20 Chapter 18 – Elza – Iteration 1 (2/2)
”I kept coming back, Elza. I kept trying to hurt this man. He kept killing me and I kept returning. The other people were frightened, but Ron didn't care. He thought it was a joke that he could kill me so many times. While Ron and I were fighting, Cora left the camp. They found her body at the bottom of a cliff. Ron took another woman and I left the tribe.”
Hess met her eyes. ”The world is not right, Elza.”
She placed her hand on his neck, feeling the returned warmth. ”If you were a man, you would be a good one,” she said.
”But I'm not.”
”No. Instead you're a terrible Observer.”
”Do you ever wish you were just a woman?”
She pulled her hand away from him. ”I wouldn't like that. The Creator didn't give me an appealing form. If my purpose was to find a man, I don't think I would do well at it.”
”You might do better than you think.”
”No, Hess. I have tried to play the part of a woman for a long time. Men only want me when a better woman isn't around. I would rather be an Observer than one of them.” She rolled to her other side, away from him. He was the same as other men, exclaiming over the beauty of his sister and reminding her constantly of his last woman, the beautiful Dalana.
The cold didn't relent as they lay in silence.
”How long does it stay like this?”
”Three months,” Hess said.
”I don't like snow. It's too cold.”
Hess shifted closer to her. ”In the north, you have to share warmth if you want to sleep comfortably.” Elza didn't protest as he rearranged the furs around them.
”I never asked to see the snow,” she said.
Hess slid close until they were touching and wrapped an arm around her. ”Maybe if we hate the snow enough, the Creator will make the next world without it.”
”Your clothes are wet,” she said. Hess began to shift around beneath the covers, then tossed his clothes onto the top of their covers. With fewer layers between them, she could feel the heat of his body. ”Do you really think the Creator cares about our preferences?”
His warm breath tickled her neck. ”He wouldn't need Observers if He didn't want our input.”
Elza shifted closer to his warmth. ”She wants our experiences, not our opinions.”
The hand around her shifted. ”Then why aren't we supposed to participate?”
”I don't know, Hess.”
His lips brushed her neck. She leaned into it. ”Hess, I'm still cold.”