Godrick's attention opened up to the truth once more while observing the lively people surrounding both him and Alana. The organized transactions occurring between the cunning Northend merchant who traded with the herdsmen and farmers were performed with none of the swagger seen usual of the rich. Swagger that the silver-tongued bourgeoisie of the empire knew as the art of business.

Children could be seen running in between the legs of oxen and buffalos; and when he heard how the kids spoke in fluent Ancient Cemerien, it became clear that Aquilan was not even their native tongue. Their bilingualism shattered Godrick's notions of their savage portrayal by the empire.

It warranted documentation; the misinformation of the faiths and the imperium felt like a slap to his face. His grimoire came up again, and he wrote all of it down, recorded faithfully so that never again would he be misled. Alana looked at him with a passive face until he finished, a question on her pink lips,

"What are ya writin' there, eh?" With her hands held behind her back, she gestured at him from below, her head facing upwards to his. Her proximity disrupted his line of thought, the tome being placed back in his lap satchel.

"I am in awe, of the level of untruthful information passed on to us, even in the clergy. I am saddened. None of my prior assumptions and biases in regard to Northend have been remotely close; I do not even know if I should be happy about this. This..." He said, gesturing with one hand gesturing to the thriving community.

"Is amazing! Is it like this everywhere in the country? Do all Northenders know numbers, letters, and tongues? It is simply inconceivable! Even the empire has not fully managed to educate the entirety of its peasantry to this level. And this is despite being the leading nation of our continent, not even the oldest of empires the Egypsie; managed this. How could the Northenders establish such a society, one that cannot even unify under one leader, when the culture and knowledge of its ancestors were lost during the Ascension?"

"Aye, don't ya know it by now? We're Northenders. We thrive from conflict and struggles; our forefathers never forgot, and we will never forget." She stood proudly her madness, savagery, and intelligence reflected by her posturing.

"Aye," Mimicked Godrick a touch of respect towards coming from him towards these hardy people.

After the clarification of reality, the companions decided to take a detour around the town. They were in a hurry yes; but to deny themselves rest after journeying for months, through elements, banditry, and beasts of nature would wrest havoc emotionally. Even their obsession knew when to fold through the onslaughts of travel, which was a humbling of Godrick’s life through the reflections of their journey's sorrows. And such revelations were Godrick’s now, he would afford himself leisure in his discoveries, not so much uncovered but introduced through assimilation. So, he dragged Alana with him, asking her to single out and explain everything that was alien to him. Facilities were among the first to be pointed out. After months of traveling on the road, he desired a reprieve from the ill-sodden state of his attire and hygiene. Gladly she guided him, explaining every little curiosity that he conjured through his words.

Entering the bathhouses, the sight of steam, escaped from the enclosed baths. Slatvians were prepared to fight the iciness of the land.

The caretakers were offering their services freely and at no cost; towels and soap were available to all upon entry. They said to him, "Not to worry, sirs. Though you might be a traveler, this is a service to the community. Imagine if we all stank like the silk herding louts of that Eagle, pfft, hahaha." Teary-eyed, they handed him the towels as he proceeded along with Alana.

Slightly ashamed, he asked Alana once more, "Is this really all for free, a service to the community just by maintaining proper,” He added a pause looking for the right word “hygiene?"

" 'Course," she replied, already at the undressing station. "Now then, time to be free of all this grime." Her outfit came undone with an ease Godrick had only read about in the 'Tales of the Lustful' books. Embarrassment tinged his face, a red so clear he swore a fever had taken hold. The glory he had just witnessed promised a delightful adventure, one in which his desire wished him not to concede.

"Cover yourself, you shameless wench. Children and men abound near us," Shameful embarrassment tinged his face, covering his sight, the gaps between his fingers remained unclosing. Unwilling to close lest he miss the perfectly imperfect visage of her scarred body and bountiful mounds of flesh.

"Hehhh?" Her impish response came, and Godrick's foreboding sense alluded to a situation he dared not dream of while promised.

"Where ya think ya are, Pilgrim?" A smirk found a place on her features, proudly showing herself off unabashedly and provocatively.

"Look around, ya eh?" She said spreading her arms wide fully displaying her figure.

He did and was surprised to see naked families, couples, women, men, and more. They all walked around calmly and naturally, coming in, and out of the undressing station. All of them were fully nude, some of them giving him weird and awkward stares when they saw his flushing face. "Hehe, gotta love them, foreigners," one said, and Godrick finally understood.

"This is a mixed-gender Facility, is it not?" Sweat dripped from him, a gulp coming from his throat. She approached in such a seductive manner that his heart sped up to unprecedented levels due to her gait.

"Yes."

Standing on her toes, she planted a burning kiss upon his right cheek that inflamed his passions whilst she proceeded to walk through the veils separating the baths. The smooth and perfect bottom of her behind was a hypnotizing sight he found impossible to resist, the movements she had incorporated were there with a purpose, and they were succeeding in their aims. She seemed all the more enchanting for it, after all, she did thrive on turning heads left and right.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Come on now, don't ya keep me waiting."

He followed.

-----

Inside one of the baths, after having washed off the journey's filth and dirt, they entered the warm and soothing embrace of the large shared tubs of the facility. They could hold up to six people at a time; with requirements set down for maximum comfort and relaxation. Godrick remained red in the face both from the steam and his nakedness, still following after the gait of his red-headed seductress.

Her slender form entered the waters, a purr escaping her mouth “Ahhh” as she melded with the steaming waters, laying against the stonework of stacrite stone that composed the make of the tub. Godrick did not follow immediately bringing his bag from the undressing station and settling it next to Alana. He entered the waters next to the bag, their backs now turned for none to see, having claimed the portion of the tub blocked off by a wall. The waters warmed his body undoing his weariness, and afterward, the stresses followed suit.

Healing seemed to cover him within the warmth of the tub. With its fragrance, he took in the sterile herbal scent it gave off, identifying hints of mint, cherriander, Rossel leaves, and stark root. Medicine, he thought; the perfumed essence of the room encapsulated him and the aroma acted as a medicinal cleanser of his mind.

“Oh yeah this is the spot, thank the lords of light and battle, ahhh…” The man slid down onto the tub's stone bench, he had not been relaxed for three to four long months. He had also been consistently assaulted by maddening mental and psychological battles. The fruit's effects were more clear compared to the trauma of the severance. They remained with him physically ingrained into his soul reaching inside of his very mind.

Both closed their eyes allowing happy and relaxed smiles to form on their faces. Minutes passed by in the silence, their knots unloosening from the water's soft caresses; till another entry shook the waves of the tub, breaking their meditating session. The companions looked towards the single disturbance, a man of great physique, humble in his smile, yet ugly in his face.

With a cracked smile coming of old age he greeted them, his dark and tanned skin indicating travels of his own. His voice broke the remaining silence sounding young yet wizened. “Pleasure to make yer acquaintances friends.” Well-spoken with a lick of the Northender accent still slightly present in his patterns.

“To ya as well brother.”

”Yes indeed, a pleasure Mr.,”

“Vesteger Aiken Skrol, Wanderer of the blade and blacksmith.”

“Heh, ya knew or something kin?” Alana asked questioningly, not recognizing the man despite living here half her life.

“Yes, yer definitely right on that one Mrs.,”

“Alana Skrol, Berserker of the Clan, niece of the chieftain.” She stated, coating her sentence in neutrality.

“Ah yes, I heard quick word o’ the Chief niece, a red-haired and blemished she-demon. Come back to reclaim seat or proliferate evil?” He asked a tinge of irony to his tone jestering in slight hyperbole.

”Kin o’ mine indeed, we’ll see what stakes we bring, this other one,” she said pointing at Godrick. “Be on pilgrimage. There’s knowledge he seeks and I owed him debt. so I gifted him my companionship until our goals no longer align.” She finished versing no longer weary, as his tone became almost charming.

Godrick shaded just a slight tone redder, a questioning look about him yet none seemed perturbed so he ignored her phrasing, another confident smile coming back onto his features. "Pilgrim Godrick, excomunicado on a quest for knowledge.”

Vesteger eyed him carefully, his cracked and knowing smile mirroring in Godrick “I think I know whom you seek then?”

“Is that so?” Godrick asked reflecting Vesteger in expression.

“Ya' seek Argos Skrol Rune-master, current rune-smith of the clan.”

”He is the only one I can seek in this regard?”

”The only one that can teach it, the only one willing to teach it, and the best one to teach it, If I say so myself.” Vesteger’s reply came with a finality of conclusion. His shoulders now falling onto the edges of the tub relaxing as he balanced himself on the tub's bench.

”Ya' talking bout uncle Argos, he’s back now too?” A happy tone came from her question.

Godrick eyed them two times consecutively before asking him, “Did you seek us out? This all seems too coincidental. Pardon my weariness but it has been a long journey.” A touch of conspiracy came to his tone but he remained calm, If the faiths had wanted something done they would have acted long ago.

“Let’s just say I see the both of you, and I believe she does too. In a way different to me. But I mean no harm, merely to hurry you along your quest.”

"I see as well then," Godrick said in understanding, he was the same as them. Enlightened. "and I thank you," Godrick said with a nod of his head. He turned towards his bag and pulled out a fleurel, and after drying his hands. 'Flame' could be heard whispered out from his lips, a small flame the size of a candle came from his finger lighting the herbs contained within the cylindrical leaf wrapping.

He took a large inhale of it and exhaled outwards, settling into his spot in the tub. The Fleurel came up to Vesteger's face in an offering gesture and he smiled. "My own thanks to ya." He grabbed the object and inhaled equally to his new acquaintance, passing it over to Alana. His exhale came as she took it herself "Wonderful, substance you have there." His eyes reddened a little, pupils dilating.

Alanas exhale came after he spoke, "Man calls them Fleurel's, shabby and weak naming I say." Her own eyes dilated, a larger portion of blue now present in them, angel-like if not for the leftover black within her sclerae.

"Elegance is what I wanted in their naming not strength, they are one of the few secrets I withheld from sharing in my service. They already disliked me for my practice of potionry comparing me to wicked mages practicing heresy." Godrick said defensively.

"And here ya are, a heretic excomunicado mage practicing the Dark arts, ooooh. Hahahaha!" Alana joked to him, poking fun at his actual status. A slight frown emerged on Godrick's face at her statement. She was right of course, but there was no reason to poke at freshly healed wounds.

"I think it elegant indeed. I'll give a verse of a speech in honor of our meeting; you both seem true and honest so ya've certainly held me to remembering ya, so I state. To us and our lives and the chance encounters in which we meet new friends." He took the fleurel in his hands after Alana circled it back to him; taking a puff after his statement, mood turning cheerier. He passed it over to Godrick, hoping that through gesture in words, he would add as well.

"And to the Knowledge we may share in such hopeful meetings." Godrick took another drag from the fleurel, alleviating prior concerns among companionship. Upon exhaling Alana received it once more, her face sporting a grin at the men's sentimentality. She took her drag before speaking, earlier than the other two disrupting their patterns, posturing as she stood from the waters, her nakedness slightly hidden in the steam and smoke.

"Aye, and the allies we garner to cover our failures." Her grin grew wider with mischief as she saw their sights straining.