Book 2 Ch 16: Swandia

Michael awoke to Ollie’s gangly limbs awkwardly hanging off of him and gently extricated himself. It wasn’t really his fault, they were both much too large to squeeze into the small bed together. If they were going to be there for a week they’d probably have to take turns sleeping on the floor going forward. The first night though, he’d fallen asleep on the bed too quickly to negotiate and Ollie wasn’t going to be on the floor on their first night with a bed. The sun was only just coming up, which meant that Michael had slept in more than usual

He made his way downstairs to find a young man manning the desk, dozing just as his father had been the previous night. Michael gave him a copper for a clean water basin and then went back upstairs.

He made his way to his pack and pulled out a mixture of his least smelly clothes and laid them out. It included a tusinian shirt, wool pants from the Svict village, and his trusty Stent boots that he was certain would need to be resoled soon.

There was a knock on the door and Michael found a basin filled with tepid water and two mostly cleaned towels, and a small bar of soap. He placed a finger into the water and whispered, “caliente” channeling some of his magicka to bring the water to a pleasant temperature. Once he was done he gave himself a thorough full body scrub, actually dumping the water and buying another basin before he was done. He worked his fingers through the painful knots of his hair to bring it as close to acceptable as he could make it, then he got out his hand mirror to shave with his elven dagger. He’d kept it nice and sharp, perhaps too sharp as he wound up needing to heal a few nicks near his Adam’s apple.

When he was done he felt better than he had in a month. A full night’s sleep in a bed, followed by being clean? That was impossible to beat. He left his sword and shield, but buckled his dagger to his waist.

Ollie groaned a bit as he woke up and stretched.

Michael grabbed the basin and moved toward the window shutter to dump it again.

“Wait,” said Ollie. “I’ll use it.”

Michael frowned at the sloshing brown water. “You sure? I mean, I realize Aussies don’t have as much of a problem with filth since you’re descended from convicts, but this seems extreme.”

Ollie stood up and reached a long arm into the basin, placing a single finger into the water, he slowly drew it out, and a concentrated sphere of dirt and grim formed until the water itself was completely clear.

“It’s a modified water purification spell,” he said as he tossed the vile sphere into the street below. “I think it’ll save me a few coppers.”

Michael nodded. “We probably do need to be thrifty for a while. I’ve got a handful of silvers, coppers, and a gold piece, but who knows how long we’ll need to stretch things out?”

Ollie started stripping, using a different spell to clean one of the towels and grabbing the bar of soap.

Michael shook his head. “Hopefully we’ll all have separate rooms someday. I think we’re all getting a little too comfortable with one another?”

“What, you don’t like seeing my ass every morning?”

“Well… it’s at least an improvement over seeing your face.”

Ollie laughed as he started washing himself and Michael walked out into the hall. A woman with short brown hair and a sword buckled at her waist was leaving her room at the same time. Michael gave her a quick nod that she hesitatingly returned and then he made his way downstairs. He hadn’t taken a lot of time to look around the inn the previous day, but while it was dingy, it seemed sturdy and well built. There was a common area with a long wooden bench a few feet from a fireplace and some large rugs for people to lay down and lounge on as well. All of it needed a scrub and a dusting, but it could be much worse, and it certainly beat being on the road.

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