Porthos helps Aramis to carefully ascend the rocks so that he stays safe, cautious to ease him along so that he's positioned just to Porthos' side and able to reap the benefits of being so very close. "Maybe Athos knows how to swim?" he suggests, feeling a thousand times better for the sweat and dust being wiped off him by the pond. He wants to dry fully before he puts his clothes back on, and even the thought of the dirty ones makes him wrinkle his nose.

"Or you could tell them frightening tales of witches who live in the pond. They'll be too fearful to ever get near, until they get too curious."