Aricles cocked his head as he felt Bathymaas’s presence behind him. Strange how he was so attuned to her. Even before the scent of sweet lilies reached his senses, he’d known she was here with him. “Am I needed, my goddess?”

“No.” She paused by his side to touch the handmade pole he held in his hands. “What is it you do?”

He pulled at the line. “I’m fishing.”

“For what?”

“Fish.”

Her frown deepened. “Is this how it’s done?”

“It is. Would you like to try?”

“I’m not sure. What does one do to fish?”

Aricles smiled at her innocent question. While the other members of his band lost patience with her inability to understand human activities and emotions, he found her quite beguiling and endearing. “Come and sit with me, my lady, and I’ll show you.” He removed his cloak and laid it down on the ground to protect her clothing and to give her some padding from the damp grass.

In the daintiest and most graceful manner he’d ever seen, she sank down by his side.

He carefully showed her the metal hook he’d made. “You bait the hook.” He picked up a worm from the small clay pot where he’d gathered them a short time ago and showed her how.

“Does that hurt them?”

“I try not to think about that.”

“Oh, sorry.”

He wiped his hands. “Once it’s anchored to the hook, you place it into the water and wait for a fish to take the bait. Then you pull the fish to shore and capture it.”

She watched as he tossed the line in. “How long does it take?”

“It could be right away or hours from now, or even not at all.”

That seemed to confuse her even more. “Does this not bore you?”

He shook his head as he heard his brother’s insults in his mind over his favorite pastime. “Not really. I find it relaxing to sit with my thoughts and listen to the wind whispering to me through the trees.”

“You do have a serenity about you that others lack.”

That was a polite term for what Galen called his boorishness. “I’m a simple man, with simple needs.”

She ran her hand over the carvings he’d made on the pole. They were for the god of water, Ydor, who was said to favor fishermen. “And what are those needs you speak of?”

Aricles scratched at his chin. “Good company. No conflict. And a full belly is always nice.”

Bathymaas was amazed at his short list. “No love or shelter?”

“Shelter can be found anywhere. A cave or tent. As for love … I’m quite happy without it.”

How very strange to her. “I thought all men wanted to be loved.”

“Personally, I’d rather not have the pain of it.”

“Is that why you’re not wenching with the others?”