Steam curls around me as I step onto the wet marble, slick and polished to a mirror sheen. The heat rises in thick, swirling ribbons that blur the city lights, banishing the fresh breeze that carries hints of roses and jasmine down from the temple gardens. I walk onwards, closer to the edge of the pool. Only a white towel presses against my skin in a gentle embrace, a cocoon of quiet comfort. The assistants made me leave my clothes behind and rinse myself under a cold shower before letting me in. Then they send me into the women's section. Because yes, all the women bathe together here in a communal pool, naked as they were born. I freeze for a second in shock. Is this what they call cultural differences? But I am not squeamish, am I? Wherever you go, do what you see. It is not the first time I have seen people naked. They made us bathe together in the orphanage all the time when we were little kids, miserly penny pinchers that they were.

  I unwrap myself from my towel and hang it on a hook over a bunch of red-glowing stones that dry the air around them. Nobody is looking at me, are they? Well, two girls about my age, who float on the other side of the pool, glance at me but continue giggling in a low voice, whispering between themselves.

  I dip a toe into the water, taking in the sharp contrast in temperature to the cool night air that clings to me, drawing goosebumps all over my skin. I let myself sink into the warm embrace of the water. Into the steam, that floods the air under clouds of mineral dust, orange blossoms, and lavender. My muscles thaw, and all the lingering tension melts away. A sigh escapes my lips.

  “Those idiots are going to continue pestering us all the way towards Minas Kalin,” says one of the girls. She rinses her pitch-black curls with a wave of her hand before submerging her hair again under the water. I may not be the only one trying to get to that city. Well, there are only two directions to take when traveling by ship. Downriver towards Deepwater or upstream towards Minas Kalin. The last stop of the route, as I found out earlier.

  The other girl rolls her eyes and lets the tip of her toes drift over the water, showing off her perfect pedicure. “As if they had a chance,” she giggles. “My dad would never let me have a dalliance with some simple baron’s son.” The other girl casts her a judging look. “What? Do you think I would? Even if he let me, no way!” She laughs out loud now, drowning the noise under gurgling water bubbles. “They are hideous,…, and think way too much of themselves.”

  An old woman leaves the pool, shaking her head and muttering something about the noisy youth of today. The girls quiet down, following the woman’s steps over the marble until she disappears, leaving us alone. Then they start giggling again.

  We float for a while in silence. I can feel furtive glances washing over me. I look back. Our eyes lock for an instant before they shy away like skittish deer caught in the glow of a lamplight. They whisper between themselves. They nudge and shove each other, like trying to build up courage. Finally, the one with the pedicured nails swims closer, or should I call her redhead?

  “Hi! I’m Yuileen,” she presents herself. Or that. I can call her by her name. “That shy girl over there is Kamoe.”

  “What? I am not shy!” exclaims her friend. Then she decides to swim over, too. “Take that back!”

  Yuileen only laughs, dodging a tackle from her friend, before letting herself drift close again. “We love your tattoos.” Okay, that is what caught their attention. “They look almost like runes.”

  Maybe there is an angle here I can play. These girls may be just what I need if I play it right. I ponder. “I am Minae,” I lie. “They look like runes because they are runes.”

  Yuileen leans back, splashing in the water, her shoulders barely visible over the rippling surface. “So cool!” She comes closer again to take a better look. “How would that even work? What do they do?”

  “They are called body runes,” I explain. “Instead of gathering ambient mana, you feed and control them with your mana pool.” To demonstrate it, I let myself fade into invisibility.

  Yuileen pokes her finger in my direction, eyes wide open. “No way!” After a lot of fumbling around through empty air, she finally manages to touch my invisible belly. “That is so smooth! Is it not smooth, Kamoe?” I let myself turn visible again.

  “It is,” acknowledges her friend. “It works. I didn’t see her activate any technique.” Wait? She did not see me do what? I suppress a gulp. These innocent-looking girls may well be higher-ranking and better-trained mages than I am. Half the town could be the same. I suppress an envious grumble. Keep a straight face. Do not let it show. It must be easy to advance in rank when you have lived all your life in this mana density.

  “It’s a shame my parents would never let me get a tattoo,” groans Yuileen. “My mother would drop dead if I came home with a tattoo,” she kicks behind her, to not drift away with the soft current, and rolls her eyes. “Like clutching her chest, grasping for air and fainting and collapsing into some maid’s arms levels of drama.” She giggles.

  Kamoe snorts, shaking her head and watching the falling droplets ripple over the pool’s surface. “Mine would cry, whine, and tell me how I have marred my skin. How I have blown away all my good marriage options.” She sighs, tilting her head over the marble edge. “Or they would just cast me that look, you know? The one that says you are a disappointment to the family without a single word. Casting waves of silent judgment before they hammer down with an appropriate punishment.”

  “Yeah…, that look,” mutters Yuileen, rubbing her face until her cheeks turn red. “My mom has perfected it. One day, she caught me with red nail polish and looked at me like I had failed all our ancestors. Without even saying a word.” She hides her snickers, diving under, but has to resurface again a few seconds later, coughing and spitting water. Finally, she manages to calm down and confesses in a meek and low voice, “A week later, she made me play hostess all alone for the sons of the Von Kinen…”

  For some reason, she is turning red like a cherry in summer.

  “Ugh, you don’t need to tell more.” Kamoe shudders, almost as if the cold wind had erased the steam around her, seeping into her bones. “They are like the plague…”

  “Don’t tell me,” grumbles Yuileen. “My mom said that if I wanted to dress like a harlot, I should learn how it feels to be treated like one...”

  Kamoe smirks, flicking water toward her friend. “And a tattoo is a million times worse than nail polish.”

  "Exactly!" Yuileen waves a hand. "I could get a small, cute butterfly on my wrist. So small it is barely even noticeable, and they would still act like I had been defiled by demons." She looks into the distance, forlorn. "They are useful, though." Letting her gaze wander back toward me, she asks, “Is it only normal invisibility, or does it hide you from other senses, too?”

  “Just normal invisibility,” I explain. Is it time to throw the hook? Or do I need to sow the terrain a bit more? “I need to acquire the appropriate runes to add other effects.”

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  “Oh, well. Then it isn’t that useful,” she pouts. Every high-ranking mage will still feel you with their soul sense.” Note to myself: find out what soul-sense is and how to shield from it. I am missing so much information. I need to be careful if I want to go on a job here. Have I been lucky until now? Well, it is not like most high-ranking mages would lower themselves to the point of wasting their time searching for a nearly mortal girl. They have grunts to send after you for that. Or would they come in person if it takes too long? I suppress a shudder. Cold sweat runs down the scruff of my neck. “Wait!” exclaims Yuileen. “You made them yourself?”

  I look her over. “Yeah?”

  She smashes her palm onto the water, excited, creating huge waves that spill water all over the marble. Then she whispers to her friend, purring like a cat and wiggling her eyebrows. “Kami, think about all the mischievousness we could cause.”

  "Yeah, it could be so cool, like having extra techniques up your sleeve." Kamoe looks over the city roofs with dreamy eyes. “Do you think they would let it pass because of that? Because they can expand our abilities?”

  Yuileen grins and shakes her head. "No way, it doesn’t matter. They would still disown me so fast."

  I should throw my hook into the sea before the moment passes. “Well, it is not like they are permanent. They fade away after some time, and the more you use them.” I wink at Kamoe.

  Yuileen whirls around, her shoulder brushing over my breasts. “What?” I flinch back. Woah there, tigress, keep your paws to yourself. She blinks, unaware. She seems lost in her mind, trying to reprocess what I just said. To check if what she heard was real. Then she catches me by both of my forearms. Pressing them down to look me in the eyes. “You need to make me one.” She nearly yells into my face like an overeager puppy. “I need one! Please!”

  Now, continue to spin the tale, a spider casting her web. The fish is hooked. It is time to start railing it in carefully. “Well, I would love to help you. As long as you pay for the ink, obviously.” She gives off an excited squeal. Splashing vigorously in the water. “But I am afraid I don’t have enough time. I need to hire a new guard because I lost mine in a skirmish. And then I need to get onto the next ship toward Minas Kalin.”

  “To Minas Kalin? We go there too! You could come with us!” Yuileen’s gaze darts towards her friend. “She can come with us, can’t she? Kami?”

  “I can not see why not. The merchant works for our family. He can’t say no.”

  “Then it’s solved. You will come with us!” exclaims Yuileen, letting my arms go, shaking with excitement. “You don’t even need to waste your money to hire another guard here. They think way too much of themselves but are rubbish.” She makes a dismissive movement with her hand as if all the common folk were beneath her. “We have more than enough with us. And those are real guards.” Fish railed in. She looks back at me, asking me with her eyes. “What happened with yours anyway? If I may ask.

  I sigh, eyes cast down, looking into the water. Don’t let it slip away now for being careless. “We got waylaid by bandits, a whole lot of them.” I feign a shudder and whisper. “I had to defeat the last one myself.”

  Kamoe whistles between her teeth. “That is harsh.” She pulls herself out of the water to sit on the marble edge. “I guess those idiotic boys that travel with us would shit themselves if it had happened to them.”

  “Yeah!” interjects Yuileen, still excited, not catching the mood I try to impose for some reason. “They may boast all day about their heroic accomplishments.” She rolls her eyes again. “But they are just city dandies, sheltered from harm their whole life.”

  I blink, hiding my confusion. And you believe yourself to be different?

  “Where did you come from,” asks Kamoe, rinsing her hair again. “I mean, which route did you follow to arrive in this town?”

  “From Peruvia,” I lie. “I don’t know. We had to change our means of transport a few times. The attack was close to town, actually, somewhere downriver. I just had to wander the last stretch alone.”

  “I knew it!” exclaims Yuileen. “You have their eyes! From which family do you hail from?”

  Oh, shit! I forgot they are nobility. They all know about each other. I should have thought about that. I lack practice. How do I salvage this? Pin down the fish before it slips back into the river. “Well, I don’t know.” I cast my eyes down as if ashamed to continue. “I’m just a bastard. My mom never told me who my father is exactly.”

  “Oh,” mumbles Yuileen. “Well, don’t worry, we don’t care. We have other bastard friends. We won’t treat you any different.” She looks into my eyes, studying them. “It is strange that they didn’t recognize you, though. It is not like you are their only one. And, with those intense eyes, your spirit root must be very pure.” She looks over at Kamoe. “I thought they valued potential over everything else there, did they not, Kami?”

  “Yes, normally they do. They have this whole thing where they establish a ranking.” She starts folding her towel neatly around her shimmering half-dry hair. “They use those rankings to determine who will be the successor, like they do on the eastern continent, instead of it being the eldest, like everywhere else.”

  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “Something like that is why I am going to Minas Kalin,” I pretend to admit. “I got a letter. Something about some heir having had an accident. And a summon to the whole extended family to determine the new successor.”

  “Oh! It must be the Han clan or the Lin clan, then.” Explains Kamoe. Clan? Why did she call it a clan? Is it a tribal society? I blink, confused. “They are the only ones who have estates there.”

  “Do you know the address?” asks Yuileen.

  “Well,” I shrug my shoulders, “I lost it during the bandit attack.”

  “Don’t worry,” Yuileen catches one of my arms again, trying to calm me down. “We will find out once we arrive. If some family heir had an accident, it would be the talk of the city.”

  “Not necessarily,” denies Kamoe. “Those clans care a lot about appearances. They may not tell anybody outside of the family… They may limit themselves to announcing that they have a new heir once the decision is final.”

  “It may be the Lin clan,” I pretend to acknowledge, trying to nip future complications in the bud. I can see these girls trying to use their connections once we arrive in that city and landing me in some mess. Better to prevent it now. “I think I once overheard my mom cursing them.”

  “You will become high nobility, like us!” squeals Yuileen. “A new friend, our parents will let us mingle with without complaints. Isn’t it exciting? “She smiles at me, showing pearl-white teeth. “A friend with which to rant over stupid etiquette and idiotic boys. Found in this gods-forsaken town, this must be destiny.”

  Did she already decide in her imaginary world that I have won that succession, selection, or whatever? Shit, etiquette. I need a crash course about local etiquette to pass as a noble. Well, maybe not if I pretend to be just a bastard who never had contact with them. “High nobles?” I ask.

  “Oh, yeah. My mom is a duchess, and Kami’s dad is a count.” She gets out of the water, too, and holds her hands to dry over the hot stones. I imitate them. “But he is actually more important than Mom. The province Kami is from did not have dukedoms before the empire took over,” she explains.

  “What?”

  “And the heads of the Peruvian clans call themselves patriarchs because of their ties to the easterners,” interjects Kamoe, waiting for us to dry down. “They are also considered high nobility. Well, at least the Lins and the Hans are. That’s why they are the only ones that own estates in Minas Kalin, far away from their territories.”

  “Don’t worry, you will learn all that yourself!” I must have looked a bit overwhelmed. “They will probably assign you a private tutor to catch up.”

  We walk toward the dressing rooms, clad in the warm embrace of the towels.

  I select the fanciest robe I can find and pull it out of my ring.

  “Oh! Nice martial robe,” approves Yuileen, smiling at me. “You take it seriously, eh?” They both clad themselves in celestial blue, smooth, silken mage-robes that highlight their figures. I resist the temptation to snort. Yeah, I would never dress in something like that. It seems way too restrictive to your movements. “Where are you staying.”

  “At some inn called the Drunken Siren.”

  “Awesome, we too!”

  Kamoe snorts, “Where else would she stay, Yuli? It’s not like there are many options to choose from.”

  “Ugh! True,” concedes Yuileen, biting her lip. “I can’t believe it’s the only halfway decent place you can find in this backwater town.” She strolls into the softly illuminated streets, breathing in the breeze and the smells that float down from the temple gardens. “I have seen the hellhole where half of our guards are lodged in.” A pair of armed men appear out of thin air, right next to us, nearly making me flinch. But neither of the noble ladies seem to be alarmed. They must be some of those guards, then. “I tell you. They should burn it to the ground after we leave.”

  We start wandering through the streets towards the river. The guards remain a few paces behind us, keeping a respectful distance.

  Even if the content of this chapter may not be meant in a sexual way and more like a cultural shock for Kivi who is not accostumed to see and interact withother adult women bathing naked, do you think I need to toggle on the "Sexual content warning"?