Ethan waited until the elderly man shut the door behind him before standing from the couch. He thought back to everything Edwine had explained while unfolding the different pieces of his clothing that had been left in a neat pile on the short table in front of the couch. Slipping on the various pieces he vigorously shook his head from side to side several times trying to clear his mind of the waves of embarrassment that kept washing over him. How could he have been so careless? What kind of trouble had he caused everyone? Who heard him scream when Katarina was trying to get him to lie back down. He paused thinking that the last issue maybe wasn’t completely his own fault but simply sighed before mentally slapping his head. He was nearly an adult, at least by the standards of a war ravished Nelumexa, so it was rather immature to push blame on someone else, even if it was accurate. It was some kind of valued element of the notion of a collective society. At least that is what those who studied such things would have said if anyone asked them.

Thankfully, despite the amount of craziness involved, not much time beyond the normal amount had passed. That was one of the first things he asked Mr. Edwine after he been told the gist of the events. He didn’t think Ms. Badger would come looking for him if he was late for dinner but the idea of her tracking him down, for any reason, sent a familiar shiver down his spine and goosebumps over his entire body. She represented a different kind of fear then the others he had come across thus far. Where Cecelia simply made him uncomfortable to a very significant degree, and Katarina was more bizarre and confusing, Ms. Badger actually scared him. It reminded him of when he was younger and would hear the wild animals in the land around the orphanage, that sense of dread of a predator stalking you in the darkness. Though Ms. Badger would have definitely given him extra food for what she would perceive as a compliment he feared even thinking such thoughts about her. Finally he was dressed and after readjusting his clothes, rolling up his dirty set, and slipping the leather loop with his keys back over his wrist, he moved to open the door.

The poor boy just couldn’t catch a break could he? As the door slid open he gasped in surprise as looking straight at him through the widening gap was Katarina with a black stare.

“Wha?!”

“Tch!”

“Why are you tching?!”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see you again.”

“You were standing at the door to the room I was in! What did you expect?”

“Tch!”

“Stop that!”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She was looking off the side though it was clear she could still see him in her peripheral vision. She wasn’t moving though and he quickly remembered his earlier thoughts. She lifted an eyebrow and turned back to him when he lowered his head a bit and closed his eyes.

“Thank you very much for taking care of me while I was passed out. It was very nice of you.”

When he lifted his head and reopened his eyes he noticed she was staring at him with a blank expression. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking for her expression truly was... well expressionless. He was about to say something, anything, to get rid of the awkward silence when she nodded and simply turned to lead him down the hallway.

“So you work for Mr. ....” He paused realizing that he didn’t know the owner’s name.

“Mr. Edwine has been kind of enough to employee me here part-time to help with the cleaning and laundry.”

“Mr. Edwine... I see.” He tried to commit the name to memory before continuing.

“Have you worked here for a long time?”

“A little over two years I believe.” By the time she responded they were at the end of the hallway and back at the main entrance of the bathhouse. She turned to face him once more and offered a slight bow of her upper body.

“Thank you very much for allowing us to serve you here at The Spring of Sighs Bathhouse. Please have a nice day and be sure to ret..... Nevermind, don’t come back.”

“Now, now, Katarina, that wasn’t very nice.” It was Mr. Edwine who spoke up after coming out from behind the desk near the front door.

“Really? How ridiculous.”

She walked back down the hallway to do something that Ethan had no clue about, staring at him until she could no longer physically see him. He watched her walk away and shivered again as he turned back to look to Mr. Edwine.

“She must really like you.”

There was a very long pause before Ethan finally comprehended the man’s words.

“Huh?!”

“That’s the most I’ve heard her say to anyone in a long, long time.”

Ethan tried to start speaking several times, stuttering and spluttering his words each time, before he finally gave up with a deep sigh. He was too tired to even bother trying to touch the weirdness of Katarina and her behavior.

“I, just, I, thank you.”

How lowered his head after finally managing some words that made sense before turning and making his way out of the front.

“You’re most welcome sir. Please come and see us again soon.” He sounded sincere, and in fact meant his words, both from a business perspective and also from a person who seemed to enjoy the boy’s presence, to some degree anyway.

Thankfully the road and sidewalks were even less crowded then before, most people having since made it home, because he was too tired and distracted to prevent anything bad from happening to him. In fact he couldn’t really remember anything that happened from the time he left the bathhouse to when he was standing in front of the door to the inn. He could hear laughter and shouting inside, a stark contrast to the sounds of the beat down he heard earlier. He looked up and started to wonder if he could possibly sneak into his room from the outside when his stomach reminded him that he required attention before he snuck into his bed. Reaching up he placed his palm against his stomach and gave it a pat before giggling a bit.

“Aye, aye, let’s get you some food.”

Yes, the boy just spoke to his stomach as if it was a separate being, like a puppy perhaps. It really had been a long day.