I guess I understood now why Kuri had done what he had in bringing the girl along. There was also the fact that she was of his people and he had already told me that he had plans of gathering them together.
The girl was likely going to still be a nuisance. A nuisance that was going to eat us out of provisions in short order. Where was she putting it all?
Kuri rose to leave the campsite, but before he left he leaned down to whisper into my ear, "After she gets some sleep I'm going to need you to help me cut her hair off. She has lice." He left and I stared at the girl across the fire from me, who was eyeing me up suspiciously.
Oh this was just great. I had not signed up for this!
*****
"You're not cutting my hair off!" The girl screamed, as she struggled against my hold on her. My hold was unrelenting though and about the most strenuous aspect of the whole endeavor was trying to keep back from the girl's unkempt and greasy looking hair.
Kuri stopped the girl's sharp head movements by grasping her face with both hands. He didn't say anything. All he did was stare in that way he had that said he knew everything you felt and that he cared deeply for you. I'd been the recipient of that stare many times over the past two years.
The girl resisted the warm current of Kuri's gaze for only a moment before her body began to shake in a series of deep sobs. I found myself hurting for her, because of the empty forlorn quality of her cries.
Kuri's words were the soul of comfort, "There is no shame in this. Your hair will grow back and you will be even more beautiful than before. Now are you ready?"
Slowly the girl nodded and I felt a pulse of emotion course through me. The girl had courage. I admired that.
Kuri brought out a sharp knife and began to gently cut all the girl's hair away. It was a humbling experience, as the girl I held seemed to sink within herself with the loss of more and more of her hair. Finally it was over and I let her go.
She instantly pulled away and headed down a path towards some boulders nearby that offered concealment. I watched her disappear from view, but I could still hear her crying. I hated the sound of that. It affected me like nothing else ever had.
I had no experience with women and every moment with even just this girl was a lesson on what the realm of being female was about. It was nothing for a man to be bald in life, but for her…… well, it was everything.