The Voice of Reason

Chapter 6: The Flirt

We stopped by Cal's room first. As she had promised, her room was only a couple of steps off the main floor of the Atrium. Cal pulled aside a pink curtain that hung in the doorway. I followed her in.

It was a comfortable little room. There were two beds inside. The bed to the left had light blue bedding and was neatly made. The other was yellow and looked as if it had never once been made. I assumed the blue bed was Cal's. I was proven correct when Cal tossed her satchel onto it. On both sides of the room, shelves had been carved into the stone walls and filled with clothing and personal belongings. A nightstand stood between the two beds. Cal started pulling out two pairs of clothes from the shelves on her side of the room.

"Hmm," Cal mumbled to me. She handed me a purple shirt and brown pants. "You're a little taller than me, but try these on and see how they do."

I slipped on the clothes. The shirt was thick and warm. I was happy to find that it fit perfectly. The pants were a little short and baggy, but at least they weren't as short and baggy as the overcoat had been.

"They're perfect, thank you!" I said to Cal.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Cal searched through one of the lowest stone shelves and pulled out a pair of brown boots, holding them to me. "You can borrow these for today."

Cal changed as well. I examined the boots and finally figured out how to pull them on and zip them up. When the dirty clothes were folded neatly into a pile on the floor, Cal grabbed her satchel again from off her bed. She shoved a couple of small bottles into it, grabbed her lantern, and we headed outside again.

We saw even more people as we walked down the streets of the Atrium. I still received surprised and curious stares, making me happy that at least I was wearing normal clothes this time.

We entered a tunnel labeled "Bathing Pool." The ground was black and rigid, and the rocks looked volcanic. It sloped gently downward. Cal held her lantern high so we could tread carefully on the uneven floor. We walked in silence for a couple of minutes. I halted when I realized that a few steps ahead of me was a black body of water.

"Oh, there it is!" Cal exclaimed from a few steps behind. Her voice echoed. "Sorry, I need to pay more attention. So, welcome to the bathing pool! It comes from a mineral hot spring. The water gurgles up in the center of the pool. You can hear it." We both paused to listen. I faintly detected the distant gurgling noise. Cal continued. "As long as you stay towards the edge, it doesn't get too hot. The girls' side is to the left."

I hadn't realized there were walkways along each side of the mineral pool. The area was pitch black! Cal led the way down the narrow path to the left. After a few minutes, we reached a place where the rocky floor was smooth and sloped gently into the water.

Cal set down her lantern and pulled her satchel from over her head. She handed me two small, glass bottles. "The tall bottle is a liquid you use to wash your hair. The smaller bottle is to wash your skin."

Cal and I found separate areas to strip down and enter the water. Almost all of the Atrium was lit with the night opal, but the bathing pool of course was kept perfectly black. I stepped tentatively into the water. It was lukewarm. The water lapped gently around my feet. I shivered from a soft breeze in the cavern and continued swashing forward until the water covered my shoulders. I found a rocky outcrop on which to set the two bottles, and then ducked my head underwater. The heat enveloped me, and I shivered with pleasure. My hair floated upwards as if gravity had ceased to exist. I brushed my hands through the floating locks, pathetically trying to untangle them. I stood up from the water again and used dobs of the liquids from the two bottles to wash my hair and skin. The liquid for my hair smelled sweet. The liquid for my skin smelled like mushrooms.