PART II - SURPRISES
Continuing their way through the camp, they entered into a housing area. Arranged in a horseshoe-shaped semi-circle were eleven cabins, circling around a central garden area. An additional twelfth cabin was larger and had a taller and wider door.
“That must be our bunkhouse,” Lena said, gesturing. “I can’t see the colors on the sign, but it’s the only one with the big Ogre door.”
In the garden, a few people stood around wearing long robes of white cloth, chatting with each other. A few more sat on stone benches, also talking in groups of twos or threes, while others were just sitting back, leaning against trees and enjoying the sun by themselves. So many different races were represented: Elves, Dwarves, a few Fairies, a green-skinned Goblin girl, and even some of the various Beastkin.
At one end of the cluster of small houses was a large building and appeared to be divided into two sections. The entries to this building were also Ogre-sized. A wooden water tower stood tall behind the building. “That must be the bath house,” Xin said, pointing at the red flag.
That was confirmed as the five grew closer, they spied an Elf leaning back in her chair, appearing to be dozing. Behind here was a wagon with several open crates on it. Most were in disarray, various garments having been pulled out and then returned without being folded.
Vanis cleared his throat. “Hello, am I to presume this would be the bath house?”
The Elf jerked awake and nearly fell over. She quickly got her bearings and sprang to her feet. “Yes! Apologies for falling asleep. It was a long night getting ready for all of you.”
Vanis quickly waved his hand, indicating not to worry. “Quartermaster Balneis?”
“Yes,” she responded.
“Our own apologies. Our intake took longer than expected.” Vanis explained, “Thank you for waiting. I do believe we are the last of the recruits coming through.”
Balneis nodded, a grateful look in her eyes, “The good news is that with your delayed arrival, the showers are empty. You won’t have to wait. Let me assemble your kits.” She turned to the wagon and started pulling various things off of it, occasionally looking at the five, trying to gauge sizes and other variables. It took a bit of fussing, but finally she had assembled five baskets arranged on the table, one of which was larger than the others.
“Baskets for you all. Inside you will find your robes, a towel, as well as a ball of soap. There is also a smaller basket in there. For you, Mister Ogre, there are two balls and here, a couple extra towels.”
Lena reached for one of the baskets and Balneis slapped her hand, giving her a good hard, angry stare for her efforts, before adding two more towels to an oversized basket. Lena quickly pulled her hand back, rubbing it.
“What is with the bow, Little One?”
“Um, Master Trainer Thorn gave it to me. I suppose I need to keep it with me until I meet my trainer later, I guess?”
“I see. As long as you do not use it in any way, that should be fine. But absolutely do not use it outside of the training areas, understand?”
Callie quickly nodded her head. “Absolutely, yes.”
“There are some details on what to do, so please listen up,” Balneis said, before gesturing towards the building. “When you enter, there will be disrobing stalls along the outside wall. Pick one and place your current clothing into the large basket after removing the robe. Also put your bunkhouse identification block in with your clothing so we know where it needs to be returned. Place any jewelry, hair items, your class identification block, and anything else you don’t wish to lose into the small basket.”
Baleneis indicated to Lena, “The last stall has a mirror, table and chair so you can take your hair down. Put all of your beads and other hair … things … into the small basket.”
“Alright. It won’t take me long to undo it, it’s just a process to put it back up.”
Balneis continued with the instructions. “Once you enter, on the inside wall are a series of shower stalls. That is where you will be cleaning yourself today. Do not use the large bath, which is farther back in the building! It is for soaking and relaxing and we neither have the time today nor do we want this kind of soap in it. If you use the bath in the future, you will need to at minimum rinse off in a shower first before entering and use the bathing soap that will be provided. Understood?”
Everyone quickly nodded.
“As Captain Kela said in their opening remarks. You will wash every part of your body. Work the soap into your hair and anywhere else you may need to. Work the soap into everything,” Balneis emphasized a second time. “You can’t imagine how awful Firelice are!”
Everyone cringed and reflexively reached down.
“Now, get someone else to wash your back for you and any other area you cannot reach. Don’t be shy about asking, and do not be shy about offering. When done, do it all a second time, or even a third! There’s a double-sized stall in each section for the Ogres.”
“Tazrok, it looks like you’re going to get a royal back washing,” Lena said with a mischievous grin. “Sorry, Vanis,” she added, looking at the recruit prince.
“Prince must wash good!” Tazrok said, looking at Vanis.
“Oh my,” Vanis said in response. “It will be an adventure of its own, I fear.”
“A pair of Tigerkins were going on about a prince being here. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. That’s you?”
“I am,” Vanis said.
“It is good to meet you then, Sire. I also heard you wanted to not be treated special, so I will simply wish good luck to you with the Ogre. We are all glad it is you, and not us.”
“I appreciate the moral support,” Vanis said with a sigh. A few titters could be heard from the rest of the group.
“After you’re done washing,” Balneis continued detailing, “dry off with the towel that is also in your large basket. Return the towel to the basket and, wearing your robe, leave the bath house via the rear exit. Place your large basket onto the pile of other dirty clothing and towels. Again, be sure your bunkhouse identification block is in it or you will not have your clothing returned to you. Keep your small basket of personal belongings, as well as your class color block.
“From there, Quartermaster Fullo will be waiting to take your measurements so that clothing and armor can be tailored for you, which you will receive by the time you wake in the morning. You’ll have what you are wearing now returned by tomorrow evening, assuming it did not need to be burned, that is. Do you have any questions?”
“How do they make clothing for everyone in just one night?” Callie asked.
“Fullo has several Brownies with tailoring perks, along with some special tailoring skills,” Balneis said. “They can make simple items and training armor very rapidly.”
“Whoa, magical sewing?” Callie said.
Balneis smiled. “They do very good work, as you can see from what the officers and staff wear. Do you have any other questions?”
Heads all mutually shook no.
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“Good” Balneis said as she gave each person a specific basket with robes sized to who received it. “Males go into the left door, everyone else into the right.” Nodding to Vanis and Lena, she added, “Duwana.”
“Duwanai” Vanis and Lena responded automatically..
Callie, Lena and Xin walked through the right entrance into a large, hot, steam-filled room. On the right were the aforementioned changing stalls, eight in total, with a partition erected between each. A small bench was in each, presumably for sitting or setting things on. The last stall was larger than the others, presumably sized for an Ogre if it was needed.
To the left, the inner wall, was an additional eight partitioned stalls, each with a brick floor. Overhead, a shower head was centered over each, a pair of pull-chains seeming to be the way to activate it. A black, metal rod with a hooked end was hanging on the wall of the shower stall, and Callie reasoned this was to allow the shorter races to reach the pull-chains.
At the far end of the room, hot steam rising from it in a dense cloud, was a large pool of still water. A railing was visible on the edge with steps leading into the water next to the railing.
Lena let out a sigh. “Let me go find that mirror and deal with this hair.” She walked off, before finding it in the final oversized stall. “Ahh there it is,” she said, disappearing into it.
“After you, Little One,” Xin said, gesturing for Callie to move ahead.
Callie nodded and started walking towards the first changing stall. She looked inside, gave a startled squeal, and shuddered, quickly backing out.
“What is wrong, Callie?” Xin asked.
“Just a big spider. I hate spiders,’ Callie said.
“A spider?” Lena called. “What color was it?”
“Um, let me look again,” Callie said as she grabbed another peek at the monster.
“It’s black with orange tips on its feet. And it’s huge! And it’s creepy as hell, Lena!”
“Ahh, they’re harmless. They just eat bugs. They don’t get that big.”
“Still creepy! And I’m tiny, so it’s huge!”
“There’s a spider that looks just like it, but with yellow instead of orange legs. They can be aggressive and their bite will make you sick for a couple days. If you see one, don’t provoke it.”
“What do they eat?” Callie growled.
“Small children mostly. Occasionally they might gnaw on a Brownie, or even a Gnome if they get big enough.”
“WHAT?!” Callie screamed, and then noticed Xin laughing.
Lena poked her head out, her hair an untangling mess. “I’m sure the really big ones don’t come around here.”
“At least not during the day,” Xin added, her crocodile smile growing wider.
Callie glared at both of them. “I hate you both!” and she stormed into the third stall.
Both Xin and Lena could be heard still laughing. Callie smiled, appreciating the joke even if she didn’t want to admit it. Wait a minute …
“That is a joke, isn’t it?” Callie called out nervously.
“Probably!” Xin responded.
“Dammit!” Callie yelled back. “I double hate you both!”
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Callie looked at the basket she had set on the floor of the dressing stall. Inside it was a smaller basket, a ball of something she assumed was the soap, and a white cloth robe, just like Balneis had told them. She leaned the bow against the wall and took the robe out of the basket. It was small, but pretty close to the right size for her now-small frame, although it looked like it might drag a little bit low. The cloth was some kind of cross between linen and burlap. A little rough, but definitely sturdy. Underneath the robe was a white towel of a similar material. Callie suddenly wished she had a big fluffy towel instead.
For the first time she really looked at the clothes she was wearing. They were comfortable, even though the fabric was basically the same material as the towel, just softer. She was wearing a shallow V-Neck tunic for the top, but no bra, not that she needed one. The tunic was tucked into a pair of capri-length pants of the same material, but a darker brown color, cinched tight with a rope belt and a simple square knot. She ran her finger across her butt, and could feel an undergarment of some kind as well.
“Well, at least they have underwear here,” Callie mumbled to herself.
Her shoes were a boot of light leather with a soft sole on them, like a moccasin, but going up to her mid-calf. A piece of thin rope was wrapped around it, tying it into place.
Over the wall, Callie could hear the sounds of Xin in the next stall as she started removing her own minimal clothing and shaking out her robe.
“How the hell did I get here?” Callie reflected to herself. She hopped up to sit on the bench, having to climb slightly. “Truly, how did I go from Chicago to a Tolkien fantasy world? And how do I get back? I could be dead, or maybe this is me in a coma. That would be a reasonable guess.” Callie suddenly imagined her mother, probably right now frantic as to where she was after not getting home. She would be panic-texting and calling every two minutes, destined to remain unread, and the calls just going to a voicemail void. ‘Hello, you’ve reached Callie. Leave a message. Smell ya later!’ It was the same voicemail greeting she’d had since she was a junior in high school. Since before her dad …
Callie shook her head hard. “You’ve got to keep it together, Callie,” she whispered to herself. “You promised Vanis and the rest that you would. I’m sure you’ll have a chance to properly freak out later. In the meantime, focus! One step in front of the other.” Meditatively, she took a cleansing breath and began to slowly chant, “two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen.” As she rattled out primes, she timed her breathing to each number. At forty-three, she hopped off the bench, feeling slightly more centered and started to remove the tunic. “Forty-seven, Fifty-three, Fifty-nine, Sixty-one…” she undid the knot of the rope on each boot and kicked them off. The knot on her rope belt was next. Closing her eyes, she kept counting as first the pants and then an undergarment were removed. “One-hundred ninety three, one-hundred ninety-seven, and one-hundred ninety-nine.”
Opening her eyes and grabbing the robe, she threw it around her shoulders and tied off an attached strip of cloth as a belt. Grabbing the soap, she left the changing stall and saw a cloud of steam in one of the showers with a vaguely Xin-like form in it.
Stepping into the shower across from her own dressing stall, Callie hung her robe on a Gnome-height hook and looked at the shower head. It was about two meters above her, a square around thirty centimeters on each side. A plate of metal of some kind, maybe steel, with dozens of small holes made up the business end of the shower. Two pull chains hung there, one higher than the other. In the center on the floor was a hole with a metal grate over it.
“How do they keep the water hot?” Callie called out.
“They surely have magic that will heat the water,” Lena called back. “It’s a fairly common enchantment, so you shouldn’t need to worry about running out. Look around, there should be a way to mix colder water in if it’s too hot for you.”
Looking up, Callie saw two metal pipes along the ceiling, each with smaller pipes going into the showerhead. A simple valve at the top of each small pipe had a loop of chain attached. The chain was hooked to the wall of the stall. Callie reasoned this might be a way to control the temperature as you could open and close each separate pipe’s feed. The whole pipe construction was intriguingly simple. And the work was really well done, too. Usually when looking at plumbing, imperfections are quickly identifiable, but this was all perfect.
“Did you find it?” Lena called out.
“I think so,” Callie called back.
Taking the hook down from the wall, she slipped it around the higher pull-chain and gave it a yank. The floodgates on the shower opened and a solid torrent of water fell. Immediately Callie felt the sting of ice-cold water. She dropped the hook, which clanked on the bricks.
“Everything alright?” Lena called.
“Fine! It’s just on maximum cold. Don’t worry, I’m fiddling with it.”
Callie played with the two loops of chain to see which controlled what temperature and found the right one. She increased the hot water and decreased the cold until the fall of water was just this-side of being too hot and stepped in. The water was perfect. It splashed on her head and started to cascade down her body. Callie closed her eyes and just embraced the warmth for a moment; just feeling it wash away a constant tension she’d been fighting ever since opening her eyes. It was only temporary, a figment of the moment, but in that moment it was exactly what she needed.
Reaching for the ball of soap, she held it up to her nose. As it got wet, a faint aroma began to rise. It was vaguely floral, with an underscent of something antiseptic. She could feel soothing oils in it, making it slippery in the water.
She ran the soap along one arm, and back up to her armpit. She looked down to see the tiny breasts and body she now had and gave a light sigh, still trying to get used to the change. So different. “I wonder...”, she thought and bent over to get a look.
Callie let loose a horrified scream, dropping the soap! And then she screamed a second time!
Xin was there first, but Lena was only a moment behind, her hair now hanging down to her thighs in tangles. “What is wrong?” Xin asked.
“What happened!” Lena said, rushing into the shower. Lena still had her clothes on and got immediately soaked. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?”
Callie just stood there dumbfounded, wondering for a moment why the problem wasn’t obvious. She used both hands and gestured down.
“What the hell! MY CROTCH IS PINK!”
“What?” Lena said questioningly.
Callie opened her eyes wide, tilting her head and pointing downstairs again, this time gesturing harder. Slowly she said, with volume and emphasis, “MY CROTCH IS PINK!”
“Of course it is,” Xin said, a confused look on her face.
“Uh, Callie,” Lena said with slight concern. “Why wouldn’t it be? It’s the same color as the hair on your head.”
“What the hell! MY HAIR IS PINK!?”