Chapter 15: Hot springs
The carriage ride from the capital down to Lindwurm took four days. It was long, bumpy, and hot. And the entire way there, Alexia was stewing. This trip was supposed to be a relaxing fun little holiday. She would spend a few hours grilling Archbishop Drake, then attend the Goddess Trial as an honored guest. Afterwards she'd planned to stay four or five days just relaxing and seeing the sights before heading home. Alexia wantedto do all that with a particular annoying doggie, but he'd gone and run off without so much as a word to her.
The fact he'd left wasn't what annoyed her. Well… not mainly. Most of the students had gone home and she wasn't so possessive as to deny Poochie the chance to go home and see his family for a week or two. (The idea of him being gone longer than that was out of the question.) No, what made her grind her teeth was the fact he'd just up and left without so much as a word. They trained and had lunch and dinner together pretty much every single day. He had to know she'd find out immediately and be inconvenienced. It was really rude of him to just ignore her wishes when she went to the trouble of planning out his daily schedule and making sure he followed it despite his whining and complaints.
Some people were unbelievably self-centered!
"Well, at least there are supposed to be some nice hot springs here. I'll relax in one before my meeting."
The church had tried making a number of lame excuses about why the archbishop was busy with the trial and couldn't make time to meet with her. But the church officials weren't quite brazen enough to outright refuse a royal princess who'd come all the way to the holy land just to speak with him. That would have been an insult towards the Midgar royal family. So, a meeting was at last scheduled for late morning. With that settled Alexia checked into her inn to have a nice dinner and then get some sleep and try to recover from her long journey.
XXX
The Jaffa Hot Springs were located at the top of a hill. They were open air and offered an incredible view overlooking the entire city. It was not open to the public, only nobles and members of the clergy were allowed to entrance. There was also a pretty steep fee per individual visit. Given these facts the facility didn't bother with splitting the area between genders and instead had mixed bathing.
When Alexia arrived early in the morning, she was very pleased to be the only customer. She undressed, washed herself off, and then climbed into the hot, steamy waters. For the first time in four days, she was able to really relax and let all the stress she'd built up go. As Alexia lay there soaking, she even released some of her resentment for Poochie and his unexpected abandonment. She would just have to have an amazing time all on her own and then make him cry with jealousy and regret when she told him about what he'd missed out on.
Hah! Knowing him he'll pretend not to care, but he'll definitely be sorry. This'll be his one and only chance to attend the Goddess Trial at no charge, and even do it with a beautiful princess! Who wouldn't be sick at blowing that kind of opportunity?
With such happy thoughts in her head, she closed her eyes and unwound. She'd been in there for a short while when she heard someone come out of the dressing rooms. She sighed in disappointment, getting to enjoy the hot springs solo was a treat. No doubt whoever this was would pester and stare at her, she was after all not only a princess, but a stunning beauty.
Oh well, she thought, time to put on the mask.
She screwed on her best genteel princess smile and opened her eyes to see just what sort of person would be joining her. He was a young man of average height and fairly toned body with uncombed black hair and ruby red eyes. They both recognized each other in the same instant.
"Huh? Alexia?"
"Poochie?" Without thinking about it she jumped to her feet.
The two of them stood there in stunned silence looking at each other's naked bodies. Surprisingly, it was Poochie who recovered his senses first.
"Did you follow me here? I know you're obsessed with me, but being an actual stalker is a bad look."
"What?!" She looked around for something to throw. Sadly, she hadn't brought her sword with her and the deadliest thing she had on hand was a sponge. With no better alternative she grabbed it and threw it at him with all her mana re-enforced might.
He stood there and watched it bounce off his chest. "You know, I hear there's another hot spring about half a mile from herre. I think I'll-"
"Don't you dare!" Alexia shouted. "Get your ass over here right now!"
He sighed. "Yanderes aren't a good look either."
XXX
They ended up in the water about five feet from each other. Alexia was at once trying to both glare at and ignore him.
"You know, I really could go somewhere else," Poochie said. "It's kind of hard to enjoy a hot spring when you're worried about being stabbed."
"I don't have a knife so you're safe as far as that goes. You might need to watch out about getting kicked though."
He moved a couple feet further away from her.
"How could you just leave without letting me know?" Alexia demanded.
"I didn't realize I needed permission."
"Hey, it's just a common courtesy to your girlfriend."
"Fake girlfriend."
"The world doesn't know that. When I went to your dorm to see you, I felt like an idiot as the front desk told me you'd left without even leaving a note for me. Do you know how bad that looks?"
He thought about it. "You're right, I'm awful. You should definitely break up with me and teach me a lesson."
She gave him a flat look.
"You're thinking about kicking me, aren't you?"
"No, I'm thinking about where I should kick you."
Poochie slid a couple more feet away from her.
"What are you doing here anyway? When they told me you'd gone I'd assumed it was to go visit your family."
"A friend told me to come down here if I was bored."
"You're friends with a foreign exchange student from here? Huh, I had no idea. I thought scarecrow and fatty were your only companions."
"You might be surprised at the range of people I know."
"Are you trying to sound cool and mysterious? Please don't."
"Well, in any case I got here yesterday and figured I'd visit a hot spring and relax."
"Heh, figures we'd have the same idea. It's as good a way as any to pass the day, and it's a lot less crowded than most places."
"Yeah, the streets were really packed and there are stalls everywhere selling trinkets. Is there some kind of festival going on?"
She gawked at him. "You serious? You came all the way here without even knowing?"
"Eh, I figured anything would be more fun that what I was doing."
Alexia brought her hand back and splashed water into his face. Seeing him suddenly resemble a drowned rat appeased her a bit. She decided to be generous and enlighten this ignorant soul.
"It's called the Goddess' Trial and it's held here once a year when they open the door to the Sanctuary. Memories of ancient warriors are awoken, and challengers come to face them. It's an open competition and anyone who pays the fee can participate. If you're not strong enough though an ancient warrior may not manifest. Hundreds come each year but there normally won't be more than ten actual matches. And of course, the church keeps the fee whether you get to fight or not."
"Figures. So, it's a chance to duel a ghost? That sounds cool. How are the matches determined?"
"They say it's based on whether or not there's a spirit who's on a similar level to a challenger. Basically, it's just a measure of how strong a fighter you are. If you're not one of the absolute best you won't get to fight."
"Is that why you're here?"
She frowned. "You already know I'm not an elite fighter. Yet. I'll actually be at the event, but as a guest of honor not a contestant. I'm actually here to investigate someone. You see-"
"Don't care," Pooch sank back into the water and closed his eyes.
Her frown deepened. "Hey, this investigation was ordered by my sister, so it's Crimson Order business. Which makes it your business."
"Nope, I'm just a lowly student here on vacation. It's got nothing to do with me."
"Well, it's my business which automatically makes it your business. I was actually planning to invite you to come with me when I found out you were gone."
"Invite huh? Why do I get the feeling I was getting dragged along one way or the other?"
"Why do you always have to be so negative? My sister arranged for us to stay here a few days after the trial to have a pleasant holiday, all free of charge. If you'd waited one day you wouldn't have had to pay for the travel and you'd have your very own spacious room. All the meals and everything else would be paid for by the crown. I mean I can only imagine what sort of rat-infested broom closet you must be staying in, and it must be costing you at least five thousand zeni a day."
"Actually, I'm staying in a pretty nice place free of charge, my meals and travel are covered too."
"Your foreign exchange friend is letting you stay with his family?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, sure we'll go with that."
"Still… don't you feel just a little ashamed to be taking advantage of someone's generosity like that?"
"Why start now?"
She splashed him again.
XXX
Despite her best efforts to convince him Poochie refused to join her. It was annoying, but she couldn't really order him to do anything. She did get to at least enjoy his company for a while, which wasn't completely horrible.
The open-air bath gave them a perfect view of the rising sun. When it was cresting above the horizon Poochie actually stood up at the edge of the spring to stare at it. Alexia thought it a nice view. And she wasn't focusing on the sun.
After a while him standing there in a trance got a bit annoying.
"Oh, will you sit down already? It's the sun, you get to see it every single day."
"It's still wondrous whether you've seen it once or a million times."
"I've told you before not to try and sound deep, it's wasted on you."
He ignored her and kept standing there.
She sighed and stretched her legs. "I suppose I should give you credit. I'd expected you to take advantage of this opportunity to ogle my body. I didn't know you had this much self-restraint, Poochie."
"Someone's confident."
"It's experience. When you're a ravishing beauty like me, it gets annoying to always be drawing lustful gazes."
"It's my policy to not look at others while in a hot spring. That way we can all enjoy it in peace."
"I'm amazed, that actually sounds enlightened."
He nodded. "That's why I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to steal glances of my Excalibur."
"Pfft! You call that thing an Excalibur?! Who's full of themselves again? Looks more like a pocketknife if you ask me."
"You're welcome to think whatever you like," he began to exit the pool. "But you should beware, any blade can be quite fearsome when it leaves the sheath and is ready for use."
Those words caught her off guard and made her heart beat a little faster. "Wh… What do you mean by that?"
"You may learn… one day."
Alexia grinned. He usually didn't care what anyone thought, but sometimes he did pretend to be cooler than he really was. She knew how to bring him back to earth though.
"Hey Poochie?"
"What?" He was still heading towards the dressing room.
"You've got a nice butt."
That brought him to a halt. He looked back over his shoulder at her, made deliberate eye contact and spoke.
"So do you." He then left without missing a beat.
Alexia's cheeks turned beat red and her heart started to race. "Stupid Poochie," she muttered.