"But I've got you to protect me, right?" Clover said, rubbing her face against Tara's neck playfully.
"Yes, but you're going to need to learn how to protect yourself if you're going to hang around here very long. Do you know how to use a bow and arrow?"
"I've tried using my brothers' crossbow a couple of times, but nothing like yours."
"I don't know what that is, but we'll practice using my bow a little later. Right now, let's find you something to wear. As delicious as you look naked, you'll get eaten alive by the mosquitos if you go traipsing through the woods like that."
"Great, mosquitos," Clover sighed. "Just when I was beginning to think I'd found paradise."
Tara got up and opened a cupboard on the far wall and pulled out a half-tunic shaped like the one Clover saw her wearing yesterday.
"You're a little taller than me, but otherwise we seem to have fairly similar proportions. This is made out of sheepskin, so it will stretch to fit you over time. Why don't you try it on?"
Clover got up and took the garment from Tara's hand and turned it around, trying to figure out how to get into it. Unlike the cargo shorts and flannel shirts she was used to wearing in Tennessee, this wasn't like anything she'd seen before.
"You put your legs through these holes," Tara said, holding the open face of the vest away from Clover.
She stepped into the bodysuit, and Tara pulled it up tight over her hips and ass, then she held one of Clover's hands and threaded it through one of the arm holes. It fit snugly on Clover's taller body, but the natural fabric caressed her body like soft suede, and she smiled as she began to move her arms around, feeling the fabric stretch with her. Tara smiled approvingly, then she began to lace up the front of the bodice until Clover's breasts were tightly compressed under the center seam.
"Do I have to be tied into this thing so tightly?" she said.
"We don't want your tits flopping out at an inopportune time," Tara said. "Like when we're running away from wolves or having a drink in the local tavern. You're already plenty alluring enough with that flaming red hair and pretty freckles without needing your more fulsome features attracting additional attention."
"I'm not quite sure this skimpy outfit is going to exactly scare any leering men away," Clover said, peering down at her compressed breasts spilling over the top of her leather corset.
"It'll have to do for now," Tara said. "We can try to make you something more comfortable later. "For now, let's see if we can replenish our supplies and start making you into a real woodsman, or whatever you call human girls that explore the forest."
The two girls lowered themselves from the cabin on the knotted vine, then Tara pulled one of the low overhanging branches, swinging the rope back to the top of the canopy.
"You've just got the one room to live in?" Clover said, peering up to see how well Tara had camouflaged her treehouse from the view on the ground. "I mean, where do you go pee and do your other business?"
"Where all the other forest creatures go–in the forest."
"Do you use toilet paper?"
"Toilet what?"
"You know, to wipe your bum after you're finished."
"I rub myself against a mossy tree or wash myself in a local stream whenever I feel the need. But I think you'll find this forest diet keeps you pretty clean. You don't see any bears and wolves wiping their ass, do you?"
"You've got bears here too?"
"And lions and dragons, depending on how far you travel in Abbynthia."
"Dragons?" Clover said, widening her eyes. "That's so cool, I've never seen one of those before."
"Like they only exist in fairy tales?"
"Something like that."
"Shh!" Tara whispered, suddenly motioning for Clover to crouch down beside her as she pointed to a furry animal scurrying through the brush. "I'm going to show you how to spear a rabbit.
Watch closely, then you can give it a try."
Tara kneeled quietly in the grass, then she raised her hand over her shoulder to her quiver, slowly pulling out a single arrow. She placed it on the string of the bow, then she pulled the string back, tensing her arm as she angled her bow in the direction of the darting rabbit. When it paused to munch on a leafy plant, Tara released the arrow and it flew through the air, spearing the animal through its shoulders. The rabbit squealed and flopped over onto its side, squirming in pain. Tara rushed up to the wounded animal, then pulled a hunting knife out of her side holster, slicing its head off in one quick motion.
Clover gasped as she pulled up beside Tara, staring at the limp and bleeding carcass.