Solo Soothing Sounding Waters

[Zandelia]

Spring 15th, 515 AV - Zastoska Bath House


Zeltiva was an admirable city from what she had seen of it so far, she had no issues comprehending why its citizens were so proud of both it and their collective achievements, it rivalled the best of the cities she had visited in her time – Ravok and Nyka. Syliras was notably a bastion of civilization as far as its propaganda informed but she was no sure it came close to the cultural freedoms that Zeltiva possessed. It was, to her mind, a more developed version of Sunberth – minus, so far as she had seen, the commonplace violence and death. No doubt it existed somewhere within the ancient buildings and she had not yet observed it – cities were never pure and simple things. Still, she had heard tell of a place that showed her that creature comforts were common place and that was well and good by her. It had taken her some time to find it despite its size but as she walked across the threshold she found herself whistling as her neck craned upwards.

Balconies and glistening mosaics that must have come from a bygone era but had been maintained well enough to shine with the patterns of the reflected pools of water. Her gaze slipped around, drinking it all in eagerly enough that if she had tried the water she'd likely have drowned. She patted her armour and scraped her boots on the steps as if by bringing dirt within she was somehow committing a form of vandalism. An unnecessary precaution no doubt but she was not comfortable enough yet to know that she was doing the right thing and impressions were what stuck in the minds of others. She pressed on in and soon enough there was a young attendant, smartly dressed and presentable, approaching her with an ingratiating smile.

“Would you like me to provide you with some tea for your visit madame? And somewhere to store your belongings?” she asked, her voice musical and obviously rehearsed well.

“No one has called me madame who hasn't been under the age of ten, please don't make me feel older than I am. My name is Zandelia and tea would be appreciated. Don;t worry, you can store my things soon as I get out of them”

“Of course Zandelia, as you wish. Will you be partaking of our private baths today? They are quite affordable and very discreet?” the girl offered as she kept to Zandelia's side as she walked further inwards.

“Public is fine, people interest me. Gazes do not bother me, you get used to it where I'm from. So, is this place often filled?”

“We are proud to say that the Zastoska Bathhouse is always in use, we get many here for the relaxing packages on offer. Massage is a staple that you are sure to enjoy”

“And I'm sure others come here just to socialize also, oh thank you dear,” she took the cup of tea from another assistant who gifted and departed quickly, “surely this cultural marvel would be good for any number of thing? Business and the like, no?”

“Are you new to Zeltiva then Zandelia?”

“That obvious is it?” she tried for her disarming grin as she went about her questioning, seeking out the hubs of information in the city that she would need.

“Forgive me but if you ask that question you must be,” the girl smiled slightly in return, “we have many businessmen enter here for their own purposes. I am not at liberty to discuss our client's personal affairs”

“Of course not, of course not. I am sorry that I pried. I'm just so...so...interested. This is a wonderful city. I can see me settling in well is all and I want to know all that I can. I will get out of your way, you surely have duties. Where can I change?” she asked as she blew delicately upon the top of the dark brown liquid.

“Just through there,” the assistant indicated the direction, “please ask if you need anything. We are here to serve” the girl bowed and departed to another group now arriving behind them.

So, businessmen. And where there are those there is always business. An interesting yet appealing place to seek titbits. Regular too given the location. Good she told herself as she made her way to the room that had been pointed out to her.

She was quick with taking off her clothing, her armour first and the rest coming easier. She spent some time just sitting upon a stone bench of exquisite craftsmanship, sipping her tea and enjoying the warmth that it brought. She was in no rush, not to mention she was in a foreign city that she wanted to learn. She paid particular notice of the acoustics, she could hear a garble of spoken words just from where she were sitting and that meant if she found the right place she could listen in as best she could. She had to admit to herself that a peaceful city opened up many possibilities that had not been open to her in the city of bloody defiance.

She pushed herself up and took herself into the main area of public bathing. She took a towel along the way and simply threw it across her shoulders as she walked and explored.

[Zandelia]

She began to circle the main pool, picking her way through the crowds with one ear open just in case, however she was not truly interested in what they were talking about at this juncture. Instead she was listening to the way the ripples of sound ebbed and flowed, how they were stronger in some places and weaker elsewhere – it paid to know where one could talk in confidence and when one could not. She was certain others would know this instinctively after living in the city for so long but she was new. She had no assurances that anything would come of her visits here – beyond cleanliness and relaxation – but she was nothing is not thorough. At any rate it was a useful exercise and that was enough for her. She drew a few looks as she walked and sipped her tea, no doubt being a foreigner and a decently attractive and naked woman were the main motives behind the stares. She paid them no mind.

She didn't belabour the exercise though, she stopped after one circuit so as not to appear like a complete fool and sought out a nice spot to sit and relax for a time. She had marked out a place towards the rear of the pool where the sound seemed to meet the most, what pieces of it she had made out were fractured but with practise and forethought she was confident that would be improved. She slipped into the waters, the towel upon the stone behind her, and relaxed into the steaming waters. Just the right temperature to ease her muscles and bones of a portion of the troubles she had faced. She closed her eye and sighed deeply between finishing off her cup. She was about to place that upon the stones behind her too when an attendant approached and took it from her fingers.

“Thank you lass” she stated and getting a small nod in return before being left alone once more.

The service was decent she had to admit as she let her head slip under the waters and soaked the last dry portion of herself in the glowing warmth of serenity. Coming up she raked her hair back and grinned broadly as she began to scrub at her body with her hands to remove the majority of her ruffian like scruffiness. It was slightly depressing how clean she began to feel and how quickly – a ship journey clearly had that effect. Fallon had talked about sailing the continent and exploring them yet she clearly had not thought about how much they would stink as they came into each port. The thought made her chuckle as she braced her arms on the sides of the pool and let her legs drift where they would. She was getting more than a few glances now, perhaps it was the eye she reasoned. Disfigurement might be low in Zeltiva given their advancement perhaps.

“Excuse me my dear,” came a voice from a few feet away and to her left, she had to twist her neck to get the person into view, a youthful boy with a broad smile, “I can't help but notice that I have not seen you here before? A traveller perhaps or someone moving up in the world?”

“Few men have 'my deared' me and lived to enjoy it, I have a name. Should have opened with that if you were wanting to break the ice, personalization is half of the battle when talking to others” she returned, noting with enjoyment that his smile slipped slightly but gave him begrudging respect at the fact he had it back within moments.

“Of course, forgive me. My name is Gareth, and yours would be?”

“Zandelia, nice to meet you Gareth. See? Much better, received a positive response”

“Indeed. Yet I can't help but notice that you did not answer the question. Is rudeness appropriate where you are from?”

“Hah! Nice try but I'll bite. Where I come from rudeness isn’t so much present as skipped altogether. Sunberthians tend to get right to the point of the matter. Or perhaps I am a pauper now possessed of standing? Perhaps you have not seen me here before because I could not afford it? Or perhaps you have seen me but not noticed?” she continued as she flicked her gaze to a group of three youths behind Gareth who were watching them and hushed whispers and guffaws were being exchanged rapidly between them.

Ah...there we go. The old chestnut. Hello, how are you today? Enjoying the bath? My what nice breasts you have! I told my friends there you were a beauty worth getting to know...urgh....children she told herself within the privacy of her skull, keeping her small smile up as she waited for his response.

“I would have remembered I'm sure, you are not the usual customer. So, traveller or pauper? You're too healthy for a pauper so I pick traveller. Am I wrong?”

“You're not wrong, but not right either”

“Wh-what? Forgive me Zandelia but it seems you are being duplicitous”

“Perhaps I am but then so are you. Look, I'll save us both the effort of painful discussion. Go, tell your friends that we are going out later on today once I've had the chance to dress up for you. No, we didn't sleep together after but you can tell them whatever you like other than that. If I find that you have broken that trust through pride I will visit here every day and make sure the truth comes out. Now please, laugh at a joke I just said and leave me to peaceful bathing” she told him with a grin and then burst out into a chiming laugher – he had sense enough to follow along if a bit unconvincingly and left her be to return to the boys a conquering hero of seduction.

She shook her head and set about doing what she had come here to do, spend her time assessing and weighing the possibilities.

[Zandelia]

As she watched she saw nothing but pure reflected truth from the attendants words spoken at her threshold greeting. There were a varied number of customers from what looked like mostly the middling classes of the city. She was sure that the rich would likely have their own arrangements but the way others walked, their state of health and varies ages told her that the Bath House was clearly a social hub of much convenience for many. Despite her reservations about the wealthy though she did hear a number of titles echoed here and there, clearly marking some clientèle out as important city members. She raised an eyebrow at that, perhaps it would be easier to get her fingers on the pulse of Zeltiva than she had assumed. They all talked, all gathered in little groups at first and then spread out to talk to others whom – she had to assume – they either knew or thought were of similar stock. She noted a number of groups that looked to be in heated discussion, unable to discern whether it was personal business or a discussion of other things, perhaps wider matters of note in the city, she put both on her mental list.

“I'm telling you, it's over now. We can move on-”

“Horrible, it was horrible-”

“I never thought it could happen-”

A few snippets of conversation slid her way indicative of the fact that Zeltiva had potentially suffered of late, that interested her and piqued her curiosity. She doubted from what was being said it was still ongoing for the majority of people but the fact that something, whatever it was, had rocked the city was a reminder that even in a paradise there were dangers. It was something she could do with being reminded of and might lead her to some discoveries in her explorations and questionings. She needed to know how things stood in the wider scheme if she were to settle and make a living here for however long was required. A poor information artist would she be if she didn't know the current events and what had led to them. Fallon had mentioned a library and that would give her a deeper understanding of the city's past but the people were always the keys to the present.

So they talk about pretty much everything here, a very sociable people if you fit in it seems. If not, well better not get to that stage. I can ingratiate as well as the rest of them. Would help if I managed to actually integrate into the society, where else would be good to do that? she asked herself, returning to the basics.

It was almost painful, dragging up that sense of failure and defeat once more at the prospect of having to begin anew. She remembered telling herself that she would give up had Sunberth failed and failed it had. Yet she just couldn't escape the draw, it was addictive in its hold upon her. There was no way she could change who she was, she had spent too long being a spider to be a bird. She sighed a listed them all in her mind – taverns, markets, libraries, temples and more. Each would provide differing facets of what she required, She could feel her muscles tensing at the coming uphill struggle, the trek into the known but not known. She hated beginning again, hated it. Yet it was required and she would weather the storm once more. She pushed herself up and out of the water, rolling her shoulders and rubbing them to ease them. Massage tables, there were massages.

“Sounds good to me” she muttered as she picked up her towel and patted herself as dray as she could before seeking them out with her gaze.

The balconies seemed to hold them she noted, that meant stairs. At that moment of eased and cleaned body she hated stairs too.

[Zandelia]

There were not many for her to ascend if truth be told, towel now wrapped around her and folded in on itself to save what little modesty she had left in her, yet they seemed so difficult after warming her muscles that it took her some time indeed. She remembered how Fallon had told her to take better care of herself and she was now appreciating she should have listened. The healing wound on her abdomen still remained, mostly gone now and stitches pulled out but still complaining. An angry and unpleasant addition to her body but there had been no choice at the time. It was a small price to pay for the other's safety in her opinion but at that moment as she found footing at the top she wished she had been quicker.

“Age catches up with us all it seems”

“Oh you are not so old as that now, a fine figure of a woman if a bit...tender” came the smooth words of a woman who looked much the same age as herself.

“That's what they tell me, doesn't stop Tanroa's little jests”

“Very well spoken,” came a throaty laugh in response, “and what can we do for you miss...”

“Zandelia, the name's Zandelia. And you are?”

“Anelda, I run this establishment. Quite well I like to say”

“Agreed, and what's on offer here?”

“We have many packages available for those with the coin. Come, peruse” a slip was passed to her and she looked it over, there was no deciding really.

“I'll take the lot”

“Full body? Of course, it will soothe and relax you as you have never felt before”

“Bold claim”

“Not unfounded, come, take to this table and I will see what can be done about your troubles”

She was ushered to a nearby table and she thankfully took up a seat. With further instruction she was told how she should lay and settled down onto her front with a slight wince that was forgotten as soon as the padded luxury she was upon enveloped her. She was unaware of what was happening around her beyond the satisfied sounds the clientèle were making, a mark that reassured her she was going to be well cared for. She heard the shuffling around of Anelda's feet, it was as if she were being assessed though there was no physical contact at first just the sounds of accumulated relaxation. There were small probing soon enough though, testing her body out she presumed as the towel was folded across the lower half of her body and she shut her eye to enjoy what was to come.

“You must be a traveller from elsewhere with this amount of burden Zandelia, you have much that needs to be done I can tell you that. Was the journey difficult?” came the words as if from a distance, echoing what she had been thinking for the past few bells quite succinctly.

“No, the journey was not. The leaving was” she responded, she felt not need to keep that secret as anyone could find out she had arrived at the docks recently.

“Sad to leave?”

“Yes and no,” she mumbled between the blissful strokes of palm and finger, “I was forced to, sort of”

“Forced? Who would force you?”

“Oh about half of Sunberth apparently. I was not well liked. Unfair I say”

“Surely if so many wanted you gone there was a fair reason for it? Though I find it difficult to think even in Sunberth one person could become some reviled by so many” the mental probing continued along with the physical.

“You know that they say about making enemies”

“I do not, please enlighten me”

“If you want to make enemies you try to change something. Works like a charm”

“What did you try to change?”

“Everything. Everything”

“Everything?”

“Well...just the bad bits. Slavery. Killing. Exploitation. More”

“Surely they should love you for that?”

“That's what I said! Ungrateful. But there it is”

“Why did you try?”

“You mean why did I care?”

“If you like Zandelia”

“Well,” she sighed and winced as a particularly difficult knot was found and worked in her shoulder, “no one else was. I am tired of bullies and thugs. Wanted to leave something positive before I died”

“You have many years”

“Now I do. There I had maybe three, if I was lucky”

“It hurt you that they didn't want your help?”

“You figure?”

“I have been...watching you. You were a curiosity. You walked in as if you owned the Bath House and set about looking as much like a beleaguered foreigner as you could”

“Thank you...I think?”

“My point is that perhaps it hurts now but you are here now. With such ideals surely you could find a place of worth here?”

“Maybe. Depends if this city runs me out first too”

There was laughter behind her and she had to snort at the words herself. She was not sure why she was talking but she was slowly unwinding, a tightly coiled spring at breaking point being teased back to its natural shape. It seemed right that the woman working for that goal was given some friendly conversation out of it. She sighed and closed her eye, trying to push back the awful feelings that were raised in her by the memories – best that they were forgotten.

[Zandelia]

“I doubt that will happen to an honest heart, this city accommodates those who wish to help others. It is a strength that we possess perhaps that Sunberth does not?”

“Does counselling come free or do I pay for that?”

“We seek to ease the burdens of our clients, all of them,” there was a smile Zandelia imagined, there must have been with that tone of voice, “if that means telling a story, playing the harp or just talking then that is what I do. And we always need other helpers to help others if they have it in them”

“Nice sentiment, I wish that I could see it. I really do”

“Perhaps you are not looking in the right places,” there was a pause then and the hands sadly retreated, “look at them all. They all have problems. You think because the city is prosperous that the people do not struggle, in their own way?” Zandelia leant up and looked upon them all before she was pushed back down.

As her muscles were worked upon, her back and shoulders pretty much useless to her at this point due to their deep state of ease, she thought through the suggestion. It seemed like a suggestion, though perhaps she was looking where there were naught but pretty words. She was clearly a woman of age and experience, much like herself, so she was worth listening to she knew. However, it was still a strange idea, that perhaps she had been setting up all wrong. Of course Anelda had no idea what kind of person she was but she must have seen hundreds like her in her time running the bath house. She was rolled onto her front after the back of her legs were done and Anelda frowned at the cut there, healing but still she traced it with her fingers and was clearly checking for infection.

Satisfied the masseuse moved back into probing sore muscle and gusto, her arms must surely have been tired by now but she didn't seem to show it. A strange woman indeed, hardened by time perhaps but not in her spirit. What had she got to lose? She had no home or job, though Fallon has said something about getting them somewhere to sleep that was proper. She needed food and apparently no one got that in Zeltiva without working somewhere seen as 'registered'. She could hardly stalk the streets with the guards at night and hope to stumble across secrets galore and intrigue she could use to profit by. Perhaps, in some ways, she should just settle for something simpler – for now. Build up and slip in sideways, cutting out the middle men and the grunts.

“Does your silence mean I have offended, or that you think what I said was incorrect?” came the blunt question.

“I shall...think upon it. I am open to such pretty ideals but life has taught me that they don't last long. Perhaps Zeltiva will be...better”

“Good, now be quiet and relax”

From there she complied quite happily, the next while spent in pure enjoyment as she felt her physical troubles eased away expertly, so much so that by the end she felt she was in a different body form the one she had entered the bath house in. She thanked Anelda profusely and paid in full for what she had been given. She paid a little extra, fifteen gold in all, before gathering herself and making her way back out into the city refreshed and revitalized. Not so much a new perspective but the seed of an idea within her was twisting to seek the required light to flourish. The day had come where she had found something of note in the new city, beyond her usual experience. A bath house as both place of healing and potential information. It had been a good day indeed as she set out to find Fallon and give her the largest smile she was capable of giving.

[Perplexity]

You have played well, but the game is at an end.

You have been bested. Beaten. Checkmate!

However, here is a consolation prize: a wealth of Experience and Lores! If you have any questions or concerns regarding this grade, please do not hesitate to send me a PM. I'll be more than happy to assist you!

 

Zandelia

XP

• Acting | +1 EXP
  Investigation | +2 EXP
  Intimidation | +1 EXP

LORES

• Acting: The Disarming Smile
  The Zastoska Bathhouse: A Hub of Business…And Information
  Zastoska Bathhouse: Services Provided
  Intelligence: The Usefulness of Loud and Quiet Places
  Gareth: Inquisitive Youth
  Anelda: Owner of Zastoska Bathhouse
  Anelda: Skilled Masseur
  Anelda: A Woman of Curious Words

MISCELLANEOUS

• If Sass were a skill that I could award, Zandelia would have gotten +5.

Until Our Next Match,
-Perplexity, DS of Zeltiva
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