Chapter 14: A Strange Massage

"I hope you don't mind bunking with me." Sharmon said as she held the flap of her tent open for Cinnamon to crawl through.

Cinnamon crawled into the tent just far enough to sit down, then turned around to look back at Sharmon standing must outside the tent. "Oh no, I don't mind; thank you for sharing."

Sharmon gave her a small smile and waved her off. "Go ahead and put your boots in the corner and then give me your towel and I'll hang it up with the rest."

When Cinnamon realized she would be losing the bottom half of her clothing, she blushed and looked down intently at her boots as she took them off.

"Oh... uh... ok."

She placed her boots in the corner of the tent and then crawled further in, to avoid another embarrassing showing like the night before. Facing away from the entrance she untied the towel and handed it back out to Sharmon.

Sharmon said "I'll just hang this up and check on our clothes. Go ahead and get comfortable. If you want I can give you a rubdown when I get back."

"Uh... okay. Thanks." Cinnamon replied uncertainly, then looked around the tent. It was pretty dark inside but enough light from the fire came through the canvass walls to let her see one bedroll and a couple of blankets. The blankets and bedroll overlapped each other. Cinnamon flipped the blankets back and sat in the middle, not quite sure what to think about the arrangement. They would be sleeping very close to each other since Sharmon's tent was smaller than Muriel's. Cinnamon knew she had a tendency to roll around in her sleep and that would likely disturb Sharmon in such close quarters. It would also be the first time she'd slept this close to anyone since she'd been a child, and that made her nervous. She knew she wasn't a naive child, but she wasn't an adult either; Sharmon was. That thought didn't help her nervousness any.

Cinnamon sat thinking for a few minutes while Sharmon checked on the clothes and verbally spared with Harnley. Cinnamon decided it would be okay. She trusted Sharmon, despite the fact that she'd been aiming a loaded bow at her just the other night. She trusted the others not to harm her, but after her adventure in the pool, she wasn't sure about anything else. She didn't think Muriel would try anything but she wasn't completely positive. As for Vanessa, Cinnamon had a feeling a night alone with her would be an adventure in itself.

"I'm not sure I trust myself to stop her either." Cinnamon thought as feelings of warmth flooded through her body. Her shared bath had opened up new desires. She felt a strange new attraction to Vanessa and Muriel. And Sharmon was just as beautiful and attractive in her own way as the others.

"And her touch felt so good." Cinnamon admitted to herself trying unsuccessfully not to blush. But she knew Sharmon wouldn't take advantage of her; she could have done so earlier in the bath but hadn't. Also Cinnamon's feelings of attraction for the older woman felt different from how she felt about the others. They weren't any less strong, just different.

Cinnamon shook her head to clear it and flung back the top blanket so she could get into bed. At that moment, Sharmon opened the tent flap and stuck her head inside.

"I thought you'd be under the covers by now. Why don't you take the bedroll?" She offered, crawling into the tent. "I've got the watch next and the blankets will be easier to get out of."

"But won't you need it later when it's Muriel's turn?" Cinnamon asked, not wanting to push Sharmon out of her own bed.

"Nah, I'll borrow her bedroll. That way it's already warm." Sharmon replied with a grin. "Besides that way I won't have to climb over you to get back in" She said, crawling into the tent and forcing Cinnamon to scoot over onto the bed roll.

Cinnamon had just slipped her feet and legs under the covers and was reaching to pull the rest over her when Sharmon asked "I noticed your legs seemed a bit stiff. Would you like that rub down now?"

Cinnamon gave her a wry grin and look down at her legs. "Yeah, now that we've stopped moving they're sore and don't want to move any more."

Sharmon responded with a quiet chuckle. "I know that feeling." she said. "Why don't you lay down on your front and I'll get started."

When Cinnamon hesitated she said "It's ok. Besides if we don't get the kinks out now it'll be worse in the morning."

Cinnamon groaned and rolled over.

Sharmon looked down at the nervous girl and knew she'd have to be very cautious. She also knew that since she didn't have any of the oils or lotions that she normally used, she couldn't give Cinnamon a vigorous massage. "Thankfully Muriel's showed me a few things so I won't have to use them." she thought.

She softly laid her palm on the small of Cinnamon's back and felt her immediately tense up. Sharmon silently prayed to her Goddess for guidance as she had not done this for a very long time and said to Cinnamon "It's alright. Just take deep slow breaths?"

"Uh... alright." Cinnamon replied, her uncertainty evident to Sharmon by the tone of her voice.

"And be sure to tell me if I go to fast or press to hard, ok?" she instructed.

Cinnamon nodded her head in agreement and then moved her arms so she could lay with her cheek pillowed by her hands.

"Ready?" Sharmon asked quietly.

"Uh-huh" Cinnamon replied, a bit nervously.

"Ok." Sharmon said and then gently began to rub Cinnamon's back, over her nightshirt. Her strokes were firm yet gentle with just enough speed and pressure to calm and sooth the tired girl. Sharmon smiled in the dimness as she felt Cinnamon's body relax. As Cinnamon relaxed Sharmon changed from simply rubbing up and down Cinnamon's back to making light circles.

Cinnamon wasn't sure why Sharmon was rubbing her back when it was her legs that were stiff but she wasn't about to complain. It felt so nice.

Sharmon went back and forth from Cinnamon's right side to her left and back again. The more Cinnamon relaxed the more pressure she used. She was careful not to use too much pressure with the broader strokes since it would have irritated Cinnamon's skin; she was doing this to ease Cinnamon's discomfort, not to increase it. Firm broad strokes would also cause Cinnamon's night shirt to ride up, undoing all her efforts to get Cinnamon to relax. That's not to say Cinnamon's night shirt didn't ride up at all, as it did, but not as much as it could have.

When Cinnamon sighed with contentment Sharmon used even firmer strokes that amounted to no more than pressing firmly and making a small circle on that spot before easing off, moving slightly lower, and starting again. Occasionally when Cinnamon would twitch she'd ease off the pressure but continue to work that spot more until the knot of tension eased.

As she worked Sharmon smiled. Each of Cinnamon's happy sighs brought a flash of joy to her heart. Once she had reached Cinnamon's lower back, she frowned slightly. She knew she should continue but going further would increase Cinnamon's nervousness.