Minimal Travel Distance for Bathing

Water slammed into Ria, sending her backward into a bookshelf. Books rained down around her as she gasped, choking on mouthfuls of oasis water that tasted distinctly of fish droppings.

"You built your woman cave underneath an oasis?!" Ria said while spitting out the oasis water, clawing her way upright as water rushed up to her ankles.

"Hey, don't call it a woman cave! And yes, it's convenient!" Lark shouted over the roar of water. She'd scrambled onto a higher shelf herself, the bottom half of her robes half soaked in the process. "Minimal travel distance for bathing and all."

"You leave the cave?!"

"Of course I leave the cave! What do you think I am?" Lark paused. "Actually, don't answer that"

The water surged higher, now reaching past Ria's knees. Tyrant had somehow wedged himself into a gap between two books on a high-up shelf, his round body creating a perfect waterproof seal. Kiwi paddled past Ria's legs, looking far too pleased with himself for a dragon who'd just destroyed everything.

"Wait," Ria said. "Why don't you just bathe down here? There's plenty of cave water!"

"Do you have any idea what cave water does to hair? The minerals alone would turn it brittle within a year. And the mineral buildup, oh absolutely unacceptable! I need to maintain a youthful appearance!"

Before Ria could mention how bathing in fish droppings was any better, a particularly large wave crashed through one of the broken walls, sending them both scrambling for higher ground. Ria hauled herself onto a bookshelf, water now at waist height.

"This is your fault!" Lark pointed accusingly at Tyrant, who remained smugly wedged in his book-fort. "Kiwi never causes problems. He's exceptionally well-behaved but that moss ball of yours clearly set him off!"

"I didn't know Tyrant would set off a dragon! He usually only does that to people, and by people I mean just me. So… sorry?"

"Save it." Lark's scowled. "Apologies don't un-flood my library."

The elf then raised both hands, fingers apart. The stone floor rumbled, groaning like Jin getting out of bed while hungover. Limestone erupted around Tyrant's bookshelf-coffin sanctuary, forming a perfect cube that sealed the bird inside before Tyrant could squawk in protest.

Kiwi paddled in excited circles, clearly thinking this Tyrant was the only one who's going to get punished. But then the limestone surged around him next, trapping the dragon in a second cube. His tail thumped against the walls in what Ria could only assume was disappointment.

"There, both menaces have been contained." Lark then turned to face the broken wall, where water continued pouring. She pressed her palms together, then thrust them forward. Chunks of limestone responded from the floor and slapped themselves over gaps, forming patches that should've held.

Key words: should have.

The oasis didn't seem to care. The water pushed through with the patience of something that had been sitting there for thousands of years and wasn't about to let some elf tell it where it can and can't go.

"Come on, come on!" Lark's hands shook as she poured more magic into the repair. The limestone sealed, cracked, and would seal again, but water always found new routes, bubbling through rocks she would reinforce with.

Finally, Lark's arms dropped. She turned toward Ria, ready to deliver what was clearly going to be very bad news, when the water just... stopped.

Not even slowed down to a trickle. Stopped as in the water stopped mid-cascade, mid-surge, mid-everything. Thousands of gallons of water hung suspended in the air like someone had paused reality itself, with every last droplet fixed into their place.

Ria stood on her bookshelf-coffin island, one hand raised, fingers spread.

"You-!" Lark started.

Then she laughed hysterically again, except this time her whole body shook in a way like she'd finally snapped. 

"That bastard! Jin that absolute bastard went and adopted the Suisen child! The Suisen child!"

"What?" Ria's arm trembled. Controlling this much water at once still took concentration she didn't have time to spare on whatever had broken Lark's brain. 

"Anytime now would be great for closing those cracks!"

"Right, right." Lark wiped tears from her eyes. She thrust her palms forward and a limestone surged, properly sealing the wall this time.

Ria exhaled, letting her fingers curl into a fist. The suspended water responded, flowing not down but sideways. She directed it toward the far corner where she'd sensed unusual heat signatures earlier- a crater filled with volcanic rocks that seemed to be radiating warmth.

She let the water poured in, filling the crater. Steam rose immediately when the cold oasis water met the crater's hot stone. Within moments, the crater had transformed into somewhat of a proper hot spring. 

The library finally settled into silence that was only broken by the gentle hiss of steam rising from the newly made hot spring.

Lark turned toward Ria, her face shifting from hysteria to something considerably more agitated.

"You have some explaining to do."

"Can I at least bathe first?"

"Bathe? Now?!"

"Yes. Bath. Hot water, soap if you have any, the whole thing, because my not-so-friend friend puked on me a few days ago after getting drunk, and I've been walking through deserts and falling down holes since then. So unless you want me stinking up your precious books-"

"Are you saying my library stinks?"

"What? No! I stink!" Ria pointed at herself. "I've just been too busy getting lost to bathe."

"How were you too busy getting lost to bathe?"

"I walked into a desert?"

"And what, you didn't notice? Can you not sense the temperature change? Or, you know, the complete absence of moisture?"

"There were rocks! I tripped on rocks!"

Lark stared at Ria, who could feel profound disbelief radiating from her.

"How," she said slowly, "has natural selection not gotten to you yet?"

"Otou-san always said I was too stubborn to die properly."

"Jin also apparently thought hiding a T'ien-ts'ai child in the forest was a good idea." Lark waved toward the hot spring. "Fine, bathe, before I change my mind and let you marinate in whatever that smell on you is."

As if instructed, Ria tugged at her robes, peeling the damp fabric away from her skin.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Getting undressed?" Ria dropped her outer robe onto the limestone floor. "You said I could bathe."

"Turn around at least!"

Ria did as she was told, though she wasn't entirely sure why it mattered. She couldn't see Lark anyway, and Lark could just look at her books or something instead.

The rest of her clothes soon joined the pile. Ria stepped carefully toward the crater, the water in the air guiding her around scattered coffin-books and toppled coffin-shelves. The heat grew stronger as she approached, the steam carried the mineral scent of volcanic rock mixed with fresh oasis water.

Ria tested with one toe in first. It was the perfect temperature - hot enough to feel nice but not so scalding it would cook her alive.

Ria lowered herself in slowly, letting the heat work its way up her calves and up to the rest of her body. The water reached her waist and she sighed, sinking deeper until only her head remained above the surface. Every muscle she'd abused over the past however many days walking, running, and falling down mysterious holes finally has a chance to relax.

She then sensed something round drifting in circles at the surface. Ria tilted her face up, focusing on the round moisture signature.

"Tyrant?"

The bird ignored her, wings spread as he continued his orbital drift.

That's right, Ria nearly forgot about the dandelion again. Tyrant never submerges himself fully in water because it'll disperse the seeds, which would leave behind a half-bald patch with only the stem sticking out. It was still better than being completely bald, although he'd still rather die than let anyone see him seedless.

Ria then sensed another shape approaching. Lark came up to the crater's edge and sat, dipping only her toes into the water.

"Kiwi joining us?" Ria asked.

"Of course not. His punishment is enjoying this onsen after it cools down completely so he can be mildly disappointment."

"That's... surprisingly petty."

"Thanks, I've had three decades to perfect my pettiness." 

Ria leaned back against the smooth volcanic rock, letting the heat work on a particularly stubborn knot in her shoulder. The silence stretched comfortable enough, with the occasional gentle hiss of the hot spring's steam and Tyrant's panicked chirps whenever he miscalculated a turn.

Then Lark shifted. Ria sensed her straightening, posture changing from relaxed to something more tense. Here it came, the interrogation she'd been expecting. Questions about her abilities, about Otou-san's whereabouts, about why she was stupid enough to wander into a desert blind, well, literally.

"Ria."

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when you were born?"