Abyssal (ManxMan)

The Baths Part 1

They were dressed differently as well. Much less lavishly, though the garments of their clothes were still some of the finest he'd seen. They wore matching grey-brown woolen shirts and pants fitted to their bodies. He noted for the first time that their feet were bare.

Each triplet had one piece of unique gold jewelry, and he was relieved to realize that he could now tell them apart with their jewelry. 

As he assessed them, he determined that they lacked that quality he'd seen in merpeople.

"Who are you people?" he asked once they released him, briefly meeting each of their eyes. They surrounded him from every direction, no doubt to ensure that he didn't make a run for it. "Are you like them... or are you like me?" 

Every single one of them avoided his gaze. 

 He was now certain of it. 

He needn't have bothered to lower his voice because of the waterfall's roar, but he still said in a voice low enough for only the triplets to hear, "You're human too?" 

"What do you mean by 'too'? You're nothing like us." Said the triplet with sole gold earring in his left ear. 

Kai was shocked into silence. He'd forgotten. He's completely and utterly forgotten what he truly was. He still thought of himself as a full-fledged human being. 

"Watch what you say to him!" The bangle-wearing triplet hissed at his brother, he seemed to regret his choice of words. 

"N-No, he's right. I'm not human." It hurt to admit it out loud, but it was the truth that he could never escape. Better to resign himself to it now than risk an identity crisis later on. 

He was suddenly very exhausted, despite having just woken from a deep slumber. 

Seeing that he'd already been stripped of all clothing, they began to wash him. Kai gritted his teeth and forced himself to bear it all with admirable docility that contradicted his previous behavior. In the commotion, he'd forgotten his state of nudity. Now, as three pairs of hands ran over his body with towels and pitchers he hadn't seen them carry, he was made painfully aware of it. 

Each triplet handled a task as Kai stood knees deep in the center of the pool. The triplet with the earring held a golden pitcher which he filled with water and poured over Kai. The bangle triplet wiped and cleaned Kai with a towel. The ring-wearing triplet soaped him. 

"I can do this myself," he repeated tiredly. 

"If you do, there will no longer be a need for us." One of them said quietly, too quietly. 

Kai was afraid that he knew what he meant by that. 

"Fine, but touch my balls and I'll break your hands."

Much to his relief, their touch was brisk and perfunctory. 

I guess it's not the worse thing I've been made to bear, Kai thought wryly. 

 After another few minutes of being soaped, soaked, and wiped, Bangle Triplet said, "Please soak in the water. It'll be good for these..." He waved at the tentacle marks marring Kai's skin. 

Intrigued, Kai looked down at the crystal-clear water of the pool, then at his body. 

Was it just him or had the marks faded?

"Alright." He waded into the deepest part of the pool. The water reached his shoulders. Kai immersed himself in the water. He couldn't help the sigh that escaped him; the water was so scaldingly hot that it bordered on intolerable, yet it felt good. Evidently the steamy heat was good for him. It loosened his locked muscles and took away some of his fatigue and tension. 

His eyes drifted closed of their own accord. 

And opened when he felt the triplets approach him minutes later. Their contrite faces sparked a flare of alarm in his heart.  

"What is it?" 

"We must prepare you," they said in unison. 

His eyes dropped to a gold container in the hands of the triplet standing in the middle.

"What is that?" Warily. 

"Oils." 

Kai turned around, placed his hands on the bath's edge and pushed himself out of the hot baths, streaming water. 

As he wiped the water from his eyes, he said, "Exactly what part of me do you intend to prepare? And what are you preparing me for?" 

They exchanged looks. 

"Ah." Kai had already figured as much. "Alright, then. Let's get this over with," he said as he put up his fisted hands. 

Oh, what Kai wouldn't give to have his sword right about now.