"Ahhh," The risen's tall body sank into the steamy water she didn't have to wait for. "How did I ever have the patience for this?" The elf commented as she reminisced about the many ice-cold baths she had. It couldn't even be called a proper wash as she jumped in and out of the tub only getting her body wet before using the towel to clean herself.

*Purrr*

Moving her head to the side, the mage who had conjured the water had her eyes closed while the elf's hand petted her. Who would have thought that after gaining her new life, she would long only for the cold touch of this strangely adorable monster?

"Make the water warmer?" The necromancer asked, opening one eye to watch Iris's face for response.

"It's up to you, Kia. I can't feel more of it than I am currently." The taller undead replied, causing the girl who had mostly satiated the emptiness mutually felt by both of them to swim over, resembling a frog as she did so.

Clear beads began to appear near Kia's hands before flattening into a crescent as water bubbled onto the surface. The smell of herbs filled Iris's nostrils as the bar of soap between them shrank. Its engraved patterns faded as the hot water spun the milky essence before dissipating it all over the large tub.

"Am I so beautiful?" The elf poked the staring girl in the crystal on her chest, pulling the girl from whatever thoughts she had. "Kia, you're going to boil all of the water away, relax I'm going to pamper you even if you don't use up all of your mana."

"Smells nice." The ancient leaned her head against the wall opposite to the elf but kept her legs directly in contact with the long legs of her creation.

"It does, smells like the apothecary though."

"What is that?" A curious question rose from the ancient.

As the water surface stilled the elf noticed water around the necromancer began to appear like a river as it converged and sunk creating long lines connecting the colder bottom of the bathtub to the ice-cold maiden.

"A shop selling various medicines. Most humans get their potions from there."

"Why do humans have so many names for the same thing? Isn't that the same things as an alchemist?" The girl replied, neither of the undead watched each other any more but rather both turned their head to the cloud of steam above them growing in size.

"Alchemy shop is different than an apothecary. Alchemist use rarer but more effective ingredients but most people don't need to regrow a limb rather they need something to remove a rash or a headache." The elf explained.

"Hmmm," The girl hummed. "Your home also uses low-tier ingredients alongside low-tier spells."

"You don't like it?"

"I didn't think about this question, yet." The ancient replied.

"Are you not bored of this place, Kia."

"Are we leaving?" The porcelain figure pulled on Iris's leg bringing herself right up to the elf.

"No sweetie. I asked because I thought that you would have grown bored of the place in a month or so." The risen felt the mage's eyes travel across her bare skin as they meandered thoughtfully.

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

"The buildings are boring." Kia answered after a pause.

"But not anything else?" The pair of lavender eyes raised a surprised look as the taller undead didn't expect such an answer.

"No, there are lots of things that are interesting. I haven't finished my experiments either, nor have I finished reading all the books."

"That's the most unbelievable thing, to be honest. I counted eighty-eight books lying on our bed before you swiped them back into your inventory. Even the hero was told off by the librarian at Havenfall for taking ten manuscripts..." The elf said before her eyes narrowed on the girl. "Are you stealing the books, Kia?"

"I do not steal them. I'm liberating them from the clutches of the unenlightened. Some of these books haven't been open in years! They had dust falling out of them, dust!" The parasitic bookworm shook her head as if in anger and utter disgust as she explained watching the elf like a predator staring into its prey's eyes before the purple crystal inside her chest didn't glow brighter. "Sofia and Sandwich often hide the books for me to take later." She said.

"What do you mean they hide them?"

"They say stuff like, I think that's enough books for you or You're reading already let me put that one back. Then when no one is looking I retrace the steps I recorded and grab the books stashed neatly somewhere. Weirdly, humans put limits on how many books you can take with you but it's fun," The girl began to speak and to Iris's pleasant surprise, she hadn't melted the humans into a muddle of slime rather she sounded excited as if she was bragging about winning a game of hide and seek. "Reminds me of how fun this world is." A toothy smile with a bloodthirsty shadow behind it shone brightly in front of Iris's face.

"I'm glad you're having fun, Kia." Iris responded with a smirk.

The smell of herbs intensified once more as the water was brought up to temperature by the undead mage who couldn't keep still, fidgeting with whatever she could reach.

Resting her head against the ledge, the elf kept an eye on Kia's pale white back. Her spine faintly visible just under her deathly fair skin, created a gentle, natural dip along the center of her back down which drops of water trickled down, adding a bit of sparkle to the already beautiful figure.

Closing her amethyst-coloured eyes and gazing at the ceiling, the elf remembered Kia's words. Too much of something makes it boring. She looked back at the undead devourer and gazed blankly at the faintly purple water. Ridiculous that she said that.

"Ibis?" The soft melodic voice sounded over the thoughtful elf.

"You really want something don't you?" Kia tilted her head slightly as an expression of surprise slowly replaced the puppy eyes.

"How did you know, I want something?"

"You're not tired as it is still early morning and outside of you getting sleepy the only time you call me Ibis is when you want something from me, without a fight or getting teased." The elf smiled as she saw proof of her intuition on the girl's fair face.

"Can you close your eyes? I noticed something." Her saviour asked, her voice playing a vicious tune on Iris's strings making the request nearly unrefusable.

"Are you going to regret it afterwards?" The risen asked as the girl began to fidget with her fingers.

"No."

Iris closed her eyes and heard water hitting the stone tiles as Kia climbed out of the bath. Her footsteps went from careful small steps to noisy strides as the girl muttered a spell, freezing the water on her body.

"Hmmmm...!?" The elf felt Kia's finger wrapped around her shoulders before her muscles began to scream. "Ohh."

Her race caused her to feel barely any pain but that didn't extend to the storage sensation she felt as Kia massaged her shoulder.

"Can I continue?" The girl sheepishly asked at the elf swivel her body out from under Kia's grasp.

"Why?" Iris breathlessly asked.

"I noticed that the muscles around your shoulder blades were taut."

"Kia should have told me that before you began." The risen replied yet when she breathed out she pressed her back against the wall of the tub.

"Sorry, I forgot that you are not my summon and do not share the same link with me as they do sometimes," The ancient seemed very apologetic as her hand gently brushed against Iris's wet skin, like a sculptor cleaning away dust from her masterpiece. "... It's embarrassing."

A sudden wave of cold caused the elf to look behind her and see the undead necromancer almost red from emotion.

"I never felt like this before but it feels right after you promised to spend all day with me." The girl finally said, her eyes darting around. "You don't like it?"

"I'm more used to torture than massages. Try doing it slower and please be more gentle."

Shortly after her words left her mouth Iris felt the girl's hands start to massage her shoulders. The damestar raven could feel a difference as the cold calming fingers no longer treated Iris like some sort of unfeeling corpse but rather they gingerly felt around. With each release, the risen could feel something she hadn't previously noticed leave her muscles and she felt full of energy.

The hoplite couldn't keep up with the time as she felt like she was melting into Kia's cold embrace. Her ears flinched as she heard an almost silent thud behind her. Did she just kneel?

"Wherrre did you learrrrn this Kia?" She asked trying to keep her mind focused.

"Sometimes the vessels of the souls I kept to maintain my domain before I learned how to craft constructs could get a thing called rigor mortis, essentially they lock up. Because they still had mana flowing through them, stimulating it like this would get it to flow smoothly again." The ancient answered causing the elf to contain an eye roll given that she should have known this.

Great. Iris thought to herself before something clicked inside her shoulder and a wave of pleasurable relief flooded her mind.

"What was that emotion in our link?"

"Emotion about how weirdly good this feels." The elf replied after some time Kia began to play with her hair. Braiding it in a usual style only after she went through all the other options and the two ravens left the bathroom to enjoy the rest of their day together, the shorter of them looking beyond delighted.