A Hot Springs Retreat (Closed)

[Duma]

Ilia, a land of snow and timbers. Famous for it's Pegasus knights and mercenary bands. Duma read through the little annotation on his map. It was the first time the sword master had ventured out to the northern lands. He made sure to dress warmly.

He had heard from the guild that Ilia had a series of little known hot springs dotted across the mountain borders. Rumors were that these springs did wonders for one's health. After the incident with the baels Duma decided he needed to treat himself to a little TLC. After several weeks of trekking through Elibe he had finally arrived at his destination.

A town south east of Arphen by the name of Elksprings. From what he could gather the town was quite large, and surrounded by forests of pine. Traders could access the town through the river nearby. Duma first paid a visit to the guild office to get a bit of the lay of the land. Then to the inn to reserve a room.

Eventually the swordsman made his way towards the outskirts of the village. A small resort like area which held the spring. The spring itself was quite large. It was segregated using wooden fences into sections, one side for the men, another for the women, one for mixed baths, and a large section closed off for wealthy guests. The baths were open to the public as long as they could afford the small fee. A small series of lodges were established at the foot of the springs, it catered mostly to travelers and traders.

Duma approached the reception area and paid a fee for the men's baths. The swordsman was hoping to spend the rest of the day in peace.

[Tamaya]

It had been quite a while since Tamaya had been in Ilia; in fact, the last time was when she'd gotten into that nasty predicament in Arphen, where she'd met Marric and Roin. Thankfully, though, this trip promised to be more pleasant and friendly; she had found a town near Arphen called Elksprings, where there were hot springs. The concept of hot water emerging from cold ground was intriguing to the Sacaean woman, and so she had set out for the town. Arriving at the site of the hot springs, she took in the scent of the forest, which was called ‘Pine’; the smell was unusual but inviting, with its notes of freshness and acidity.

After paying the entrance fee, Tamaya had proceeded to the water, where she had been soaking for about an hour and a half. At the suggestion of one of the locals, however, she had recently emerged and lay on a steaming rock, which was heated from below by the earth by a principle explained to her under the name of “sub-dirt spirit burps.” Apparently, fire spirits living in the earth ate here, and burped up intense heat from their stomachs. It was quite the interesting and confusing explanation, but the woman listened as politely as she could. She continually nodded off, however, as she lay upon the stone, her cropped top and shorter skirt softly sizzling as they steamed. Her skin had turned a pleasant shade of pink, and she fell asleep as the friendly woman continued to babble about the ‘logic of earth spirit laughter’ and other ideas. As she floated off into slumber, however, she caught sight of a gentleman entering the bath area who appeared to be looking in her direction. From her nearly-shut lids, she took note of his Sacaean-esque, swordsman garb before drifting off to sleep.

[Duma]

Duma walked past the women area which appeared to be fenced off by a gate of wood. He was given directions to the changing area and quietly stripped down. He removed his swordsman robes and folded it neatly and set it aside. Then he went to work on his gauntlets. He placed each one on top of his folded garb. He casually pulled his boots off and stretched out his toes. They were getting quite sweaty and cramped given the atmosphere of the place. He took off his light under shirt and set it aside too. Then he stared at his pants. And began contemplating if it was wise to remove them, in the company of complete strangers.

It's a bath. He thought. People do not bathe with clothes on. He sighed. Eventually he removed his pants and was left in just his under garments. He wasn't quite comfortable being so exposed. So he wrapped a clean cloth which he kept in his bag around his waist, at least now he was covered up to his knees. After wrapping up his things and shoving them into his bag he began making his way to the water.

The steam around the whole area made it a bit difficult to see where he was going. But eventually his feet found the spring and he eased himself out into the warm waters. They were certainly hot. It took him some time to adjust to the feeling of warmth being swathed all over his skin. He made his way to the wall and leaned on it. His body began to relax, any aches he had began to fade away. It's like magic. I need to make this place a regular stop during my travels. He closed his eyes, as the water continued to ease his body.

[Valcrist]

Travelers and traders you say? Perfect place to find a traveling Valcrist, walking the land and peddling his wares as Valcrists are known to do. What was he doing here exactly? Buying? Selling? To be honest it mattered little, he came and went from nation to nation so often it was beginning to mix together. He knew the roads like the back of his hand, well outside of Bern or Nabata's, since they were off limit to him. Personal reasons mostly, Western Isles took a bit more of a commitment to just casually visit so he rarely did. The pirates didn't help. Also he got really seasick really easy.

Whether coming or going either for business or some ill-conceived plan of outing the source of power in Etruria, Valcrist had found his way here. To these hotsprings, not his first time visiting hotsprings actually, but that's a story for another time. Likely one to never be told, as it wasn't particularly noteworthy or interesting. In fact here it is. He went to a hotsprings once. It was nice. The end. Definitely beat this cold Ilia seemed to love. The whole 'strip nearly naked in front of strangers' thing not so much, but as time went on he found his self becoming less overly worried about what people around him thought of him. Maybe that was a sign of maturation, or of apathy. Either way good for him.

He was sitting in the springs when someone came in. Long green hair, kinda fluffy looking actually, built like a swordsman. He could tell just by his muscles actually, but not quite Sacaen. No... Sacaens are more... wispy. Valcrist's eyes followed the swordsman's movements as he entered the bath, his own head barely above the water with it touching his chin as he lounged back. He stopped being a creep and staring at stranger's bodies and closed his eyes, taking a long deep breath. It wasn't his fault, he just had a bad habit of analyzing everything he saw. Well 'bad habit' implies that it's actually totally his fault, but that was scarcely the point.

The truth was he was a little envious of the swordsman's hair, reminded him of back when his used to be long. It reached all the way down his back, he fought with his mother for years to keep it long and one day poof he has a 'character defining moment' (which defined nothing by the way) and thought it'd be a good idea to just cut it all off. Like it signified his growth 'as a person' or some such nonsense. It was easier to keep care of, and honestly with his scarf he couldn't afford more things flapping dramatically in the wind just asking to be grabbed, but still man. He thought about it sometimes. Maybe he should let it grow out again...

[Duma]

Duma continued to relax. Eventually he covered his ears and dunked his whole head under the water and popped back up. A bit of a bad idea. The hot water was uncomfortable to his eyes, although he had them closed when he went under. He rubbed his eyes for a moment and opened them back up, letting them re adjust to the steamy air. He decided to run his fingers through his hair. He kept putting water onto his head and kept rubbing his head and scalp. It had been a long time since he properly washed his hair. Slowly but surely the sword-master's long hair was mostly de-tangled and clean. Oh! That feels so good. He thought to himself as he regained his composure. Perhaps no one caught the smile on his face.

It was hard to make out through the steam, but he felt like he was being watched. Well of course I would be stared at by people. It's an open air bath. A public bath none the less, and I am an outsider. He thought to himself. But everything still just felt odd. He was used to taking a quick bath in a river, or meditating under a waterfall. Perhaps it was just the atmosphere. He was still adjusting to Ilia. But his fighter's instincts wouldn't let his emotions die down. He looked around to see if he could find anyone. So far he was alone in this particular patch of hot spring water.

In the steam he could barely make out the shape of a young man standing out near the entry way. But he couldn't quite tell if the man was facing forward or away from him. The mist in the air made it difficult to tell. Or maybe his eyes were just playing tricks on him as a form of revenge from earlier. Regardless he still found himself staring back at the mystery figure, who seemed to be wearing orange.

Duma decided to ignore it and resume his bath in peace. He soaked int he spring for well over an hour letting his troubles melt away. Once he had his fill of the springs he got up out of the water and returned to the changing area. He dried himself off and changed his clothes. And returned back to the guild where he would spend the night and leave the town in the morning. He would have to come back to this place in the future, so he made a note of it in his journal. The swordsman decided that he would try to see if there were other similar springs like this one scattered around Elibe. Until then he bid his farewell to Elksprings.
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Exeunt thread. And will probably close due to inactivity.