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His eyes widened.
“What? Don't be silly Addy.”
He reached for the food and took a bite, shutting his eyes appreciatively.
I watched him eat for a while until he glanced at me.
“I'll be able to walk. It will be too much for you to have to pull me along.”
“It will be faster,” I argued. “And the sooner we are home, the better.”
“You will get too tired.”
“I'll rest when we are back in Diwan.”
He stared at me for a minute and then sighed and set down his food.
“Fine,” he muttered. “But only if I get tired.”
I wanted to argue more but held my tongue.
“There's still time before we should go. Finish eating. You will need your energy.”
He shook his head.
“I fear if I take another bite it will end up in the sand again.”
He handed me his leftovers.
I finished them so they wouldn't go to waste. I would need the energy anyway, but it felt wrong to take it when he had eaten so little.
“Come on,” I said, standing just as the sun set.
It was still hot, but wouldn't be for long.
Alil stood and tried to help packing up until he was bent double breathing hard and swaying.
It didn't seem like he could stand straight, let alone walk, but I had agreed to his trying until he was tired, so I kept my mouth shut and kept the tarp at the top of the bag so that I could reach it easily once it was time.
We held hands as we went, mostly so that Alil could lean on me. He did with increasing weight as the evening progressed.
Eventually, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders to hold him steadier.
“Perhaps you could tell me another story,” I suggested. “One with an ending this time.”
Alil shook his head.
“Can't,” he muttered. “I can barely think.”
His voice was so quiet and weak that I stopped dead and looked up at the sky. The night was still young. There were hours ahead of us and I didn't even know how many nights of this we would have to go through. If I was fast enough, could we be there by morning? Or would we be out here for days on end while my love became weaker and weaker?
“That's enough now,” I said, and stepped back only far enough away to reach into the pack and pull out the tarp.
Alil didn't argue when I spread it out on the sand and tried to figure out how to tie it around me.
In the end I secured two of the ends around my waist and Alil sat with his back toward the lifted part so that he could lean back.
It wasn't ideal, but as I started to walk, I realized that I really could go a lot faster and that made the extra weight worthwhile.
