to wash away all travel stains and to take a meal. We sup in four candlemarks. Join us and we will speak of these things afterward. Too, ye can tell us a tale of how ye twain came to pass through Dhruousdarda, through the Drearwood.'
'Four candlemarks?' said Beau. 'Oh, my, that would be enough time for a full bath-that is, if you have hot water and a bathing room.'
Rael laughed, her voice a silver trill. 'Oh, yes, Sir Beau, a bath indeed we can furnish, though I'm afraid you'll have to provide thine own fresh clothing, for we have nought sized to fit thee or Sir Tipperton.'
Beau's face fell. 'Urn, I'm afraid we'll just have to put these back on, m'Lady. All our goods were lost in Drear-wood when- But here, I get ahead of myself. That tale'11 have to wait until we've cleaned up a bit… scraped some, of the dirt off, so to speak.'
Rael's brow wrinkled, but then she smiled, saying, 'Alor Loric, if thou wilt show our guests the way…'
Loric bowed and murmured, 'Aye, crystal seer.'
Loric turned and started across the wooden floor, Tip and Beau in his wake. Behind, Dara Rael called out in Sylva to the gathering, and just as the buccen and their Lian escort exited from the hall, Tip looked back to see her whispering urgently to Elfmaidens gathered 'round, while at the same time eyeing the departing trio.
Followed by the Warrows, their breath blowing white in the frigid mountain air, Loric crossed the snow to another long, low building, smoke from chimneys rising into the sky. Stepping inside and past another door, the Warrows found themselves in a warm bathing chamber, where copper tubs filled with water asteam sat on iron plates laid over a raised hearth below which ruddy embers glowed. And Loric and the buccen doffed their garments-gritty clothes which they had worn for weeks without respite-and hung them on hooks, all but their socks, which they draped over their boots. Loric shared out towels from a shelf, along with scrub cloths and soap mildly scented with the fragrance of meadow bluebells. They each eased into the large tubs-Tip and Beau in one, Loric in another-and the water came up to the wee buccen's chins, though only up to Loric's chest.
'Oh, Lor',' groaned Beau, 'but this feels wonderful. It seems a lifetime since I've truly been warm.'
Tip nodded, adding, 'And another lifetime since I've been clean.'
Leaning back, Tip and Beau luxuriated in the water, quiescent, not speaking at all, lolling as the grime and sweat of trek and flight and fear and hiding soaked away. Loric, too, slid down into his steaming bath and lazed, for he had been long on patrol.
After a goodly while, Loric said, 'A candlemark or so, and they'll be expecting us.'
Both Tip and Beau were awakened from a drowse by Loric's words, and they yawned and stretched, and Beau looked at his hands and fingers and said, 'Lor', but I'm as wrinkled as a raisin.'
Tip looked at his own crinkled hands and laughed, and both buccen ducked completely under, then stood and took up cloths and soap and began liberally lathering themselves. Tip was in the middle of scrubbing his hair when the door opened and an Elfmaiden came into the chamber and 'Hoy, now,' sputtered Beau, dropping down into the water. 'I say, you should knock or give warning or something.' Tip remained standing, for his eyes were closed against the soap slathering down from his locks.
The dark-haired Elfmaiden laughed aloud as she stepped to their clothes, and at this sound of femininity Tip gasped and splashed down and under, only to flounder up spluttering and wiping his eyes as he peered over the edge.
Loric grinned and canted his head and simply said, 'Dara Elissan.'
'Alor Loric,' Elissan replied, plucking their clothes from the hooks and gracefully kneeling to take up their socks. Standing, she turned to leave.
'But, wait!' protested Beau. 'We're going to need those.'
Elissan looked down at the garments and wrinkled her nose in mild aversion. 'Oh, I think not, wee one, at least not until they've been thoroughly boiled.'
'But what'11 we…?' Beau's question went unanswered as she vanished out the door. He looked at Tip and shrugged, adding, 'I suppose we can wrap ourselves up in towels to attend the banquet.'
Tip slowly began lathering himself, and he glanced over at Loric. 'I say, Loric, do your dammen-er, uh, do your Elfmaidens usually come barging in on bathers? I mean, I stood there naked as a newborn, and yet she, uh…' Tip's words stumbled to a halt, and he turned up his hands.
But Beau chimed in. 'I think what Tip's trying to ask is, don't your kind have any manners of modesty?'
Loric barked a laugh. 'When ye have lived as long as we, modesty at bathing and such is found for the most to be unnecessary. However, Elissan in her haste simply forgot that others share not this same-'
Loric's words were interrupted by a knock on the door, but before any could answer, Rael and Elissan and three other Elfmaidens came sweeping in.
Once again Tip and Beau plopped down in their tub, though Loric, seated, nonchalantly canted his head, saying, 'Darai.'
'We have brought ye raiment,' said Rael, turning to other of the Elfmaidens. Forward stepped a trio of Darai, each bearing folded garments. As one moved toward Loric, he murmured, 'Chier.'
Slender she was and had black hair and brown eyes. She kissed Loric and said, 'Chieran, ir awn soil.'
Loric nodded and grinned and said, 'Hai,' and though he remained sitting in soapy water, he held his arms wide in display, adding, 'neh?'
Now the Dara laughed, then turned and laid the folded clothes on a nearby bench.
The two Elfmaidens facing Tip and Beau smiled at the Waerlinga, both buccen peering over the edge of their tub, wrinkled fingers gripping the rim, water dripping and dribbling down their faces from fresh-washed hair.
'May I present Darai Seena and Jaith,' said Loric, then added, 'And she who kissed me is Dara Phais.'
All three Elfmaidens curtseyed, and Tip and Beau both bobbed their heads and mumbled embarrassed hullos. Then dark-eyed Seena and redheaded Jaith held forth two folds of clothes, and Seena said, 'These must needs do as garments.' And Jaith added, 'While those ye wore are laundered well.' Then they, too, turned and lay the clothing on the bench.
Now Rael smiled at the Waerlinga. 'I deem they will fit ye, for we all have a good eye. -Darai?'
Rael turned and glided from the room, followed by the others, including Elissan, who smiled at the Waerlinga and winked at Tip as she stepped from the chamber, leaving Tip blushing furiously, while Beau and Loric laughed.
Clean and warm at last and dressed in modified Elven tunics-their sleeves cut down and their waists gathered at the back to fit Waerlinga-Tip, in dark blue, and Beau, in pale yellow, sat with their feet dangling and swinging from Elven chairs, tall for the likes of the wee buccen. They were ensconced in a warm alcove with Talarin and Rael and Loric and Phais. Wrapped 'round the three walls of the retreat, a single muted tapestry hung, subtle colors seeming to move in the shifting light of the hearthfire, the hues and shades and tints depicting bowl-shaped slopes of an open grove wherein figures reclined to listen as a being in white held forth. The meal was long past, and the six had retired to these quarters, where Talarin served each a small cup of hammered silver filled with dark Vanchan wine. And as the night grew older, Tip and Beau related their tale-of the skirmish at the mill and the wounded Kingsman and his coin and request and warning ere he was foully slain, of the fire atop Beacontor following the capture and destruction of that signal post and its subsequent recapture, of the track of the Spawn into the Dellin Downs, of the finding of the flag and the muster at Twoforks and of Willoby and Harl's discovery of other slain Kingsmen, of the decision to bear the coin through Drearwood and east to Agron, and of the westward march of the Swarm and of the buccen's subsequent travails, ending with their capture by Vanidor's squad of march-ward Elves '… though perhaps rescue is a better term,' said Tip, 'for we were at the end of our string, and surely had the Spawn been lying in wait for us in that gulch, we would not now be here telling you this.'
'Even had the Rucks and such not been there at all,' added Beau, 'most likely we would have starved to death, out there on the ice, for we didn't know where Elvenkind lived, nor would we have ever found Arden Vale, for it is truly hidden. Loric and Vanidor and Arandar and the others saved our necks right enough, and in more ways than one.'
Both of the buccen raised their drinks in salute to Loric, and he raised his chalice in return.
Talarin stood and took up the flask to refresh each of their cups, and Tipperton said, 'Well, that's our story, and a sad one it is, what with us losing our ponies and goods and all, and nearly getting killed more times than I care to remember.'
Talarin paused in his task and raised an eyebrow. 'That ye survived at all is testament to your wiliness, for to come afoot through the whole of Drearwood in these times and without heavy escort is nigh miraculous.'
