Despite the near life or death conversation taking place back at the adventurer’s guild, the topic of such a conversation, the boy named Ethan, was casually, and obliviously, making his way down the street toward a public bathhouse aptly named the Spring of Sighs.

Despite the fact he wore his naivety on his sleeve, and was most certainly out of place in the town, by some miracle of the Keepers, he didn’t get lost, attacked, taken advantage of, or otherwise waylaid on his short trip. Truth be told there had been a few unscrupulous characters that glanced his way but for some reason none of them acted. Perhaps it was because he looked so simple, and well, poor, that they felt he wouldn’t be worth it. Thankfully none of those who saw him were members of the much seedier elements of the city, elements that would have taken interest in a young child on their own.

Ethan finally came to a stop in front of a two story building with visible wisps of steam floating into the air through the two large doors that stood open and apart from one another. Several steps into the entrance he could see a stomach high desk with a solid front and a smoothed stone top. Behind the desk stood a thin man with a neatly trimmed facial hair covering his mouth, cheeks, and part of his neck. The hair atop his head and that which adorned his face was a light gray and despite the obvious warmth of the room where he stood he was wearing a cleanly fitted suit.

The boy had never seen a suit so fine before, and he was struck by its smooth and crisp lines, and also how the white of the man’s shirt starkly contrasted the black jacket that covered his upper body. Though he couldn’t see his pants just yet his suspicions that they were also black and professionally tailored would later be confirmed. After taking a deep breath Ethan finally made his way through the entrance and up toward the desk. It wasn’t until he had cleared the threshold that the old man looked up from whatever had been holding attention on the desk and took note of the boy before him.

“Perhaps young teenagers that were without adult supervision wasn’t all that uncommon in towns?”

Ethan mentally asked himself such a question as no sooner had the old man looked up he bowed his upper body slightly forward and lowered his head in polite greeting.

“Good evening good sir, thank you very much for seeking out the Spring of Sighs Bathhouse.”

“Huh? How? Wha?”

“Can this old guy read minds? How did he know what I wanted and just wasn’t looking around?’

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The old man released a warm chuckle, seemingly amused at the boy’s facial expression.

“I assure you young sir, I’m unable to read minds.”

“By the Keepers he can!”

Before Ethan could give voice to his, up until now, silent, assumption the man clarified while pointing to the bundle of clothes in the boy’s arms.

“Simply an act of deduction young sir. Dirty clothes and body, while carrying clean clothes, and entering a bathhouse all seem to fit rather neatly wouldn’t you say?”

While the old man smiled cheerfully through his beard Ethan looked down at himself and then the bundle of clothes in his hands.

“Ah.... yes that makes sense doesn’t it?” He replied excitedly, enjoying the logic behind how the old man had been able to figure out why he was there. Laughing a bit he finally nodded and pulled the coupon from within the folds of his clean clothes.

“And yes sir, I would like to clean up if possible.”

The old man reached out and took the coupon with a nod of his own before placing it under a small rock on the desk.

“Of course, please follow me. This side is for males.”

The old man motioned as he spoke and turned to his right, heading down a small hallway. Before following, upon hearing “this side” he looked over and noticed a matching hallway on the other side of a center wall. Thankfully for the situation, his gaze didn’t linger, and he began to follow the old man before his gaze was noticed.

It only took about five minutes for the old man to show Ethan where he could store his clothes, provide a towel, bar of soap, and washcloth all inside a wooden bucket, and demonstrate how to draw the hot water to clean with before entering the hot spring to soak. While Ethan listened in silence he noted that despite this area being even hotter than the front, and the old man wearing so many pieces of clothing, there wasn’t a single drop of sweat anywhere on his face. It wasn’t even shiny!

After the old man excused himself Ethan went about getting himself cleaned off, especially his hair, and rinsed. He really hated the feeling of a dirty head and decided to clean it a second time before finally making his way over to the large open-aired hot spring in the back. It seemed the normal day here in town hadn’t come to an end because he could only see one or two individuals further back in the spring, their details hidden by the steam constantly rising from the warm water.

While it wasn’t completely dark out yet, the time it took for him to get to the bathhouse and his extra care at cleaning up had been such that the sun was now blocked by the buildings around the spring, lowering the temperatures with each passing minute. Shivering a bit he submerged his body up to his chin, his hands rubbing his arms and legs beneath the surface for about half a minute until he was much more comfortable. Using the folded washcloth as a pillow of sorts he leaned back against the side of the spring and rested his head against the edge. He knew he had to be careful not to fall asleep but right now the water felt so good, not only on his skin but also his muscles, that he couldn’t be bothered to worry too much about it.