• PM To Join • A Dream in Common [Faith]

[Kal]

70th Trial of Ymiden, Arc 716.

He lay alone in the corner of Copper's forge. The shop was closed for the night as cold winds swept their frigid fingers along the tops of Viden's homes. The heat from the day's work still left the room hot compared to the outside world but even so the cold wanted in and there was little anyone could do to stop its advance.

His bear skin blanket lay atop his heavily muscled body. His back and arms were tired from hours of work. His mind was tired from hours of walking through a past he'd rather forget. More than all else, in this moment, he felt dirty, smelled of steel dust, and wanted to just sleep. Slowly, his storm-cloud grey eyes began to close under his heavy brow and the brute began to snore softly.

Fog cleared before him as he stepped up the stone steps of a bathhouse. His usual shabby skins and fur clothes were miraculously replaced by finer skins and furs. His dirty bear skin cloak was no longer dirty and was clasped by a fine silver chain. His long unkempt hair was brushed and rested on his shoulders while his thick beard seemed properly trimmed and combed. The sword on his hip was of excellent work and adorned with an ivory pommel. He was himself, but far removed from the man he had become. In his dream filled mind it was as it should be. Nothing seemed remotely out of place.

The doors of the bath house opened of their own accord as he approached and steam from hot waters within breathed into his face nearly soliciting a smile from his weathered face. He entered and smelled the mild perfumes in the steam and quickly found a square stone pool pf steaming water. He saw no one. No servants. No attendants. He was utterly alone in front of hot clean water. It was everything he could ask for. He casually removed his cloak and boots as he glanced around the large room. Stone pillars rose from the polished floor to the ceiling and his mind immediately thought of a good place to be ambushed by a smart assassin. He pushed the thought back as he removed his sword belt and placed it well within reach. His skin shirt was pulled over his head and folded before being dropped atop of his cloak. His trousers followed suit and he stretch for a moment his body naked in the mist of the room. It felt like a dream come true as he stepped slowly down the steps of the stone pool and quickly dipped his head beneath the hot waters. For a moment he simply let the heat work into his body before his head rose again above the water's surface. He blew water from his face and wiped it from his beard before pushing the long hair from his face and sitting on a low stone step. He had needed this and he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

[Faith Augustin]

She slept on the floor of the undertaker's shop where she lived and worked. It was not comfortable, but it was all she had ever known so she did not mind it in the slightest and she had skipped sleep the night before so she fell quickly into a deep sleep. Jamal had kept her awake the night before and she was tired and she ached from the exercises he had given her to maintain all night. It had been a busy few trials in the undertakers and she welcomed the sleep as it wrapped her in forgetting.

Every bit of her ached.

So, perhaps she fell into a dream of bathing because a hot steaming bath would take away the aches and soothe her tired body. As she walked up the bathhouse steps, she did not consider it really, she was just very grateful that Jamal had allowed her to have such a luxury. She wasn't sure that she had ever experienced such before.

Up the steps and into the building proper. There were no attendants and no servants, just a bath that was steaming. It was so steamed up that she could barely see, in fact. But that did not matter, she knew what she had to do. The young woman who walked in was short in stature, barely five foot five, with long black hair and pale skin. Not that she was visible in any way through the steam, she certainly couldn't see more than a hand in front of her. She took off her clothing, folding it carefully and meticulously, putting it to one side where she could find it.

And then she stepped into the bath. The hot water was warm and she sat down and stretched out her legs, wiggling her toes... which touched with someone else's toes.

And, as is the way of dreams sometimes, the fog cleared and Faith saw the man opposite her. She opened her eyes wide and lowered herself into the water fully. Still, her slave brand showed on her neck and that was the one that was more recent than the one on her shoulder, currently hidden. The girl in front of Kal was young, maybe 18 or a little younger, with pale skin and dark hair. Her eyes were a piercing silver grey and she looked rather surprised to see him. "Hello" she said, her voice quiet and hushed, like they might be in a library "I am Faith. It's... It's a pleasure to meet you". And inwardly she hit a state of panic as she wondered who was going to stand up first.

[Kal]

His head lay back on the side of the large bath pool as the warmth slowly soaked into his tired muscles. The warm mist swirled before his face as he closed his eyes and dared to relax for a moment. Everything was as he had imagined one of these bathhouses to be. He drew in a breath and filled his lungs with the sweet warm air. His arms stretched along the edges of the bath as his tree trunk legs stretched out toward the center of the bath. He drew back quickly as his toes touch something far from stone beneath the water. His hand shot for his sword as he began to stand upon the submerged seat he had just vacated. With a sudden haste the mist cleared and he was left standing knee deep in the pool as he stared into the eyes of a young woman.

Her eyes struck him first as he stared with half confusion half curiosity. Her girl's eyes looked as if the silver gray mist of moments before had been swallowed by her irises and held fast by white clouds. It took a moment to grasp that she had spoken as he stood and tried to comprehend how he could have missed her arrival.

"Kalous," he replied to her timid introductio. It was only then that he realized he was quite exposed as he stood before her. His eyes looked down briefly at his situation and returned himself quickly beneath the water so only his head and neck could be seen. He looked at her not embarrassed about his nakedness but certainly for being exposed before a woman much younger than he, unless her eyes were a mark of some mystical being of course.

"I thought I was alone." he continued as he fought with his unpracticed manners, "I, apologize."

He sat back against the aide of the bath as he looked anywhere but at the young woman. His scar riddled body looking for all the world as if it housed a nervous boy rather than the weathered man that he was. It was then that he noticed the slave brand upon her neck as he chanced a glance her way. He couldn't like slavery but dor her to be here she either would have to have a kind master or be employed here. Which it was wpuld be the question.

[Faith Augustin]

Oh and that dealt with the question of who was standing up first. Faith looked at him as he stood and she smiled slightly, politely. She had seen a lot of naked bodies in her time, as an undertaker it was part of the job. But this was her first alive naked body, and it was definitely her first male alive body. Wasn't it strange what gravity did to people, she considered. Most odd. But really, her concern was that he grabbed a sword. And as he stood up, she hunkered down, sinking down into the water as low as she could without disappearing under as he grabbed for his sword and stood there, stark staring naked.

He realised his predicament and he sat back down in the water, so she re-appeared, shoulders and head at least. And he apologised. Faith looked at him and she opened her mouth to speak, to tell him that it was fine, not a worry. But instead, a giggle escaped from her lips. An actual, child like giggle. Faith looked at Kalous and she looked at his face and she laughed. Strange to say, in that dream in that moment, she laughed in a way that she had never laughed in the waking world. Because his face... his face was just...

"I am so sorry, master, please.. please forgive me?" she asked, tears of mirth falling down her cheeks and her voice hiccupping in delight. "I don't.. I didn't mean... oh no" she waved a hand at him, trying to make him stop looking like that. Maybe it was the fumes, she considered. "My apologies" she said, trying her very best to not laugh any more and, mostly, managing it.

Sitting back in the warm water and feeling it lapping over her skin, Faith leant backwards and relaxed a little. It was a wonderful experience and she wondered just how it was that Jamal had allowed her to do this. It was not like him. That led to her having some suspicions and she opened one eye rather lazily. Yes, he was still there. That was probably a good thing, if he'd snuck off in the time that she closed her eyes it might mean that he was an assassin or a member of some elite force who had decided to end slavery once and for all, by the simple expedient of killing all the slaves. That would make sense, she considered.

But nope, he was still there. Phew. "Did Jamal send you?" she asked, frowning thoughtfully "Is this a test of some kind?" after all, that was far more likely in the young woman's mind than any consideration of Jamal just letting her have a soak in the bath. Unthinkingly, the young girl bounced her toes against his.