Neither of them seemed interested in ending the disagreement, though. Bodo made one last attempt to go after Trip, but they were both so tired, they ended up looking like they were just hugging, holding each other up in the water.

“Idiots,” I said, shaking my head.

“They don’t fight as well as you,” said Peter, standing at my elbow.

“I know. All I can think about is how much work I have to get done before we can go get those kids out of there.”

“I’ll double your schedule,” said Peter, walking away and mumbling to himself as he went about the business of straightening our pantry once again.

The guys managed to bring Bodo and Trip up out of the water, leaving them standing on the roots outside our huts. Kowi stayed between them, making sure they didn’t start again.

“I don’t know what got you two going, but this has to stop. We don’t have enough medical supplies to treat people for non-essential injuries, and getting into a fist-fight is one of those non-essential situations. It’d be pretty stupid to die from a cut you got from a friend’s fist, don’t you think?” He looked from Bodo to Trip, but neither of them looked ashamed.

“Fine. Do what you want. I have a feeling this would all be easily solved if Bryn would just be up front about who she wants to be with, but whatever. Let’s move on and talk about the plans for going after those canners.”

My mouth dropped open. I wanted to blurt out a retort, but nothing good was coming to mind. How had this suddenly become about me picking a boyfriend?

“I could give a crap who she wants to be with,” said Trip, “and I’m also not interested in her plans to attack those canners. That’s what this fight is all about.”

“You lie,” said Bodo. “I see how you look at her. And you are rude. You should not be rude to da girl who is helping all your family like dis.”

“Guys, get over it. Bryn will do whatever she wants. I’m here to support her efforts, and so are you, Trip. So cut the crap.”

“I’m not supporting a war.”

“She’s not talking about a war,” Kowi said, looking at me for confirmation.

“No, I’m not,” I agreed. “I just want to get those kids out of there and take care of that group of canners, that’s all. They’ve shown that they’re stealing kids very, very close to the swamp. Celia lived in that shell shop that was, what? A mile or two from here? They’re practically hunting in your backyard, Trip.”

“That ain’t cool,” said Jeremy. “Seriously, Trip. She’s right.”

“She says she can change the regular training for preparation training, starting right away,” said Kowi, looking to me for comfirmation.

I nodded, looking to see Trip’s reaction.

Trip frowned, wiping his dripping face off with his wet hand, putting the back of it up to the cut on his cheek that had been re-opened in the fight. It was bleeding freely down his face and onto his chest.

Peter came over with a small piece of cloth and tiptoed over to Trip, tentatively reaching up to dab his face with it. Trip tried to scowl him away, but Peter persisted, so he finally let him wipe some of the blood away before waving him off.

I smiled at Peter’s pleased look. He’d been permitted to touch His Awesomeness. My little buddy gave me a look that said we’d be talking about this later.

Trip spoke. “I guess I’m the only one around here who sees the problem with mixing in the white man’s world again. Seems I’m the only one who remembers our history.”

Kowi sighed. “No, you’re not. We all remember. We were all taught the same stuff. We’re just trying to do the right thing. And to me, it’s not the right thing to let kids murder other kids when we could do something to stop it.”

“But it’s not just here, it’s everywhere! What are you going to do? Build an army? Go take over the country that used to be the United States of America? I know! We can make it the United States of Kowi. How does that sound?”

“Shut up, dick. I’m not talking about an army or conquering places or any of that crap. I’m talking about protecting our home and our people. Period. Get over your friggin ego, man. It’s getting really annoying having to work around it all the time.”

The other guys in the circle were nodding.

“Well, fuck you too, Kowi,” Trip said, storming off.

It went suddenly quiet, and the atmosphere was more than a little bit awkward. The rest of us just stood there, staring at Bodo who was walking over to stand by me.

“Do you haff any more of that cloth to wipe my face?” he asked Peter.

Peter shoved some in Bodo’s hand and then took off, running on tiptoes in the direction Trip had gone.

“Where are you going?!” I yelled, completely confused.

“B-R-B!” Peter yelled, not even looking back.

BRB? Holy crap. How long has it been since I’ve heard that? I smiled, thinking about my poor little friend getting his heart broken by Trip - the last guy on earth who’d be inclined to give Peter the time of day. Oh well. I can’t protect everyone from everything. Peter’s just going to have to learn the hard way.

“I wouldn’t worry about him,” said Kowi, quietly.

I looked at him curiously. “Why do you say that?”

“Trip had a little brother. He died.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Maybe nothing. But I’m just saying that I don’t think he’ll mind Peter talking to him or following him. You won’t have to worry about Trip kicking his ass, basically.”

I didn’t know exactly what he was getting at, but I let it drop. Peter would figure out the connection if there was any to figure out at all.

“So getting back to our issue,” I said, as Bodo stepped closer to me. He smelled of swamp water, which wasn’t the most pleasant scent in the world. I ignored both it and him. “I plan to go after those kids. Soon. Are you guys going to be with me or not?”

“We’ll be with you. I’ll talk to Trip, but you can plan on it. Who do you want to take?”

“Let me watch the groups in the training, and I’ll let you know. I’ll pick a core group and start their training right away. I need to talk to Celia, too. She said she’d give me intel that will help me figure out how many we’ll need on our side and what exactly we’re up against.”

“Good. I’ve already talked to her some. I’m guessing you’ll need about ten guys, but we’ll see.”

“Fine. Peter and I will start evaluating tomorrow, and the rest of the tribes can hold off on their training until we get back.”

“And me,” added Bodo. “I’m gonna help, too.”

“And Bodo,” I said, not even looking at him. He was still a part of my family, even though I was pissed at him. I wasn’t going to call him out in front of Kowi or anyone else.

“Okay, then. I’ll come see you tomorrow at dinner. We can talk details then.”

“Cool.”

Kowi and the rest of his group left me alone with Bodo. I looked around, at a loss for what to say, wondering what I could do to pass the rest of the time. It was too early to go to sleep, and I didn’t want to organize the messed up cans because Peter would have a fit.

Bodo walked over to our backpacks and pulled out a t-shirt and some shorts. “I haff to take a shower. Do you want to walk with me?”

“No.”

“I feel a little dizzy. Maybe it’s better if you go to help me. I could fall down and break my face or something.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him, but I didn’t want him wandering around the swamp if he’d taken too many hits to the cranium. It had been a pretty tough fight, even if a little sloppy for my taste. “Fine. I’ll escort you, but that’s it.”

“No talking? I haff to walk all very quiet?”

I sighed, frustrated with my inability to express my feelings. “No, I’ll talk. Come on.”

I didn’t wait for him, heading straight for the showers and trying to stay mad. But the memory of him defending my honor kept intruding on my mad thoughts, working to convince me to forgive him. I didn’t want to do that, though; I wasn’t ready. I was still upset over the secrets he was keeping, and I was pretty sure that even if Trip had loosened a few screws in Bodo’s thick head, he still wasn’t going to share them with me. It was enough to keep me angry and fuming all the way to our destination.

***

Bodo stepped behind the screen and took his clothes off. I could hear the zipper going down on his pants and then a jingling bell sound. A couple seconds later, I heard him yelling.

“Aarrgh, no. Demmet!”

I smiled at the attempt at a curse word. Bodo never did that.

“Bryn. I needt your helping in here,” he said, frustrated.

“Nice try, Bodo. Forget it.”

“No, really. I’m very serious. I haff a problem with my shoulder.”

“What problem?”

“Da problem dat it won’t work!” He sounded really frustrated.

I sighed, quickly deciding that if he were just using this as a ruse to get me in there, I could easily throw him down on the ground. He was in no shape to fight me right now.

I went around the corner and found myself faced with a half-naked German god. His back was to me, giving me a perfect view of his bare ass. This explains why he looks so damn good in a pair of jeans - pure muscle and nicely formed, too. Wowee wow wow. I gave myself a mental shake, trying to focus on my purpose for being there. Help him with his injury, Bryn. Don’t look at his man-parts.

“I can’t take my shirt off. My shoulder is bad.”

I walked up closer and stood behind him, trying like heck not to look down at his bare butt. It was difficult, especially because he was so much taller than me, and I wouldn’t have to look far to get an excellent view.

“Which one?” I asked.

“On da right.”

I reached up and put my hand on it, feeling around for signs of abnormalcy but finding nothing. “It’s not out of joint.”

“Maybe it’s chust something is torn. Dis is not goodt.”

“Here … ” I lifted the edge of his shirt up from the bottom, pulling it with only a little difficulty over his left arm and then his head. He was able to help me with his left arm, but the other one stayed limp by his side. When he tried to lift it, he flinched and made sounds like he was feeling some pretty serious pain.

I turned to leave so he could finish the rest of it alone, but his words stopped me in my tracks.

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

“I did already. You can do the rest.” My heart was racing. I knew if he turned around, I was going to see him entirely naked now, and my imagination didn’t even have to be very good to know what I would see if that happened.

He was incredibly well-built, tall, and gorgeous. There was just something about him, something special that made him uber attractive - probably more so than he should have seemed - and it was freaking me out.

My brain kept telling me to keep walking and not look back, but some other part of me was telling me to turn around and to hurry up about it.

“I can’t do da shower machine and da soap bottles or anything. I’m like a big baby over here with only one arm.”

“I’m not your momma.” Not even close, holy crap! I was seriously sweating now. I tried to make my voice steady but it wavered anyway, making me sound like a totally wimpy scaredy cat.

“I know dat. But you’re da only one who can help me.”

“I’ll go get Peter.”

“No! No offense to our little friend, but no man-hand iss gonna touch Bodo’s naked body. I’m sorry about dat. You haff da girl-hands and dat’s okay for me.”