Guardian Angel Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Still managing a chapter per week, if only just, so here you go!

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When she woke up to Mikkel knocking on the door and calling her name, announcing breakfast, Ana realised a few things.

First, the beer must not have been very strong, no matter how she’d felt the night before. Her head was clear and she didn't have a hangover. This meant that, second, Kaira was a lightweight. She barely knew the woman, but she still found the thought pretty funny.

Third, she'd promised to spend pretty much the whole day with Kaira and Tor. Kaira wanted to help her shop for new clothes then start on teaching her how to handle her looted crossbow, and Ana had agreed with Tor to meet afterwards for sword practice. Both shooting and fighting were at the guardhouse yard, so that worked out nicely. Yeah, perhaps she'd been a little too quick to agree to things. She'd wanted to visit Touanne today, to ask a bunch of suspicious and possibly embarrassing questions. But the whole group last night had been open, friendly and, as far as she could tell, honest. She'd been swept up in their enthusiasm, and that didn't happen to her often.

Finally, and most urgently, she could smell herself. It made her keenly aware that she hadn't washed so much as her hands properly since she arrived.

All this took as long as it took for Mikkel to stop knocking.

"Wait! Mikkel!" she shouted as she threw her legs off the bed and rushed for the door. She opened it a crack, then realised that she'd slept dressed again and opened it all the way.

"Miss Cole?" Mikkel said, looking her quickly up and down, then guiltily returning his eyes to her face. In her own opinion she probably hadn't looked less sexy in years, but this was a fifteen-or-so-year-old boy, so…

"Mikkel," she said sweetly. "Is there a washroom in this place? Or, like…" What did mediaeval people do for hygiene? "A bathhouse nearby?"

"Uh… uh… there's a room with water to wash your hands and face behind the stairs in the common room, Miss Cole. And a bathhouse on duskward Cross Street. Can't miss it."

Duskward… west? "That's great. Thank you." She put on a warm smile for him and closed the door.

Great. Now she had something like a plan. Breakfast, meet Kaira, new clothes and boots, then a bath.

All she really had to do was to wrap her feet and grab her purse, and then she was down the stairs. The washroom was right where Mikkel had said that it would be. She steeled herself at what she might have to make do with then opened the door, but to her very pleasant surprise what she found was a trough with clean, running water and a bar of pale yellow soap on the side. They were clearly more advanced here in some very important areas than she’d feared, which gave her hope for some other important conveniences. Most pressing, the running water reminded her how much beer she’d had the night before, and that she was definitely going to need a bathroom after breakfast.

There were, unfortunately, no towels, so after washing her hands and face with soap she had to make do with wiping most of the water off with her hands and then relying on the air to dry her. She was not drying anything clean on her clothes.

Breakfast was served the same way dinner had been, in bowls on the bar, only in this case it was some kind of porridge with bits of dried fruit, cheese, and meat in it. It came with some kind of herbal tea or, irresponsibly, more of the beer. Ana went with the tea.

When she scanned the room for somewhere to sit –  which was no problem, since there were far fewer people than there had been last night – she caught sight of Omda eating by himself at a table by one of the few windows. She headed over. Ana had liked Omda well enough once he was no longer looming. He didn’t say much, but when he did speak it was thought through and relevant, no matter what the subject had been. Besides, she was trying to get in good with his friends, so showing some friendliness herself should help.

“Good morning, Omda,” she said as she reached his table. “Mind if I sit?”

Omda looked up from his bowl, finished chewing, and swallowed before he spoke. Something else Ana appreciated. “Anastasia. Go ahead,” was all he said before going back to his breakfast, but the way he said it was welcoming.

The porridge was… odd. But not bad. The bits gave a nice mix of sweet and savoury to the bland mash of grains or whatever it was, and it was warm and filling. The tea tasted like hay more than anything, and Ana wondered if she should have gone for the beer, like Omda had.

“Where are the others?” Ana asked after a few minutes.

Omda again cleared his mouth before answering. “Home, probably.”

“They don’t stay here?”

“Tor lives with his folks, and Kaira shares a house with some other women.”

“Oh.” Ana went back to eating, like Omda had.

After a moment Omda added, “Kaira should be here soon.”

“Great.”

He didn’t resume eating, which made me look up. “She can be… a lot, but I hope you give her a chance. She likes making friends, and I think she liked you. Tell her to tone it down if you need to. She won’t mind.”

He went back to his porridge.

That was a lot of words at once for Omda, Ana thought. He must really want to help Kaira out.

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They finished their breakfast in silence. Ana had another cup of the ‘tea’ while looking out the window, which faced a narrow alley. The alley was apparently the last resting place of boxes, barrels, and old tools. None of the things piled out there looked like they’d been moved for months at best. At least it was clean, with no outright litter or garbage among the tufts of grass growing in the dirt.

The peace was broken when the door swung open, followed by a terrifyingly energetic, “Om! ANA!” Kaira came practically bounding over, showing no sign of the hangover she so richly deserved. “You ready to go, Ana?”

Ana had no memory of telling Kaira her nickname or asking her to use it, but decided not to press it. From Kaira it sounded more natural than her full name anyway.

“Just about,” Ana said. “I just need to, uh… does either of you know where the restroom is?”

“The what?”

“The toilet? Water closet? Latrine?”

“Outhouse.” Omda said and pointed to a second door, across the room from the entrance. “Out there.”

“Right,” Ana said. “Thanks.”

The door opened to a small fenced in yard and there, like Omda had said, was an outhouse. It had two doors, with a surprisingly modern looking ‘free/busy’ indicator above the handles. The inside… suffice it to say that Ana would miss modern facilities. She washed her hands again inside, very carefully.

“Ready to go,” she told Kaira back at the table. “Omda, it was nice seeing you again.”

“Same.” He raised his mug and went back to looking out the window.

“Boots!” Kaira exclaimed as they got out on the street. “You desperately need some! Ones you could kick a badger to death with, preferably.”

“I’ll settle for about anything better than these,” Ana said, lifting her foot to show off her slowly disintegrating wraps. “Unfortunately I don’t have all that much money, so affordability will have to go before quality.”

“There’s the Guild exchange, if you don’t mind second hand,” Kaira said. Ana’s interest was piqued until Kaira continued, “Someone might have died in them, though. You never know.”

“Let’s look at something new, first,” Ana said flatly.

“Alright, I know just the cobbler. Good enough at cheap as you like!”

The cobbler to whom Kaira took Ana was named Merv. His shop was located on a back street, but he seemed cheerful enough. His work was, as Kaira had said, good enough. What it was not, was fashionable. Unless you were a punk or into combat chic, Ana thought, which she was not. Still, he had a pair ready that fit her and felt comfortable and sturdy enough. The boots set her back seven silver coins, a week’s worth of room and board, but Kaira assured her that she wouldn’t get anything she’d want to pay for for less, so Ana just had to suck it up and pay the man.

New clothes were not much cheaper, though she got much more for her money. Going by the same principle as with the boots, Kaira took her to a tailor named Lanpellia who sold her a long-sleeved tunic, a pair of trousers, and two sets of socks, underwear which were basically boxer shorts, and chest wraps, all in simple undyed wool or some kind of plant fibre, and all for her last gold coin.

“It’s fine!” Kaira promised her when they were out of the shop and Ana worried about her rapidly emptying purse. “You have two swords and a bunch of daggers, right? Once you’ve had a lesson or two with Tor you can sell whichever of the swords doesn’t suit you, and one or two of the daggers. A decent sword will get you a gold at the absolute least, maybe even twenty silver or more if it’s something special. And anyway you’re going out with me in a couple of days, right? Right?”

“Maybe,” Ana said firmly. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Pfft, you’ll be bored off your ass in two days tops, I know it. You’re coming. So, crossbow practice now?”

“Not quite. Mikkel told me that there’s a bathhouse on Cross Street, and I was hoping to–”

“Oh thank the gods! I didn’t want to say anything. Well, I did, but people tend not to like it when you tell them that they stink. You need a bath bad, lady.”

“... right. What does it cost?”

“Practically nothing. Two copper if you just want to go in and get clean and relax. If you want to spend more they’ve got fancy soaps and oils and stuff you can buy, and people who’ll rub you down if you want, too.” Kaira grinned lavisciously. “It’s pret-ty nice.”

“I’m fine just getting clean, thank you,” Ana said. “And then I need to get these,” she grabbed the shirt she was wearing, “clean. They don’t exactly fit, but they’re one of two sets of clothes I own right now.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll take you to the lady who does my laundry. It’ll only cost you a couple of coppers, probably.”

Following Kaira towards the bathhouse, her purse much lighter but wearing a pair of actual boots and a pair of her new socks, carrying the rest of her new clothes in a bundle in her arms, Ana actually felt much better. Sure, she was down to less than two weeks of food and shelter, but if Kaira was to be trusted then she could turn that around pretty easily. And truth be told she probably would be going out with Kaira, if not in a few days then some time later, and from what the others had told her she was likely to make some decent coin that way. Exactly how she wasn’t sure. ‘Loot’ was as specific as they’d gotten before moving on, but you could apparently also sell the mystical Growth Crystals for decent money. Opinions varied on whether that was a good idea or not, but if she desperately needed money it was better than the alternatives.

The bathhouse was surprisingly modern, reminding her of some spas she'd been to, with lots of polished stone. Or perhaps the spas had been classical. It was one of the few all-stone buildings in the settlement, and was, according to Kaira, basically a public service. While it was theoretically privately run it had been built with large contributions from the Guild, the Wayfarer cult, and some high-level delvers who had decided to support the development of the splinter early. It was well known that the proprietors of the bathhouse had some very strict limits that they operated within, on pain of simply having the place handed over to someone else.

After they each paid the entry fee, declined any extras, and had been handed a pair of towels, Kaira led Ana through the door labelled Women. Inside the air was hot and hazy with humidity, with a sweet, herbal scent in the air, and something struck Ana. She hadn’t really considered it before. It honestly hadn’t even occurred to her, but the arrangements in this place were considerably more… Continental, perhaps Nordic, than Ana was used to. Meaning there were no private rooms, there were no dressing rooms, and while there were only three other women in the pool this early in the day, they were all very clearly naked. The women and Kaira exchanged good mornings as though this was completely normal, which Ana could only assume that it was.

They left their towels on a rack near the hot pool. “This is going to be so good!” Kaira said happily as she started undressing by a set of long shelves which already contained three sets of clothes. “I haven’t had a morning soak for ages! What are you waiting for? Get buck and let’s get clean so we can get in!”

“Right.” Ana couldn’t remember if she’d ever been naked with a woman she’d known for less than twelve hours before, but here she was, with Kaira in front of her bare as the day she was born and waiting with what could only very generously be called patience.

It wasn’t like she was going to back out. The pool was deep and clean and steaming hot, and Ana wanted to get clean way more than she wanted to hold on to whatever shreds of nudity taboo she was still carrying around. It was her tattoo more than anything that made her hesitate, but if she was going to be hanging around with Kaira she’d probably see it sooner or later, and if these other women saw it, well, she didn’t know them anyway. To hell with it.

Ana stripped off her filthy, oversized men’s clothes and the matched set of underwear that she’d been wearing for way too long and put them in a folded stack next to her bundled new clothes on the shelf. She only felt a little awkward as Kaira took her to one side of the room where there was running water and soap for getting clean before the bath, as well as large scoops for rinsing. Washing herself in the open like this was, again, unfamiliar and awkward, but she powered through. She only wondered how long–

“Woah! Gods below, I love that!” Kaira exclaimed.

There it was.

“How do you even… these colours are fucking amazing! Where did you get this? How long did it take? Could I get one?”

“Eight five hour sessions,” Ana said. Forty hours of pain. “Got it done at a studio in New York.”

“Never heard of Nuyork before. Is that where you’re from?”

“I lived there for a couple of years.” Three bad ones, and two good ones, to be exact.

“Seriously though, this is amazing!”

Ana stiffened as she felt fingertips trace one wing across her shoulder blade, fingers that were quickly snatched away. “Shit, sorry,” Kaira said. “I know non-themions don’t usually like being touched, but I forget sometimes.”

“That’s… alright,” Ana said, forcing herself to relax. “Let’s finish getting clean so we can get in the pool. I’ve been looking forward to this all morning.”

“Hell yeah!” Kaira said, her momentary embarrassment giving way to her normal explosive enthusiasm. “I’m so jealous, though. I always wanted skin art but I hate the idea of that little needle, you know?”

“Eh, I’m good with pain. But I know what you mean. You just have to want it enough.”

“Ain’t that always the truth? Now close your eyes and put your head back and I’ll rinse ya.”

There were two pools. First they got into the smaller one, which was so cold that it made Ana’s breath catch, and Kaira insisted that you had to stay in until you got used to it and dunk your head to get the full effect of the hot pool. It was a hell of a shock, and it took Ana a while to get in completely, but once she was in it wasn’t so bad. Invigorating if nothing else.

Going from that to the enormous hot pool, which was properly hot, was another shock. The hot pool somehow felt almost colder than the cold one until the sting hit, and Ana decided that she had to just get in there before she lost her nerve and made a fool of herself.

Once she was in and relaxing on the bench that ran around the edge, though… Ana melted. All her limbs went limp and her eyelids got heavy. It was strange and wonderful all at once. There she was, naked with three complete strangers and one woman who she barely knew, in a hot tub big enough for at least fifty people, and that was just around the edges. And yet this was the first time she’d been completely relaxed since she got dressed to go out with Nicola that last night in London.

Kaira sighed with contentment from the other side of the corner they’d occupied, and gently kicked Ana’s calf. “Ah, this is it. This is heaven, right?”

“As close as I’ll ever get,” Ana agreed, and melted a little deeper into the water.

Kaira briefly introduced Ana to Med, Jancia, and Tellak, the three human women they shared the pool with, because of course Kaira knew them. Their classes were Sharpshooter, Lumimancer, and Bulwark, and they were a team, The Living Daylights, who were all several levels higher than Kaira.

“Goin’ out today,” Jancia said. “Last chance, ya know?”

Other than that they didn’t talk much. The Daylights were curious about Ana, of course, but after she gave the short version – accidental, made it to the settlement with some trouble, Kaira and Tor had promised to train her a bit –  they respected her clear reluctance to elaborate. The Daylights left maybe fifteen minutes after Ana and Kaira arrived, and Ana and Kaira reluctantly got out another fifteen minutes after that, passing through the cold pool and rinsing off on their way.

Dressed in her new, clean clothes, wearing sturdy boots that fit, and with every pore feeling as clean as they were likely to get in this place, Ana stood outside the bathhouse. She looked at Kaira, who grinned at her and said, “Alright! Crossbow practice!” and allowed herself to actually feel a little excited. This might, despite what had happened and despite where she was, be a good day. She just had to embrace the madness.