5. Shame (Patreon)

It took them more time than Aloe would have liked to arrive at the public baths, but unfortunately, her crotch didn’t precisely allow for movement. Forget sudden movements, the itch was so bad that it difficulted to even walk slowly.

“Do you need help with the steps?” Mirah pointed to the massive stairwell at the entrance of the bath with a nudge of her head.

“No, thank you.” Aloe dismissed her. “I’m bad, but not that bad.”

And then instantly regretted it as she advanced onto the first step.

“Damnation...” Aloe muttered under her breath. That pain went through my damned ‘toughness’.

“You doing fine there?” Mirah turned back to face her.

“Perfectly,” Aloe responded with a fake grin. “But it’s going to take me a bit to make my way up.”

Fortunately for her, there weren’t many steps to the side entrance. By the time they reached the gateway, Aloe was half-panting, half-tearing up. She was, indeed, worse than she let out.

“Let me pay for the entrance fee and make your way to the changeroom meanwhile,” Mirah told her as walked to the receptionist, the same as the last time Aloe had come to visit the baths.

Aloe limped her way to the change room, exhaustion weighing down her body. It’s the infusion. She pondered as she moved. It’s making me handle the pain better, but at the same time, it’s exhausting me faster. And I already had no stamina before shifting to ‘toughness’. Aloe wanted to sigh, but she needed every moment she could save to breathe.

“Set and done.” Mirah came behind her, just as she made it to the change room. “Do you need help undressing?”

“I...” Whilst her pride told her no, that same pride had almost made her crotch be split in half, so Aloe thought it out twice before answering. “Yes... I would appreciate it.”

Aloe sat down on a small wooden bench on the side of the changing room with a thud and allowed Mirah to remove her clothes. The housewife’s fingers worked swiftly, removing Aloe’s blouse in a blink of an eye, though she found a bit of resistance when removing her skirt. Aloe tried to raise her butt up but couldn't manage to muster enough strength in her arms to do so.

Mirah wasn’t stopped by that as her strength was greater than it seemed and grabbed Aloe by her armpit and raised her small body as if were an amphora, and with the other hand yanked the skirt out.

“Ehm... I can manage the underwear on my own.” Aloe said as she blushed before the woman did it herself. The surprising display of strength had left Aloe ashamed of her own weakness.

“Alright,” Mirah responded, not thinking much of it, and started to undress.

Unlike Aloe’s petite build, Mirah was dotted with great assets all around. The housewife removed her blouse, spilling her breasts out. Bras weren’t a common occurrence between common folk, but Aloe thought if someone had to wear them, it was the woman in front of her.

It was impossible to not be jealous of Mirah.

Not only she was tall, but she had curves in all the right places. It would be easy for her to pass for a noblewoman with a body like hers. People’s gazes would be distracted to check otherwise. For heaven’s sake, they are even bigger without the blouse! Aloe held her breath. They are at least the size of my head! Oh my...

As her blushing intensified, Aloe distracted herself by removing her underwear. Looking at someone with those eyes wasn’t only rude, but also uncharacteristic of her. But as she removed her ruined undergarments, she lost equilibrium, almost falling off from the bench.

“Aloe!” Mirah dashed toward her, grabbing Aloe by the side and unknowingly smacking her face with one of her breasts. “Are you alright?”

“I... uhm...” Aloe mumbled, too stunned to respond. Her mouth felt dry, and her head spun around. Whilst they hadn’t still entered the bath, it was true that the steam coming from it made the dressing room rather hot and humid. “I need something to drink.”

“Right, right!” Mirah stood up, covering herself with her blouse as she rushed outward. “Anything in specific?” She added as her head poked out of the curtains at the doorway.

“Juice if possible,” Aloe said, her voice a bit raspy.

Ugh, what’s happening to me? She led a hand to her head. Not just the pain and the exhaustion, these mood swings are just horrible! Aloe breathed in and out, the dry air from the desert mixed with the steam of the baths in her nostrils.

“Here.” Mirah tapped her on the shoulder and Aloe looked up, almost borrowing herself in the woman’s bosom by mistake with the sudden gesture. “They didn’t have juice, but I brought milk.”

“Ehm... works for me.” Aloe hastily took up the pot from Mirah’s hands and started drinking, hoping she wouldn’t see the redness in her visage.

“Are you well?” Mirah asked, still looking at her. “You look a bit red.”

Or perhaps not.

Aloe fought hard against the urge to choke on the milk. “F-fine. I’m fine. It’s just the exhaustion and the heat. Maybe a bit of fever...”

“You should go rest then...” Mirah innocently suggested.

“As I said, not a problem.” Aloe refuted. “And we are already here, I’m sure a hot and nice warm bath is going to make me feel better.”

Mirah frowned but didn’t comment further and continued to undress herself. As for Aloe, she downed the rest of the milk cup in a single gulp, feeling instantly better. Ah, that milk hit the spot. And then remembered that she had to get herself naked.

After finally getting undressed, Aloe predisposed to leave her clothes in a basket, but Mirah got ahead of her taking the clothes out of Aloe’s hand and leaving them for her.

“Let me accompany you to the cleaning pool.” Before Aloe could say anything, Mirah grabbed her hand and guided her into the bathing area.

Aloe couldn’t be more thankful for the lack of human presence in the baths as she noticed the room was totally desert, she felt like was going to pass out at any moment. Whether it was out of shame or pain, she didn’t know.

True to her words, Mirah gently guided Aloe down the steps of the cleaning pool. Unlike the main bath pool in the middle of the room, this one was full of cold water. Or at least cool for a desert inhabitant.

“Do you need help scrubbing yourself?” Mirah offered.

“Icandoitmyself.” Aloe hastily responded, too ashamed to keep her composure at this point.

“Alright, slow down, girl!” Mirah said jokingly as she began to clean herself, but she kept an eye on Aloe, nonetheless.

The girl understood why, she felt like passing out at every step, and she almost did in the dressing room, so Mirah wasn’t that far off.

With a deep inhalation, Aloe scrubbed her body with the rather dirty water. She was even dirtier though. The heavens had turned against Aloe to make her the dirtiest person in the whole city. Besides the journey to Sadina, which had accumulated a lot of grime, sweat, and sand on her skin, the crusts of dried blood itched in her crotch.

She gave that region a thorough cleaning.

It was honestly disgusting that she allowed herself to get this dirty. Yet another boulder of shame dropped on the load I carry.

After what felt like an eternity, Aloe felt human again. Whilst not squeaky clean, she no longer looked like a homeless beggar – or felt like one – and her mood bettered.

“You are looking better, Aloe,” Mirah told her, the woman had ended up scrubbing herself a while ago.

“And I feel better.” She added with a sigh. “It’s incredible what a simple wash can do to a woman.”

“And we haven’t even started.” The housewife laughed, an arm under her breasts to hold them. The notion of the weight of those bags was even more staggering than the real weight. “Come on, let’s get you out and enjoy a real bath.”

As Aloe grabbed Mirah’s hand, she couldn’t help to realize how smooth her skin was compared to her.

“Watch out, don’t slip.” Mirah pointed at the steps of the pool with her eyes.

“Truth is, my mind is only filled with thoughts of warm water right now,” Aloe told to the woman with a smile on her face. The first she had managed to do since... yesterday.

Oh, great heavens, how slow time goes by when you suffer.

“You and me, girl!” Mirah laughed from her lungs, not that dissimilar from how her husband did. “Let’s enjoy ourselves now and forget about everything. The emir, the pain, the loss. Just you, me, and a warm bath!”

“That sounds delightful.” Aloe let herself be guided to the main course of the bath, the smile on her expression becoming smoother, shame disappearing, replaced by a boost of strength as the warmth of the motherly figure impregnated her.