Standing on a small bump in the land near the tunnel's entrance, the four women swiftly set up a camp which overlooked much of the cave. The silver-smote cave took the shape of a meandering stream causing the other side of the cave to be blocked by a spur protruding from the cave's right wall. Seeing nothing was there for Iris to do she picked up her ever-fair saviour who couldn't look away from the cave's glowing ceiling.
"Nakatei, where are you going?" The risen stopped to look at what was going on behind her and saw the shaman walking behind her toward the gorge below.
"Going to wash myself?"
"Really now? Tell me who is going to help you comb your hair? I'm not even going to mention I would also like someone to help me with that."
"Shiro, I can help you after I take a dip, my body is all sticky and yucky. I need to clean myself now."
"Touch the back of your leg then, like this." The beast woman touched the skin just above the back of her knee before asking the younger of her kin to repeat after her.
"That's easy, watch me." Nakatei lifted her foot just like the fox did and reached down founding she was unable to touch her leg like the cat did. The plates on her body made an awful screeching sound as they slipped passed each other as she tried to force her hand down, almost managing to touch where the crimson eye women told her to touch. The grimacing shaman lost her balance and fell on her bottom while gripping her elbow from which a slow trickle of blood flowed.
"See, if you help me with cooking then we both can go wash ourselves faster. I'm going to show you how to increase your flexibility too." The warrior helped the shaman stand back up before walking back to the campfire.
Iris resumed her descent into the gorge flanked by vertical walls which appeared like they were cut with a butcher knife. She found a path down and carefully walked on top of the slippery rocks and eventually the vertical walls gave way to a small patch of gravel which gently slopped to the quickly running river. The elf put Kia on a boulder before crouching at the edge of the stream and dipping her hand in. The crystal clear water flowing quickly between her fingers greedily stole the heat in her hand but its greed was universal as a long crimson streak was carried away on the water's surface as the undead hoplite began to clean her face and arms.
Undoing the buckle on her belt holding her pants and the buttons on her jacket, Iris let her clothes slide down her tuned body before kicking them back as she stepped into the river. She felt the water flow around her long legs, stripping all filth which had stuck onto her skin while burying her feet in a fine grey sand. She stood still for a moment enjoying the moment, she expected the gravel to be jagged and uncomfortable to walk on but she found the finely ground gravel to feel more like sand on a rocky river shore. The elf waded deeper into the river before dipping under its surface. Her numbed sense of touch felt the ice-cold water trying to push her off her feet. The cold sting the risen felt was comparable to drinking a stamina potion making her ready to face any challenge which might appear in front of her. However, there were no enemies to slay for Iris and she turned around to check up on the girl waiting for her on the dry land.
"Do you like what you are seeing?" The shameless risen asked as she exited the water and kissed the girl on her lips. "If you don't like it, you could return it how was before~"
"Pervert." The undead girl pouted angrily at the elf but not before returning the elf's kiss seemingly not minding the water dripping from Iris's long wet hair onto her still dry body.
"If you are so pure then what are you doing in my dirty mind?" A playful smile appeared on the elf's face as she traced her finger under the defenceless girl's jaw pulling it up. She stared at the undead girl for what felt like an eternity before smothering the fire inside her chest as her eyes landed on Kia's bandaged arm. "I need to wash your clothes first."
The undead mage's eyes enchanted by the elf dipped into a frown as the elf removed her finger and kneeled beside her unbuckling the tall black boots on her small legs. As the risen moved her hands up the girl yelped in panic as she began to try to remove her velvet dress which seemed to not want to come off Kia's petite body.
"Did I hurt you?" Iris examined her nails before looking where she had touched Kia.
"Can I keep the dress on?" The doll desperately begged her protector.
"Don't be ridiculous. It is just me here and no one else."
"B-but w-what if they show up." Iris watched as the girl avoided her eyes while her cheeks remained as white as snow. Kia wasn't even trying to hide her face as the feeling of not wanting to speak further began to leak through their connection.
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"They won't show up. They are probably waiting for us to leave first." Iris prodded the bad liar further as she noticed the girl wasn't wearing her corset underneath her dress, instead something hard as rock replaced it.
"There is no lawful precedent you can invoke from prior cases to prove I'm required to take off my dress for you to have the ability or capacity to be able to clean it."
"Kia, you know you are not going to win. Just allow me to undress you and we will be done with this. I can promise you no one will be watching you nor will I do anything else other than cleaning. Would you like me to cover you in a blanket while I wash out clothes?" Iris tried to lift the silky black dress off the strangely behaving girl but the dress felt like it was welded onto Kia's delicate frame.
"What if we make a compromise, I will consent to being lowered into water while you promise t-"
"Kia, is something wrong?" Iris asked the necromancer.
"...I don't want you to take off my dress, for now, I don't like how I look." The pale girl spoke to the elf, while through their connection Iris felt the girl in front of her being on the verge of crying. "Please."
"If you say so." Iris tried to comfort her ever fair mistress before complying with her request.
Iris lifted the undead mage and walked with her into the water. When the water swirled around her waist the risen lowered the girl into the water. Like nothing she had ever seen the elf watched as the undead necromancer disappear as the crystal clear water was clouded by an inpenetrable dark cloud coming from the mage's body. Kia's shale-like blood covering her arms and legs disappeared as it melted into the water, uncovering the previously unseen bandages. Iris washed Kia as much as she could before seating her on the gravel.
Water dripped off Kia's body while her dress remained perfectly dry. The damestar raven with a blue flower used her old shirt to dry the grumpy kitten's hair in a foolish worry that the undead would catch a cold otherwise.
"You didn't like the water?"
"N- Yes." Kia's answer shifted as Iris brushed the back of her hand against her unhappy face. The girl didn't appear to notice it.
"Then why are you sulking?" Iris asked in a gentle voice seeing how the girl's mind was preoccupied with something else.
"I-I don't know." Kia stuttered as her brows dipped into a confused frown.
Iris observed the porcelain doll deep in thought before she began to wash their clothes. It would never stop surprising her at the amount of dirt, blood and other gunk cotton and linen clothes could hold onto as she watched a long stain appear in the stream as she dipped her shirt into the water. The sound of someone talking reached the kneeling elf over the roar of the small yet powerful river. She looked up from her work and saw the two demi-humans walking above her on the other side of the stream. The two found another path down onto the gravelly shore a short distance down the underground stream.
Unashamed by their bodies the two demi-humans undressed themselves. Loudly sounding her happiness the fox jumped into the cold river causing water to splash onto Shiro's heavily scarred body.
"Why are their souls so small?" Kia asked as Shiro joined her companion and the two beast women disappeared behind a river bend.
"How would I know that?" Iris replied, unlike the ancient undead sitting next to her she was incapable of seeing the souls of other people. "How does a soul look like Kia?"
"It depends, most souls here are like a flame burning brightly somewhere within their bodies but sometimes I encountered souls that resemble very viscous liquid. Although inside a body the soul looks different. It roots itself either in the brain or the heart creating a core before spreading thin strings all over its new home, creating a dense web in the shape of the body's outline. I can tell if a person is a spell caster if that web is concentrated heavily around where mana links should run through. The more powerful soul is the more uniform that web becomes. "Kia casually explained while the elf tried to imagine what the necromancer saw. "I thought human souls are weirdly small with weak cores but their souls are even smaller than humans." She rudely pointed her finger in the direction from where the voices of the beast women were coming from.
"Could you elaborate?" Iris found the topic intriguing and it felt nice to hear the girl speak with her normal tone.
"Their souls are as big as my thumb maybe the fluffier one is a bit larger but I always thought that the soul has to be a certain size to be able to think because if it is too small it doesn't have the capacity to spare. The female with white hair has her soul spread evenly through her body. Too evenly I would say, as even in humans we met all of them had their tendrils focused more around their mana links even when they were not spell casters but she looks like she doesn't have mana links in her body at all which is beyond strange. The one with a fluffy tail looks more conventional with thin mana links running through her arms and legs but I'm surprised she can cast spells at all with her mana throughput. Human souls, I thought had to be the smallest souls that can think as they are only as large as my hand but I was proven wrong." The girl said.
"What about my soul?" Iris asked in curiosity.
"When I found you I found you hovering above your body. You were soo different from the souls of Cyclops or their servants which are huge but your one was only the size of your own torso. I had to be soo gentle with that small thing, I'm always very careful while handling souls and there was no reason for me to fear anything since all souls are made from the same thing but I still feared I will accidentally rip you in half." Kia extended her arms as she spoke.
"Thanks for not doing that."
"Mmmm, I did have a problem stuffing you back into your body once I had it altered since you were so small but I eventually figured it out. I made you fit perfectly." The tired necromancer seemed to enjoy bragging about creating a risen to the very same risen. The immeasurable pride which seeped through her every word filled the young undead with joy.
"I don't think I can ever repay you even if I will live to see the end of time."
"Annoying," The ice-cold doll leaned heavily on the elf trying to annoy her. "...Iris, would you be angry if I told you I made you for a selfish reason?"
"And what would be the your reason?"
"Answer the question first." Kia didn't seem to enjoy Iris prolonging her wait.
"Would your motive matter to me? I'm grateful to you so much that no words I know can describe truly how happy I am now and how much I relish every moment spent with you. Even if I will always be there only to fulfill your selfish desire I will always see this life as the happiest thing I could have ever experienced. Also, I think some selfish actions are not as bad as you think." Iris watched as the ancient being next to her fell into a deep thought upon hearing her words. She was almost sure about the selfish reason why the lonely mage stuck in an ancient temple had created her and she gently wrapped her hand around Kia but found the necromancer unresponsive.
Iris quickly returned to her work and rinsed her clothes before putting on her undergarments. She contemplated if she should throw the worn-out shirt with multiple tears into the river but choose not to, not knowing when will she be able to get a hold of another one.
"Shiro stop, please! It hurts!" Nakatei's voice echoed inside the cave.
"It doesn't hurt that much!"
"Where are you putting it? NOOO!"
The half-naked elf picked up all the wet clothes and threw them over her shoulder before climbing out of the gorge with Kia cradled in her hands.