JOURNEY OF US

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She smiles and steps over to stand in front of him, "Don't worry I temporarily locked the door so no one will barge in to see your face. I'll need you to take off the rag so I can wrap this up for you."

"It's not a rag!" Leo said defensively. "It's a piece of cloth I bought from a traveling tailor. I needed something a little more discreet and light when I was traveling around, especially at night. And I will have you know.. It's only damp because I may have accidentally fallen asleep in the bathtub while wearing it…"

Syla looked at him and blinked before snickering out a small laugh. "You wore it in the bathtub?"

"Yes!.." He scratches his cheek a bit embarrassed, "and maybe I forgot to ring it out and place it to dry. So I had to ring it out when I woke up." Leo didn't intend to mention him falling asleep in the tub, but he got caught up in defending himself; he mentioned it unconsciously.

"I see, you must have been exhausted then. I am sorry for that. But, make sure you are careful next time! It could have been dangerous." She scolded him a bit like a child.

"Yeah, Yeah. I'll be careful next time." He awkwardly wanted to change the conversation away from that. "Ummm.... anyway, you were saying you have a temporary replacement for me?" Leo noticed the material she had in her hands as he removed the damp cloth and handed it to Syla. His hair was slightly wet from the cloth. "Maybe I should let my head dry a little before putting on the new headwrap." Leo fell back onto the bed. "Wow this sure is a comfortable bed, I understand why you slept in. If I were you I don't think I would ever leave."

Syla watched as Leo curled in the fetal position like a small child getting ready for a nap. He then stretched out across the bed, "Maybe I should retire from my work, get a nice bed like this, and sleep till the end of my days. What do you think, princess?"

She softly giggled at his childish move, after taking the cloth from Leo. "Trust me, it was hard for me to leave it this morning." She placed the cloth spread out on a small table off to the side of her room to dry. Knowing the sun shining through the large window will make it dry in no time. She turns back towards Leo still lodging on her bed. "I'm sure you should be able to retire. If you wanted to.." she paused for a moment as she gathered a short towel from her wash room. Returning back to stand in front of him. "Sit up for a moment, you wouldn't want to get my bed wet now, would you?" She smiled at him with a raised eyebrow.

She waited for him to sit up after he groaned, not wanting to. After getting him to sit back up, she started to help dry off his hair, and she continued, "You could retire and not have to worry so much about hiding your identity anymore. You could even settle down with someone special.." her words tend to trail off. She smiled somberly, thinking how nice it would have been to marry someone she loved and not someone she didn't know out of obligations. She envied him for that.. She hadn't known that her hands weren't moving until she broke her out of her thoughts.

He had looked up at her, examining her expression.

"Oh, sorry, it seemed I got lost in thoughts for a moment.." she nervously laughed with some embarrassment showing on her cheeks. "I was just thinking it must be nice to have the chance to be with whoever you wanted.. I'm sure anyone you choose will be a lucky one." She finishes drying off his head, placing the new wet towel off to the side and grabbing the new cloth.  

"Hopefully, this one will be better for you." She wrapped the soft cloth around his head, hiding everything carefully except his eyes. Leaning in a bit making sure it was nice and snug. She secured the end with a tiny metal pin that matched the small detail on the cloth. It was to help ensure it wouldn't shift or slip off. "There. All done. How does that feel?"

Leo began to shift his head around, ensuring that it wouldn't give out at sudden or large movements. "Wow! It is perfect, who taught you how to properly wrap like this? Let me guess, secretly, you are a ninja who fights for your kingdom." Leo let out a big laugh, imagining the princess as the ninja princess story he had heard of once.