IceAndWave/AVulpineInterlude

A Vulpine Interlude

In which a bath is gratefully accepted, modesty mostly prevails, and a myth smiles...

The 8th Day of Descending Air, Realm Year 764

On the road time feels different, the fortnight spent in the wagons has felt like a dream. Even the first full blizzard of the newborn winter didn't really affect things beyond the closing of shutters. The gneisson continue to tramp smoothly along the Old Road, and life for the hundred or so girls in the giant wagons is fairly relaxed.

A few days away from Whitewall, the wagons stopped and pulled off the road a little ways, sheltered from the worst of the wind by a small coniferous forest. Aia smiled in memory at Sian as he directed the elementals, and then everyone was told to get out of the wagons for a spot of relaxation.

Up the narrow forest pathway drifts steam and a tantalising scent of lavender that, when followed, revealed a mist-wreathed lake, warm and still in the otherwise chilly landscape.

Cassia peers out of the top floor window with curiousity at the steaming lake, then turns to Venia "Are you coming out?" she smiles, "I think you should."

"Mmm... alright. I guess I will. Do I need to get dressed?"

"Yes... but maybe not for long... the lake looks more like a bath..."

"Oh? It must be warm, then." She rolls to her feet, slipping into the long coat and buttoning one button to retain what fragments of modesty remain. "I don't think they would bring us all this way to freeze everyone solid."

The girls chatter excitedly amongst themselves. Whilst water for washing hasn't been a problem on the road, a full hot bath is something many of them have not experienced for a long time. The chill of the air outside merely adds to the anticipation engendered by the reports.

Venia walks down the path beside Cassia, hand extended and trailing along the low-hanging branches to feel the ice-covered needles. She plucks one off and chews on it, momentarily content.

Sian is ushering the girls down the path about midway, directing them to stick to it as they walk. Always the gentlemen, he remains just out of sight of the lake itself, nodding slightly to Venia and Cassia as they pass.

Venia pauses momentarily, "You're not coming?"

"I wasn't planning to, no."

"That's not really fair, now is it?"

Sian lifts an eyebrow.

Venia borrows Cassia's scarf, stepping over to Sian and tying it around his head, tugging it this way and that to cover his eyes before nodding satisfied and taking his arm, "There, now it's fine."

Sian sighs, and lets her lead, not in the mood to argue.

Cassia giggles softly, then carries on leading them to the lakeside

At the lakeside, a crowd of girls stands, mostly quiet bar a few whispers. The lake steams quietly into the air, the breeze that played outside is not present here, the trees that surround the lake keeps the air still. One of the girls turns at the new arrivals and asks, quietly, "Who is she?" pointing out to the water.

Floating out on the surface of the lake is a woman, drifting slowly around and surrounded by a cloud of dark hair. She appears quite relaxed and unaware of her audience, as well as being entirely nude.

Venia hrms, deciding that Sian can at least have one eye to see with and so reaches up to uncover one. "Do you know her?"

Sian blinks at the light, then looks out at the woman. "No..."

Cassia shakes her head, too.

"Oh. Well, then." Venia unbuttons the button, dropping the coat to the ground and wading into the lake naked, eventually tapping the woman on the shoulder and waving when she opens her eyes.

The woman blinks a few times, startlingly blue eyes focus on Venia's face. "Hello?"

Sian tugs the scarf off fully, watching this with a slight frown.

"Are you the spirit of the lake or something? There's a lot of us waiting, and we were looking forward to relaxing here, so I hope you don't mind..." She smiles.

Cassia appears beside Venia, similarly unclothed, "Hi."

"Spirit of the lake?" she smiles broadly, "Nothing so strange. Merely a traveller." She stops floating, instead flipping to tread water, her long purple hair flowing down her back. "I just wasn't expecting company."

Venia nods, waving back to Sian and shouting across the water. "It's fine! Come on in."

The girls on the lakeside, reassured, remove their fairly basic clothes and begin wading into the water, and soon the sounds of splashing and washing echo across the lake.

Sian coughs, and reties the scarf, to the amusement of Aia. She grins, takes the scarf off, "It's OK. They won't think it's evil." She removes her clothes and joins the others in the lake.

Cassia smiles. "Where are you from?" she asks the strange purple haired woman.

Sian still only removes his shirt, sitting at the edge with his feet in the water.

"Originally? A small town you won't have heard of a thousand miles away," the woman says, "These days I live out in the mountains."

"You have very nice hair for someone who lives out in the mountains... how do you do it, with all the wind and ice?"

Aia grumps, "Come into the water, Sian. It's fine."

Sian sighs, and manages to get into a towel without anyone seeing anything, before slipping into the water.

"Practice, and hours of combing most days," the woman grimaces, "But I like it too much to cut it shorter. And, where are my manners? My name is Orchid Fox."

Venia gives a slight bow. "My name is Cy... Venia. Just Venia. This is Cassia." She is momentarily sad before shrugging. "It will take a very long time for proper introductions of all these people..."

"True," Fox says, "Well, if you all want some privacy, I can leave..."

Cassia shakes her head, "You don't have to go..."

"What good would it do now? You've had enough time to see everyone naked. Come on, we'll introduce you to Sian."

"Sian? The owner of the harem, I take it?" Fox raises an equally purple eyebrow.

"No... It's a long story. The short form is that a whorehouse was burnt down, and he's taking the newly freed girls to somewhere we can figure out what to do." She shrugs, "He wouldn't even sleep with me, I doubt he's really bothering all the mortal girls."

"Oh," Orchid Fox swims smoothly with the two Dragon-Bloods, her hair trailing out several feet behind her in the water.

Venia points out Aia and gives a short introduction as they go, including the, "She's why he doesn't really need anyone else to sleep with," part, before settling against Sian's side as anchorage. "Sian, this is Orchid Fox."

Sian is somehow managing to float waist-high in the water, and so is able to bow politely to her, apparently unmoved by the skin on display. "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Fox nods her head in return, "It's not often you get to meet a hero in these lands." She smiles warmly.

"Ah... someone has been telling stories, I think." He eyes the Dragon-Blooded women equally, looking for the culprit.

Cassia looks at him in a "well, we could have let her think we were all your harem" way.

Venia shrugs a little, not much as she's content pressed to Sian's side. "Well, I could have let her think you had such legendary appetite as to need a hundred woman harem..." She blinks at Cassia's look, laughing.

Sian just lifts an eyebrow at them both, and turns back to Fox. "Well, regardless of what these two have been saying, a hero I am not."

Fox smiles, "Modest, too."

Sian is willing to accept this much. ""You are awfully far out, to be by yourself."

"I live in the mountains nearby, this pool is close enough that I come out every few weeks for a bath." She lifts some of her hair up from the water, "With this I need it."

Sian nods slightly. "The fae don't trouble you?"

"Not too often. I keep myself to myself, mostly. Although talismans of iron help."

"Don't you get, well, lonely? There's so little out here..."

"Sometimes. Not often," Fox looks up at the sky, "I like the peace out here."

"We won't be here too long. Then you'll have the place all to yourself."

"I have to leave soon myself," Fox checks the sky again, "Now, in fact. At least if I want to get back before... soon." She smiles, "It was nice meeting you Venia, Cassia, and Sian. Forgive my sudden departure."

Sian nods to her. "Good to meet you too."

Cassia smiles, "Nice to meet you."

Venia nods, a short wave goodbye.

Fox swims to the lakeshore, walking smoothly out of the warm water, her hair trailing down behind her down to the sandy beach. Moving a rock aside, she retrieves a white kimono with a large fox design on the back, and wraps it around herself.

"She was pretty," Venia says idly.

"Goodbye again," Fox waves, and then begins to run surprisingly quickly down the beach. She passes behind a large rock, and from the other side a large silver fox emerges, running much faster.

"...oh."

Sian just stares at this.

Cassia nods, "She was..." then she sees the silver fox "... I've never seen a fox like that before... Oh."

Aia swims over, looking around curiously, "Where did the purple-haired woman go?"

Venia says, "Back into the mountains."

Sian shakes his head a little. "Back home, I would hope."

"She had to go..." something in Cassia's voice suggesting this is a shame, despite what it appears she was.

Sian gives Cassia a look, but says nothing.

Venia shrugs. "We'll be gone soon anyway... Nightfall is coming."

Aia nods, "Everyone is about as clean as they can get, and I'm starting to prune." She lifts a leg out of the water to show Sian her toes.

Sian tickles her foot briefly. "Out you get, then. Come and help me get towels for the girls."

She giggles and then assents, heading out of the water.

Sian follows!