Getting dressed beside the river without a mirror and with wet hair was its own challenge, but Neve managed it.
The red shirt. The long pants for the cold morning air. He ran his fingers through his hair until it stopped dripping and fell around his shoulders in the dark waves that his reflection in the river showed him were honestly unfair given what he had just been through.
He breathed in the morning air. It was still cold and sharp as before. The smell of the river and the trees made him feel cleaner and refreshed. The specific quality of the air on the last day before winter. He knew that by the time he returned here, the river would be frozen.
'There's enough water for us to use throughout the winter,' he said to himself and started walking back to the village.
.
.
The village had rearranged itself in the time he had been gone.
