Great, Dahr knew I just went for a number two.
Just when I wanted to hide in the blankets again and vanish from the face of the earth, I heard sounds coming from the inside of the tent and another male voice. When I looked over, I spotted Dahr and one of his warriors carrying hot buckets of water to fillthe copper bathtub. I was surprised that Mira wasn’t the one to do this, but I assumed Dahr had respected my wish to keep away from everyone I knew. When the bathtub was filled, Dahr took it upon himself to use half the gels and soaps to make bubbles for me and when the bath ended up looking like an overflowing cupcake, he invited me in. I wordlessly accepted. Same as I wordlessly accepted dinner and made a point to eat in silence by Dahr’s side.
“Is there anything you would like to say, little flame?” the warrior asked with mirth when it was clear that I was planning to go to sleep, untouched.
“Good night,” I replied with nonchalance, even though I felt a slight chuckle coming up, which I immediately stifled. My stubbornness brought us to a second day of more of the same.
We shared breakfast, and Dahr asked me if there was anything I would like to say or admit to him. I, of course, kept my mouth shut. This time I wasn’t going to take this situation with the amusement of the day before.
“I am not going to be held hostage!” I snapped at him after I finished the last rash of bacon from my plate.
“You are not. We can go outside and stop wasting time as soon as you speak to me,” Dahr smiled widely, becoming the portrait of innocence.
“And tell you what?” I retorted, my feeling on the exact opposite palette to his bright colours.
“Whatever it is that you need to,” Dahr tilted his head slowly and let those adamant eyes glint into me with challenge.
“Guess it’s going to be another wasted day then…” I sighed and returned to my bed.
About two hours later, I was so bored that I wanted to start braiding my hairs one by one just so I had something to do. Dahr did not face the same problem, since he remained crouched over the table, his nose shoved deeply in maps and letters. If he wastoying with me or he was actually busy, I did not know. Nor did I plan to ask, because that would mean showing curiosity towards whatever it was that concerned him, and I was adamant to win this little game of his.
How long could he really keep it up for? He’d already missed two days of training, and I only had to remember Markos’ rage that day he kept Dahr up all night to catch up and set an example for the others. Worst case, we’d be here until the end of the month, which by my calculations was in five days. He’d be forced to release me then, maybe even the day before and take me back to my town. Or maybe I could convince him to stay here forever and explode his own camp. Channel the energy of his god or whatever…
“I’d like to have another bath,” I demanded when I found myself at the cusp of giving up. I could waste time, that wasn’t as big of a problem, but keeping my mouth shut when I had thousands of questions spinning through my mind, that had become the biggest issue for me. Just saying these few words out loud after I had kept silent all morning and most of the day before felt like a breath of fresh air.
“Of course,” Dahr replied in a split second and stood from the table where he was facing the wall to move towards the tent exit, where I assumed someone was waiting because the warrior spent less than five seconds outside. A few minutes later, the preparation for my bath began and I watched Dahr and another man this time, carry water until the bathtub was full.
“Don’t drown me in bubbles again,” I shouted from the bed when I saw Dahr picking up the gels. “I’ll do it.”
With that, I jumped from bed and moved to the bathtub where I prepared the water just how I liked it: with dried lavender pouches and just enough soap to cover my body. When I was ready to get in, I turned to Dahr, who remained by my side,observing what I did with too much interest for someone who bathed in a bucket.
“Do you mind?” My brows shot up in question when the warrior did not sketch a move to leave and continued looking at me as if preparing to enjoy the show.
“Sorry,” he must have snapped awake because he moved to bring the wall panel that separated the table where he worked and the place where I bathed, just like the night before.
I waited a minute or two to make sure he was really back to his work before I removed my clothes and let my body relax in the warmth of the water. I lingered in the bathtub for a while, muscles soaking into the bubbles and pleasant scents. My eyes closed on their own accord, and I started drifting off, leaving the stress and agony of my surroundings. That is, until a long caress drifted down my arm and I blinked myself awake to find Dahr, sat on the floor by my bathtub, eyes fixed on me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped as I moved my arm and dipped deeper into the water to cover my breasts. An instinct, really, I didn’t possess anything Dahr hadn’t seen or tasted.
“Helping you wash,” he said matter of fact as he grabbed the sponge I had placed on the side of the tub on a small wooden stool. The warrior grabbed the soap and scraped some onto the wet sponge before he squeezed it into his large hand to make a cloud of bubbles. Once it was ready, Dahr grabbed my wrist, which instantly relaxed under his touch and started to draw long lines of soap onto my skin.
Knowing it would be more hassle trying to escape than letting the moment flow, I made the decision to enjoy it and relaxed as Dahr’s fingers caressed more and more of my skin.
I relaxed into the familiar warmth and the reverent touch that slowly enveloped all my senses. I had fought him so much that I forgot what magic the scraping of his calloused fingers onmy skin was able to create. How he could make my senses sing and my body yearn.
“Tell me about your power,” I demanded as I offered him my other hand to wash.
“What would you like to know?” the warrior jumped at the opportunity, clinging onto my words as one did a rope inside a forgotten cave.
“How did it happen? The first time?” Part of me did not want to jump to the hard conversation and chose to start with an easier subject. Or so I thought.
“I was climbing a mountain, near the entrance to the Fire Kingdom,” Dahr started speaking as his fingers continued to soap my skin. “We’re generally not allowed to exit the premises without permission, but I was rebelling that day. My mother and two brothers were supposed to visit relatives on the other side of the galleries, so I thought I had all day to myself. We weren’t allowed to come out into the sun except for solstices after our coming of age, so I was desperate to get out and do something apart from training underground. And I liked looking at the sky.”
His voice fell on me like a soothing caress, and I relaxed into the water while listening to his voice. Urging him to continue speaking and letting his words absorb away all my worries.
“I was half-way up by the time sunset started falling over the cliffs. I wanted to turn to see the sun, I was always fascinated with the colours. I don’t exactly know how it happened; my hand must have slipped. Somehow, I felt myself falling. And I panicked. I was so desperate to grab onto something, that I sent my entire being into that single gesture. And then it happened.”
“What happened?” I asked, fully absorbed into his story, my eyes wide open to take him in.
