I May Fall

"Marley. Marley no!"

All he got from the wyvern was a rumbling groan and disobedience. The huge lizard settled his serpentine bulk atop the bathhouse, his head landing heavily on one steamy vent. Crowe tugged in the reigns to no avail. The wyvern was insistent upon enjoying himself in the waning sunlight.

Sighing, the man slid off the lizard's back to take in the damage. To his mild amusement, Marley had landed lightly enough to leave little trace. Settling on the edge of the rooftop, Crowe peered across the bay, spying merfolk attendants in the waters far below. The sound of woman's voices drew his attention and he peered around for the source. 

It appeared that Marley had chosen the women's bathhouse and the air corpsman couldn't help his grin.

But he wasn't fifteen anymore. He focuses his eyes on the horizon, enjoying the sunset as well. 

That didn't last long. His only warning was another groan from the lazy lizard laying behind him and then he was flying. As he plummeted, turning end over end he spied the wyvern's tail disappearing over the edge of the roof, and silently cursed his lack of foresight. Marley could be a thrasher sometimes.

Instinct from his flight training had him calm, turning himself over and preparing for impact with the water. Suddenly, all was noise and darkness, and he kicked until he thought he saw light on his eyelids.

Surfacing, the man sputtered and coughed, water running into his eyes. Bobbing on the waves, he divined that he'd fallen into one of the expansive bathing pools, the heated water soaking into his flight gear. A thousand curses bloomed in his mind as he struggled for the rocky shore, until he heard splashing behind him.

"Sorry, sorry!" Crowe called, pulling himself up into the rocks. "I got knocked off the roof, bad stuff, I'll be out of here in a sec..." Sitting back he began to undo the leather straps keeping his flight gear fastened to his body, only looking up when he'd stripped to his undershirt. 

He stopped mid-motion, his eyes widening, breath catching in his throat. Ciaphas stood at the other end of the pool, stripped to the waist, body glistening with water. In spite of being soaking wet, his mouth went dry. Even when she was glowering at him. /Especially/ since she was glowering at him.

"Uh..." He croaked, "Hi."

----

Ciaphas didn't often get away from the rules and responsibilities of the office, but the few occasions that she did were the ones that she enjoyed the most of all.  Her position afforded her a few benefits, and the occasionally complimetary bathhouse visit was one of them, so she decided to spend her late afternoon soaking in the steaming water and not worrying about the fact that the Ischoron investigation had turned up some strange news, or that Arken was getting unreasonably attached to the case, or that some troubling reports from Ember had caused a stir in the council, or that the merchants were demanding lower property rental taxes, or anything of that.

Not a single part.

After removing her bulky armor and underclothes, she'd taken her sword and a towel and headed out to the women's section, looking for a quiet, private part of the pools.  It took a minute or so of travel, but the baths were not that full today, so she managed to find an isolate spot in one of the higher pools.  The tall walls surrounding the place blocked out unwanted gaze, but the view on the lower parts of the city was splendid.