"If it lives, we can slay it. And then burn it, just to make sure it doesn't come back from the dead," she said.
"...does that happen often?" he asked.
"Slaying? Yeah, duh? It's what we're here to do in the first place, dummy."
"I meant the coming...
Raksha liked to think that he was a reasonable person. If someone had an issue with him, he'd usually be willing to talk things through and try to come to some sort of mutual understanding. Admittedly, he wasn't very good at that, which was why he ended up having to resort to his fists or his blade more often than not. Still, he tried, most of the time, which had to count for something.
That was why he believed that he was a reasonable person.
The woman seated across him in the same wooden bathtub, however, was definitely not.
"Hi," Sadea said, grinning.
"Uh," he replied.
After he'd helped her drag the chimera's head from the manufactory and mount it on a hook on her horse's saddle, he'd bidden her farewell and walked away, ignoring her demands for him to wait. Then, at the closest town, he'd paid a copper coin to get his clothes laundered and another to bathe in the common bathhouse.
After scrubbing the grime of the road and the gore of battle off, he'd sat down in one of the communal tubs, anticipating a warm soak that would loosen his muscles.
He definitely did not expect the door to fly open and for Sadea to stalk in, wearing no more clothes than anyone else in the men's bathing chamber.
"Out, all of you," she'd said, before pointing at Raksha. "Except you. Stay right there."
"But I just got here," a middle-aged man, balding and pot-bellied, whined. "Can't I at least rinse my—"
Then he'd squealed and run off, trickles of lightning nipping at his heels.
"And close the door behind you!" she'd called as the last man stumbled out.
Therefore, Raksha had no choice but to conclude, as Sadea sat down in the same tub as him, that she was not a reasonable person.
"Women's baths are next door. There's a huge, clear sign in the hallway," he said.
She did not reply. Instead, she smiled enigmatically and leaned back, in a manner that left nothing to imagination. Not that Raksha minded the eyeful of curves, at all, though.
"Ah, I see." He'd just figured out why she was here and gave her what he hoped was a sympathetic nod. "You can't read. It's alright. There's nothing to be ashamed of. I couldn't not too long ago, and to be honest, I still can't read very well. But it's not an impossible skill to attain. You just need to put in the work and ask for help when you need it."
Her face grew darker as he spoke.
"Now that you know, why don't you head over to the women's baths?"
"Of course I can read, you moron!" she snapped. "And no! I'm staying right here!"
"Why?"
"To clean myself up, of course." Her smile returned, though it seemed slightly forced this time. She ran her hands through her reddish-blonde hair, unsubtly arching her chest upwards.
"Then you should have scrubbed and rinsed off first before coming into the tub," he told her, thumbing over his shoulder to a row of taps and a tray of washcloths.
Sadea growled. "Shut up about bathing, already! I'm here because I want to ask you some questions!"
"Sure. You can find soap there, wrapped in packets of wax paper."
"I'm not here to ask you where the soap is!" Sadea raised a hand above the water. "Oh, what the hell. I'll just get to the point."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
