The Hidden War

The entire world was out of mind. Only dreams swirled through Xiaoyi's mind, as she rested happily on the closest thing she has had to a real bed since everything happened. This was also the longest she had slept in a while. 

She woke up hoping to see the sun shining however. There was no sun. No moon or stars in the sky. There was no sky in this cave that could hold the greatness that the real sky carries everyday. 

She stretched her arms above her head as she sat up and looked around. Weiyuan was not in his bed. 

'He must have left already.' 

She got out of her sleeping bag and slipped on her pants. 

She took a deep breath and knew, today was the day she was going to take a bath. She took out her spare clothes that were in the big bag and as well as her much smaller backpack. 

She slipped her arms through the loops and left the room. She walked down the stairs and looked around for the innkeeper. 

Unfortunately she could not find him. 

'Oh well. I will just have to find where to bathe on my own.' 

She left the inn and started her mini adventure throughout the city. She went from the edge of the city to the center in just a few minutes. 

Many Dwarfs and other small humanoids nodded at her as she walked past. Some however gave her a glare as she walked down the streets of town. She had a mission and even if they glared, she was not going to give up until she was clean.

After a couple of streets she released a group of cats was forming behind her. 

'How odd. Maybe I should turn down a corner and see if they will follow me.' 

They continued to follow her even as she picked up pace and turned down a street. Her only hope was to now turn down an alleyway and hide out and hope they pass. 

The city cats walked behind her as she turned down a street and ran to an alleyway. Once she was there she pressed her back up against the wall. The cat's numbers have continued to grow; there had to be at least 30 that were following her. 

*eek eek eeee eek*

What was that noise she thought to herself as she looked down the alleyway. There was an army of 100 rats ready for something. A couple mouse traps had been placed in front of the army of rats. This was the wrong alleyway to turn down. 

She was about to start leaving when a group of felines blocked her path. 

'They weren't coming after me. I walked right into a war.'

She gulped down as she slid past the cats. All the cat's eyes and rats were watching her. Once she was out of the alley all hell broke loose. 

Hisses and squeaks could be heard all down the street. Mouse traps could be heard snapping as chaos erupted. Even though she had not been the cause of this the onlookers looked at her as though it was her fault. 

She quickly left the scene of the incident and continued her look for a bathhouse. After roughly 30 more minutes of aimless wandering she was able to find a group of dwarf women heading somewhere with towels in hand. She decided her best bet would be to follow them. 

Luckily for her, she was right. They had led her straight to a bathhouse. There was a sign that showed a man peeping and then him in a guillotine. 

They had a stack of neatly folded towels on the left. The dwarfs that just arrived in front of her threw their towels into a basket on the left and grabbed fresh towels. They took off their clothes, placed their towels right outside where they were entering the bath and slumped in. 

A beautiful massive steaming bubble bath was in the middle of the room. Many races were using it. There were areas in the bath where water was raining in from the ceiling like a shower. 

All around the bath up against the walls were small cubicles where others were washing their clothes in small pools of water that were continuously swirling. 

Wow she looked amazed as she looked around. Soon the realization of what she needed to do flooded her mind. She has not been in this situation with anyone let alone so many people. 

She sighed as she quickly undressed and placed all of her stuff in a cubicle that she would later use to wash her clothes. She placed towels over her body parts that she did not feel comfortable with showing. Luckily for her a couple others did the same. 

As she entered the water she could watch the dirt and muck that stained her skin a couple shades darker start coming off. The water was as hot as a hot tub on earth. The perfect temperature to melt into. 

She has not felt so relaxed since she got to this world. If only she had this while they were traveling. 

'How can I get this when I am traveling? Probably with magic. I need to learn how to do that or get a skill. I don't even understand how magic will work yet.'

After a few minutes of cleaning herself up she went over to the edge and relaxed for a few minutes before she got out. Once she was dried and rewrapped with towels she started working on cleaning her clothes. 

After a quarter of an hour her clothes were looking like they were freshly cleaned. 

She looked around for a dryer but there was no such thing in the bath. 

"First time?" 

A dwarf lady just arriving saw Xiaoyi looking around with a pile of wet clothes and knew what she was looking for. 

"Yes it is." Xiaoyi was embarrassed and her face turned red. 

This was the first person to talk to her today and she was only in a towel. 

"Most people go to where the city smithy is and it will dry them off fast. There are also clothing lines on some buildings there that are for the public. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Thank you so much!" 

She wringed out all of the clothes to get as much water out of them as possible. After that she put on one pair and placed everything else in her bag. 

She left the bathhouse feeling better about herself. She then locates the lavafall and starts heading that way. 

By the time she finds the clothing lines she can tell that the clothes she's wearing are almost dry. She won't have to take a long time drying her clothes. 

She places her clothes on the line and stayed by them till they are dry. She then folds them neatly and slides them in her bag. 

'Today has been the best day. I feel so productive.'

On her way back to the inn she passed by the alleyway where the cats and rats had their war. She could see a few cats and a lot of rats littering the floor. 

Most of the cats that were down were alive however the rats were not so lucky. Between the two gangs it was clear who the winner was. 

The rats were pushed back into the sewers of the city. One day they might rise back up, however that day would not come back so soon.