"Hello. Are you an angel?"
The phrase hung in the air like a soap bubble about to pop.
The golden-winged girl blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she looked at herself, as if she'd just noticed she had wings, and looked back at me with an expression of genuine confusion.
"Angel?" she repeated, tilting her head. "I don't know what an angel is. But I am a Celestial. My older sister created me."
"Your older sister... created you?" I asked, feeling my brain trying to process too much information at once. "Like, she made you? Manufactured you? Baked you in a celestial oven?"
The girl — the Celestial — laughed softly. It was a light sound, like wind chimes.
"My older sister is a goddess," she explained with complete naturalness. "A long time ago, she was alone. So she created me to have company. And here I am!"
Goddess. Older sister goddess. Created for company. Sixteen pairs of golden wings. Red eyes. White hair.
"Sure," I said, nodding slowly. "Of course. A bored goddess created her sister. Makes perfect sense. Absolutely. Completely. Not weird at all."
The Celestial looked at me curiously. Her red eyes traveled over my figure from head to toe, pausing at my silver hair, my tiger-hide clothes, my giant wolves.
And then I noticed something.
She was... naked.
No, "naked" wasn't the right word. It was more like clothing wasn't a concept she'd considered. Her body, perfect and ethereal, was completely exposed, but the strangest thing was that it wasn't uncomfortable to look at her. There was a purity in her nudity, an innocence that transcended the physical.
Still. Principles.
"Uh..." I cleared my throat, feeling my cheeks warm up. "Could you... put something on?"
She looked at me without understanding.
"Put something on?"
"Clothes," I clarified, vaguely pointing in her direction without looking directly. "Garments. Fabric. Things to cover the body."
She looked at herself, as if it were the first time she'd noticed her own nudity. Then, with a thought, a golden glow enveloped her.
When the light dissipated, she was dressed.
A white dress covered her body, reaching to her thighs. The sleeves were long and billowy, and the edges were decorated with golden patterns that looked like ancient writing. At her waist, a blue and white sash was tied elegantly. White fabric boots covered her legs up to her thighs, leaving only a small strip of skin visible.
The outfit was simple, but it enhanced her beauty in a way that... well, that made my face heat up even more.
"Is this better?" she asked, with an innocent smile.
"Yes," I managed to say. "Much better."
Larry, the wretch, looked at me with an expression that clearly said "you're as red as a tomato, idiot."
"Shut up, Larry," I muttered.
---
Lumine — because I'd decided to call her that, even though she hadn't told me her name — approached slowly. Her wings folded slightly, adapting to the space between the trees. Each step was graceful, as if she floated rather than walked.
When she was a couple of meters away, she stopped and observed me intently.
"What are you?" she finally asked. "You look physically like me, but... you're not."
"I'm a human," I replied. "It's called... human."
She tried the word in her language. The sound was different, more melodic, as if the celestial language had musical notes.
"Human," she repeated, nodding. "And what is a human?"
"Well..." I cleared my throat. "We're a species. We live in groups. We build things. Eventually we'll dominate the world. Well, some worlds. Well, this world. Well, not yet, but in a few thousand years."
She looked at me without blinking.
"You're strange."
"Thanks. I know."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know. But I'll take it as one."
For a moment, we stood in silence. The lake glittered in the sun. Larry and Lana, beside me, had stopped growling. In fact, they seemed... calm. As if Lumine's presence had soothed them.
"Your companions," said Lumine, pointing at the wolves, "are interesting."
"Larry and Lana? Yeah, they're a handful. But useful. Sometimes. When they're not trying to eat me."
Lumine approached them slowly, hand extended. Larry sniffed her, and then something strange happened.
His eyes softened. His tail began to wag. And then, both wolves sat in front of her like well-trained dogs.
"What... what just happened?" I asked.
Lumine didn't answer. Instead, she stared at Larry, and then at Lana. Her lips moved, but made no sound. And the wolves... the wolves responded.
Not with words, obviously. But their ears moved, their heads tilted, and occasionally they emitted small whines, as if they were having a conversation.
"Are you... talking to them?" I asked, incredulous.
Lumine nodded without stopping looking at the wolves.
"I can communicate with all creatures," she explained. "It's one of the gifts my sister gave me."
"And what do they say?"
Lumine smiled. It was a small smile, but it lit up her face in a way that made me forget for a moment that we were in the middle of prehistory.
"The big one," she pointed at Larry, "says you're a fool. That you're crazy. And that someday you'll die because you constantly seek danger."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"LARRY?"
Larry looked at me with the most innocent expression I'd ever seen on his prehistoric killer face.
"YOU!" I pointed my finger. "I saved your life! I gave you meat! I let you sleep beside me! And this is how you repay me? Calling me a fool?"
Larry growled softly.
"And what does he say now?" I asked Lumine.
She tilted her head, listening.
"He says... that you're a fool, but you're his fool."
"That's worse! That sounds like I'm his pet!"
Lana intervened with a series of whines. Lumine nodded.
"She says the big one is right. And that you're also a disaster."
"Lana! You too! And I defended you when Larry looked at you funny!"
Lana looked at me with offended dignity.
"She also says," Lumine continued, with a small smile, "that you once bathed, but they don't remember when."
That hurt. That hurt deeply.
I sighed, defeated. My own wolves were betraying me. And to top it off, an angel — sorry, Celestial — was making fun of me with her innocent smile.
"Fine," I said, straightening up. "If we're playing dirty, I can too."
Larry and Lana looked at me suspiciously.
"From today onward," I announced, "I'm not bathing you anymore. You're going to stay smelling like dead animals forever."
The effect was immediate.
Larry froze. Lana too. Their eyes opened wide. They exchanged a panicked look.
And then, to my absolute astonishment, both wolves approached me and rested their heads on my legs, whining pitifully.
"Now you apologize?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Now that I threatened not to bathe you?"
Larry whined louder.
"I don't understand you, but I know you're apologizing."
Lumine, watching the scene, let out a laugh.
It wasn't a mocking laugh. It was a genuine laugh, light, like the sound of running water. Her wings fluttered softly with joy.
"You're very funny," she said. "I've never seen anyone talk to animals like that."
"I've been with these two for a month," I replied. "I've learned to interpret their idiocies."
Lumine smiled more broadly. For a moment, we just looked at each other. The sun shone, the lake sparkled, and somewhere in the distance, a mammoth roared.
Then I remembered something.
"Oh, by the way," I said. "My name is Sunny. Sunny Evermore. And you, what's your name?"
She tilted her head.
"Name?"
"Yes. What you are. What you're called."
She seemed to think for a moment, as if no one had ever asked her that before.
"My sister calls me Lumine," she finally said. "Because, according to her, I am her light."
"Lumine," I repeated. "Pretty name."
She smiled again. She definitely smiled more easily than I thought.
---
Without thinking twice — and without any shame, because after four months in the wilderness, body shame was a luxury I couldn't afford — I began to take off my clothes.
The tiger-hide jacket fell to the ground. Then the loincloth. Then the gaiters. Then the makeshift shoes.
Lumine watched me without blinking.
"What are you doing?"
"Bathing," I replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Smell me. Well, don't smell me, but Larry and Lana already did and they almost fainted. I need water."
And without further ado, I walked into the lake and submerged myself.
The water was cold, but refreshing. I submerged completely, feeling the liquid cleanse days — weeks — of accumulated dirt. When I emerged, shaking my silver hair, I saw Lumine still on the shore, watching me curiously.
My hide clothes floated near me. I began to wash them methodically, rubbing the hides against stones to remove ingrained dirt.
A few seconds later, I heard splashing.
Larry and Lana had entered the water. They swam toward me with the clumsiness of wolves not made for swimming, but with the determination of those who don't want to be left out of bath time.
"Ah, now you want to bathe?" I asked, as Larry splashed me with his doggy paddle. "After insulting me, now you want me to wash you?"
Larry whined.
"Okay, okay. Come here."
I spent the next few minutes scrubbing both wolves' fur, removing tangles, ticks, and dried blood remnants. Larry growled when I touched sensitive spots. Lana, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it, eyes half-closed in what could only be described as canine ecstasy.
"You're a couple of spoiled brats," I murmured. "Both of you."
---
When I finished with the wolves, they got out of the water and shook themselves on the shore. Droplets flew in all directions, creating small rainbows in the sunlight.
I remained in the water, floating lazily.
Lumine, who had observed the entire process from a rock, approached the shore.
"Why don't you get out?" she asked.
I pointed at my wet clothes, floating near me.
"I have to wait for them to dry. I can't put on wet clothes."
Lumine looked at the garments. Then looked at me. Then raised a hand.
Three small whirlwinds of wind appeared around my clothes. The garments rose into the air, spinning gently inside the tiny tornadoes. Within seconds, the water was extracted from the fibers, evaporating into tiny particles that glittered in the sunlight.
When the whirlwinds disappeared, my clothes fell softly onto a nearby rock. Completely dry.
Lumine looked at me with a smug smile.
"Now they're dry."
I blinked.
"Did you just use magic to dry my clothes?"
"Yes," she replied, proud. "I'm very useful."
"That was... incredibly practical."
I nodded, impressed. Then I began to get out of the water.
But when I reached the shore, I stopped.
"Could you... turn around?" I asked.
Lumine tilted her head.
"Why?"
"For moral principles," I explained. "I'm not a pervert who likes to walk around with his family jewels on display."
"Jewels?" she asked, confused. "I don't see any jewels."
I sighed deeply. This girl was incredibly innocent. She had no idea what nudity, modesty, or any related concepts meant.
"Lumine," I said patiently, "please. Turn around."
She puffed out her cheeks. Literally. Puffed them out like a small balloon, in a gesture so adorable that I almost forgot about my own nudity.
"Okay," she said, turning around. "But I don't understand why."
"You'll understand when you grow up," I replied, dressing quickly. "Well, if you grow up. Being a Celestial, I don't know how that works."
As I put on my tiger jacket, I observed Lumine from behind. Her golden wings moved softly in the breeze, and her white hair cascaded down her back. She was beautiful, yes, but she was also... strangely human in her gestures. In her curiosity. In her innocence.
"You can look now," I said, adjusting my loincloth.
She turned. Looked me up and down, as if evaluating my appearance.
"You're still strange," she decreed.
"Thanks."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know. But I'm still taking it as one."
Larry, from the shore, let out a growl that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
"You shut up," I told him. "I haven't forgiven you yet."
Larry wagged his tail. He clearly didn't care.
---
The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. I sat on a rock near the lake, contemplating the view. Larry and Lana lay down beside me, now dry and clean.
Lumine sat on my other side. Her wings folded comfortably, and for a moment, she seemed like a normal girl watching the sunset.
"Why did you come here?" I asked. "To the lake, I mean."
She was silent for a moment.
"I like nature," she replied. "My sister told me to explore the world, to know its wonders. I've been traveling for a long time, but I've never seen anyone like you. I've only come across those annoying gods who want me to be one of their women." She said this last part with a somewhat annoyed tone.
"You'd never seen a human before?" I asked, changing the subject.
"No. Never. You're the first I've seen. It's very interesting."
"And you, Sunny Evermore, what are you doing here?"