In Your Eyes: Empyrean Admonition

You Swim with Alhaitham (Female Perspective)

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This chapter has a NSFW part. If you prefer to read this without the smut, you can check: https://hoyo.link/80GCFBAL?q=22vZVNWFi1j

SFW version is gender neutral.

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Shimti Tribe, Debris of Panjvahe, Desert of Hadramaveth, Great Red Sand, Sumeru

"I erm... I will stay," you mumble.

"Hah, my charm works every time. Let me talk to Sawan about our accommodations," Alhaitham says while smiling smugly.

"You fell for that?! You seriously fell for that?" Kaveh exclaims, "Just look at his smug face, like a rishboland tiger with prey in front of it. Ugh, whatever. Both of you take care, alright?"

You nod as you help him clear the table, you can't help it because seeing Alhaitham acting cute is worth it. Once both of you are done, you walk with Kaveh towards the nearest Teleport Waypoint.

"I'm good from here," Kaveh says as he takes your hand. "Good night, sweet dreams I guess."

He leans forward to kiss your forehead and when he is gone, you can hear Alhaitham quickly approaching. The smug look on his face is gone and his lips are curled into a frown before he starts to wipe your forehead.

"Tch, let's head back," he murmurs. "Let's walk towards the other side, far from the main house."

He grabs your hand and walks away briskly and he doesn't talk along the way. Even though it's already a bit late, there's still a lot of people around, some are even drinking in merriment. You hear them talk about random topics but most people converse about the communal baths and your curiosity is clearly written on your face that you whisper abou it to the Scribe. Alhaitham immediately stops to ask someone about it.

The old woman greets, "Guests of the Manci, good evening. The baths are just around the bend. A lot of people must be going out by now and you might need to wait a bit because the aqueduct mechanism changes the pool water."

Alhaitham asks, "Aqueduct mechanism? Is this something done for the Goddess of Flowers?"

"I'd like to believe that she supervised creating it herself and was used by her kingdom before. When the first Manci found this place, she kept it a well guarded secret; however, the recent Manci has allowed guests to use it. Not that I mind though, our Goddess' creation should be appreciated by everyone."

"Interesting," he says as both of you walk away, "Let's start looking around there and make our way back to the main building. The old woman's words can't be trusted but she might be onto something. Why did the recent Manci allow outsiders to use what is probably one of the only monuments regarding Nabu Malikata?"

You are silent as you walk further, and you also notice that other people are walking towards your way so both you and Alhaitham walk opposite the flow of the crowd.

A huge ornate structure is nestled at the cliff wall with a small spring running in front of it. Your footsteps echo as you walk inside the building and since most of the Shimti are done with their bath, there are less people around the lobby area.

"Hello!"

A cheerful lady approaches with two wooden buckets filled with some kind of white clothing and towels. She hands two small bars of soap, probably good for single use, before asking you to sign up in a ledger.