NOVEL NEXT 14. Bath
“You both certainly sprout from the same plant,” Jafar commented as he and Aloe left the apothecary.
“You offend me, Jafar.” Aloe led her hand to her chest in faux offense. “I am nothing like that geezer apothecary.”
“I can still hear you!” Umar shouted from the interior of the shop. “Damn you both!”
Jafar and Aloe laughed at the old man’s curses as they rushed into the streets. Somehow, the farther they got away, the louder they got until they eventually dissipated into nothingness.
“Ah, that was fun,” Jafar said.
“You have a weird concept of amusement.” Aloe replicated.
The guard shrugged. “What are you going to do now, anyways?”
“Now I’ll go to the public baths and rest a bit. I still feel the sand coursing through my body from yesterday.” Aloe sighed. “What about you, shouldn’t you be working?”
“I have time still.” Jafar looked at the sun’s position. By now, it had already been out for a while, though it still was far away from its apex. “Wouldn’t you like to bathe with your uncle?”
Aloe’s gaze turned lethal. “I’ll shove that scimitar of yours up your ass before getting nowhere close in the bath with you.”
“Whoops, it seems this wasn’t a little plant, but a kitty.” Jafar raised his arms though he gestured the motion of claws with his hands. “It was just one time, won’t you forget, Aloe?”
“You almost drowned me when I was a child! I won’t forget nor forgive!” The girl exploded. “I spent years being afraid of water because of you!”
“Ah, fair.” The man’s arms fell down as if their strings had been cut. “I’ll leave you alone then, and I’ll spend a bit of time with my loving family.”
“If you dare follow me, you’ll see that I wasn’t joking around with the scimitar.”
“I won’t, I won’t.” Jafar took a step forward. “But let’s be honest. I could put you down with a single finger.” His smile curved in demonic darkness. “Kidding, of course.”
Aloe knew that wasn’t the case. Ignoring the genders, Jafar was almost half a meter taller than her. And unlike her, the man was well-built and had training as a soldier. The weapon he carried on his hips wasn’t a decoration.
“I’ll see you at the feast tonight.” Aloe walked away from the man without giving him an opportunity to say his goodbyes.
Even though she didn’t know her exact current position or the streets she was moving through, it was somehow easy to find her way back to the main bazaar. Not only it was the longest avenue of the city – spanning from one side of Sadina to the other, only cut in half by the emir’s palace – but also a lot of tall buildings were built around it, making it as easy as following the city skyline to return to the bazaar. Far more boring than guiding yourself with the night sky’s stars, though.
“Yeah, I think I can make the way back alone if I want.” Aloe thought aloud as she saw a carpet trader post she was familiar with. That meant she wasn’t that far away from her home.
Taking advantage of her proximity, Aloe went back to her home to leave the backpack and the worryingly full coin purse. She had hidden it inside the backpack because a purse that fully attracted cutpurses like the night did with monsters.
Her mother was still at home, though she had moved from the kitchen to her late father's office to continue working with her scribe documents. Aloe greeted her and left the mostly empty backpack, along with the coin purse and the cannabis seeds in her room. She substituted the hard leather backpack with a cloth bag that she filled with bath products and a set of clothing and undergarments. She also grabbed a spare coin purse and put three of the copper fajats she had gotten in the apothecary to use as change.
The stroll there was pleasant, even if the sun was already starting to shine with strength. Aloe could only bless the endless line of palms planted in the center of the bazaar avenue for their plentiful and cool shadow.
The Public Baths of Sadina was the biggest public building and one of the biggest structures in the entire city. Only the Emir’s palace and the university’s library were greater in size. Unlike the university which had limited and controlled access, everyone was free to enter the public baths. Though that was not Aloe’s true intention.
The great building decorated with marble pillars and a sizeable dome at the top provided subpar services for the public unpaying citizens. Sure, you could soak yourself in the waters of the Eyana River without being apprehended by the guards for either contaminating the precious waters or public indecency, but the public forum that was the baths was... undesirable.
Many people flocked to the public baths every day at all hours of the day because it was free and it was the only real way for most of the population to bathe legally without using a sand bath, meaning it was always full.
And all that people made so the water wasn’t exactly clean.
At least in Sadina the baths were separated by gender, other less populated or less wealthy cities couldn’t afford segregation as it took away scarce resources. Aloe could only be thankful for that as she doubted her heart could take a bath with people of the other gender.
But beyond the public baths, there was an alternative. A separate service for those willing to pay. The price was steep enough for the average citizen to not be able to take it regularly, but low enough for at least experiencing it once in a while.
Instead of entering from the main gate, she ignored the colossal steps guiding her to the grand entrance and diverted to a more modest doorway. As for traditional ydazi architecture, the gate itself wasn’t a door, but a set of blue curtains that matched with the building’s function.
As Aloe stepped into the baths, the temperature increased from the exterior, hints of steam coming beyond the reception desk. At said desk, a woman sat behind with a bunch of stacked papers. She was lightly clothed, her pale arms and sections of her torso visible.
“Welcome to the Public Baths,” the receptionist said with a practiced motion, “what service would you require today?”
Aloe knew all the services by memory as this wasn’t the first time she came. There were three: a simple, a normal, and a luxurious one. The simple one was only one drupnar, but it allowed people to enjoy a warm bath. The normal one at the price of one fajat was better, the warm waters were now scented with perfumes and oils. The luxurious one was dotted with massagists and other services, but the price ramped up significantly more from the previous ones, now at the mark of one drupnarun.
It was needless to say that even the richest patrons didn’t take such service regularly.
“Just a normal one.” Aloe slipped a fajat from her coin purse to the counter in a practiced motion.
The female receptionist didn’t pry any further, only vaguely pointing at the door she needed to walk towards with a slight sway of her head.
The changing room of the normal bath service was empty, though some of the baskets were filled with contents. Aloe undressed, placing her clothes on the basket and hiding the two other fajats she carried outside the purse and putting one in her clothes and the other under the basket.
Just in case.
Once she donned her birth clothes, Aloe grabbed her rather cheap hair products and a towel, then directed to the cleaning pool. Unlike the free service, you had to clean yourself in a separate bath before entering the real deal. No one wanted to bathe in dirty waters, especially paying customers.
The water in the cleaning pool was rather cool as it came directly from the Eyana River. The subterranean river was frigid for desert standards and also not that clean, but it got out the worst on Aloe’s skin. She scrubbed the sand that lingered in her body even after a full day, though she didn’t dare to submerge her head in the questionable water. The oasis back in the greenhouse looked more pristine than the cleaning pool.
After a few minutes, she took off and entered the warm bath. The waters were hot as they were constantly being heated by coal and the sun. It was a type of warmth that was comfortable, instead of the oppressing sun that she was so used to.
Her feet and legs melted as soon as they touched the water. Aloe’s tiredness evaporated the instant her shoulders were submerged and her back lay relaxed on the walls of the pool.
The water was steaming and remotely white, filled with perfumes and oils that soothed her skin. The scent was somewhat sweet, but overall, barely noticeable. And yet they made her sleepy. It was difficult to remain awake when the soothing water caressed every corner of your body.
There were more women in the bath, but because of the odd hour and the colossal pool, only three of them shared the whole place for themselves. One of them had a chest so big that it floated on top of the water, dark spots vaguely peeping over the whitish liquid.
Aloe was not jealous at all.
Not at all.
She turned her face away, thinking of more important matters.
“Ah, I almost don’t remember walking for a full day...” Aloe moaned as her shoulders downed ever-so-slightly deeper into the waters. Though her thoughts turned a bit darker as she noticed her lacking body in the obscuring waters.
At least, the water hid it.
She could only wish water was more present in her life.
