Book 3, Chapter 14: A Bath at Night
Brin took off my clothes without touching the jewelry. I said to her, “I really can, you know, I really can undress myself.”
“Not very well, you crumple almost every article of clothing you touch.” She shook out the dress violently, then hung it in a nearby wardrobe.
“Well, don’t we have servants to do the ironing anyways?”
“I thought you didn’t like making other people do your work for you.”
“Point in your favor.”
“Again.”
“I won’t say it. Anyways, this’ll be different.” We’d come to the bath. First time I’d bathed with someone since the scarring. Prior to the jewelry, I couldn’t risk anyone see me light up the place. Guards were posted outside, as normal. I wondered what they were talking about. If it was me guarding, I’d be drinking. I’d be an alcoholic guard.
“You’re starting to fill out,” her eyes making me embarrassed, running up and down my now naked figure.
“What do you mean?”
She turned my shoulders toward the soaping stations, with their little wooden seats and ladles and slapped my buttocks.
“Brin!”
“That’s for smacking me in the courtyard.”
“You had clothing on!”
“And it was in front of soldiers!”
“You should have seen your face,” I said. “They got a good chuckle out of it.”
“Anyways, your hips are getting wider and your breasts aren’t soooo tiny anymore. I think you’ll please some of the suitors.”
“Seriously, not something we need to discuss right now. Or ever.” I sat down on the little wooden stool. It had a hole in the seat to drain water and soap away.
“The first one is a thirteen-year-old boy. Can you imagine how little his,” she made the universal sign for tiny penis with her index finger and thumb, “sword is?”
“Oh my god.” I lathered soap into my face, then rinsed it off. “Why oh why are you setting me up with a child?”
“He’s on the list. Of course, you’re going to turn down his being a suitor. But you have to meet his father. And suitors, and your coronation, are the best ways to do so. Lots and lots of meetings in your future, young princess.”
“I don’t get why they can’t just kneel in front of me and swear their allegiance.” I soaped the rest of my body, then turned around to let Brin lather soap on my back.
“Would you swear an oath to someone you’ve never met before?” She poured water down my back, then scooped up a new bucket and dumped it over my head.
“Hey!”
“Getting the soap off you!”
“Oh yeah? Your turn. Turn around.” I rubbed the sudsy face cloth up and down her back, then enjoyed dumping water all over her.
Brin squealed, “The back, the back!”
“One more time then,” whoosh atop her head.
“Ah! You scoundrel!”
We rinsed off, preparing to get into the hot bath. “Hey, want to see something cool?”
“Cool? In a warm bath?”
“No,” I laughed, “I mean interesting. Neat. Nifty! Something to marvel at.”
“Interesting means cool? And neat? And ‘nifty,’ too, I suppose. Where’s that word come from?”
“Just, shush. Check this out.” I slipped off the rings and bracelets of my hands and wrists, placing the jewelry carefully atop the stone.
Brin let out a gasp, “Are you sure you should be doing that?”
Energy began coursing around my arms. I did my meditation trick, calmed myself down and the energy slowed, lazily flowing around and down my arms, into my palms. I cupped my hands together, like a dam, the energy swirling around inside, and I slightly opened my palms. Liquid light, looking like molten metal, poured into the water. No splash, and the pool lit up, blue light dancing against the stone walls and ceiling in the ripples of the water.
“Ooooh, very pretty.”
In a moment, it all dissipated. “Probably safe to go in now.”
“Probably?”
“Well, I never tried this with anyone around. Safe for me, at least!” I slid into the warm waters.
“Maybe you should put your jewelry back on?” Brin tested the water with her finger. Then her toe, her foot. Then entered, carefully.
“One more trick!” Stretching my arms out and holding my palms up, a little white sphere appeared above my head, purple streaks oscillating around it. I pushed gently, and it floated up toward the ceiling, making little circles around the room, throwing light around, creating shadows on the other side of objects that got in the way, ever moving opposite the light as if hiding from it.
I moved over, slipped the jewelry back on and the blue and purple rivulets circling my arms dissipated, becoming normal, slender, naked arms.
“Your magic is mainly for making pretty light shows?”
“I don’t know. All the times I came here alone, this is what I’d do. Play a little. Practice, you know? Might as well. It doesn’t seem to shut off.”
“All these poor suitors don’t know you’re going to have to wear jewelry to bed,” she put her arms above her head dramatically, “lest you blast them to pieces in the throes of passion.”
I splashed water in her face, but it didn’t stop her laughing.
“Seriously, Cayce, you have to talk to a mage about this. You need to get these powers under control, or you might end up hurting someone.”
“Yeah, yeah. Will do. It won’t matter so much if I zap some of the suitors, will it?”
“Cayce . . .”
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