Choosing to say out of the Alliance, the Cinders are isolated in their own conflicts, and when Helia Cinder reaches to the void for answers, she inadvertently draws a creature out. Expecting to be eaten alive, she is instead left with a man with no...
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"We have an intricate bath system in the outer caves. Fresh, cool water flows through the cascading pools and makes for pleasant relaxation if you might be interested. I know a day in the hot blowing sands can't have been very pleasant. It is outside the castle, if that is more comfortable for you."
Cadence touched his face and neck, dropping granules of sand before nodding and following as Talamayas beckoned him close. One more transportation spell had them on the outskirts of the bath house, but it was primarily empty. Most of his people bathed in the early morning before slumber, and the only ones awake now were day patrols waiting to rest or a few stranglers with off sleep schedules. It meant the pools were empty of all but him and Cadence as they entered.
Like everything else, the waterfalls along the edges to wash themselves before resting in the pools, as well as the roof a stalactite littered rock had Cadence staring in awe. This poor kid had seen nothing in his life, it seemed, and Talamayas felt completely responsible for that. At the same time, he knew that this boy, even so young, would be a hardened mage supremacist who littered the ground with innocent corpses otherwise. There really was no situation where this wouldn't have been a disaster.
"Do you not bathe where you come from?" Talamayas asked in earnest, dropping his cloak to the side. Though he thought about remaining concealed to avoid conflict, he doubted the boy hadn't figured out that he led the men here. Not after he'd dismissed Shan.
"Ah, yes, we do. I do," Cadence corrected with a blush that Talamayas couldn't assign meaning to. Emotions were not his best skill. Either the boy was embarrassed, or ashamed that he'd given away information about his people. "I just used an underground stream, and water was scarce, so nothing like this."
"Well, don't hold back on my account," Talamayas said, gesturing to the open pools. "I'll use the pool over here on the edge, and towels and free clothes are down there. We normally wash off in the falls before going in, though the water cycles well enough that it isn't of great consequence if you are not comfortable undressing with me around."
Talamayas didn't wait for an answer as he headed to the end of the falls to give Cadence space. Perching like a vulture to watch the boy would only cause fear, and Cadence would not be able to escape if he tried. The entrance to the pools was up on the east cliff edges, far enough into stable ground but with not much of an escape route that a human could traverse quickly. All of that on top of the fact that Tala needed to bathe anyway, had him losing his pants and slip-on shoes to drop under the falls.
The pleasant rush of water over his ears and the pressure pummeling his shoulders gave him a momentary inner peace as he rubbed the remnants of sand out of his hair. Even through the water, he could hear Cadence shallow steps to the edge of a pool. There, he sat at the side and eased his feet in as he dropped all of his outwear on the ground. By then Talamayas was out from under the water's flow and he caught sight of the edges of Cadence's mage attire–black music notes bordered the white billowing sleeves as they had on Wren's before he'd given up his previous house for the Sols. Some of Wren's formal wear still honored his house with the pattern, but it was never worn in sight of anyone who might mistake it for pride. The Songs had been brutal hunters of all vampire kind, innocent or not.
