Tisis

The bare necessities (S)

"Okay...I'm just about to fall over from thirst, you don't look like life itself either and we've got a water source right in front of us...so why don't you want me to drink from it?"

Nym does that thing with her hand in her face again and then asks me, what I know about microbes or bacteria or some other crap I've never heard about.

I rub my eyes, knowing full well that I'm in for yet another lecture, but she clearly won't get off my case until she dumped that info on me, so I choose to entertain her and reply, "Nothing. What are they?"

"They are micro-..." she starts, clears her throat and then resumes, "...super tiny creatures living on and in everything. Most of them are actually harmless, some are even helpful, but quite a few of them are very dangerous and a real health hazard. They can make you sick and even kill you if left unchecked."

"Oh, you mean germs! Geez, why didn't you just say so?!" I exclaim, apparently catching Nym off guard.
She probably thought that I considered illnesses to be magical or something.

"Well...germs is...yet another term for the harmful kind...but how can you know that word, but neither virus nor bacteria nor microorganism?!"
I give her a bit of a sorry look and when she doesn't pick up on it, I reply, "Because there was no benefit to me knowing these words. It's not like a farm hand like myself needs to know these kinds of things."

Nym groans and I need to bite my tongue in order not to laugh at the weird sound.

"Either way...so you're saying these...germs are in the water?"
"Yes, and quite a lot of them at that, seeing how all life springs from water."
"Hmm...I do know that rotten water can make you sick, but the water here looks as fresh as can be...are you sure it's con...contramibated?"

Now Nym laughs out, "I think you meant 'contaminated'...well, there's no telling what's in that water, but we should at the very least cook it before drinking it...high heat should kill most of these critters."
"Well, let's do that then."
"Which brings me to the next problem, actually."

I let out a long sigh and ask, "And what would that 'problem' be?"
"I...don't know how. I mean, it's one thing roasting a small animal over an open flame, but we'd need some sort of pot to boil the water in.
"Psh, is that all? Give me a moment," I tell her and start looking around.

I pick up a few sticks, a few vines and bind them together to a small frame.
"Well, that's impressive and all, but water won't stay..."
"I'm not done yet, Nym," I interrupt her, looking for something else I could use.

I remember that the remains of our fire was all bark, nod and walk over to the next tree. I say grace, like my mother taught me to, and then begin removing its bark in large chunks, careful to not damage it more than absolutely necessary.

I form a bowl with the bark, lay it down into the frame and glue it all together with the resin of the tree.

Once I'm done, I dust off my hands and exclaim, "That should do it."
"You...built a wooden pot...? Where in the world did you learn that?!"
"I didn't. What I did learn is how to be resourceful with the few things you actually have at your disposal. A necessity if you have next to nothing."

Nym scratches her head and looks over the makeshift pot before she asks, "But...won't it burn up over the fire?"
"Remember the rest of the firewood this morning? It was pretty much all bark...so I'm hoping that the pot bark won't burn either."
"That...is pretty observant. I didn't even think of that..." Nym admits.

I can tell how much it irks her that I thought of using the bark instead of her, and I feel a little ashamed of the feeling of pride swelling up in me.
But just a little.

I snap back to reality and ask, "Well, shall we try it out? No use wasting more time here, am I right?"
Nym nods and we shovel heaps of water into our newly made pot.

A bitter mistake as I have to quickly learn, as the water seeps out from every crack and back into the ground.

After a few seconds, I mutter, "Well, that was a bust..."
"Don't blame yourself...I guess the water washed out the resin you used to seal up the cracks...maybe we need to let it dry first?"

I sigh and fetch some more of the sticky substance from the bleeding tree and while I'm generously spreading it over the pots inner surface, I suddenly hear a thud.

Nym has fallen, apparently unable to get up again.

"Hey, you okay?!"
"It's...nothing. I...I just need a...a minute..."

Only now I realize how bad she really looks.

That damn fool is drying out in front of a bloody stream of water!

"Screw that pot!" I exclaim, scoop up a handful of water and force it down her throat, ignoring her weak protest.

She coughs and wheezes, but before she can actively protest I explain, "Look, your concern about possible germs has been noted and all and maybe we will get terribly sick from drinking this, possibly even die from it, but if we don't drink something right now, we're not going to live to look for another way."

She gives me an evil eye, when something strikes me, "We should trust our bodies a little more. I mean, our ancestors needed to drink too, right? And they didn't have pots or all that stuff either. And they still survived."

"Yes, but...many of them died until...their bodies adjusted to...the micro..."
"Shut your trap and drink. Here," I demand, reaching her the piece of bark we had used to fill the pot.

She looks at it with a look of utter disgust on her face, but after a few seconds, she still takes it and sips it down greedily.

"Now, there's a good girl. And if we still live by tomorrow, we can think about how we can improve our odds of seeing yet another day some more. But for now, we only need to take care of the essentials."

Nym looks up at me, I mixture of shame, thankfulness and anger on her face.
She sure has that look down well, I'll give her that.

I pick up another piece of bark and scoop up a good helping of water.
"Here's to the future," I toast towards this strange world and then drink up myself.