Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Four — Hot Springs Episode
Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Four — Hot Springs Episode “Now what?” I asked as I stretched my arms way way up.Amaryllis, Awen and I were milling around the exit of the Exploration Guild. The journalist was long gone, and Reginald-after thanking us profusely for our time and for the cleaning-was back at work. I think he was out of whatever slump he’d been in before, or at least he seemed very enthusiastic about fixing the guild up again.“We could walk around,” Awen said. “Ah, explore a little? We haven’t really tried any sylph-food, except what was at the inn.”I nodded. That sounded like a nice way to spend the afternoon.“I have a better idea,” Amaryllis said. “Reginald wasn’t able to tell me everything I wanted to know about the other delegations, but we do know where one of them is now.”“Oh?” I asked.She nodded. “The grenoil delegation is in the Purple District, which I imagine isn’t too surprising, but, notably, they have been visiting a bathhouse next to their embassy every day.”“How did Reginald learn that?” I asked.“I think it’s mostly the city’s rumour mill,” Amaryllis said. “The sylph find it amusing that the grenoil are so ill-suited to the weather here.” She gestured to the sky, which was a particularly drab grey. There was some sunshine, and it wasn’t too cold. Not cold enough to snow, at least.“That’s not too kind of them,” I said.“The grenoil are from a much warmer area of Dirt, it’s normal that they wouldn’t handle the cold here well,” Awen said. She was probably a bit biased there herself. She was wearing as many layers as she could get away with, and had been applying warming spells to herself all morning.“So, we know where to find the delegation then?” I asked.“Oh, finding their actual location isn’t hard,” Amaryllis brushed off. “The trick is finding a way to actually reach them. I don’t think the three of us could walk up to their embassy and ask to speak with the delegate and expect a meeting. But a chance meeting at a bathhouse? That’s far more manageable.”“Alrighty then!” I said. “I’ve never been to one of those before. I also haven’t taken a bath in a while.”“Please keep your strange hygiene issues to yourself,” Amaryllis said.“I’m clean,” I protested, but it fell on deaf ears. “If I didn’t have cleaning magic, I’d take baths all the time, I swear.”It was Amaryllis who took the lead and guided Awen and I back towards the more fancy districts of Goldenalden. We went up a stairwell, then hopped over a few easy rooftop gaps on a meandering path towards part of the city that seemed a little older. The plateau there was more pronounced, with buildings spaced out on a flat rocky surface.Most buildings were distinctly sylph-style, but one of them stood out like a sore thumb. It was made of stone, like the others, but instead of being all angular and brutalist, it was round, with the second floors and up made of carved wooden panels occasionally broken up by circular windows.“That has to be the grenoil embassy,” I said.“Did you read the sign?” Amaryllis snarked.I blinked, and only then noticed the swaying sign next to the building’s lot. It very clearly had the address, and Deepmarsh Embassy, embossed on it. “Oh,” I said.“The bathhouse should be one street down,” Amaryllis muttered.We eventually found it. The bathhouse was rather squat and fairly large. Smoke poured out of a pair of chimneys at the back. Just inside the entrance was made up of a large lobby area, with seats and a big counter before a trio of double doors. One labelled Men, the other Women and the last Other.I stared around as we slid in and Amaryllis moved to the counter. A few coins were paid to a young sylph woman who then accompanied us into the women’s section. The main area was filled with cubicles with little pads next to them. A push of mana into the pad would lock it, and only the same person’s mana would unlock it.“Right, this is where we store all of our equipment,” Amaryllis said. “And if this is anything like the bird baths at home, then there should be showers that you can clean yourself off in before heading to the baths. Usually you wash yourself with cooler water.”“Okay, wait,” I said. “Two things. First, cold water?”“Yes?” Amaryllis said. “It wakes you up properly, and it's good for your feathers.”I nodded slowly. “Second, you call them bird baths?”“Well, that’s what they are, aren’t they?” Amaryllis huffed.I supposed that she was right. We took off all of our stuff and stored it away. The air was a bit chilly, but the floors felt heated. Awen was a bit shy about it at first, but I reassured her that there wasn’t anything to worry about and she seemed to get over it by the time we found the showers.I made sure to lather up my ears nice and good, they were a bit strange, and I wasn’t entirely sure how normal buns keep them clean, so I just did my best and hoped that was enough.Maybe I could find a bun to tell me how to fix my hair up around my ears? They parted my hair in strange ways, and I was worried it looked a little strange. The small fluffy bits just inside the ear were strange too, they weren’t like normal head hair, but were a lot softer and thicker. Also, I now had to make doubly sure to remember to wash behind my ears!I had to ask around and find another bun settlement or group where I could ask some more questions.Once we were all done showering, we followed a dripping wet Amaryllis over to the main bathhouse.We had to climb down a spiral staircase to reach the bathing area. It was a cavern of sorts, though I suspected it wasn’t entirely natural. The middle of the room had a large circular bath, with steaming-hot water within. Smaller baths to the side, all of them recessed into the ground, seemed to be held at different temperatures by magical rune-powered devices.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.“Oh, it’s so warm!” I said. The air was thick with warm humidity that seemed to seep right into my skin and hair.“It’s nice,” Awen agreed.Amaryllis hummed, then gestured to the largest of the pools. “It seems that we’re either too early or too late.” The room was empty save for a pair of sylph ladies, one helping the other clean off her wings with a big soft-looking sponge.“So, if they’re not here, what do we do?”“Enjoy the warm water until they show up, obviously,” Amaryllis said. She walked over to the largest of the pools, her talons click-clicking on the stony ground.I skipped after her, then wobbled my arms around as my feet almost slid out from under me. I giggled as I caught my balance, the sound echoing strangely across the room.Amaryllis lowered herself into the water, and I splashed down next to her, with Awen slipping in carefully, one toe at a time.“This is nice,” I said as I leaned against the side of the pool. It wasn’t all that deep, the water stopping mid-waist unless I leaned way back and let my head rest against one of the smoothed stones along the edge. I was sure they were designed to act as pillows of sorts.“This really is nice, yes,” Awen agreed.Amaryllis raised a wing and sighed. “My pinions are a mess,” she said. “And I’m certain it’ll be a nightmare to find a proper wing groomer.”“I could help,” I said while sitting up with a splash. “What do you need?”Amaryllis huffed a sort of ‘there’s no way’ huff, but then she huffed a smaller ‘well, maybe’ sort of huff. “Preening isn’t as easy as it looks. But if you want to try...” She shifted closer, then spread a wing out before her. “There are many kinds of feathers. These little fluffy ones here are down feathers, their barbules are softer and tend to warp and waver a lot.”I leaned in and stared at the smaller feathers that were at the base of her arms. “Those are like your hair feathers,” I said.“They’re not hair,” she said. “These need to be brushed straight when wet, otherwise they clump up, and when they dry out, they become a mess of tangles.”I nodded. That made sense.Amaryllis reached up to her head and plucked a small feather out with a tug. “These are contour feathers. They’re shorter and fatter, to make you more aerodynamic in flight.” I grabbed the little feather and twitched it this way and that.“Does it hurt to pluck them out?” I asked.“Only a little. It’s a... relieving pain when you take an injured feather out. Like cracking your spine to work out a kink. Now, these are wing feathers.” she ran her talons through the longer feathers in her arms. “These are the easiest to care for. They need to have all their barbs lined up properly. Those are the little arms sticking out of the main shaft of the feather. There are smaller feathers under the wing feathers, for insulating, and you need to make sure they’re not curled up underneath.”I nodded, then gingerly grabbed her arm. It took a bit of focus, but it really wasn't all that hard. She stared at me, one eyebrow raised, as I lifted her wing feathers up and then tugged the feathers under it straighter.“You’re actually not bad at this,” Amaryllis said. She relaxed against the bath’s side. “You could find work as a preener. What with your little human hands.”Awen giggled at that before asking a question, “Don’t you use any tools? For preening, I mean.”“Of course we do, but some puritans only use their talons.”Awen nodded. “I can think of a few ways you might make hooks to grab the smaller feathers underneath. Or small brushes.”“Hmm,” I agreed. I found a broken feather near Amaryllis’ elbow joint. “What do I do with this?” I asked.Amaryllis had to twist her head to see the feather near her elbow. It was no wonder harpies needed help preening if they couldn’t see what they were doing. “Oh, that’s broken. Just tug it out. It’s probably best to pile the broken feathers on the side, we don’t want to make a mess.”I pinched my tongue and tugged the feather out. Amaryllis hissed, but she didn’t flinch. I placed the wet feather to the side and went back to playing with Amaryllis’ feathers. “I wish I had feathers, they’re neat.”“You’ve changed species once already, isn’t that enough for you?” Amaryllis asked. “If you truly want, I’m sure you can become some monstrous multispecies chimera.”“Does that happen?” I asked.“It does, actually. Much like how you evolved into a bun, some people will evolve into multiple other things. Usually that requires three or four classes though, which means, obviously, that those people are ridiculously strong.”“Huh,” I said.Amaryllis tensed, and for a moment I was afraid I’d done something wrong, but a glance at her face and I noticed that she was staring out towards the entrance.I shifted around and noticed a group of people entering the baths. Frog people.There were three of them, squat female grenoil with greenish skin that already glistened wetly with all of the humidity in the room clinging to them. The three moved right over to the big bath we were in and lowered themselves into the hot water with happy croaky sighs.“Is that them?” I asked Amaryllis.“Possibly,” Amaryllis said, “they’re definitely from the embassy, judging by their classes.”I glanced over to the grenoil again. One was a Secretary, of all things, and the other two were a Ribbiting Conversationalist and a Cold-Blooded Politician.It was actually hard to tell which one was the most important one when none of them were wearing anything. Still...“Hi there!” I said with a wave. “Do you come here often?”
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Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Five — Casus Antibelli
Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Five — Casus Antibelli “Hello,” the grenoil Cold-Blooded Politician said. She was half a head taller than the other two, which meant that she reached about my nose in height. I imagined she was taking the lead because she was their leader, being a politician and all.Not that I really knew enough about politics to comment.“Hi,” I said. “Come on in, the water’s nice and warm and cozy.”Awen scooted over to the side, even though there was plenty of room for everyone in the warm waters, and after just a moment of hesitating, the three grenoil dipped into the bath. They sighed, obviously quite pleased. “I was not expecting to meet a harpy, a bun, and a human here,” the grenoil lady said.“There aren’t that many grenoil in Goldenalden either,” Amaryllis said. “I’m Amaryllis, Amaryllis Albatross. These are my friends, Awen Bristlecone and Broccoli Bunch.”I waved at the three grenoil, my hand splashing out of the water to do so.“Hello Lady Albatross,” the grenoil lady said. “And Lady Bristlecone and Bunch as well. A pleasure. I’m Sylvie Robespierre, and zese are my companions, Chloe, who is a secretary at ze embassy, and Lucrece; she’s one of my greatest friends in Goldenalden.”“It’s good to have friends when you’re so far from home,” I said. “It makes it less lonely, and you know you have someone to rely on if you need the help.”“It does help,” Sylvie said with an agreeing croak. “I must admit to a certain level of curiosity, it is not often zat we meet so many non-sylph in Goldenalden.”Amaryllis leaned back against the smoothed stones around the edge of the bath. She slid her talons through her feathers, straightening them out where I’d been playing with them. “We’re here for the summit. I presume that it’s the same for you?”Sylvie nodded. “It is. So, zis is a political meeting zen?”“All meetings are political, once you can exert a certain amount of power,” Amaryllis said. “But I don’t think this has to be anything like that. Though, I would love to chat about the summit. I do have an agenda to push, after all.”Sylvie chuckled, a raspy laugh that sent ripples across the water. “Of course. Well, I suppose I can’t blame you for trying. What agenda are you trying to push, exactly?”“We want to avoid war,” Amaryllis said. “And we’re trying to discover those responsible for spurring on the nations gathering here towards a war that no one sensible wants.”“Is zat ze opinion of all ze harpy?” Sylvie asked.Amaryllis shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t have been possible for Rainnewt to create this narrative if the foundations for it weren’t laid out already.”“Rainnewt?” Sylvie asked.I decided to pipe up, to help Amaryllis since she was the only one talking. “He’s this big meanie who’s been trying to trick everyone into attacking each other. He started trouble here in Sylphfree, and in Port Royal and even in the Harpy Mountains. He’s very dangerous. We know that he’s destroyed some dungeons already, and I think that maybe he's trying to cover for that by fermenting war.""Fomenting." Awen corrected. "It's 'fomenting war.'"I blinked. "Really?""Ze little lady has ze right of it," Sylvie said. "But zat is quite ze accusation ... it stretches plausibility to its limit, and perhaps beyond,” Sylvie said. She turned to her friend, Lucrece, who nodded once. Sylvie’s brow rose at the confirmation. Did Lucrece have some sort of social skill?“Is it truly that implausible?” Amaryllis asked. “My family is one of the largest producers of airships on Dirt. We stand to profit handsomely if widespread war breaks out, simply by launching new warships to bolster our navy and replenish any losses." She looked the grenoil square in the eye. "Since I am willing to throw all that away, it should give you some idea of how seriously I consider the threat presented by Rainnewt.""It would certainly indicate you consider zese accusations to have merit," Sylvie agreed. "Perhaps you would be willing to share why you are so convinced?""Of course," Amaryllis nodded. "Our first encounter with him was when he sent me on a cartographic mission that resulted in me nearly being kidnapped, which he tried to pin on the Trenten Flats. Then, at a ball in the Nesting Kingdom, Rainnewt caused an explosion that killed multiple members of a sylph delegation ... Obviously you can see how that might spark a war between our two nations. Lastly, we believe he likely killed multiple dungeons around the Kingdom of Sylphfree, which I suppose is not directly likely to cause a war, but certainly speaks ill of his character."Sylvie sat back in the water and regarded Amy for a long minute.I started to fidget, despite myself. Awen looked a little nervous, herself.“I’m not entirely sure I believe you,” Sylvie said. “Are you really so altruistic zat you’d come all ze way to Goldenalden to stop a war zat would help your family profit?” Sylvie asked.I nodded. “Of course Amaryllis would. Under all the meanness and huffing she has a heart of gold. Besides, it would be wrong not to give it our all to stop something as awful as a war. So many innocent people would be hurt. If we don’t do what we can to help, then we’re in a small way responsible for them being hurt.”Amaryllis huffed most mightily. She really couldn’t take a compliment.“But let’s presume zat I do believe you,” Sylvie continued, “How are you trying to stop zis war from happening?”“Well, we have a two-part plan,” I said while raising my hand out of the water. My poor fingertips were getting all wrinkly. “First, we’ll meet with the grenoil, the cervid, the sylph, and the harpy delegations to ask them nicely not to go to war and to explain that it’s not a very nice thing to do.”Sylvie stared for a moment, then started to giggle. “I zink I see. Do go on.”I only had my index left pointing up. “Well, the last part is to beg really really hard for people not to fight. Maybe we can even find Rainnewt and, like, arrest him or something. A lot of the things he’s done caused big misunderstandings, and he should at the very least apologize for those. He, he also caused people to die, which is... it’s bad.”Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.“I have ze impression zat you have a razer simple worldview.”I laughed. “I prefer to call it optimistic. I’m just a small bun in a very big world, and there’s a lot of scary things out there, things that are really complicated. So I just hope that the world is a nice place, filled with people that are friendly deep down, and who aren’t all that different from me. They just need a friend, someone to listen and help them through the worst days they’ll face, when things are hard. Seeing people actively trying to hurt each other, because of things that aren’t important? That hurts.”“You zink ze war would be over unimportant zings?” Sylvie asked.“Wouldn’t it? Nationalism, patriotism, a huge emphasis on the things that are different from the people around you, instead of the things that are similar. I think they’re all rather dumb things to fight over.”“Zose are what every war has been fought over,” Sylvie said.I shrugged. “Then all those wars were dumb.”Sylvie croaked with suppressed laughter. “Oh, you’re an opinionated young bun, aren’t you? I zink a few of ze lords and ladies zat fought in zose wars and who promoted zem would disagree. Worse, zey might find insult in what you say.”“I’m not sure I can agree with someone who thinks that they should be proud about that kind of thing,” I said.Sylvie eyed us for a moment, then leaned forwards. “Very well. Let’s say zat I enjoy your optimism. It’s certainly better zan ze way a lot of ze sylph around here zink. What exactly is your plan to stop zis war?”“As I said,” Amaryllis began. “We mostly want to meet with all of the representatives from the groups attending the summit and convince them to take a more peaceful route out of this current political mess. It’s in everyone’s best interest, especially seeing as how this war is being spurred on by a third party.”“You know zat convincing some of ze delegations will be complicated. And while ze delegations have some political say from here, not all of zem are all zat powerful. While I can push ze Deepmarsh agenda here, and what I report back may have an impact on ze choices carried out by ze king, zat doesn’t mean zat I could stop the king’s choice if he decides to push for war.”“Maybe not, but your word might carry just enough weight to it that it might be enough to shift the balance,” Amaryllis said. “I know that the harpy are looking to this summit with great interest. If things go poorly here, that would be enough for the warhawks to push towards open conflict. And if things go well and end agreeably, then that will give those who want peace proof that peace can be found if everyone is willing to work on it.”Sylvie leaned back and let her eyes close a little so that her second eyelid could blink across her eyes. “I will ask you to do a favour for me,” she said.“What kind of favour?” I asked.“Nothing too complicated. See, if I merely listen to you because we happened to be in the same bathhouse, then your words will mean little. But if you assist me in some small way, zen I have a reason to report back zat I find you trustworthy.”“Oh,” I said. “That makes sense.”Sylvie nodded. “It’s nothing too complicated, just a delicate matter zat would actually help the embassy anyway, which is part of what you want, isn’t it?”“Awa, that sounds a bit, ah, openly manipulative,” Awen said. She’d been mostly quiet the entire time we were in the bath.“Better openly zan hidden,” Sylvie said. “Besides, it is a simple thing. A shipment destined for ze embassy arrived at ze port two days ago, but it never made it to ze embassy. We’re only a hop away, and ze cargo was labelled as politically sensitive, so it’s strange zat it has not made it to our doorstep yet.”“That is a little weird,” I agreed. “You just want us to fetch it?”“Or find out what happened to it, if it’s truly lost. Chloe, would you mind fetching a copy of the details?”The Secretary bobbed her head up and down and climbed out of the bath with a splash. I felt a little bad for her, having to leave the nice warm water so soon after arriving. Then again, we had been talking for a good long while. My fingers and toes were both going to be extra wrinkly.“I’m sure we can manage that,” I said with a glance to my friends to make sure they were okay with the idea too.Awen and Amaryllis both nodded.“Helping a new friend is perfectly fine,” I said.“As long as said new friend needs the help and isn’t just using your innocence against you,” Amaryllis added. She didn’t need to. Someone that did something like that clearly wasn’t a friend to begin with, though they might just be someone that did need help.“I’m glad you’re willing to assist us,” Sylvie said. “Chloe will leave ze papers with ze sylph by ze exit. Paperwork shouldn’t be brought into a bathhouse.”“When we’ve retrieved your cargo, where do you want us to bring it?” Amaryllis asked. “And how can we know that you’ll actually help us?”“You know because our goals align,” Sylvie said. "Deepmarsh doesn’t want a war any more zan you do. We’ve defeated ze cervid once before, but it was a near zing. Zeir own stupidity cost zem more zan our attempts to slow zem down did. If another war were to start with ze cervid, zen none of ze lords and ladies of Deepmarsh expect us to be able to win it, not if ze war goes on for long enough, and not if ze cervid have an ounce of wisdom between ze lot of zem.”It sounded like they were more concerned because of their own safety than anything else, which... was fair, I supposed. “Okay,” I said. As selfish as their reasoning was, it wasn’t something I could blame them for feeling. Heck, it was quite the opposite. “I trust you.”Sylvie’s brow rose. “For a group so steeped in ze darker side of politics, you truly are optimistic. I hope zat your optimism will be rewarded.”“I hope so too,” I said. I sighed as I stood up, warm water dripping off of me. “I guess we should get going.”Awen and Amaryllis rose too, and then we said our goodbyes to Sylvie and her friend before leaving the bathhouse. It was hard, mostly because the air just outside of it was so much chillier.It was time to do some side quests!
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