Autumn's Fire

Autumn's Fire: Chapter 6

Since I was unable to make it to the bath house the day before, I woke up and immediately got ready to go. I threw on a dress, pulled my hair up, and grabbed my bath house basket which included a towel, a hair clip, some sandals, and some soapwort* powder for washing. While the bath house did offer scented soapwort powder, it tended to be slightly expensive, so everyone always just grew and dried their own soapwort. Basket in hand, I headed out the door and down the road towards the bath house. The bath house itself was nice, as it had lofty ceilings and was the only other building in the village made of stone. But unfortunately, it was a bit of a walk as it sat on the other side of town next to the river, so if you headed out after bathing without completely drying your legs or without covering them, they didn't stay clean for very long. The bath house did have a lounge area, though, so I always just relaxed there until I was sure I was dry.

Not many people went there this early in the morning, so when I walked up to the bath house it was completely silent, save for the sign above the door creaking softly in the wind. Inside, Erafel sat behind her desk, her head slumped down on the back of her chair as she snored softly. I chuckled softly, and wrote a note in her check in book for moments like these when she would accidentally fall asleep. Despite Leanans, also known as Water Fairies, not being nocturnal, Erafel was always more of a night owl, her attached house staying lit up through all hours of the night. I even overheard Mr. Quiriac once joke to his husband that she went through more candles and lamp gas in a month than the entire village combined. But everyone respected her quite highly since she chose our little village to make a bath house, and while bath houses weren't uncommon, there were certainly other villages that weren't so lucky and had to bathe openly in their rivers or lakes. Many families, mine included, also had deals with Erafel to simply subtract from her tab every time they used the bath house instead of having to pay each time; which everyone certainly appreciated.

I finished writing my name and the time in the book, and ducked behind the red curtain into the women's side. The first room was simply a lounge area with cubies along the far wall to put clothes and other belongings in. I got undressed and put up everything except my soapwort powder. Then, I headed into the bathing area which was split into two sections. One, were a series of stools and water stones with a drain in the center of the floor for washing before heading into the other section, which was a large heated bath supplied with water from the river. The bath was continually maintained by Erafel who cleaned it with water magic once an hour; and though this wasn't technically needed since everyone cleaned themselves before going into the water, Erafel always insisted that it made her feel better knowing that her customers had the cleanest baths possible.

After getting cleaned up, I went over to the bath and let myself relax in the hot water. The bath itself had a massive fire plate as its bottom, and when activated, it would heat the water for up to 10 hours. I had always loved the heat of the bath, and often I would end up staying in until my head felt fuzzy from the heat. I was tempted to do so again that day, but about 30 minutes into relaxing, I heard someone else come into the changing area. I sighed and stretched as I got out of the bath, and took a moment to wipe any excess water off of me with my hands. Once I had gotten enough of it off, I stepped back into the lounge area intending to go to my cubby. But at the cubies, putting her things away, was Thali. I bit my lip softly, she hadn't noticed me yet, and the thought occurred to me that I could try to hide in the bath area until she was busy cleaning herself and then sneak out. I was genuinely considering this option, but I waited too long, and she turned around.

"Oh, hey. Did you just get done?" Thali asked, clearly still uncomfortable about the last time we had talked. I nodded and silently headed to my cubby. She paused for a moment, opening her mouth as though she was about to say something, but quickly changed her mind and walked back into the bathing area.