You head downstairs and find Muriel serving lunch to the people gathered in the inn. There are about twenty or so people, though you do not see Basil.
Kelda waits until she's done serving everyone before approaching her, "Hey Muriel, we can see that you're busy, but we were wondering if there were any bathing rooms available? Also, did you and Basil have a chance to talk, and do you know where he is?" She asks all of her questions at once, knowing that Muriel was busy taking care of these people, and not wanting to take up more of her time than necessary.
Muriel points to a hallway, just around the corner from the kitchen door. "Through there. I just cleaned it...so please don't make a mess. There's only room temperature water and I don't want anyone lugging pots of water from the kitchen..."
She serves a couple more meals. "Basil and I talked. He's at the wall, checking on the people there."
Kelda nods, "I understand how difficult it must be to run and upkeep this place on your own. If I promise to clean up any spilled water, could I please carry one large pot of hot water to add to the room temperature water? I don't know when we'll get to bathe again, and it would help with the stress we've been feeling a great deal."
Kelda pauses for a moment before adding, "Of course it's completely up to you, and if you don't want me to do that, then I won't."
"If I let you do it, then I have to let everyone do it," Muriel sighs.
Kelda shakes her head, "That's okay then, we really don't want to cause you any extra trouble. We'll just take the bath and make sure we clean up after ourselves before leaving the bathing room."
She looks back over at Lysithia, "We need to run up and get our bath stuff real quick, so we can get cleaned up and ready to go. Come on sweetie. Thank you Muriel, we really appreciate the use of your bathing room."
"Thank you, Muriel." Lysithia adds, taking Kelda's hand. "Well it won't be quite the bathe we were hoping for but At least we'll clean up after this morning's battle." she says as they head back updtairs.
Kelda nods as they get back up to the room to grab their bathing supplies, "Yeah, Muriel has been dealing with enough lately, I really wasn't trying to add to her stress. I wish we could find her sister for her, or at least find out what happened to her, so we can give Muriel at least some kind of answer and peace of mind." She says, while gathering up what she needed.
"I know. The most we can do right now is keep an eye out for her. Who knows what might come up. If at some point we end up getting to the tower, maybe we can ask them about her, and how or why she left." Lysithia replies, getting her things so they can head back down to the bath.
Kelda nods, "Yeah, I know we can't accomplish everything right away....and we may not be able to solve every problem in the Valley, or save every person in it, but knowing that isn't going to stop me from trying my damndest. I think the tower would be a good place to get some information once we make it there. I'm sorry that I seem so moody and frustrated lately, but I'm just tired of these jerks getting away with doing all this crap." She says, while putting their bath things in a bag.
Lifting the bag, she goes to Lysithia and looks up into her eyes, "No matter what happens though, I know we'll be okay as long as we're together." Stretching up a little she gives her a sweet kiss on the cheek while taking her hand, "C'mon luv, let's go get cleaned up."
Taking her love's hand she follows her back down to the bath with a smile.
Getting back to the bathing room, Kelda closes the door behind them and sets their stuff down. She is very thankful that they get to have one more bath together, before setting off into the woods.
The water wasn't really warm, but at least it wasn't ice cold like s stream would have been.
While the tub fills, Kelda strips down and undoes her braid so that her hair can be washed. While getting ready for their bath, her mind starts to wander, her thoughts going back to earlier events. Maybe she wS still feeling a little lost at what to do about everything that was going on, but they could only concentrate on one problem at a time. Right now, that was trying to figure out what the goblins were up to, who was helping them, and putting a stop to it.
Lysithia removes her boots, taking a moment to appreciate the sight of Kelda undressing before doing the same, removing her clothing and setting it aside as the tub fills, relaxing her breathing and working to clear her mind, leaving everything else outside for just a brief moment.
After the tub is filled, Kelda waits for Lysithia to get in, before stepping into the tub and sitting in front of her love.
Sighing a little, she leans back and tries closing her eyes for a few minutes. Just long enough to calm her thoughts.
A Kelda leans back, Lysithia rubs her shoulders, feeling the tension there and working to relieve as much of it as she can, just letting her relax in silence.
Kelda lets out another little sigh as her love works on releasing the stubborn knots that had built up in her muscles. She was tired of the bad guys always seeming a step ahead of them. She wanted to find the ring leaders behind these attacks and put a stop to their evil machinations....permanently.
After a few minutes, she brings one of Lysithia's hands to her lips and gives it a soft kiss, "That feels wonderful, and I adore you for trying to help me relax, but we don't have long before this water turns very cold. Let's get cleaned up, so we're ready to go when Basil is." She says, before taking a washcloth and shaping it up to clean herself with.
"Alright. Hope it helped at least a little." Lysithia says with a smile, before grabbing a washcloth herself and settling on bathing properly.
Kelda nods as she works diligently on washing up, "It did love, your touch always does." She says, rinsing the soap off and starting on her hair.
Once the soap is out of her hair, Kelda helps Lysithia with her hair. She gives her love a light scalp massage as she works the soap into her hair.
As she rinses the soap out of her hair, Kelda uses the pads of her thumbs to rub down the sides and back of her neck, "I'm sorry if I've seemed a little crazed lately. This whole thing just has me feeling kind of anxious and messed up."
"I understand love, it's been a lot to deal with, but we are making a difference, and we'll continue to." Lysithia says, relaxing a bit as Kelda's fingers massage her neck. "We'll figure out a way to affect things more as we go, maybe even find the source of these attacks."
Kelda nods as she kisses her love's shoulder before getting out of the tub and grabbing a towel.
Walking back to the tub, Kelda holds her hand out for Lysithia, to help her out. She gently wraps the towel around her beloved, and helps to dry her back, giving her rear a little love pat before going to grab her own towel.
After drying herself off, Kelda puts her hair into one long braid before starting to put her clothes back on.
Looking over at her love, she gets a little smile on her face as she watches her lithe body in motion. It was truly a thing of beauty to behold.
Shaking the thoughts of what she'd like to do to her love from her head, Kelda tries to concentrate on what needs to be done next. Getting her boots back on she looks up at Lysithia, "I guess after we finish up in here, we should get the rest of our things and find Basil. I'm sure he's anxious to get going."
The light smack on her bottom elicits a giggle from Lysithia as she continues drying herself off. She could feel Kel's appreciative gaze on her, as enjoyable as it was welcome, giving her incentive to take just a little bit longer to get dressed.
"He probably is, with good reason. As enjoyable as this little break was we should definitely get ready to head out again soon."
Kelda nods, cleaning up the wash room as Lysithia finishes drying off and getting dressed.
Once they are both ready and the room is cleaned up, "Alright, let's get back upstairs and finish getting ready....even though I have loved this little break with you too, and there are many other things I'd like to do with, and to you...we really need to get moving. I don't blame him for being anxious either, this has been going on for far too long." She says, a slight frown creasing her brown.
Taking her love by the hand, she stretches up to give her a light sweet kiss before leading her back upstairs.
Once back in the room, Kelda is quiet as she works on gathering up their things, and putting her armor back on.
Lysithia quickly works to gather her gear as well, helping Kel with her armor, before putting on her own, with her love's help. "Ready to go find Basil?"
Kelda nods and gives Lysi another kiss, "Yep, it's time to get this party started. No unnecessary risks though, or the fire won't be the only warm thing in camp whenever we stop to rest. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened to you." She says a little more softly to take the sting out of her words. She needed to be just as careful though, when it comes to dealing with the little green menace and not allow her personal feelings dictate her actions. Just as she would do everything in her power to keep her love safe, she knew Lysi wouldn't hesitate to do the same.
Kelda stops them at the doorway and turns to face Lysithia. Reaching up to softly caress her love's cheek, Kelda stretches up to be able to look her beloved Lysi in her beautiful eyes, "I love you Lysi, more than I've loved anyone in my whole life. Before we head into hostile territory, I need to know that you understood what I just said a couple minutes ago. So, I want you to just reiterate what I told you, and let me know if you understand, before we head out that door into who knows what. I also want you to know that I do not expect anything out of you, that I don't expect out of myself and the same rules that apply to you, apply to me also. Does that make sense, do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Kelda just wants to be sure that Lysi understands before they end up in combat, so she stands in front of the door and waits for an answer from her wife to be.
"I understand completely, love, and I completely agree. I love you too, with all my heart, and I won't put myself at unnecessary risk, and expect the same of you!" Lysithia says earnestly.
Kelda gives her a quick hug, "I know, and I promise not to be reckless and will try very hard not to let my emotions get the better of me." She says, wanting to reassure her love as well.
Opening the door for them, she allows Lysi to go out first, before closing the door behind them and following her down.
Once downstairs, she looks around to see if Basil is there.
Basil walks into the inn as you come down the stairs and sits at a table, arranging some items in his backpack.
Taking Lysithia's hand in hers, Kelda walks over to the table that Basil sits at, but doesn't sit.
As Basil packs she says, "Well, we're all ready to go whenever you are. Did you have enough time to deal with everything you needed to do?" Kelda asks, knowing that they very well could be gone for a while.
Basil nods. "Did you eat lunch yet?"
Kelda seems to think for a moment, "Ummm...let's see, we came back here, relaxed for a few minutes, got cleaned up, cleaned up the wash room when we were done, cleaned the goblin guts offa my hammer, got all our stuff together, got our armor back on, and then came down here. Hmmm...I guess we kinda forgot about food. It happens sometimes when I'm busy thinking about other things." She responds, ticking off what all they had done since getting back, before shrugging her shoulders at the end. She didn't mean to, but sometimes she just plum forgot about food.
"Muriel!" Basil calls out. "Two more for lunch."
Muriel pokes her head out of the kitchen. "Alright."
Seeing that they were going to have lunch first, Kelda pulls out a seat for Lysi and waits for her to be seated before sitting next to her.
Looking over the table at Basil she says, "I wasn't expecting Muriel to go to any extra trouble for us since we made sure to have enough rations and everything, but we appreciate an actual meal whenever we can get it, so thank you." She says, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the offer of food, and expecting that if she told him they were fine that his reaction would be much like that of Anselina's that one time in the camp.
"Best enjoy what we can while we can," Basil remarks. "No telling how long this little venture will take."
Kelda puts a hand on Lysi's knee and nods, "As long as it takes to find those green little bas+ards hiding spots, and kill as many of them as possible in the process." She says, her somewhat acid tone as she speaks of the green menace, is almost as telling as her somber smile.
Kelda takes a breath and a moment to fix her face into a more pleasant expression, "So, we just need to be prepared for whatever situation or ugly beastie we might happen across. Hopefully, we can gather enough information to take back to Varota and light a fire under their arse hot enough to get them moving." She says with somewhat of a smirk, as they wait on lunch.
Thinking for a moment she adds, "If we're gonna be mapping our way through the forest and stuff, do we have parchment and other stuff we need for marking that all down? I just happened to think about it."
"I'll make sure to get that before we head out." Lysithia replies, making a note of the need.
Basil reaches into his pack and produces several rolls of parchment, two bottles of ink and several quills. "I have you covered."
Muriel comes back with two bowls of vegetable soup, bread and two plates of salad with an oil dressing. "Basil, let me know before you leave. I need to talk to all of you."
Basil nods. "Sure."
"Thank you for lunch Muriel, it looks and smells very tasty." Kelda says to their hostess with a grateful smile.
Looking over at her beloved she asks, "So, are you going to have to work on these maps as we're traveling, or is it something you work on after we stop for the night? I never studied map making, so I was just wondering how you go about mapping out an area." Kelda takes bites of the salad between spoonfuls of the delicious soup, that is even more delightful when she dips the bread in it.
"I can do it as we travel, adding details as we come across them." Lysithia replies as she eat5s, enjoying the hearty meal. "I'm sure it can be done the other way as well, but you'd have to be able to memorize everything you saw until you stopped to update the map at the end of the day, including the details of distance. I doubt too many people can do that."
Kelda shakes her head, "No way would I want to try and remember all that. Maybe we'll run into Evert again at some point. Before we came here, he said he was heading back through the woods toward Dangren again I think? Not totally sure though, since so much has happened since we spoke last." She remarks, between more bites of the delicious food.
Looking back up at Basil she says, "I meant to ask earlier about my family. It was my two parents, and two younger cousins. Would you have happened to see them come through here? Our family name is Highcliff." Kelda then gives him a description of what her family members would look like, before finishing up her soup and bread.
Basil shakes his head. "If they were headed for Vorota, they wouldn't have come this way."