Dark smoke

What we found couldn't be called a river. It was a mere stream of water meandering between bushes and trees as it moved northwards where it would likely join with the main river. 

And while it was possible to just spend some time to get all the way north to where we would get all the water we could want…

I didn't forget about my worries from when we were crossing that river. And even if the likelihood of monsters being somewhere so remote was low, I didn't really see the need to risk it. 

"We will wash first," I said as I pulled my hand out of the water, doing testing for its quality and temperature. "Once we are done and as we will be drying, we will wash the meat."

Theoretically speaking, it was better to wash the meat first. After all, whatever dirt or other impurities there were on it, the longer it would take us to clean them out, the more time they would have to set in and start rotting the piece.