A wildman and a kobold: chapter 3

	“Von.”  A gentle voice drifted through the morning lit cabin.  Von, prone to deep slumber, failed to stir.
	“Von!”  Still nothing from the trapper whom was still in deep sleep, curled up at the hearth of the fireplace, covered in long furs.   Sa'la rolled her eyes.  It was just her luck.  Looking around, the Kobold grabbed the closest object to her, a hay filled pillow.  Taking aim, biting on her tongue slightly, she chucked the pillow at the sleeping man.  As if guided by Freya herself, the pillow found its mark squarely at Von's exposed head.  Von, having been violently rocked from sleep, immediately jolted awake, throwing his furs about haphazardly as he jumped to his feet.  In just his woven cloth pants, he looked around fiercely, forgetting where he was for a moment, and looking for the threat.   Sa'la roared with laughter.
	“Ka tsu ta'lan kes, haha!”  She burst out.
	“Wa...ahh,”  Consciousness started to come back to the bewildered man.  Looking down at the makeshift missile, it all became clear, “Why'd ya do that?  I was having such a good dream.  All them girls...” Von drifted off mid sentence.  Though he knew  Sa'la couldn't understand him, he still felt embarassed to reveal anymore of his dream.  Having composed himself, Von smirked at  Sa'la, then with the quickness of a gazelle, grabbed the pillow and threw it right back at  Sa'la.  The kobold tried in vain to catch it in time, and it too found its mark right on her scaly forehead.  Falling back, the kobold laughed.
	“Uit toon naganib,”   Sa'la said, rising to a sitting position in the bed once again. “Ito.  Ito krav s'talu....ume.”  Von could see  Sa'la blushing, but was unsure as to why.   Sa'la removed the fur blankets, pointed to her leg, then motioned her hand crossing each other.
	“You gatta give me a little more than that, little one,”  Von said, “We ain't tune that much.”  Seeing Von's body posture,  Sa'la surmised he had no idea what she was trying to say.  Instead, she had to dumb it down.  With two fingers,  Sa'la made a walking motion, then shook her head and pointed at her leg.
	“Gottcha.  You can't walk yet.  Gatta heal up first.”  Von said, nodding his head.  A motion they both understood.   Sa'la, however, continued.  Once again, the kobold blushed, and looked away from Von for a moment.  Von, curious as could be, intently watched  Sa'la's actions.  Still looking down,  Sa'la turned towards Von, and pointed towards its nether regions.  If kobolds could blush,  Sa'la was shining red.  Finally,  Sa'la looked up at the man who had gone from intently watching, to a face contorted in the most quizzical of looks.  Sa'la huffed loudly, then pointed the wounded leg, then at the loin cloth covered crotch.  Sighing once more,  Sa'la said one last thing.
	“Sssssss.”  While doing so, moved its hand from its nether regions while  Sa'la's fingers wiggled.  A spark of inspiration came to Von, whom shared the same blush.  Von, not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already had become, just nodded.
	“Bathroom, I got it.  And seeing as you can't walk, I gatta carry you.  Well, I guess I can do that.”  He started walking towards  Sa'la, who sighed a sigh of relief, but had one more question for the kobold.
	“ Sa'la.  I gatta know, on account its kinda hard to tell.”   Sa'la's eyes went from the floor in embarrassment of the situation to Von.  Von held out his hand and stuck one finger out.  The he tilted his head, and brought the finger in.   Sa'la's eyes narrowed trying to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.  Frustrated, as Von tried to figure out how to convey what he was saying, pointed at  Sa'la's nether region, then pointed at the kobold.  Then he outstretched a finger, cocked his head, then brought back his finger.  This time, though, he made a circle with his hand.
	 Sa'la only blankly stared at Von for a moment, before smacking its forehead with its palm, shaking its head, and muttered a few inaudible words.  Still shaking its head, the kobold's palm moved from its forehead down to its eyes, and with one hand made a circle.
	“Hey I'm getting the hang of this!”  Von shouted loudly, “Well, little Missy, Ill get you to the outhouse quicker than you can think.”  Von brought one arm under  Sa'la's legs, careful not to disturb the bandages, and the other under her back.  Oh so gently, Von lifted  Sa'la up, which, to Von, was not a hard task.  The kobold was only about two thirds his size, and a whole lot lighter.
	When Von opened the door to the cabin, a light morning breeze wafted into his face.  Reveling in the glorious morning, Von inhaled deeply.  Curiously, Sa'la did the same thing at the same time.  Von took no time getting Sa'la to the outhouse.  A knock on the door to tell him she was done, Von carried her back to the bed in the cabin, before himself using the outhouse.
	“ T'ass anore, Von.”  The kobold said as Von entered his cabin.  Von only returned a slow nod back to  Sa'la.  Soon silence enveloped the cabin as Sa'la aimlessly looked around the cabin.  Von was not used to entertaining guests, let alone contact of any kind with anyone, and was at a loss of what to even do.  Thinking back to his childhood days, Von went to his cabinet and plucked out a long length of woven rope.  Tying a knot at one end, he continually wrapped the rope around itself.   After about a minute or two, a spherical shape began to appear.  At the last cut of rope, he tucked it in itself, looping it around and inner strand.
	Happy with his creation, Von tossed the makeshift ball up and down a few times, making sure it could hold its shape.
	“Sa'la!  Catch!”  With a small underhand throw, Von softly tossed the ball to Sa'la.  Sa'la's hand shot up from the bed, and caught it with ease.  She examined the ball, before Von shouted back at her.
	“Now you throw it to me.”  Von brought one hand out with his fingers beckoning.  Sa'la took the ball, and heaved towards Von.  Though having to jump to catch the wayward ball, Von caught it and slung it right back at Sa'la this time, a bit faster.  Still, she deftly caught the ball.  Sa'la's brow furrowed as she reared her arm back.  With as much force the little kobold could muster, she fired the rope ball at Von, catching his slightly by surprise.  Von snatched the ball from the air with his right hand, twirled around, and sent the ball flying at Sa'la.
	“Sssa!”  The kobold yelled waving her hand in pain, before one again chucking the ball back to Von.  Trying to be cheeky, Von twirled again, aiming to catch the ball with one hand behind his back.  Instead, a loud thunk rang through the cabin as the ball slammed in the back of his head.
	“Ow...” Von said, clutching the soon to be welted spot.  Turning around, Von saw Sa'la's mouth agape with a worried look.  Von looked down at Sa'la, then the ball, then back to Sa'la.  Before Sa'la could mutter any words, Von clutched his belly, and roared with laughter.
	“You might be a small thing, but you got some fire in you yet!” Sa'la smiled with Von, happy that he didn't come to hit her, as she was used to.  Von knelt down, picked up the ball, then softly threw it towards her.  The two continued to play catch for some time before the morning hunger set it.  Von went to his table, and broke some hard flatbread for the two.  Sa'la happily ate her ration with tiny little nibbles, while Von ate his in 2 bites.
	“Alright, this was fun, but I got to check my traps out there.  Oh gods how do I explain this.”  Von thought hard to himself before trying to explain.  First, Von pointed to himself, then at the cabin door.  Then, he put both hands in circles around his eyes and pretended to look around the cabin.
	'Now for the embarrassing part.' Von thought to himself.  Getting on all fours, Von howled like an animal, before getting up and throwing an imaginary net on the 'animal'.  Then, he slung the net over his shoulder, and fake walked, stopped, and pointed to the door, then to his belly.  Sa'la was intently following along.  After Von finished, she lightly clapped before nodding.
	“Oh thank the gods you got that.  I knew you would.  That book was totally wrong.  You ain't some dimwit.”  Von said in elation.  Von put on his backpack, boots, and outerwear.  Before leaving, he gave the ball to Sa'la, hoping she would at least have some form on entertainment while he was gone.  When he gave her the ball, Sa'la waved for him to come closer.  Von was unsure but leaned over the bed closer to her.  Bringing her small arms up, Sa'la wrapped them around his neck, before resting her head on his shoulder.
	“T'ass anore, Von.” She said in a dulcet tone.  Her embrace did not last long, but its impression would last for a long time.  Von would have stumbled out words but knew she wouldn't understand.  He gave her a heartfelt nod, before almost going to pat her head, but withdrew his hand quickly.  After trying that before, he knew not to do it again.
	With that, Von set out of the cabin to see if he caught more game for fur and food.  This time, though, he tried to work a little faster.