“Well, just like with the pot, that I’m about to show you. We get a fire going first,” she said and took some wood from a pile what was in there and placed it under the cauldron. She grabbed a clay bottle and poured its contents over the wood, then used a torch to light it. Then, she walked over to a basket hanging up on the wall. It was a little bigger than cauldron and had a strap to it, “Come with me.”
I followed her to the tunnel that led to the lake and once out there, I witnessed a spectacle. It was dark and as I watched a green light, slither across the sky, then a pink one slithered into the green one. It was a spectacular thing to see, I watched for a solid twenty-minutes, before Yura interrupted me.
“Beautiful isn’t it?”
“Its amazing,” I said as wonderment filled my eyes.
“The colors, in your eyes, look amazing.”
I blinked and looked at her, I was unaware she was looking at me, “Why did we come up here?” I asked.
“We fill this basket with snow, take it down and come back up to get one more.”
“How many trips does it take to fill the bath?”
“Mylicious has ice chunks for that.”
“Why doesn’t he use ice chunks in the cauldron?”
“He says its too much work to make the ice chunks smaller, plus the snow melts instantly, the ice takes a while.” Yura said.
I just shook my head, it was Mylicious’s house, his way. I wasn’t there to change anything. I felt as if my time was winding down and started to think about returning to the land that I love. Granted, I was going to help Mylicious fix his boat. I was still, undecided at the time, about helping him find Derium’s head.
We walked back down to the cauldron where she dumped the snow in, then made another trip back out to get more snow. By the time she returned the first snow was melted and she added the second snow and it melted just as fast. Soon the water was to a slow boil. She took, what I thought looked like a fire poker, and that’s what she used it for, and moved some of the logs around.
There was wooden cabinet to the left of the basin. It was dark in appearance, with two bone, rounded knobs on the top center of each door. Yura walked over to it and opened it, then got out a cloth and a little, oval, woven basket. It had little soaps in it, they were fragrant. When she walked by me, I could smell pine, lavender and cedar. There was also a small, metal, grater with wooden handle on it.
She took the soap and grated some of into the warm water, she slowly mixed it with her hand. She dipped the cloth in the warm water and washed her face and hands. Then, quickly, she undid her top, which was only held on by string, tied behind her back. She lifted her breasts and washed underneath them. She caught me looking, but then again it was hard not to.
“I’m sorry,” I said and turned away.
“It quite fine. I should have asked you leave, I’m sorry!” she said.
“For?” I asked, “I should be the one who is sorry, I’m sitting here staring,” I said, looking away.
I heard some movement, then she spoke, “I should really go lie down, the sun will be up in a few hours and the rest of pack will be back,” she said. She slowly walked by me, “Don’t tell Kallik you saw me, he might get angry, he’s been trying for years to catch a glimpse of me.”
“I won’t,” I said and caught a smell beyond the soap. There was a different scent to her, not bad, very floral, very wild flower like.
She stopped and looked back at me, smiled then disappeared beyond down the tunnel. She had her own scent and I found it soothing, but I shook it from my head. I washed my hands and face as well, letting the pine, cedar and lavender take over. I then, put the fire out with what water was left. I put the basket away and then headed out to the main room
I was once again struck with awe, as the moon was shining down through the hole in the ceiling, over the fire and snow was sparkling within the moonbeam. I sat next to the fire and watched for hours as the snow fell all around. Most of the snow would melt before it even got close to the fire, but sometimes a few flakes would make it just an inch or so above the flames and I could hear it sizzle out.
The moonlight soon faded, and the early signs of the sunlight started taking hold over the room. I heard movement both outside and inside, I turned around and Mylicious and Yura were both coming out of the center tunnel. Yura was wearing a long, beige dress, that was made of a deer hide, which was the common source of material for their clothing. It had frills and beads running down each side. The beads smacked into each other when she walked, making her even more noticeable.
Mylicous was wearing hide pants and a long sleeve shirt. He had blue beads for buttons. He had his long hair pulled back and looked at me somewhat crossly, “You’re still here? I figured you would have left in the night.”
“I would have left but the boat is broken, so I must help you with that first, then I will be gone,” I said.
“You still aren’t going to lead me to Derium’s head, are you?”
“The more you ask the more I’m inclined not to,” I replied.
He stopped talking
