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MINI FOUR - In which Skyla and Balthasar get clean bodies and dirty minds
Balthasar finishes a rather long discussion with Salas later that evening, and, preparing for his first reasonably comfortable night's sleep in quite some time, he dons a robe and treks through the gardens, towards the springlike bath houses. His walk is slow, as he has much to consider.
Skyla , meanwhile, has spent a hard night's work assisting the craftsmen of the village with refining their forge setup, and has spent quite some time showing them techniques she'd made up herself, and roughing out the tools necessary for them, with instructions on how to refine the tools if she is unable to complete the task in the morning. Tired, but feeling good about herself, she decides it...
Skyla ...is time for a hot, relaxing bath.
Balthasar passes the rest of the people gathered in the common houses, eventually finding a good pool with enough room to stretch. Glancing around at all the people, he shrugs, disrobes, and - wincing a bit at first - climbs down into the water.
Crowned_Sun ::Skyla's mind is also alight with some of the techniques she'd learned while helping the villages' Smiths upgrade. The Iron Mandarin had trained them in several swordsmithing techniques she'd not known...::
Balthasar is, within minutes, sprawled out in the water, a towel over his head, listening to the slapping of wet feet on stone, the general murmur of conversation, and the splashing of water in the other pools.
Skyla thus, enters the bath house, sweaty and sooty, and looking forward to a good scrub, and soothing heat to relax her muscles. She finds where the clean towels are, and takes one. She walks until she finds a pool that is quiet, warm steam rising languidly from the surface of the water. She strips, and slides into the water, glancing over at the other occupant of the pool through the steam.
Skyla "Oh.. is that you, Balthasar?" She peers at the towel-covered man. She looks downward from the towel, and decides she's definitely right.
Balthasar slowly lifts a hand, and tugs the cloth off his head. He rouses up a bit, but stays reclined on the edge of the pool through use of his elbows, now.
Balthasar grins at her, "Nice to have some company. You look worn out."
Skyla smiles, "I've had a good night. I learned a lot from these people!"
Balthasar adjusts himself a bit, and sinks into the pool some, so that just his head pokes out of the water. "Oh?"
Skyla "Yeah... they've got some really great techniques on swordsmithing that I hadn't even considered." She describes the methodology a bit, enthusiastically.
Balthasar does listen, gazing at her, but begins to appear a bit overwhelmed with all the information after a while.
Balthasar eventually laughs a bit, and says, "I think you've lost me, my friend. I am naive to the art of smithing, after all."
Skyla blushes, "Oh, sorry. I forget sometimes." She sighs a bit and leans back against the side of the bath. "Anyway, it makes the swords faster and sharper."
Skyla "And they hold their edge longer!"
Balthasar fixes her with an incredulous stare, "I've had the blade you made me for nearly a year, now, and it's not only the fastest and sharpest I know, it's still got it's edge.
Balthasar I've only sharpened it once. It didn't really even need it, I just got tired of only polishing it.
Skyla "Well... I made yours special. This is a technique I can teach to other people."
Balthasar tilts his head.
Balthasar What do you mean?
Balthasar Made mine special?
Skyla blushes, self-consiously, "Well.. not everyone has the Sun to enhance their techniques. I refined the essence of your sword when I made it. I wanted you to have the best sword I could make. To match your strength of spirit."
Balthasar blinks. Grins. "Hold that thought."
Balthasar 's head vanishes underwater for a moment. He comes back up and leans back against the wall of the pool, water dripping from his nose.
Skyla tilts her head, watching him.
Balthasar says, after a moment, "The water is very relaxing. I'd grown sore on that damn horse for so long."
Skyla grimaces, although the expression doesn't mar the beauty of her face. It seems innocent somehow. "Me too. I haven't ridden a horse in a long time... it uses muscles I forgot I had!" She copies him, freeing her hair from its tight braid, then ducking underwater, shaking her head until her hair is a teal cloud below the surface, then emerges again, flipping it back over her shoulders. "Ahhh."
Balthasar examines her for a long moment, then blinks and looks away, with a small laugh that could also have been a little cough. "Aye. I'm more suited to the waves than all that. I'll be glad to be back on the Crest when this is all done."
Skyla "Riding the waves is another thing I'm not so good at. I've really only been on a boat once before our trips together... and you were there, then, too."
Balthasar nods gravely.
Skyla smiles a little. "I was so young, then. It seems like so long ago."
Balthasar You were young, indeed. I can still see you then, in my mind - so very clearly.
Balthasar laughs.
Crowned_Sun ::That topic of conversation brings back images of Jak Never, Balthasar's first captain. The old bastard. Last he'd heard, the man had been given control over the Northern-edge of the Guild's Slave Trade in the port of Draven...where you first met Skyla.::
Skyla fixes him with her clear blue eyes, "I know I've said many times, how you saved my life, and changed my path for the one I tread now... but I never told you, that you were the only reason I had for waking up every day. Nothing else seemed worthwhile, just existing. I think you held the Sun's light, even then."
Balthasar 's face straightens, and suddenly, the keen-eyed Balthasar is there, analyzing Skyla seriously.
Balthasar wades over to her side, and puts his hand on her shoulder.
Balthasar There are good people everywhere, Skyla. It's never just been me. I am not even foremost amongst them - but you are.
Skyla "I am?"
Balthasar You don't know the wrongs that I've had to do. To know I've done at least one thing right is very comforting.
Skyla "But now that you have a choice... now that you're not working for the Guild... you do good things all the time. I've seen it."
Balthasar raises a brow.
Balthasar I don't know, really. The Guild was hardly my darkest hour.
Balthasar slowly brings back his hand, and leans his head on it.
Balthasar I can't even mention some of my past to Almetheia.
Skyla rests her hand on his shoulder, now. "I think you underestimate her. She loves you. You should be able to tell all your secrets to the one you love." her voice is a touch wistful.
Balthasar wonders to himself if good is actually Good, if you do it always with a sense of atonement.
Balthasar makes a sort of strained face, as if he'd like to believe that, but has trouble.
Balthasar Almetheia is more accepting than I make her sound. I think she would understand, you see, but myself, I'd hate to think I brought her any fear.
Balthasar purses his lips, and steeples his hands together in front of himself.
Skyla "If you can't... tell her... you can always tell me. I know that there is bad and good in everyone. I haven't been perfect, myself." she smiles, "And I won't fear you."
Balthasar scratches his nose, looking at her analytically again.
Skyla "I can keep it secret, too, if you want me to."
Balthasar In my youth, I was an exile. A beggar and as good as an orphan, for I was cast out very nearly at birth.
Balthasar pauses, and says, "Tell whom you will. I leave it to your jurisdiction."
Skyla nods
Balthasar ...When I was thirteen, or fourteen, I fell into a ... sort of... cult.
Skyla "You wanted to belong to someone... something... because you didn't have your own family?"
Balthasar Wait. This is the important bit:
Balthasar By fifteen, when I'd fled and joined the Guild - who, incidentally, inadvertantly gave me much protection from retribution - I'd ritually sacrificed three people, and helped summon one demon.
Balthasar I don't know if I was the only survivor of the summoning, per se. But I did survive.
Skyla thinks about that for a moment, then nods in understanding. "That's how you knew so much about the demons in the prison."
Balthasar And I'm almost certain that demon is still out there.
Balthasar nods slowly. "That obvious, eh."
Balthasar falls silent.
Skyla "I wondered... " she touches his arm, "What did it feel like, when you sacrificed them?"
Balthasar wishes he could even put a name or description to the roiling, howling creature that he saw that night.
Balthasar Frightening.
Skyla nods solemnly.
Balthasar starts to say more, then shrugs, and rubs his face.
Balthasar shakes himself out of it, and, underwater, pokes her in the side. "But now things are so solemn. I came here to relax and enjoy some creature comforts for a while."
Skyla smiles, shaking off her solemn mood. "You're right. Do you have any soap? I forgot to pick some up."
Balthasar Uh... No. I can go get some, though. Shall I?
Skyla "That would be nice... I'm just covered in soot."
Balthasar hoists himself out of the water, tosses back his hair, and cautiously walks along the stones to an indentation in the wall.
Balthasar returns moments later, sliding back into the water with a look of relief. "That was breezy," he says, proferring a washcloth with cake soap atop it.
Skyla watches his passage thoughtfully, and smiles upon his return, "Thanks." She accepts the washcloth, and starts scrubbing the soot off of her face.
Balthasar reclines again, returning to enjoying the boiling sensation of the heated water.
Skyla rinses out the washcloth, then begins working down her arms, leaving greyish soapy trails behind due to the ash.
Skyla ducks under the water once more, to rinse off her arms, then moves on, standing so the soap doesn't wash away before she's actually washed. Incidentally, she's smokin' hot.
Balthasar stares for a moment, then catches himself, and glances away rapidly.
Skyla finishes soaping up her body, and ducks back under the water again to rinse it off. Then she stands again, mahogany skin gleaming, faces away from him, pulling her hair forward over her shoulder then looks over her shoulder at him, "Can you get my back? I can't reach."
Balthasar stands, and steps up behind her, holding out his hand for the soap.
Skyla passes the soap cake and the washcloth to him. "Thanks."
Balthasar scrubs the cloth with the soap for a moment, and then places one of his hands on her shoulder. The other, he uses to sponge the soot from her shoulders, neck and back, leaving a soapy lather behind.
Balthasar pauses, glancing down, and halts his hand before it goes too low. Surely, she can get that part, herself.
Skyla closes her eyes, "Mmm thanks. It feels so good to be clean again."
Balthasar dips the washcloth in the water, "You're not clean yet, still a bit soapy."
Balthasar squeezes the water out over her back, "But I'm fixing that."
Balthasar dips the washcloth, and repeats, rinsing the soap away gradually.
Skyla smiles, and just enjoys the feeling of the water over her back, and his warm hands on her skin. She wishes for a moment, that Almetheia was gone, then steps away with a wistful look over her shoulder at Balthasar. "Thank you." she says quietly, "I think I can get the rest."
Balthasar pats her shoulder lightly, and offers back the soap and cloth.
Balthasar pauses.
Balthasar Skyla...
Skyla takes them from him, and turns to face him fully, "Yes?"
Balthasar puts both of his hands on her shoulders, draws her close, and wraps his arms around her in an intimate embrace.
Skyla hesitantly returns the embrace, feeling every inch of skin in contact with him. She rests her head against his chest for a long moment, then looks up, "We shouldn't..."
Balthasar looks down, meeting her gaze. He doesn't say a thing, but just holds eye contact; his arms stay wrapped around her. He waits to see if she will keep speaking.
Skyla doesn't continue her words, but her blue eyes, usually clear with purpose, seem unsure. The one clear emotion in them, is desire.
Balthasar leans down, and, lightly gives her a tender kiss... on her forehead. His arms slowly uncoil, and he withdraws, just as slowly. "I... will see you in the morning, my friend." His hands, still gripped with hesitation, drop to her elbows and stubbornly defy him, keeping hold there.
Balthasar can't help but wonder if he, himself, has made up his mind for certain, yet.
Skyla "This is the right thing to do, isn't it?" her hands rest just above his hips. "It's so hard to do the right thing..."
Balthasar again, finds himself unable or unwilling to reply, and merely lets his eyes trace her contours, and lock again on her face. His fingers don't yet release her elbows.
Skyla lifts one hand to her eye, wiping away something... a fleck of water... and she smiles tremulously. "Your hair is messy."
Balthasar drops his hands, and laughs, if someone tensely, and minutely. "I can imagine so. Soon remedied, though."
Balthasar drifts back, and glances around.
Balthasar slowly turns, and climbs out of the pool. As he rises, he grabs the towel, and cinches it around his waist.
Skyla ducks back under the water, opens her eyes, and watches him through the fractured surface reflections of the water. She wraps her arms around herself tightly.
Balthasar casually walks over to the indentation, and takes another cake of soap. Whistling, he returns, only to toss it in the water at her, to get her attention.
Balthasar Skyla!
Skyla emerges from the water, catching the soap as it floats downward.
Balthasar grins.
Balthasar I will see you in the morning.
Balthasar Pleasant dreams, for tonight.
Skyla "I think you dropped the soap." she smiles. "Thank you... Sleep well."
Balthasar waves, turns, and departs.
Skyla waves, then waits until he is out of the room, before she allows herself to sink into the water again, both relieved and incredibly full of heartache. The pool has, by the time she leaves, perhaps become a little more full.
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