Everyone dispersed except Jashen and me.
She stood beside me and looked out the massive window that pointed towards the sea.
"I can't swim," she stated out of the blue.
Slowly, I turned my head. "What?"
She faced me with a smile. "I can't swim," she responded a little louder.
"I found out when my brother pushed me in the lake one time. Oh, but I like fish. Do you like fish?"
I blinked.
"Why are you like this?"
"Like what?" She tilted her head, then her eyes lit up. "Hey, we should find our room. Oh, and ask if they have rice here."
I massaged my temples. "You know what you really need? A bath. You stink, you know that? Also, they don't have rice here, I'd know."
"Aw, no rice? Wait, you think I smell bad?" She brought her tail to her nose and took a long sniff. "Oh, I guess I stink a little. Hey mister, is there a bath here?"
She waved at one of the stone-faced Royal Blades.
The man didn't so much as blink.
Jashen put her hands on her hips.
"Hey mister, it's not very nice to ignore someone. Don't you want friends? You have to talk to make friends. Lafayette and I are friends, but that's because we haven't been blessed to be mates yet…"
She paused and tapped her chin before she perked up. "Hey! Do you know how humans become mates? I still haven't figured it out but I know it has something to do with throwing a rock at someone. Right?"
I sighed and walked away.
— — —
As I walked down the long, winding halls, I came across a maid dusting a vase.
I cleared my throat as I approached her. "Excuse me, miss, where are the vacant rooms?"
The woman gave me a nervous smile as she shook her head. "Díô sé?"
She doesn't speak imperial. Because why would she? The fox girl from another continent entirely can speak it, but not the human maid?
Is it really too much to learn two languages?
Damn it.
I began scrubbing my hands across my body. "Bath. Water. Bath and water." Then I placed my hands together and pressed them against my head. "Bed. Room. Sleep."
The maid raised her hand to cover her mouth, she squeaked. "Pfttt."
I froze. "Are you laughing at me?"
The maid threw both her hands forward and shook them.
"Ah! No, no, no, no! Řum T Baso, yes?" Her cheeks were slightly pink with embarrassment.
"Yeah?"
She waved a hand for me to follow her. The two of us walked down the hall and made a left. She extended her hand to gesture at a door.
I walked past her and entered the room. It was large, bigger than anything I've seen in a while.
A massive floor-to-ceiling window took up the back wall and led to a balcony. Large, green curtains came down on either side of it.
On the left wall was a large bed about the size of a king-size mattress with more pillows than a furniture store.
On the right wall was a walk-in closet and a bathroom.
I headed towards the bathroom and when I stepped inside I was greeted with a tub connected to a faucet.
Just above the faucet was an Ouro crystal holder and next to the tub was a rack of blue Ouro crystal.
I grinned and quickly got undressed before I snatched up an Ouro crystal. I jammed the thing in the holder and seconds later the tub began to fill.
Ah, the sweet, sweet joys of dwarven technology.
I climbed into the tub of steaming water and sank like a happy rock.
Above me, the Ouro stone dimmed to a soft blue.
"Ahhh…." I shivered my shoulders and closed my eyes. "What a day." The water climbed up to my chin before the Ouro crystal finally dried out.
Oh, it's like an automatic shut-off switch. If I just pretend for a moment it's almost like I'm back in Japan. No crazy mothers, no demons and orcs, no giant killer robots.
Mhm, just a modern convenience.
Click.
Huh?
"Oh, there you are!"
I peeked one eye open to see Jashen not only enter my sanctuary. But she was undressing! Like this was just some common bath we'd share on a Tuesday.
"You know that guard was very rude and wouldn't respond." She reached for the bar of soap that was over the sink.
"And then I turned around and you were gone, so I had to sniff around because no one spoke the language I did." She stepped towards my tub and dipped into MY water.
She sat with her back facing my chest and handed me the soap as she continued to talk.
"But that was after I raided the kitchen, and a maid gave me some porridge. I left a bowl on the shelf next to our bed for you."
"The audacity."
"No, no, the shelf. I left it on the shelf."
Urk—
I snatched the soap out of her hand.
"Thank you," she said. She pulled her long orange hair over her shoulder and ran her hands through it as she hummed.
Her tail wrapped around me and traced up my back. I sat there, fuming.
There were so many ways I could kill us all and it caused me to pause. Not because I didn't want to do it, but because I couldn't figure out the best way.
Jashen looked over her shoulder with a smile. "You're shaking with nerves, I guess you've never bathed with a girl before, right?"
She chuckled softly as she took my hand and guided it to her back. Then she scrubbed with our hands, "just like that, see?"
She pulled her hand away, but I continued to scrub.
I don't know why.
Normally I wouldn't hesitate to get someone out of my way. But here we are.
"In my village boys and men took honor in being the first to wash their partner or family members. It's seen as the first step to responsibility, you know?"
I huffed as I scrubbed harder. "Is that so? Maybe I should go there and turn all your family members into a fur coat."
She chuckled softly. "That's funny."
It wasn't a joke.
After a while of scrubbing, she stood up and got behind me. "What are you doing?"
She sank in the water and pulled me close.
"It's my turn."
She took the soap and began to scrub my back with a circular motion. Each go around seemed to strip away a layer of anger and bitterness.
I closed my eyes again as her tail rested across my upper thighs. It was bizarre, I felt myself slipping in real time.
The tension in my shoulders was released and relaxed.
Once Jashen finished scrubbing my back she raised her leg and began to clean it. I looked over to watch her work.
It was strangely mesmerizing.
She smiled at me and pressed her other leg against my side. "You have to wait until we get a blessing, okay?"
I blinked. "What?"
Jashen giggled, "I saw your eyes dilate like you're ready to take me. But we have to be blessed first, otherwise our offspring will be bastards."
I had that usual tight-lipped frown and wordlessly got out of the tub.
"Lafayette, where are you going?"
I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself before heading out and into the closet.
The dragon hummed with amusement. "Ah, I could feel you debating whether to take her right then or not."
Stop talking.
"Hehehehe, very well."
The closet was lined with two rows of clothes.
One side for women, the other for men, and in descending sizes from front to back.
I just grabbed a pair of underwear and a robe to get dressed. Once that was done I went back into the main bedroom and spotted a bowl of porridge on the shelf next to it.
I took the bowl and dipped a finger in.
It was warm.
I brought my finger to my mouth and sucked it.
The porridge was sweet with honey. I picked up my spoon and began to eat as I sat on the edge of my bed.
While I ate, Jashen emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel. She looked around and I just wordlessly pointed towards the closet.
She smiled, "Ah, thank you!"
She dipped into the closet and seconds later emerged in a simple, white dress. She then skipped to my side. Her tail was massively fluffy and so were her ears.
"Hey, hey, you like honey and porridge right?" Her tail wagged eagerly for an answer.
I narrowed my eyes.
"It's awful."
She snickered. "You're such a liar, you ate it all."
I looked down to see the inner design of my bowl, before I placed it on the nightstand.
She climbed into bed behind me and pulled me further in. "Anyway, it's time for bed," she whispered as she pulled me into our blankets.