From The Ashes.

Chapter 16

The bath was hardly what I'd expected. Having left Caerun alone and grumbling how he wanted a wash Dot, Hana and I headed over to what they referred to as the 'bath'. Cody rested his head on my shoulder as he sucked quietly on his thumb, I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop. I was a little concerned when the other girls lead me towards the building that seemed to be perpetually surrounded by smoke and I saw why as we approached a stone bridge that seemed to have a shiny sheen over it. I hesitated to walk on it, however, as directly below it was a moat completely encircling the octagon building the bridge was connected to. WHich would have been fine if the pit wasn't made of FIRE.

"Um?" I asked and the two girls instantly began to giggle.

"What, you want to have a cold bath?" They asked and my brain baulked at the idea of a bath in this temperature but still, I wasn't that thrilled about walking across a stone bridge hanging about the moat from hell. Dot laughed and swung her arm around my shoulder, resting her hand on Codys head.

"Don't worry, the stones covered in heat proof oil. It's possible to walk on it without burning yourself." I chuckled as Dot started to pull me across the bridge and towards the octagon building.

"To be honest, that hadn't occurred to me. I was far more worried about the fact it's above a pit of death!" The girls laughed as I dragged my feet crossing the bridge. They were right, the stone was as cool as marble but that didn't help the wall of heat that hit me as I moved across it. Hana laughed behind me and gave me a little push in encouragement when a sudden cry of realisation made us all look at her.

"You're human!" She exclaimed and Dot and I exchanged looks as she shook her head to clear it. "I mean, I forgot, the fire must be scarier for you because if you fall in you won't heal like we do." Dot gasped and I found myself chuckling at the both of them.

"You guys seriously forgot that?" I asked as Dot pushed the door to the building open. The floor was just like the bridge, stone with a shiny cover on it. The stone hugged the walls of the building, save for one which was the only one that the water that filled the centre of the room lapped against. I now understood the need for the fire pit as steam from the bath drifted upwards to the ceiling where it exited through a hole in the centre. However, the ceiling itself was, by far, the best thing about the bath. It was made out of stained glass, the colours exploding in the afternoon sun as they bounced around the room. The image in the glass seemed to be some kind of... person? If I turned my head one way, their silver hair and blue skin looked distinctly female but when I looked again, they looked purely male. The figure eyes were closed and the hole sat in the middle of their chest, their arms open as though welcoming us into the building. It was strangely peaceful to look at.

"We're not used to full humans being here, you know." Hana said as she followed me in. I followed the girls over to a line of cupboards on one of the walls and gulped as they began to unabashedly strip their clothes. This didn't particularly bother me except I knew they were expecting me to do the same. The thought of removing my necklace made the fabric start to itch my skin. To stall for time, I slipped Cody from my hip and began to help him remove his clothes.

"To be honest Tera, the 'pit of death' as you call it scared me when I first came here as well. My old pack in Japan had a hot spring so the earth heated a bath." I laughed as Hana pulled her shirt off. I hadn't been wrong when I'd thought she was completely made of muscle as Hana had an eight pack and was hard muscle all over.

"Why did you come to Australia?" I asked, helping Cody into the water, he clung to the edge as I reached up to tie my hair into a ponytail. Dot walked forward, now free of clothes, and casually started to braid my hair. The bath was starting to fill up and the way everyone and the way everyone was casually taking their clothes off was slightly awkward. Hana lowered herself into the water and turned to look at me.