The group hung around the guild hall until the light outside dimmed and the warm air turned chill, just eating and chatting and going over their gear.

As the final light faded, Jump-touch watched as the desk workers began to close the windows.

"It's because people smell," Ollie whispered as they watched two people haul the shutters closed, "especially adventurers. We don't wash enough."

Jump-touch nodded in agreement. The room did smell, a mixture of cooking, sweat and leather, and it was a very human smell. None of the animal smells of the kobolds, who rarely sweated but whom each had their own scent.

"Don't become one of them," Ollie whispered, as the [Receptionist] pulled the last window closed, "come on, come with us."

The others had been trying to convince her to come to the bathhouse with them for almost an hour now, and she was on the verge of giving in.

"It won't be so bad," Yaris was already standing by the door, ready to go and dancing from foot to foot, "for the Stone's sake, it's just water. I don't see what the issue is."

"I don't need it," she whined even as she got up, "I'll be fine. I just got my hair done!"

"You don't have to wash your hair," Yaris rolled her eyes, "I know they may not wash where you come from, but-"

"We washed all the time," she growled, tired of this conversation, "more so than stupid- the stupid people here. We washed before we ate always and if we were dirty or if- if our skin needed it, but, but…"

She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't. She was biting her lip so hard it felt like she might bite through it, but she wasn't going to cry. Not even a little bit.

Shrike was already standing next to Yaris, leaning heavily on his cane, and Eim and Ollie were frowning at her.

"Are you scared of water?" Ollie asked, "because there's shallow pools for kiddies, those are safe. We can book you one of those? Or if you don't like being naked around people you don't know, then we can book a pool together?"

Jump-touch shook her head, feeling her amazing new braids fly from side to side. The braids were still amazing and awesome and just the best, but the joy had started to dull the moment everyone had started nagging her about taking a bath.

She would just- She would just clean herself by going into her Heart and back, once they were gone. It would be fine.

"I'll be fine. I don't need it."

Yaris sighed, "no, you're not fine, you do need it, and we need Shrike to be in your heart for the journey anyway."

You're being dumb, Jump-touch.

It had been such a good day, and now they were going to betray her again.

The thought hit her like an ambush. Like Feather-paw, perfectly stealthed, springing out and bowling her over.

They're not going to betray me.

But she had thought that about An-jel, right up until the woman had.

But if you don't go, then Shrike can't go, and he really wanted to, he'd said so. He wanted to go and be clean, and he couldn't walk all the way there on his own.

You're hurting the group.

"I'll take him," she shut her eyes as she said the words, "because that's my job, and I'm an adult. But," she hesitated, "if I want to leave then I can, okay?"

The others nodded, and with a big breath in, she reached out, and allowed Shrike into her heart.

"Finally," she heard Yaris mutter to herself, but she knew she hadn't been meant to hear it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

They started moving out as she watched Shrike settle down in the centre, his gaze focused on the bookshelf.

The jolt of it hadn't been so bad this time, probably because she'd eaten a lot today. Or it could be she was getting used to his magic?

She had made sure to turn the temperature back up, but her attempts to hang blankets on the not-walls hadn't worked. Maybe I can change how the not-walls appear, she mused as they walked.

Trying not to think about the betrayal that was about to come.

"You're so melodramatic," Yaris shook her head, "it shouldn't be this difficult." She side-eyed Eim, "we'll pay for a private pool I guess. The apples sold well enough that we can afford it, right?"

"By the end of this week she's gonna be broke," Eim rolled his eyes, "hair things, private baths. She'll want her own room next."

"I have my own room," she grumbled, and he laughed.

"I guess you do. Sadly, only Shrike seems to be able to see it."

She eyed him, "do you want to go in too? You'll have to sit on his lap though. There's a lot of stuff around the edges and he's taking all the stuff out the bags."

They had cleared the last of their gear out of the bedroom earlier, and there had been more stuff in there than she'd thought. Small tents, bigger sleeping rolls, more bags of dried food.

She needed to have a talk with them all about greed at some point.

Eim looked away without saying anything as Ollie and Yaris laughed, sticking his hands in his pockets. "It's fine," he mumbled as he pulled ahead, face almost the same colour as his hair. He must be feeling the sun, she thought. Poison-eye had suffered with that when they were younger. Sun, thin white fur and pale skin made for a bad combination.

They had been a bit worried for her, with no scales or fur to protect her, but it had never been much of an issue, for whatever reason. Rat-tail had made her wear a wide-brimmed hat whenever the sun was too strong, and that had been enough.

She shrugged, humans were weird, but she understood not wanting others in your close personal space. He could have stood and leant against the not-walls, but that was nauseating to even think about. Maybe if they moved some of the stuff around...

In her Heart, Shrike was sorting through the rucksacks and rearranging the shelves. The Opal Crystal was still in pride of place on the top shelf, and she realised they'd all forgotten about it.

I should mention that later.

The kobold who made rings in the lower village would have killed for a gem that size. He always had to work with such tiny little things; red rubies, tiny sapphires or fragments of garnets. A whole, huge gemstone that he could carve an entire ring out of? He would have died of happiness.

If the group forgot about it completely, then she could-

Greed, the whisper had Rat-tail's voice this time. And it was. The opal stone belonged to the whole group, not just her.

It wasn't hers to give away. Where had that thought even come from?

Ahead of them, the bathhouse loomed into view, and Jump-touch took a deep breath.

She could feel the grime coating her skin, days of travel coating her like rain.

She could do this.

****

As she let Shrike out in the lobby, Jump-touch looked around. The inside was as she remembered it, white stone and pillars. There was the faint scent of something floral in the cool air, and although it would get hot and humid further in, here it was still nice.

"Do I have to?"

You're whining.

"Yes," Said Yaris, looking around for a receptionist, "really, I don't know what your problem is."

"Do you want a private bath?" Shrike offered, looking to Eim, I think we have the budget for it?

"We do, and we talked about it already" he grimaced, "but it's another expense. We'd be better off with a shared pool, those are relatively cheap, and it's nice and private."

Shrike nodded, limping towards the counter, and Jump-touch flinched as Ollie unexpectedly touched her shoulder.

"Hey, I hate baths too, but we have to be clean. What are you scared of anyway? It's not like you to be a little mouse."

She wasn't a mouse. She was a kobold.

And barely a week into her stay in the city, she realised, she was already falling into human habits. Not telling your team what was upsetting you, that wasn't kobold at all, that was a human thing.

She took a deep breath, and let

"The person I was here with last time made me undo my hair, and then tried to wash my skin off," she glowered at the distant desk, "it doesn't need washing. I didn't need washing. Not like that. I just look like this."

Ollie hummed, then blinked and took their hand off her shoulder.

"Alright. I can see why she thought that, I guess, but we already figured that out. I promise you we won't try and wash your skin off, or whatever she did? As long as you actually get in the water and look like you're trying to get clean, we'll leave you alone."

Jump-touch huffed, knowing she was sulking. It was a habit Rat-tail had tried to talk out of her, but it had never entirely gone away. 'You need to talk through your problems,' he always said, 'you should never let them fester inside, that drives people mad.'

If you were upset with somebody, you told them, and then you both worked through it. There was no other way to solve things.

Had she ever told An-jel she was upset with her, she wondered as they made their way towards the private pool, or had she just sulked and expected the woman to notice, like a human.

I won't do that anymore.

Then, because it seemed sensible to speak such a thing out loud, she said, "I won't sulk anymore. If I am upset I will talk about it."

The others looked back at her, and Ollie gave her the two thumbs-up gesture.

I won't get upset, she whispered to herself again in Given Tongue. I'll get clean, and then we'll go back to the guild, and everything will be fine.

Then for good measure, she added, and if they try and wash me, I'll bite them.