38. At the spa

During the rest of their meal Kris get more information out of the group. However Waldina didn’t manage to find out why Kris so badly wanted to complete the mission of finding Claudia and getting her back to Cliffertown, either. She was sure the mage would have other, more important tasks to complete yet here he was. Perhaps the reward was something so irresistible that Jaspis refused to give up.

As their group headed back to the hotel, Waldina decided not to think about the topic for the rest of the evening. She had promised Kiandra they’d visit the spa and she wasn’t about to waste her time thinking of Jaspis and Kris, of all things. She wanted to enjoy a relaxing bath time with her friend. She was looking forward to a leisurely cleansing that wouldn’t require a moment’s attention to her surroundings.

“Shall we go then?” Waldina glanced at Kiandra as they reached the hotel. The fairy nodded enthusiastically and they headed towards the spa.

Behind them Claudia was fidgeting awkwardly. Kris’ eyes were locked on to her and he didn’t let the opportunity go by.

“You wouldn’t pass on enjoying such a spa would you?” Kris hinted whilst turning towards the spa himself.

“I don’t know…” Claudia shook her head, unsure of what to do. She looked at Waldina, begging for help, and the ninja felt lost in that moment. She knew Claudia wouldn’t be able to relax that well if she went to the men’s section yet she couldn’t join them on the women’s side either as long as Kris was present - and while disguised as Diaz.

“I think it would be good for you,” Kiandra began as she got an idea. “And it would help you to get used to the habits of the big new world.”

“What do you mean?” Claudia bit her lips and turned to look at her feet. She felt Kris’ gaze still on her and it didn’t make her feel any better.

“At dormitories there are usually shared showers. As someone who’s been living in the countryside you aren’t accustomed to those, as even single bathing barrels are rare,” Kiandra explained further whilst twisting her explanation fitting for both Kris and Claudia. Claudia needed convincing that the spa was actually good for her. Waldina thanked higher powers for having such a smart friend - Kiandra was so good at helping Claudia out when she couldn’t. Though perhaps Waldina wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with if she hadn’t been with Kiandra; surely she wouldn’t have taken such a huge responsibility on herself if the fairy wasn’t so eager to do it.

“Hmm… So you’re heading to an academy?” Kris' eyes shone with keen interest. It was only then that Kiandra remembered they hadn’t told such a backstory for Kris yet. According to their story, Claudia was with them for an opportunity to learn more about the world. Kiandra cursed her mistake. It was already the second one for her today.

“Oh yes, quite surprisingly Diaz decided to go and study in one of the big academies out there. During our journey he’s learnt that he’s eager to learn more about everything, especially swordwielding. Isn’t that right?” Waldina stepped in to help out and gave an encouraging smile to Claudia.

“Yes, that's right. My village could really use a better guard. Such as Waldina,” Claudia nodded, blushing slightly and relief settled in her body.

“Is that so?” Kris squinted his eyes, not fully buying the story. “Perhaps you could tell me more about it at the spa?”

Claudia glanced at Waldina, looking for tips or decisions. The purple haired ninja shrugged a bit before casting another encouraging smile on her lips.

“Perhaps it would be good for you,” Waldina admitted and Claudia didn’t argue more.

Together they head to the spa. Claudia walked at the end of the group, still biting her lip. When Waldina and Kiandra turned to the women's section, she gave one quick, yearning look after them, yet she didn’t stop following Kris for even a second. She didn’t want to attract his attention any more than she already had.

At the spa Waldina first took off her short black shirt. Then she pulled down her black ninja skirt, and her dark shorts. She put her clothes on a locker in the dressing room, right on top of her shoes. Finally she released her long purple hair from her ponytail. She combed through her hair, straightening it.

Kiandra on the other hand just took off her blue dress and then she was all ready for bathing. She left her dress on the same locker as Waldina had put her clothes. The fairy’s dress looked almost comically small compared to Waldina’s.

The two stepped in silence in the bathing area. There was a long, wide aisle and on both sides of it there were countless bathing benches and tools. Each bathing seat had a wash basin, soaps and a small bench for sitting. Additionally on both sides of the aisle there were big barrels full of water for cleaning oneself.

Waldina and Kiandra sat down on neighboring benches after Waldina had gotten some water to their wash basins. The ninja began splashing water with long strokes against her skin, hardened by camping.

Yet the best part of showering came when she began cleaning her long, thick purple hair. It felt like it’d been forever since she’d showered this hair with actual soap. In this world soap was such a luxury item that most inns didn’t offer it and it was so expensive she hadn’t yet bought it. Nor had she had chances to either.

It felt like her hair was cleaned from years worth of dirt, though she wanted to believe that it hadn’t been that long since this body of hers had seen soap. Yet she wasn’t satisfied with cleansing her hair just once. After showering off the first batch of soap, she repeated the action.

Kiandra looked at her ninja friend’s actions amused. As Waldina kept her eyes closed for showering off the second batch of soap, Kiandra decided to surprise her by offering a real shower with her magic powers. Waldina flinched at the sudden contact with water yet she quickly settled on enjoying the sensation. Eyes still closed she washed her hair clean, enjoying every moment.

“Thanks, I really needed that,” Waldina smiled contently as she stood up from the bench. She quickly put her hair on a bun on top of her head before heading to the pool area at the end of the aisle.

The pool area consisted mainly of an outdoor pool and a warm water pool. The area around the pool and its centre were accentuated by natural stone arrangements and climbing plants. A high fence rose on both sides of the pool, undoubtedly separating it from other areas – on one side of the fence was a pool for men and visitors classified as men.

Carefully Waldina let her toe touch the water on the pool. The warm water invited her to come deeper in and soon she was completely surrounded by the warm water. Kiandra dove right in the water and made a couple of twirls in the water. She loved being surrounded by warm water.

It was peaceful at the pool. There were a couple of other customers there before them but they were focused on their own things, peacefully enjoying the warmth of the water. Thus Waldina and Kiandra stayed quiet as well, in order to not disturb the others, while looking for a good spot to settle in. Finally they found a spot at the edge of the pool, far away from the others, and settled there.

The warm water felt absolutely relaxing on Waldina’s skin. Before that moment she hadn’t really realized just how tired her body was. Now the wavelet of the warm water around her relaxed each and every one of her muscles. At that moment she was more than satisfied with the fact Kiandra had suggested this exact hotel with a spa. The spa really worked miracles on her body.

“I guess it was a good idea to come here,” Kiandra grinned and flew close to Waldina’s face. The ninja’s gaze settled on the small-sized Kiandra, who got the figure of a model. Her pearl-like skin shone beautifully in contrast with her dark blue hair. Her curves were highlighted by the moonlight. Suddenly Waldina realized she’d been looking at her friend a tad bit too long and too enamored, so she turned to look away.

“Hihii,” Kiandra giggled teasingly, “did you get enamored by my curves?”

“No way…” Waldina mumbled, keeping her tightly locked into anything else than the curvy fairy. “I was just jealous of your beautiful figure.”

“Hmm, is that so,” Kiandra voiced in a suspicious tone before she flew closer to Waldina and sat on her collar bone. “You’re quite good-looking yourself, no need to worry.”

“W-what are you doing?” Waldina yelped embarrassment climbing on to the tips of her ears.

“It is highly unfair that only you get to lean against the pool’s sides and seating places. I can’t reach those and thus have a harder time relaxing,” Kiandra explained pouting. Waldina turned to look at the fairy, blushing. Yet after hearing that she couldn’t very well chase her away and instead she chose to let her stay and relax.

“I meant what I said earlier,” Kiandra told her, suddenly.

“Yes, what?” Waldina startled at the sudden conversation starter and glanced at Kiandra who tilted her head upwards to look the ninja in the eyes.

“That maybe…” Kiandra began yet closed her mouth, never finishing the sentence.

“Maybe?” Waldina repeated encouraging the fairy to keep on talking. But the fairy just shook her head and turned to look away. During the rest of the bathing she never mentioned the topic again.

At the same time at the other side of the fence separating the sections Claudia followed after Kris to first cleaning herself and then to the pool area. She kept her gaze tightly away from Kris’ naked body and kept on answering his questions vaguely. To her luck - or unluck, however you wanted to see it - there weren’t others at the pool as they reached it. She really didn’t care for any more distractions in terms of what to look at and what not.

Yet the lack of other customers meant that Kris wouldn’t have a reason to stop talking even for a moment and Claudia would have to get through the conversation all on her own. Damn, why couldn’t Kiandra just be a male fairy, Claudia cursed in her mind. If Waldina had been a man, Lidia wouldn’t have given her permission for this journey plan to begin with. Thus the only other possible solution was that Kiandra should’ve been a man. That way Claudia could get through these unpleasant situations with the help of the fairy.

Claudia blushed a bit as she imagined the graceful fairy as a man. Though when Kiandra had changed into a man with the help of Claudia’s artefact, she’d seem way more manlier than Claudia as Diaz. Or perhaps at that moment Kiandra had been manlier than most men. Claudia chuckled at the thought. Maybe the manliest man was in fact a woman.

“What’s so funny?” Kris inquired forcing Claudia back to reality from her thoughts.

“Nothing, just remembering some past memories,” Claudia swung her hand dismissively, still refusing to look at Kris. It amused the mage yet he didn’t see any use in teasing about it.

“I understand. So tell me, why did you decide to leave to study so suddenly?” Kris asked, thinking back to the earlier piece of information he’d acquired.

At first Claudia replied in a careful manner, finding courage with each word. After a couple of sentences she was enthusiastically chatting with Kris about swords and magic, and there were no signs of her earlier shyness. When she just left out the details of her background as a noble lady, the conversation flowed surprisingly easily. As an adventurer Kris knew a lot of combats and how to improve as a fighter. Even when he was fishing for information about Claudia’s background and secret, the conversation was mostly productive. Claudia felt like she could keep the conversation going for forever. At that moment she regretted the fact she hadn’t talked with Kris more as the man clearly had a lot of information to give. Information that could get her far.

When Waldina and Kiandra saw Kris and Claudia after the bath, the two were still engaged in conversation. The sight brought a relieved smile to the lips of the ninja and her fairy.