Lament of the Slave

Chapter 127: Arcane

Explaining why I needed another tub of clean, hot water was awkward, and it made me feel more bedraggled than I was. What pissed me off was the attitude of the bathhouse owner. My little incident with the dagger in my gut meant more coin in his pocket, and the fucker didn't even try to hide his glee. Worse, he had the audacity to tell me I got what I paid for, nothing more.

Not having the strength to argue with him that the crazy bitch with the knife wasn't what I bought, I decided to let his strange remark pass, paid off another 30 coppers, and this time enjoyed my bath.

After all, this bloody mess and unexpected expense had one upside. I was no longer in a hurry.

Of course, Aspen expected me to be there at the appointed time, which made me feel a little guilty, but now I had an excellent excuse to take my time. And I did.

***

"You're late, Korra!" These were Aspen's first words when I walked into the training room in the barracks. Nothing surprising. I was. And I had a good excuse for my tardiness.

"Well, you see..."

"You were attacked. Yeah, I heard," she said, not letting me finish my well-rehearsed justification for my delay.

She knew? I didn't find it strange that no guard escorted me out of the bathhouse when I knew Sah was doing his job. Although, honestly, he could have been a bit quicker. Yeah, they told me at the gate that he wanted to talk to me after my lesson, but I didn't expect them to tell Aspen.

She was no longer a city guard, just a slave like I used to be.

On the other hand, she was under a strong Geas and was my teacher of magic. From that angle, it made sense that she was briefed.

"Did that little wound hinder you so much that I had to wait here for half an hour?!"

I really took my sweet time in that hot water, didn't I? "Aspen, that bitch stabbed me in the guts. I couldn't walk around the city bleeding."

"Oh, come on. I know how good your regeneration is. You must have stopped bleeding within minutes."

Damn it! She knew me too well. "Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept you waiting, and I know that. I-I just...I needed it. I mean, to get my head straight, relax a bit. Seriously, who attacks a woman when she's taking a bath?"

Stupid question, isn't it? How many movies have I seen where the shadow of a murderer with a knife in his hand appeared behind the shower curtain of a victim taking her sweat time? Way too many times. What can I say? I simply didn't think this kind of stuff would ever happen to me.

Adjusting the collar around her neck, Aspen clicked her tongue and frowned. "It has nothing to do with whether you have tits on your chest or a cock between your legs. If someone wants to attack you, that is the best time besides when you're sleeping...No. Sorry, I take it back. An even better time to catch you off guard than a bath is when your pants are down."

"You mean...?"

"Yeah," she nodded, smirking and making it look like it was obvious. "When you're squatting down with your panties at your ankles doing your business. Few people focus on anything else at that moment. Surely, you shouldn't have to worry about something like that in an ideal world, and most of the common folk don't have to. That is if they have nothing that others might be interested in. Or unless they pissed somebody off."

"That bitch was talking about a message for Deckard, though."

"Or that. Your mentor vexed a lot of people in Castiana. Both as a lieutenant in the City Guard and as a seeker. To their annoyance, he was too strong for them to get at him. Now he has a weakness."