He waited until she had gotten her boot back on before saying, "Hy di'nt find tree-spikes in hyur gear. Hy don' got none eidder. But Hy di'nt find any cavez vhile hunting. Schtill, treetop vould be safezt."
Dafi kept her face calm as she packed away the med-kit. "Tactically, I agree." She waited a few moments more before she sighed, "I do not like it, but with our limited resources, I will just have to deal with it."
The sergeant nodded and took a few moments to gather their packs, strapping them on. "Hyu watch out here while Hy get set up. Hyu schtill remember de school signalz?" Dafi chuckled, thinking she was the one to use them more recently. He grinned and said, "Hyu have trouble, let me know, Hy back hyu op." He took the ropes, flinging one end of the loop around the trunk of a nearby tree, "Hy might take a vhile to get to de branchez, but Hy ken haul hyu op after ve iz done mit the fire and it'z out, right?"
At her nod, he was walking up the huge trunk, hitching the ropes up as he ascended. He was soon hidden among the branches several dozen meters up, and Dafi kept her eyes on the surrounding landscape. Though sunset was not far off, she did not feed the fire any further, allowing it to die down as she pulled the coals together, turning the meat until it was almost done. Keeping an eye out on the gathering gloom, she wrapped the rabbit in the greens she had gathered by the stream, then in a trail kerchief, putting them in the now-empty water bucket with the cooling kettles of tea. She then spread the coals of the fire on the rock outcropping, kicking the sandy dirt about trying to disguise how recently a fire had been here, and of what type.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon when she heard the trill that had meant "ready" when she was at school, and the rope descended to her level. Dali had tied a rescue loop in the end, and Dafi was tired enough to accept it without being offended.
~=*=~
In spite of all the internal arguing, Dalibor had managed to secure their gear in the mid-range branches and arrange their bivouac. "Nest" the animal at the base of his brain called it. He told the animal to shut up. He would have gone higher, himself. However, Dafi had been uneasy with the minor turbulence in the airship. Even with the gentle night breezes his weather skills told him they would have, the movement of the branches up there would be more than he guessed Dafi could manage.
She needed to rest, and honestly, so did he. He had dozed a bit the night before, but it was that light sleep that let him hear everything within a hundred meters. Useful when in uncertain territory, but more than a few nights of that a week was not wise. Especially when they had to cover as much ground as possible in that week. Especially when his patrol consisted of a crazy woman who tranced out so she would not feel pain and slow them down.
Especially when that doze let him hear her murmurs when she was dreaming. He did not think she had woken up from the nightmare, when he had touched her shoulder. It seemed to break the nightmare's hold on her, though. Going back to the mouth of the cave was harder with his instincts trying to pull him back to curl up with her. Actually, his instinct was trying for a lot more than that, but his sense of duty kept smacking the instinct down with the rules and regulations.
He was old enough to know better, but it had been a while since he had tired of tumbling with the barmaids. Sure, it was all in fun and commerce, but they often couldn't read, and had a limited grasp of current events, much less political theory. Dafi's quick grasp of the situation had excited him more than the sighs she gave in her sleep or the graceful curve of her calves. He traced them in his memory, gilded in firelight - one with an old scar from a sawtooth cat, the other with the new bullet graze. She was a soldier, and as far as he had seen in their limited contact, a good one. If she had been just a soldier, he would have begun courting her already, but she wasn't.
Though he did not call her by her title, he had not forgotten it. For that matter, he knew that tone of voice she had used when she had given her Proper Name, and remembered an echo of that tone spoken in centuries past. He had left his own heavy load of luggage behind when he had been captured by the Heterodyne and given the Jägerbrau. The Heterodyne had not been hunting ransom, but fresh meat. Though it had not kept him from being captured, the training he had received at Mustafa-Svilin had served him well in keeping him alive and away from promotions. His family had given him up for dead, and when they found out he was not... well. His uncle had been the ranking survivor, and preferred to keep it that way. Dalibor had not been back since.
Through this storm of emotions and memories, he managed to string up his shelter-half as part hammock and part shelter, in case he had failed in his weather-reading. After a moment's hesitation, he mirrored the arrangement with Dafi's gear close alongside his, nearer the trunk for her peace of mind. He adjusted packs and tension lines for the better part of an hour, before he realized he was delaying dangerously long, noting that Dafi had already cleared the camp below and was policing the area for further signs of their passage.
He pulled her up to the level of the bivouac, and she carefully hung the camp bucket from a broken branch. "Rabbit in the kerchiefs, tea in the kettles and water in the cook-pots," she said tersely. He could tell from her body language that Dafi wasn't angry, she was scared stiff. He was glad he had placed her hammock against the trunk of the tree, and helped her into it. He climbed into his hammock, and being more comfortable in their surroundings, served dinner. Not much on greens himself, he left over half of his share in her dinner bundle, as he settled in with his share of the meat. "Nize vork on deze, de greenz aren't too bad thiz vay."
Dafi seemed to be concentrating on Not Looking Down, and huddled in her hammock. "I-it is better with spinach, but the watercress was a bit... bit overgrown. The steaming helps with tougher greens." She consumed her dinner neatly, mechanically, and drank the bitter tea straight from her kettle. When she had finished, tidying her kit together she said, "I think I might take first watch tonight." It was not a request, but it was also not an officer giving an order. Then she was at a loss for what to do with the bones from supper.
Dalibor simply took the bones and flung them out into the darkness. "Tenkz, Hy could uze zome schleep tonight." He tied his kettle of tea to a handy branch for later. "Vake me at midnight und Hy vill take ofer." He settled into his hammock with the intention of sleeping no more than four hours. Not that he believed she would fall asleep at her post, but instead wanted to make sure she would sleep at least part of the night.
~=*=~
Three hours later, Dafi was debating if she should wake the sergeant up. She had been trying to convince herself that she was just nervous, and the wind was not picking up across the ridge to their west. "Just your imagination, silly girl," she muttered to herself.
"Mrr?" Sgt. Dalibor came awake, to her chagrin. Dafi murmured to him, "Still an hour yet, g-go back to sleep."
From the sounds, Dafi guessed the sergeant was shifting about in his hammock. The clouds had rolled in an hour earlier, cutting off the light of the waning moon. "No, zumting'z wrong. Vot iz vorrying yhu?"
"I was listening to the wind. It is starting to sound like a big blow is headed our way, and I...." Dafi paused, embarrassed by the admission, but you did not lie about your observations when on patrol, "...I was trying to decide if I was getting colder, or just scared."
"Hyu're right, de vind haz shifted." With a grunt, he got out of his hammock and balanced easily on the lower branches. When he stood, he casually wrapped an arm around her shoulder and breathed deeply. After a few moments, he said, "Ve rilly don't haff time to get to ground und shelter in. No goot placez for it dot Hy saw on de hunt, eidder. Vill hyu trust me on keeping uz zafe op here?"
Dafi's mouth went dry, but she nodded. "Yes, what do you need me to do?" His answer was to pick her up and settle her in his hammock with one swift movement.
"Truzt me, und keep an ear out for de vind. De rezt Hy can manage." Dafi got the sense of swift movement, and her bedroll landed around her shoulders. "Hy can keep uz dry und secure, but it vill be close qvarterz."
She stayed still and quiet, occasionally holding packs for him, and noting the rising whine as the wind hit the ridge. "Dal? I think we have maybe five minutes..."
"Ja, tenkz. Almozt ready for de lazt part." He lifted her out of the hammock, setting her on a sturdy branch, "Got you balanze for a leettle bit? Juzt a few more minutez." More sounds of movement, and finally, "Ready for hyu, Dafi." He pulled her into his arms and climbed into the cocoon he had constructed from their tarps. There was no way to have a line of sight, and their packs crowded in at the sides, but this construction did not sway in the wind as the separate hammocks had.
She waited for him to put her down, and then realized there was no other spot for her in the cocoon; she would need to spend the night curled up with him. The electric shiver up her spine at that idea had nothing to do with her fear of heights. "You did say close quarters. Is this... are you going to be all right?"
Dal chuckled, "At leazt now Hy will know hyu vill not go schleepvalking. Anodder bright schpot to dis iz even if ve are schtuck here ontil de schtorm passez, it iz onlikely anyvun elze vill be out tonight." He shifted a little, snugging her into his shoulder. Then the heavens opened up, pounding their tree-sling with a wall of water. "Schleep, Dafi. Hyu need to rezt." Dal tucked the blankets around them, seemingly unconcerned with her weight or proximity.
Dafi wondered if she should be concerned, but the rain, along with the warmth and solidity holding her, lulled her to sleep.
