesn't?"

"We still had supplies to last for another day," He told her and was relieved he had brought some extra food. "The only problem I see is  the supply of firewood. I'll pick up some tomorrow even the damped and wet ones, we'll try to dry it with the fire,"

Simione didn't answer anymore and just ate. When she was done Hawk handed her a toothbrush that only surprised her. "You brought an extra truthbrush? What are you? Doraemon?"

Her question made Hawk smile. Truth was he had his share of camping trips and in all his experiences, he knew one of the most useful things to bring is a toothbrush. This was because previously, when he was a bit young and can still travel well, he joined a camping trip with some strangers and one of them forgot his toothbrush. For some reasons, he realized later the man used his without consent and since then, he kind of made a habit of bringing something extra for scenarios like that.

"I'm just oozy," He joked about it and handed the toothbrush to the girl. "Will you be okay alone here? I'll just gather some firewood to dry. I won't be far,"

Simione just nodded and let him leave. She saw him fixing up his raincoat, gave her one last glance and hurried through the rain. Hawk Monsanto did surprise him that night as the way he was handling things then made the girl think twice whether he really was Hawk Monsanto. Wasn't he too rich to be accustomed to some discomfort like this? 

She remembered Brother Don who had been born rich and how he wasn't used to such inconveniences. In fact, whenever she and Brother Don come and visit in Comis Village, he either comes days later than her or leaves early than her because he can't stay in the mountains for long. Unlike Hawk too who does tilling and hard labor with the farmers. 

However, at first she thought that Hawk was just trying to blend in and wanted to learn hard labor but seeing how he seemed to know everything he needed to do when being pushed to the edge, it seemed like he wasn't trying to learn how to be poor and simple—it was all natural to him. How unusual could that be? They say the Monsanto's were already rich before so she knew he was born like Brother Don—all with a silver spoon in their mouths. But why does he seem very different from Brother Don? Right in Comis village, there was no trace of him being rich and wealthy, it was just like he was a normal villager with an unusual handsome face.

Simione finished her brushing and when she was done, she tried to carefully drag herself into the tent to rest. Right then, her feet seemed to have recovered slightly so he reached the tent without falling. However she realized the place was all dusty so she cleaned up for a moment, made sure no crawling insects were resting inside and comfortably laid herself down. The flooring of the tent was still intact and there was a comforter attached to it, so when Cat plunged on it, she was so relieved at how comforting it was. Also the fire Hawk fired out seemed to have reached the tent and warmed it all completely and that only eased up her cold and lullabies her to sleep. 

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