“Alright, listen up you swabbies! For the next hour, this bathhouse has been reserved for the meeting of the Emotionally Vulnerable Insight for the Lads and Lasses Affected by War. Now, I’m not saying any of you lovely people need to vacate, nay, quite the contrary actually. We welcome you to join us as we bare our souls to one another free of judgment. A fair warning for the squeamish, though. There will be lots of crying involved. And I don’t mean the pretty kind either, we’re talking snot dripping down our noses, uncontrollable wailing, hysterics, all the good stuff.” Rali steepled her hands together beneath her chin as she stood in the center of the doorway, wrapped in an oversized bath towel with steam wafting around her ankles. “With that said, who amongst you is ready to break down some emotional barriers?”
Oralia lingered outside of the archway as the bathers jostled behind one another in their haste to not be the last person left in the water. Waiting until the last elf skirted past, still struggling to tie his towel across his waist, Oralia pushed off from the wall and stepped inside. “That is only going to work so many times, you know. One of these days someone is going to take you up on that offer.”
“You deeply underestimate my ability to make people uncomfortable. Worst case scenario, I’ll just start talking in depth about menstruation or diarrhea.” Rali padded over to the wooden bench set alongside the stone wall and rifled through a gunny sack she’d co-opted as her ‘everything’ bag. “I raided the toiletry closet while you were taking your sweet time getting here. Check it out, new soaps still wrapped in their little papers. Didn’t know what scent you might fancy, so I nabbed us an olfactory smorgasbord.”
Oralia took one of the bars the dwarf offered and held it to her nose. “It smells like cardamom and pears.”
“Fancy, right?”
“...I have an unexplainable urge to put this in my mouth.”
“Alrighty then.” Rali promptly relieved her of the soap. “No fruit fragrances for the hormonally charged orcess. Maybe you’d be better suited for something with a more floral bouquet. That is unless you’re finding yourself compelled to eat flowers, too. Not gonna lie, I’m going to be a little worried if that’s the case.”
“Anything that does not smell of horse will do fine, thank you.”
“Jasmine it is.”
Checking to be sure the bathhouse was empty, Oralia let her robe drop to her ankles and stepped gingerly into the warm waters. Although she wore a thin undershirt and undergarments, the top showed a certain amount of skin that would undoubtedly draw attention. And not the lustful kind, either.
The Copperstone Inn had been built over the top of a natural hot spring. While this meant the dingy air continually smelled of rotten eggs, the hot, mineral-tinted bathwater more than made up for this downside. As the bathhouse was a communal space, getting into the water alone had been something of an impossibility originally. A problem soon resolved by Ralizak and her formation of the Emotionally Vulnerable Insight for the Lads and Lasses Affected by War.
A series of blue and white tiled steps led Oralia deeper until the water level reached past her navel. She sought the stone lip situated along the edge, hovering halfway below the surface that served as seating. Oralia sank to her shoulders and rolled her head back, savoring the way the water worked at the overworked muscles in her lower back. There was an unceremonious splash across from her. Rali surfaced near the middle of the pool several breaths later. After a series of laps, she glided back through the water and came to a rest alongside Oralia.
Swimming was not considered normal recreation for a dwarf. Like orcs and fauns, their muscle mass made it difficult to navigate the waters without sinking. Snag and Ellisar, by contrast, were both natural swimmers and took to lakes and ponds like fish. Not one to be left out of the fun, Rali braved several questionable swim lessons from the pair before she had a firm enough grasp on the activity to partake without having to be pulled out of the water and resuscitated. The first time Rali had plunged headfirst into the pool and resurfaced on the other side, had drawn quite the attention from the other bathers. Particularly from the dwarf Captain Bernstein, although that might have been due to the fact that Rali had done so wearing nothing more than lacy smallclothes, rather than the actual swimming itself.
“So,” Rali said, flipping the wet, black hair from her face. “I assume from your very lengthy absence earlier, you had a rigorously satisfying visit with your fuckmate?”
“You assume correctly.”
“Good, good.” Rali allowed an unusual moment of silence to pass between them before adding, “And you put your big girl britches on and finally told him that those markings of yours are getting worse, right?”
Even submerged beneath the bubbling waters, the dark spiderweb of veins branching from the center of Oralia’s sternum was visible. An invisible weight dropped within her chest and she sank lower in the water, unwilling to answer.
“Right?”
“He already knows about the markings.”
“Yeah, but does he know they’re spreading? You know, that thing you promised you were going to get around to telling him?”
Oralia wondered, briefly, if the interrogation would stop if she were to slip completely beneath the water. Unlikely, given the way Rali was going at it. With her luck the dwarf would fish her out and continue to berate her between chest compressions.
Rali threw her hands over her head, flinging warm droplets of water as she did so. “How is that even possible? Sascha’s got eyes, doesn’t he? There can only be so many times you blindfold the big fella before he starts to catch on.”
“If you absolutely must know, I keep my top on.”
“And you plan to, what? Just do that indefinitely?” When Oralia made no immediate answer, Rali locked eyes with her. “It’s a miracle you’ve gone this long without him discovering it, Oralia. You can deny its existence all you like, but you won’t be able to hide it forever. Sascha’s going to notice sooner or later.”
“I keep hoping that if I ignore it, it will just go away.” Wishful thinking, she knew. But at the moment, it was easier to indulge in the fantastical rather than turn the only constant in her life upside down.
“That’s a terrible idea!”
“I know,” she groaned. “But he already worries enough as it is. And with everything up in the air right now, I would rather wait until I have answers.” Specifically, whether or not the dark veins spreading beneath the surface of her skin would prove fatal or not. So far, all of the medical professionals consulted regarding the matter had been utterly stumped. They’d advised her to seek the help of a healer in the magical field. A grand idea that was made all the more grand by the fact that healers were of the rarest type of witch. The rebellion had created an additional complication as anyone still practicing had either fled the fighting or gone deep underground.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I suspect I already know the answer, but I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and ask anyway,” Rali said. “What about that other thing you’ve been neglecting to tell him? Get around to mentioning that yet?”
Oralia raised her hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing, “I did not.”
“You already know what I’m going to tell you, because it’s the same thing I’ve been telling you for the past several months now. For the love of gods, tell Sascha soon, please. I don’t like secrets!”
“You love secrets,” she countered.
“I love uncovering other people’s secrets and using that information against them as blackmail, yes. What I don’t like is having to keep secrets. Especially when it’s for people I care about. The truth is eating me up inside, Oralia. Do something about it!” Rali settled deeper into the water with a huff. “When Ellisar gets back, she’s going to take one look at me and know I’m hiding something. And then she’s going to pull out every dirty trick in the book to get me to spill the tea and, frankly, I don’t think I can stomach watching her cry again. That last time just didn’t sit right.”
“I will tell him soon, I promise.”
Rali opened her mouth to respond, but paused, tilting her head curiously to the side. “Do you hear that?”
“Someone running.” The loud slap of feet against tile echoed from further down the passage as the sound drew steadily closer. “Barefoot.”
Rali looked to the entrance and her brown eyes grew wide. “Ah, fuck.”
A burly, tanned blur of a man hurtled through the archway and leapt out over the pool, tucking his body into a ball moments before crashing into the water. A wave rolled across the surface in his wake, lapping loudly against the stone steps. Mul’s head surfaced seconds later, throwing his luxurious hair back behind him in a spray of green-tinted water droplets.
“This is a private meeting!” Rali said.
Mul slid through the water towards her, grinning. “As a founding member of the Emotionally Vulnerable Insight for the Lads and Lasses Affected by War, it is my right to be here.” He settled onto the underwater bench beside her, resting one muscular arm against the edge of the pool in an overly comfortable gesture. “Besides, Pickle, how else could I possibly expect you to open up to me if I don’t bare my sweet, tender soul first?”
Rali sank so low, her chin dipped beneath the water. “You should know that I am currently menstruating.”
Mul thumped his fist to his chest. “Then my heart bleeds with sympathy for you, my love.”
“Did I, uh, mention the horrific diarrhea?”
“Who amongst us hasn’t had a bad case of the shits before?” Mul edged closer, fishing her limp hand from the water and clasping it in his own. “I am here for you, Quartzey. Whatever you need, you only have to ask.”
“You could start with going the fuck away? And stop calling me Quartzey or they’re going to start calling you the Eunuch.”
He leaned forward, whispering into her ear in a manner that might have had a more enthused recipient swooning. “As you wish.” Mul pushed off from the edge of the pool and surged backwards in the water, holding his finger into the air above him. “Just remember, love as pure as ours isn’t something to run from. When you’re ready to face your feelings for me, I’ll be waiting!”
“I knew I should have brought my bathing knife.” Rali’s dark eyes darted in Oralia’s direction, noticing the way she was biting her tongue to constrain her laughter. “It’s not funny!”
Oralia disagreed, covering her mouth as the small snorts of laughter slipped free. “After years of tormenting everyone around you, I never thought I would see the day you met your equal.”
“He’s not my equal! I just haven’t found his weakness yet.”
A nervous throat clearing echoed across the cavernous bathhouse, drawing their attention to the front archway. Captain Bernstein stood in the entrance looking remarkably bashful for someone still fully clothed. “I apologize for interrupting the meeting, but–”
“Stay back, Almas!” Mul, by contrast, was unperturbed by his own stark nudity. He stood to his full height near the steps, allowing the warm water to rush down his tangle of back hair. The waterline, fortunately, was high enough to leave some things to the imagination. Mul lowered his voice to a loud whisper. “Quartzey’s got the menstruation shits.”
Rali’s expression turned to ash as she sank so low in the water, she nearly disappeared beneath the steaming green surface.
“Try to act natural around her, though. She gets super embarrassed by it.” Oralia could only see the back of Mul’s head, but from his voice she was certain he was smiling. His mirth would be short-lived. Once Captain Bernstein left and Rali recovered from her shock, there was a good chance the joke would be his last. If Rali succeeded in catching him, that is. Oralia had half a mind to assist.
“Captain Bernstein,” she greeted. From his position by the doorway, she was confident he could not see the black veins branching from her sternum. She folded her arms over her chest for additional protection just in case. “I assume you have another message from the council?”
The freshly elected leaders of the New Adderwood Republic took their role quite seriously. Too seriously, perhaps, as their rabid devotion translated into an inordinate number of meetings at all times of the day and sometimes into the night, as well. Despite Oralia’s continued insistence that she worked strictly on a volunteer basis, the council still felt the need to require her attendance.
Captain Bernstein spoke as though he had rehearsed the speech several times in his head on the way over. “As a show of gratitude for helping Adderwood secure our independence, the council has invited you and your team to attend a celebratory banquet tonight in the great hall.”
Oh gods, no. She could handle the endless traveling, the many cold nights spent under the stars, and the occasional skirmish or two, but not this. She no longer had the stomach for feigned niceties and politics. All she wanted to do now was run from her problems and stab things. Was that too much to ask?
“I do not suppose there is any flexibility with the date?” Oralia had already planned to spend most of her evening unconscious in a soft bed. If she was able to convince the council to move the dinner to a later date, there was a good chance she could keep finding convenient excuses to put it off indefinitely. Like skipping town, for instance. “As you can understand, we have only just arrived. My team is weary and requires time to rest.”
“The council were quite insistent,” Captain Bernstein assured her.
She bit back the agonized groan that nearly escaped her lips. Not one for subtlety, Rali openly stated what Oralia was thinking. “Cappy, with all due respect, you can tell them where to shove it.”
“Wait, what?” Mul glanced over his shoulder at Oralia, somehow managing to make his eyes look big and puppy like. “But it’s a banquet. The kind with all the free food and fancy drinks, right? Why wouldn’t we go?”
“Food and drink does not make the torture any less torturous,” Rali explained.
“Oh.” His broad shoulders shrank, managing to look almost pitiful for someone who Oralia wanted to strangle almost daily. “It’s just me an’ Lingon have never been to one of those before. Was hoping to check that one off the bucket list before we inevitably die a gruesome death for a cause that’s really more yours than it is ours.”
“Or you could just go home,” Rali countered.
Oralia swore the man summoned tears to his eyes. “What home? You mean the one you destroyed with that poorly planned plot of yours?” He bit his knuckle, turning away as his voice cracked. “I still get worked up thinking about it. If only there was a way to forget. Like, I don’t know, maybe a really nice banquet or something.”
Rali turned to Oralia, whispering, “We could send the dingleberries in our place.”
“We are trying to avoid a dinner party, not start an open war.”
“Kinda late for that, boss. We already started a–”
Oralia decided that instead of acknowledging Rali’s reply, she would simply speak over the top of it instead. “Thank you for delivering the message, Captain Bernstein. You can tell the council to expect our attendance.” Although her reputation allowed her some leeway, she no longer had the status necessary to flat out ditch these types of social obligations. Meaning of course if she wished to remain in the favor of Adderwood’s new leaders, she would have to indulge their silly theatrics.
Captain Bernstein expressed his gratitude before quickly excusing himself, managing to do so without staring too blatantly at Rali. The dwarf in question was still slouched in the warm water, glowering at the prospect of having to put on pants for the occasion. “I thought we were past all this,” she grumbled. “What’s the point of being an outlaw if I’ve still got to do the song and dance?”
“Because even outlaws need allies.”