Rose's Faerie Tale

Death

The girls and the Elven Lady led her to a room that she had not realized was adjacent to her own, pushing aside a beautifully detailed tapestry to reveal a smaller more elegant door. Once inside, She found herself faced with a room that was lit by more candles than she had ever seen in her entire life!

The room was made of what Rose thought might have been the things that made up the skin of bubbles. It was all translucent looking, and her reflection looked distorted as she followed the lady to a bath that was large enough for several of the kids in the village to have swam in at one time.

The water inside was clear and scented, like jasmine and ginger. The lady looked at the two girls that had accompanied her to begin with. They began to tug on Rose's dress.

"Whoa! Hey!" she protested, clutching her dress, "I can undress myself, you know." she said. Her face was bright red.

The 'girl' that she had caught a glimpse of looked at her. She looked youthful again now that Rose looked at her eye to eye. "We're here to help you cleanse yourself of the filth that the mortal world has left on you, Lady." she said respectfully, "Allow us to assist you with this." she said.

Staring at the beautiful woman in a ghastly manner, Rose couldn't help the indignant sound that escaped her throat, "The.. the filth?" she inquired with a hard voice.

"Everything in this palace is of our world. The world you come from is a place that we have nothing to do with. Neither the dust from your feet, nor the plain garb that you are dressed in. We will give you clean robes and a warm bath. They will relax you and make you feel better."

Not knowing if she should press the matter further and insult her host and company, or just shut up, Rose chose to be silent. She blushed, and nodded, "That's cool and all, but I'd really rather undress my own self, if you please." she said with the most politeness she could muster. The girl who had a hold of the dress that she was wearing hesitated, but released Roses clothing.

The three of them stood there as Rose slowly undressed herself. She blushed, as she stood there in her bra and underwear. She knew that this was so very wrong on so many more levels than she cared to take note of, but the two girls and the lady approached her, and looked her over.

The Lady looked down at one of the girls, "Dearling. Bring us the red oil for her hair. Better to bring her colouring out." the girl nodded, "And bring her robes so that she does not need remain nude when she is finished." Rose didn't miss the laughing sound that had escaped with the last little bit of the phrase.

The girl nodded, "Yes, Lady Erol." she said sweetly. She disappeared in a spark of what Rose might have mistaken for a soundless firecracker. She stared in wonder as the Lady approached her. "Get in the water, Lady." she coaxed, "So that we might bathe the filth from you."

Rose made a face as she got into the bath. She kept her bra and underwear on. "You make it sound like being Mortal is a bad thing." she said with a little bit of coldness in her voice.

The woman smiled equally coldly, "Perhaps for you it is not, but if we must welcome morte into our own homes, we must make it seem much more pleasing."

'morte?' Rose thought, she scrunched her face as the woman began to pour warm water over her hair. At first, she crunched up her eyes so that she wouldn't have water in them, but she slowly realized that it never went any further than her hairline, and she began to relax.

"Morte?" she asked, "You mean.. death?" she hesitated at that final word, "I don't understand what you mean." she confessed. The other girl that remained, passed her a cream coloured washcloth. There was what Rose presumed to be soap on it, and she began to wash herself.