Content warnings: Mentions of blood

When Murat woke up the next morning, he felt himself enveloped by warmth.  He opened his eyes and saw Ulanbek’s face, eyes still closed.  He then realized that two strong arms were wrapped around him and he was leaning into Ulanbek’s chest.  The red robe was still covering them.  His face flushed and he began to wriggle his arms.  Ulanbek slowly opened his eyes.

“Hey,” Ulanbek murmured.

“Hey…” Murat murmured back.  “Guess we ended up falling asleep like this…”

“It’s okay.  You didn’t feel cold for the rest of the night, did you?”

“Ah, no…not at all…”  Murat began to move away and Ulanbek loosened his arms.  They both sat up.  Murat looked down at his chokha and wrinkled his nose.  “Definitely need to wash the blood out.  And maybe mend this. Don’t have anything to sew this back together though.”

“You sew?” Ulanbek asked, amused.

Murat turned away, his face feeling even more hot.  “Um…yes…”

Ulanbek smiled.  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.  It’s a good skill to have.”

“I suppose.”  Murat turned back to look at him.  “Anyway…I said a lot of strange things last night, so I’m sorry…”

“Huh?” Ulanbek raised his eyebrows.

Murat looked downward.  “I think I might have asked you too many personal questions.”  Ulanbek gave him a confused look.  “Um, about you and Luka, I mean.”

“Oh!  Nah, it’s okay, I don’t really mind.  I’ve mentioned him quite a bit, so I guess it’s not a surprise that it makes people wonder.”

Murat blushed and couldn’t bring himself to say anything more.  Ulanbek glanced at him, then looked around the cave.

“You hungry?” Ulanbek asked.  Murat’s eyes pointed back upward.  Ulanbek went over to gather some dried meat that he saved from yesterday.  He returned with a few strips and handed some to Murat.

“Thank you,” Murat said.  He bit into the dried meat and chewed slowly.  “So, what are we going to do today?”

“Well, you said you wanted to wash your robe, so we can just find another river nearby.”  Ulanbek gathered his red outer robe and looked at his tattered white inner robe.  “Mine is pretty bloodied as well, so might as well get them all washed at the same time.”

Murat had a sudden image of himself doing laundry next to Ulanbek along the riverbank.  He began to chew his food even more intensely.

***

It was pretty much as Murat had imagined when they found a river to wash their robes in.  They laid their weapons down on the riverbank next to them.  Ulanbek soaked his two robes in the water and began to scrub away the dried blood.  His long black hair was tied up in a loose bun.  The tips of his hair strands brushed against the many scars on his back.  He was only wearing a pair of loose trousers and boots.  Murat stole glances at him while he washed his chokha.

Ulanbek turned toward him.  “Don’t you have dried blood on your shirt as well?”

“Um…” Murat blushed.  “I can wash it later…”

Ulanbek raised his eyebrow.  “Ah…if you want me to go somewhere else so you have more privacy, I can do that.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to go,” Murat replied.  “It’s going to take a while for these to dry anyway and we don’t have any spare clothes.”

“All right.  Just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable.”  He sloshed his robes in the water a bit more and lifted them up.  Murky water dripped from the wet fabric.  He wrung them out, grabbed his kilij saber, and then stood up..  “I’m going to hang these somewhere.  I won’t be gone too long.”  He walked toward the thicket.  Murat gazed at him as he disappeared into the leaves and branches.

Is he actually just giving me privacy? Murat thought.  He looked around.  There was no one around, except for a few random birds and squirrels.  He finished washing his chokha and lifted it out of the water.  After wringing it out, he placed it on the rocks next to him.  Then he took off his white shirt.  When the air struck his skin, he shivered.  He held the shirt in front of him and looked at the tears and bloodstains.  Exhaling deeply, he plunged it into the water.  Red clouds began to form in the cool rushing liquid as he scrubbed away at the fabric.

One of the things that Murat was embarrassed about was that he never really developed much muscle.  He had a slender build and felt that his arm strength was sorely lacking.  He liked eating, but could only consume small amounts of food at a time, unlike some of the other men in the village who seemed to have bottomless pits for stomachs.  Hence, he felt that this was why he was not as tall or strong as his peers.

A gentle breeze caressed his sides and he shivered again.  He wondered how long Ulanbek was going to be gone for.  After washing out most of the stains, he wrung out the shirt and gathered it up with his damp chokha.  He looked around.  Still no one.

“Ulanbek?” he called out.  He grabbed his qama dagger and walked into the thicket that Ulanbek disappeared into.  While going past the branches and leaves, he heard the crackling of a fire.  When the bushes and trees thinned out again, he saw Ulanbek sitting by a bend in the river next to a pile of flaming sticks and branches.  He had fashioned a clothes drying rack out of upright branches and his damp robes were splayed out over them, drying from the sun and the fire’s warmth.  Water droplets ran from the tips of his untied hair and glistened down the scars on his back.  The legs of his pants were rolled up and his feet were bare.  The boots he was wearing earlier sat nearby, slumped over mossy stones.

Ulanbek turned toward him.  “Hey.”

Murat’s face flushed red and he clutched his damp clothes against himself.  “Oh…hi…did you…go into the river?”

“Just a bit,” Ulanbek replied with a smile.  “Was feeling rather grimy so I washed up a little.”  He looked at the clump of clothes Murat was clutching.  “You can dry those on the rack over here if you want.  If there’s not enough room, you can push my robes over.”

Murat walked over and hung his chokha and shirt on the drying rack.  He sat down near Ulanbek and placed his qama dagger next to the kilij saber.  He drew his knees up to his chest.  Ulanbek glanced at him, and then at his dagger.

“Do you want me to train you?” Ulanbek asked.  “In fighting skills, I mean.”

“Huh?” Murat glanced back.

“We have a lot of spare time right now since we have to lay low.”

“Uh sure,” Murat replied.

“Can I see how you hold your dagger?”

“Okay.”  Murat unsheathed his qama and held it up.  

“It’s quite ornate,” Ulanbek remarked as he looked at the engravings on the blade and hilt.

“Yeah, it’s called a qama and all the men in our village have one,” Murat said.  “It’s part of our culture.  We get our first qama during our coming-of-age ceremony.  It’s supposed to be a symbol of…um…bravery…” His voice became more faint.  “I…don’t really use it much for fighting.  I just have it for self-defense or as a tool for cutting things.”  He put the qama back into its scabbard.  “Um…what about yours?”

Ulanbek picked up his kilij saber and unsheathed it.  The blade made a sharp sound as it came out of the scabbard.  Murat’s eyes widened as he saw the swirling gold engravings on the metal.

“Your blade is pretty fancy too,” Murat remarked.

Ulanbek smiled.  “This is called a kilij.  Everyone in my unit carries one.  The curved shape makes it good for slashing.”

“Oh…” Murat backed away a bit.  Ulanbek blinked.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you nervous,” Ulanbek sheathed the kilij saber.  “Do you want to hold it?”

“Um…are you sure?” Murat asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine.  As long as you don’t stab me with it.”

Murat’s eyes widened and shrank back even more.

Ulanbek chuckled.  “Sorry, I’ll stop joking around.”  He moved a little closer to Murat and handed the kilij to him, hilt first.

The saber felt heavy in Murat’s hands.  He gripped the curved wooden hilt and gazed at the golden crossguard.  With his other hand gripping the decorative scabbard, he slowly pulled the blade out.  He held the saber up and turned it over, admiring the engravings on both sides.  Sunlight bounced off the metal and lit up the nearby stones.

“I’m used to a smaller blade, so it feels odd holding this,” Murat remarked.

“I can teach you some basic techniques,” Ulanbek said.

“Oh…sure…” Murat replied, putting the blade back into the scabbard.  “Maybe…maybe after our robes dry off.”  He handed the kilij back to Ulanbek.  

Ulanbek put the saber down on the rocks next to them.  He then leaned his back down onto the dirt and pebbles.  “Yeah, we can wait until later for combat training.”  He looked toward Murat.  “It’s kinda peaceful here right now…”  He closed his eyes and let the sun warm his face while the river whispered into the air.

Murat gazed at him and drew his knees back up to his chest.  Ulanbek’s hair was splayed out upon the rocks and his chiseled face looked serene, almost gentle.  It was a great contrast to how he looked when Murat first encountered him battling the Vargoranth soldiers.

He thought about what Ulanbek had said last night, how he promised he would take care of him.  Perhaps it was silly to declare something like this within days of meeting, since they barely knew each other.  The last two days had been pretty intense though, with more near-death experiences than some people experienced in an entire lifetime.  Murat hoped the promise would turn out to be true. 

He looked toward the sky and his thoughts turned to Beslan.  He really missed his kunak.