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tugged at her hair and breathed a long sigh. What is wrong with me? she wondered, feeling exasperated by the warring emotions she clearly had no ability to control. Very slowly, she peeked around the curtain of her dark hair and watched him.
                Dan stood leaning over the water with his arms submerged to the biceps. He was fishing by hand, Selena knew. She wasn’t too bad at it herself, but based on everything else she knew about him, she guessed he was better. She was right. He crouched in wait, concentrating patiently, watching them swim, then sank down with almost imperceptible slowness and pulled them from the water one by one. Selena was puzzled and no longer bothered to hide the fact that she was staring. There was no quick grab or fast movement of any kind. Now she stood and faced him, paying close attention, but when the process was repeated Selena still couldn’t understand what he was doing.
                She and her parents had used lures and snares for the most part but when fishing by hand, you had to move fast when they were in reach. Her curiosity finally overrode her caution.
                “Okay,” she breathed. With a mixture of resignation and trepidation, she started down the hill.
                He didn’t look up when she came to a stop at the edge of the bank, just far enough away not to scare the fish. The next would be his fourth catch and the first three lay flapping uselessly on the bank.
                Again, he focused on a target, followed it slowly, sank down, and pulled up another. When he flung it up the bank, Selena caught it and prevented any further suffering.
                “H—” she started before her voice quickly failed her. She cleared her throat as she bent down to show the other fish the same courtesy and spoke clearly. “How are you doing that?”
                “You wait until they’re calm. Then, very slowly, put your hand on their heads and press them down into the bottom. Gravel is good, but sand is the best,” he explained quietly, his eyes tracking his next victim. “If you’re slow enough, they never struggle.”
    Of course, she thought, mulling that over as she fought the persistent urge to study his body.
                “They never know they’re being hunted. How lucky. You should try this on some other things,” Selena ventured boldly before she could stop herself. She’d never felt more hunted than she had last night, and so far, he hadn’t bothered to reassure her in any way.
                “I do, when I have the time for it,” he answered quietly. Selena eyed him thoughtfully. She couldn’t decide if he was he was uncommonly hard to read or if her years of isolation were responsible for the difficulty. It must be both, she assumed, but there was no denying that there was a disciplined, stony quality about him. Selena deliberated on her situation and decided she must assume any sense of security she might feel around him was probably false. For now, there was nothing to do but to be vigilant and play along. It did occur to her that he hadn’t used any more force than necessary to stop her, so perhaps he wasn’t a complete animal. She didn’t think she was in any immediate mortal danger with him. She sighed. That still didn’t make her a free woman, though.
                “Do you want to cook these up now?” she forced herself to ask.
                He nodded. She brought the first four back up the hill with her, cleaned them swiftly with her little dagger and then set about preparing a fire. She chose dry wood and kindling which would release the least smoke while burning. It was a good habit. There were excellent trackers out there. If they found your campsite, they’d find you. Selena never took chances.
                By the time Dan returned with the rest of his catch, the fish were crisping over a makeshift spit.