The sound of cartwheels running on cobblestones filled the street as stars still adorned the night with a silver diadem while night ruled over Edor. The city or at least the merchant district they resided in, came to life long before the first bell of the next winter day.
"Are you done?" An elf asked as she sat on the edge of the three-legged stool looking blankly at the wall to her right.
"Not yet."
In a perfectly ordinary room, the two copper adventurers had rented, a magical mirror almost the width of the bathroom levitated in the air emitting a soft purple glow as mana filled the space between the shattered shards holding them still in the air. Sitting in the twilight the risen could make out the thick steam tendrils of warmth grazing her skin as it rose from a tub next to her. Behind her Kia was braiding her hair or rather playing with them as in the shattered crystal she could see that the pale girl was experimenting with how she looked. Underneath both of their feet water pooled from their bodies reflecting the dark wooden ceiling above.
A metallic chime filled the silence as the mirror-like crystals shifted to the side with a single wave of Kia's hand causing the back of Iris's head to appear in each of the shards.
Idly tracing the black edge of her precious sapphire gift, Iris could see in the mirror strands of her hair sliding smoothly between Kia's skilled fingers. She felt the ancient lean on her back with her entire body as her fingers gently worked through the elf's wet locks, reflecting in the crystal was the necromancer. Her tongue sticking out as she utterly concentrated on her work leaving the risen with little opportunity to fill the silence.
*Mmm mmm mmm*
Iris closed her eyes and allowed her head to be guided by Kia's hands, beginning to hum as she enjoyed the sensation on her scalp.
The necromancer continued to comb, tie and do other things the unwomanly elf had never learned to do in her youth. The once village girl always preferred to let her long straight her flow down past her shoulders seeing the time other women spent on doing their hair as time wasted that she could use to do useful things like hunting small birds in the morning or try to hide from her parents whose faces appeared as blurs as she tried to recall them. Either way, her mind had kept the memories of the outcomes of her little escapades and her hiding skills which probably haven't improved since then.
"Done." Kia happily announced, her voice bordering on a giggle as she wrapped her hands around the elf's neck and smushed her cheek against the elf's.
"You haven't changed anything?" The elf opened her eyes and saw the same image as she did when she sat down.
"A little bit," The elf regretted asking as the clingy necromancer stopped and stood up and began to point at the braided crown at the back of her head. The petite undead began to point at the small changes she made but to the risen nothing had changed. "You look weird-"
"Am I?" The risen quickly turned around and grabbed the girl by her wrist pulling the mage onto her lap.
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"HeheheheIrishehee!" Melodic giggles filled the small room as the ancient began to thrash in the hoplite's immovable grip."Heheestheeheophehe!" The girl pleaded between giggles but the elf didn't listen, letting go of her hopeless prey only after taking her fill of Kia's voice.
"Do I still look weird?" The elf asked.
"I didn't mean to say that!"
"But you did say it."
"Yes but *grrrr*" The ancient's arms dropped to her side just as an annoyed frown crept onto her face. The girl voluntarily came back to the very person who caused her the frustration she felt. It took a moment for the girl snuggling against the still-wet yet warm elf to speak again. "I don't like when you look different."
"Same here." The elf caressed Kia's cheek before leaning to her right and picking up a towel. "Could you put it back in?" She said handing the girl the immortal blue flower.
Both women's remarkably similar black hair were still wet although Iris's hair was much dryer than Kia's, thanks to the girl working on the elf's locks for so long. The risen helped the mage dry herself wrapping her in the white fabric before grabbing another towel Kia pulled from her inventory.
"Are you tired?" Iris asked as she glanced at the steaming water in the water tub.
The petite mage had woken up unusually early and after some time of simply enjoying each other's presence, she began to twirl Iris's hair around her finger. The elf didn't know when but there was a point while they talked when the topic of hair came up and not long after the them two were standing in front of a steaming bathtub. Kia's magic was very convenient as most people had to fetch their own water. If they were lucky they would have someone to fetch and heat the water for them but that took a lot of time and the ability to simply snap fingers and have a tub of steamy water like that was beyond time-saving. But the elf was concerned about how much mana the mage had burned through so early in the day. There was a reason even Alicia always ordered water to be brought to her as heating water was easier than creating it.
"No." Kia shook her head.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" The shorter raven reassured the concerned risen. "I'm good at water magic so I took time optimizing it."
"Do you have a bucket? I need to drain the tub."
"But why?"
"We can't leave water like that," The elf explained. "The wood is going to rot and it would be very rude to make a mess somewhere where we are guests."
"Oh," Kia eagerly agreed with her creation. It was very reassuring that even in the ancient past hospitality was important. "We can use these." She said holding her palm toward the elf.
"What are these?" Iris asked as she picked up an uneven glass pebble which appeared on the necromancer's palm. Looking inside the pebble she noticed a cloudy liquid floating inside. A droplet of water remaining on her finger flowed onto the pebble. Upon touching the surface the droplet got sucked into the thumb size pebble. She was unsure if her eyes were correct but the cloudy liquid became ever so slightly bluer than before.
"Those are Pump Stones I made. They are easy to make so I made a lot of them when I was experimenting with runes." The elf ran the pebble between the pads of her fingers and she could barely feel that the surface of the stone had something carved into it. Looking closer a small yellow rune in the shape of "Y" had been roughly carved into its surface.
Such a small rune no matter how weak would have been worth quite a lot as most craftsmen never reached the necessary level to approach the masterwork Kia handled like a bunch of common rocks.
"What are these used for?"
"Remember the lake in my domain?" The girl asked.
"I do."
"When it appeared I think I was quite happy about it at first but then it started to flood the streets so to fix it I threw some of these into the lake."
"Do you know why did the lake appeared?" Iris said as she threw the pebble she held into the wooden tub shortly followed by Kia.
"I think it leaks through the rock but I'm not sure, but it does leach the minerals from around walls slowly eating them. That entire section used to not be there," Images of the huge underground cavern dwarfing anything the elf had ever seen appeared in her mind. She could recall the marble city with a ceiling appearing like a starry night which reflected off the black water's surface. "I had to make constructs to watch over the water so the lake stopped digging sideways but I think it began to dig down."
In the span, it took the girl to finish the sentence the water in the tub was completely drained. The pebbles they had thrown in had changed completely. They appeared as solid stones which had been coloured from the inside with a dull dark blue colour. The yellow light coming off the rune also had been completely missing.
"Kia, how many of these you needed to throw into the lake to lower it?"
"Ehhhhh... lots and lots." The girl said.
*Sigh*
"Come on, we can look around the city while the humans are still asleep." Iris hurried the necromancer who seemed to specialize in breaking common sense.