"Nice," Toman said when they pulled aside the bead curtain to view the room. He immediately stepped inside, stripping off his heavy coat.
"You must be starving," Kessa said once both of them were in the room. "I’ll bring you some food." She vanished quickly, leaving them to enjoy the spring. Neither of them took their time getting in.
There were hooks along the wall, with only three of them presently occupied with rather large towels, so Toman hung up his coat. Everything went on those hooks except for their smallclothes, which they kept on, Toman’s gloves, which he also wore, and their socks and boots, which waited on the floor. After making sure the towels were within easy reach, they dipped their toes into the hot spring and got in.
"Oh Brightfire, does this ever feel good," Esset said, sinking into the water. To his surprise, there was a ledge to sit on at about the right level, so it seemed that this chamber was also one that was normally meant for human—or humanoid—guests.
"Agreed," Toman said. He ducked briefly beneath the surface of the water, just enough to get his hair wet. He slicked it back out of his face, and propping his arms on the ledge behind him, he sat back and reveled in the heat. Pretty soon both brothers lapsed into silence, relaxing so far as to almost fall asleep in the heat and comfort.
They were jolted awake by the jangle of beads as Kessa came in. She held a tray with three plates on it, one for each of them. It was Nadran food, but Toman and Esset were so hungry that they didn’t particularly care.
"Here we are," Kessa said cheerfully, putting down plates next to each of them. Then she went around the other side of the hot spring and slipped into the water herself. Suddenly both young men were glad they’d opted to keep their underclothes on, since she clearly intended to stay.
They were all quiet for a bit as Esset and Toman wolfed down their food; Kessa ate more delicately. She let them finish before starting a conversation.
"So how is sealing the tunnels coming?" she finally asked.
"Really well. It feels like slow going, since I have to create the seals and then we have to travel to where my animation will block the tunnel, but we actually made really good time today. We should get the majority of them done tomorrow, and then finish the last few the day after. But already there’s a significant number of warrior Nadra freed up by the seals," Toman reported. "Now the areas that need them can have more guards, and the rest of them can get more rest."
"That’s great," Kessa agreed with a smile. She was looking at Toman strangely, however. Or, more specifically, she was looking at his gloves. Finally Toman lifted his hand and wiggled his gloved fingers at her.
"Ah, sorry," the little blue Nadra apologized. Toman chuckled.
"Not at all. You’re wondering why I’m still wearing my gloves in the water?" Toman asked. Kessa nodded.
"Here, take a closer look," he said, holding out his hand towards her. She reached out toward the glove, but then her eyes went wide in surprise.
"They’re still dry!" she exclaimed. Toman dipped his hand beneath the surface and then lifted it again.
"Still dry," he repeated with a smile.
"That is so strange," Kessa marveled. "How?"
"Magic," Toman said, wiggling his fingers at her again. The corner of her mouth twitched in dissatisfaction with his answer.
"Why then?" Kessa pressed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I don’t ever take them off," Toman replied. "I don’t need to, so it works out."
"But why?" she asked again.
"Well, it’s not something I advertise, but it’s no secret either," Toman said with a shrug. "I wasn’t actually born with magic. My ability to animate comes from these." He held up both hands then, flipping them so she could see his gloved palms, then the backs. "They’re…well, Esset would call them a magical artifact. Long story short, I inherited them, and now I’m an animator. If I take them off, I can’t animate anything."
"Oh," was Kessa’s only response. She was surprised and interested.
"Most of the time, they go completely unnoticed," Toman said with a grin, putting his hands down again. "But hang around me long enough, and most people notice there’s something slightly odd about them." Kessa just nodded.
"So Kessa, I have to admit that your readiness to get in the water surprised me. Are you not worried about your paints washing off?" Esset asked, changing the subject.
"Not at all. They are more enamels than paints. The water will not harm my patterns," Kessa replied.
"How do you ever remove them then?"
"We have combinations of oils and minerals that take off our paints. Not that we often use them, but it is not overly difficult," Kessa replied.
"So…your patterns. Do they have any meaning, or are they just decorations?" Toman asked.
Esset glanced at him with a bit of surprise, since Toman didn’t normally show much interest in other cultures’ traditions. Toman normally kept his inquiries to "the practical stuff," while Esset would ask about any old thing.
"They are simply art, a way that we express ourselves," the little blue Nadra replied. "Some of us choose to incorporate meaning into our paints, with images or words or memorable patterns with historical significance, but most of us do not.
"Me, I love purple especially, which is why I paint my scales with it. The blues complement my scales, and the yellows make a nice contrast. There is little more to it than that. My grandmother taught me to paint, and I have always loved to do so."
"Your painted scales are lovely," Toman said. Kessa ducked her head in embarrassment, a Nadran equivalent to a blush.
"Thank you," she murmured back.
Esset suddenly realized that he had a Nadra to talk to who wasn’t a warrior and probably wouldn’t threaten him if he asked too many questions.
"So, how does your thermal detection work, exactly? Is it like vision, or totally different?" he asked, leaning forward.
Kessa blinked at the sudden change in topic. "Um… I suppose, like vision, yes. They kind of…combine? It is difficult to explain. In some ways it is much like vision, but in many ways it is like…like a different tactile sense. It is complicated. Perhaps it is totally different."
"Well… What do you see or sense now, when it comes to thermal detection?" Esset pressed.
"Not much, actually," Kessa responded. "Or actually, too much. It is very warm in here, and the steam makes it difficult. The hot water does too. I cannot distinguish anything beneath the surface of hot water. But this whole room is like that too. The hot springs are one of our sources of heat for the city, and lines of earth-heat run all through this place. Since the spring is here, this entire room is cloaked in heat-tracks. It makes our heat sense almost useless in rooms like these."
"Interesting," Esset murmured. "So you use geothermal energy to heat the city then… I’d wondered. And these heat tracks—those are the paths that the heat-energy follows?" Kessa nodded. "And they run all throughout the city."
"Yes. We have arranged them in patterns that are beautiful to behold. It just occurred to me that you cannot see them. That is a pity—they are beautiful," Kessa replied, tilting her head to the side.
"Well, we do appreciate the end result," Esset said. "It’s quite comfortably warm pretty much everywhere in your city."
Kessa smiled.
"So what about the lanterns and lights? I’ve been really curious—"
"Good grief, Esset. Do you always have to devolve into interrogation mode? Relax, for Hyrishal’s sake. Shut your brain off for a change," Toman admonished him.
"I don’t mind," Kessa put in with another little duck of her head.
"I do," Toman muttered.
"Oh come on, Toman. You’re not curious?" Esset coaxed his brother.
"No, I’m really not," the animator replied with a shake of his head.
"Not about anything?" Esset asked.
"Certainly not about the light fixtures," Toman replied pointedly, looking deadpan at the summoner.
Esset muttered something about enlightenment and trolls that wasn’t entirely audible. Toman ignored him.
"Maybe I can ask you two some questions then," Kessa suggested tentatively.
"Absolutely," Esset responded instantly. Toman rolled his eyes, making Kessa giggle.
"So why do you wear all that?" Kessa asked, gesturing at the clothes hanging on the hooks. Esset blinked, not anticipating that particular question.
"Yeah, Esset, why do we wear all that?" Toman asked his brother, grinning from ear to ear at the awkward situation he’d brought down upon himself.
"It seems like it just slows you down," Kessa proceeded innocently.
"Well, ah, warmth, for one, and protection, sometimes, and, uh…y’know, it’s a cultural thing too," Esset stammered. "And pockets—clothes have pockets to carry things in."
There was a little sound from the entryway, like the bead-curtain had been jostled. Toman glanced that way, but with the steam filling the small room, he didn’t see anything. Dismissing the tiny noise, Toman looked at his brother again, enjoying watching him squirm.
"Well you don’t need the warmth here—you said yourself that it is warm enough belowground," Kessa said, her head still tilted slightly. "And just a little bit of cloth surely can’t provide much protection, and it looks terribly uncomfortable."
"Well, you know, our skin isn’t as tough as your scales. It doesn’t keep the heat in so well either. From what I’ve seen, Nadra are much less sensitive to heat than humans," Esset said, defending his choice to wear clothes.
The "argument" was so absurd that Toman almost snickered—but then he caught that little sound again, and he once again looked towards the doorway.
"And your pockets are very small—surely they are not all that useful," Kessa prodded. Esset and Kessa seemed oblivious to the little sounds that Toman kept hearing. Was someone in the room with them now? Was it Tseka, up to some trick? But the sound had been so small… Maybe he was imagining things. Brightfires only knew that traveling the dark tunnels all day, on constant lookout for the venomous Reshkin, had put him on edge.
"Pockets are very useful!" Esset objected defensively. The steam behind him shifted. "They can—"
"Jonathan!" Toman yelled. The animator lunged forward and grabbed his best friend’s shoulder to yank him forward. It hadn’t been his imagination, and it certainly wasn’t Tseka sneaking up on them. Esset cried out as Toman’s hand smashed into his bruises, but that was the least of the animator’s worries. Reshkin had found their way into the bathing chamber. If Toman hadn’t moved when he had, Esset would have fallen to the venomous Reshkin’s bite; at the last possible moment, Toman had seen the creature behind Esset, hiding in the steam.
"What—?" the question was cut short when Esset saw another of the creatures and responded with a brief prayer. "Oh Brightfire—"
"Kessa, get away from the edge!" Toman ordered the little Nadra. "Put your back against ours!" Eyes wide, she did as she was told, and they felt her tail curl around their feet under the water. They could both feel her shaking as they stood in the center of the spring, back-to-back, with a ring of Reshkin surrounding them.
But they weren’t defenseless.
Esset shouted an incantation. At the same time that the fiery wolf materialized, Toman brought to life the clothes hanging on the hooks around the room. His belts shot quickly towards them, entwining in the Reshkin’s legs and winding around their heads to cover their glittering eyes. Their coats flooded forwards and wrestled with a creature apiece to drive them back. Esset’s dirk flew up into the air and darted around like a small bird—like a kingfisher, actually—swooping down and stabbing the Reshkin in their faces. It was minimally effective, but it was something.
Fortunately Esset’s assault was far more effective. The first summon didn’t stand a chance, but it had only been a first response. The steam in the air weakened it immediately, and it was swarmed almost right away. Two incantations later, however, two fiery panthers were tearing through the Reshkin like kindling. The three in the spring were forced to shield their faces against splatters and bits that were sent flying, and Kessa soon hid beneath the surface of the water. Toman and Esset could still feel her there, shaking with terror, but she was hidden from sight and at least somewhat more protected from projectiles. Toman didn’t blame her—the summons added to the heat already in the room, making the place stiflingly hot. The steam choked down on them, making it not only difficult to see very far, but creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that made breathing the already scorching air even harder.
A panther roared its endless fury, and Esset prayed to Bright Hyrishal that the Nadra would hear the sound echoing down the tunnels and come to their aid. The sound cut off as the cat’s jaws closed on a Reshkin head and crushed it. The two panthers darted, swatted, and bit the Reshkin, trying to drive them towards the curtain.
Steam and ash swept around, obscuring everything, so it was difficult to see what exactly the Reshkin were doing; just when Esset thought his herding tactic had worked, one of the deadly bugs emerged out of the steam, mandibles clicking. It was well behind his cats.
Toman’s coat dropped atop the Reshkin. The bug skittered backwards and flailed, slicing through the thick material before shaking it free. Only a moment later, a fiery panther pounced on it, molten teeth clamping on a leg and throwing it against the far wall.
Esset gave up the herding tactic in favor of keeping his summons close enough to protect them.
"Jonathan, we’ve gotta get out of here," Toman said to his brother, sparing a glance to see how he was faring. Toman was trying to shape the water, but it wasn’t making a terribly effective weapon against the Reshkin. It was easy to shape, but the Reshkin smashed the water-creatures easily. Toman was focusing on getting them in the eyes to distract them long enough for panthers to dispose of them, but the panthers weren’t keen to get near anything excessively wet.
"Ya think?" Esset yelled back. "I’m trying, but they keep getting behind the panthers whenever I try to drive them to the doorway!"