Zel heard a loud splash behind him and was about to turn around when he caught himself.<span style="font-style: italic">She probably just tripped getting out or something,</span>he assured himself.<span style="font-style: italic">If it were anything else there would be more splashing.</span>Soon he could hear the rustling of cloth and was convinced that his theory was right. He kept his eyes closed, facing away from her. He was still blushing a lot, but the initial shock and embarrassment was beginning to wear off.<br/><br/>He felt a tug at his sleeve and took it to mean he could turn around now. What he saw was Larea. She was still wet because she really hadn't had anything to dry off with, and she was looking extremely embarrassed and self-conscious. He felt the need to reassure her somehow. If he didn't he was sure things would be very awkward between them for a while. While that<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>the first time he'd seen a naked woman in his life, he was determined to keep a cool head. He'd already slightly failed at that, but he was going to try and just put the incident past him.<br/><br/>Zel was almost surprised of the words he found coming out of his mouth. "Let's just keep this between you and me," he said. "Ahmaht is very protective of you. I'm worried he might try to kill me if he finds out what happened just now."