Above the Winter Skies [English Version]

13

I spun around.

"Sorry," I blurted out. "I ... I couldn't stay lying down."

He brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. It was an unexpectedly tender gesture that momentarily threw my heartbeat off rhythm. "You don't need to apologize. This is your home for the next few days, so make yourself comfortable. Are you hungry?"

As if on cue, my stomach growled. Cassiel smiled and placed a hand on my lower back, gently guiding me away from the window.

"I thought as much," he said. "You were brave, Lumi. I really liked that. I had breakfast arranged for us in the dining room."

So that's where he had been. He directed me to the two doors I couldn't place, pointing to the left one. "That's the bathroom if you want to freshen up first. Next to it is the dining room. We can eat first if you prefer. I'll leave the decision to you."

I nodded in relief. "Bathroom sounds good." I was eager to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and tidy up a bit—I felt good, but after yesterday's ordeal, I feared I might look terrible. Plus, I definitely needed to brush my teeth and use the toilet.

Cassiel nodded. "Lyndor made sure you have everything you need. Help yourself. If something is missing, let me know, and I'll make sure you get it. I'll wait for you in the dining room. Take your time, enjoy it."

At the mention of Lyndor, I flinched, but Cassiel seemed not to notice. I hadn't expected to see the young man again, but now it seemed likely. Obviously, he was responsible for maintaining Cassiel's suite and now also for me. Did he already know I was here? Would he be able to put two and two together? And would it still have consequences for him if Cassiel found out that he had revealed the password to me?

I quickly dismissed those thoughts and my guilt, darted into the bathroom, and closed the door behind me. When I turned around, I initially thought I had entered the wrong room, so far was what lay before me from my idea of a bathroom.

In Hjartvik, I had only had a tin bucket in my attic room, which I could fill with icy water from the well. If I didn't want a cold wash, I had to heat water in a pot on the stove and pour it into the bucket to make it at least lukewarm. But when Eldrid denied me access to the kitchen, even that was not possible. And to be honest, she denied me access quite often unless I had to work there. She always justified it by saying she didn't trust me and feared I might steal from her, but I was starting to realize that she might simply have wanted to harass me in that regard as well.

In any case, on many days I had the choice of washing myself in freezing cold water or not at all—and dreaming of a flushing toilet was out of the question. For such things, there was the outhouse behind the house. In short: luxury was the last thing that came to mind regarding my personal hygiene. It was merely a necessary evil, a tedious chore that I wanted to get over with as quickly as possible in the cold.

All these images and thoughts went through my mind as I looked around Cassiel's bathroom, but they were gradually replaced by my fascination. Of course, my bathroom and the communal showers at the dancers' had already been a huge improvement, but this surpassed my wildest dreams.

The room was larger than my former home, larger than my room with the dancers, and every inch of it radiated pure elegance. The floor was made of white marble, cool to my bare feet but not cold. Pleasant.

The walls were covered with tiles in a soft turquoise, reminiscent of the clear water of an exotic ocean. Golden accents adorned the tiles, feathers and floral vines—a pattern that seemed to extend throughout the entire ship, I realized. Although there was no window here, I had the impression that the walls themselves glowed and shimmered as if light were breaking through water. Most of the illumination came from candles resting in small golden wall sconces. Their gentle flicker cast the room in a warm, soothing atmosphere, further enhanced by soft piano music from speakers in the wall.