The Bath

With the world she was in, she hadn't had the opportunity to really look at the technology they had. But now, she could see that plumbing wasn't a technology that had been invented yet.

Octavia did have a good search, in case she misses something, but aside from what she assumed was a block of soap, there was nothing to fill the bath with water. No taps and no drain either.

"Not a great start. I should probably check with Sylvia how you go about this."

Making her way to the hidden door, she knocked on it twice.

"…"

But there was no answer.

"Did she leave her room? I would have thought she would tell me before she did."

She knocked again but received the same reply.

The best course of action she thought of was to just enter. If she wasn't there then she would have to ask someone else. There was always the chance that she couldn't reply to Octavia for whatever reason as well. She could even be in trouble. How that would be the case though, Octavia did not know, but it was a possibility.

Slowly opening the door, she slithered inside. A quick look around the room and she couldn't see anyone.

*splash*

"Huh."

Gears turning in her head, Octavia came to the realisation of why Sylvia hadn't answered.

Looking over to the location the splash had come from, she saw Sylvia.

Completely nude in the bathtub.

"…"

While the edges of the tub hindered her vision, the bare skin that she saw did send several images of what the rest of her looked like to the forefront of her mind.

Unable to look away at the beautiful sight, she was witness to Sylvia threading her fingers through her luscious hair, which had been submerged along with her head, before Octavia had entered. Her skin was unblemished and practically shone with the moonlight peering in from the window. She then moved to rub her fox ears, matting the fur in one direction as she did, also bringing back the lovely vibrant colour they were before.

Still mesmerised at the sight, it was at this point that Sylvia spotted Octavia.

"What are you doing!" Sylvia shouted, bringing her hands to her chest.

"I-err. It was. The tap. No, I mean tub. How-err. Fill?"

Both girls were flush with embarrassment. Sylvia for being caught in the nude, and Octavia for that terrible attempt to make a sentence.

"What. Just call the maid for help with anything. Now get out!"

"Yes. Err s-sorry."

Backing up, Octavia slid back through the door, quickly closing it behind her.

Where she then slid down it, practically collapsing on the floor.

"Whoa."

Images of Sylvia brushing her fingers through her hair, with water dripping down her neck flashed through Octavia's mind, with no way to stop it.

Not that she tried to.

…

Once she had managed to calm herself down, she pulled the bell to summon the maid. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.

"You called for a maid."

"Yes, come in."

The girl that entered was wearing quite a stereotypical maid outfit. It was a somewhat frilly outfit, coloured in mainly black and white. There was a hint of blue here and there likely to match the castle's emblem.

Judging by how she looked, Octavia thought she was likely several years older than herself.

It was easy to see that she had been a maid for many years, as she entered with well-practised poise and grace as if she had done so many times.

"What would my lady require of me."

Her face was somewhat plain, but she had no wrinkles to speak, showing she had aged well. Octavia also couldn't see anything denoting her as another species, so it was likely she was human.

"Ah, yes. How do I go about filling the tub?"

The maid looked surprised at that.

"Filling the tub, yourself? Please, my lady, allow the maids to do that. I shall call them to your room to assist."

The maid quickly left the room, and a few minutes later, returned with three other maids. Octavia was expecting to see them carrying buckets of water, but they were empty-handed.

They all headed over to the bath, held their hands over it and started a chant. It wasn't a long chant, and before she knew it, hot water started to form just a small distance from their hands and flowed into the tub.

Several seconds later and it was full. A small amount of steam rose from the top, alluding to it being a good temperature to bathe in.

The maids turned to her and started to giggle amongst themselves. It would seem Octavia hadn't realised her mouth was agape at seeing her first real use of magic in this world.

"Thank- thank you for filling the bath," Octavia said, trying to ease some of the embarrassment, of which she had felt quite a lot lately.

"No problem my lady. Would you like me to perform a cleansing spell on you, to remove any dirt and…blood?" The maid asked, slowing down as she noticed the splotches of dried blood on her tail.

This was unnoticed by Octavia however, who was just happy that she would be clean and had seen magic, which she had only heard of in books and films

"Oh yes, that would be lovely."

Like when they filled the tub, the maid she had met first quickly stood in front of her and held out her hands. A short chant later and Octavia felt a wave, akin to a thick yet calming breeze, roll over her.

Once done, she looked down and all of the remains from the troubles of the day had been washed away.

"Thank you for that" Octavia said, truly grateful to be clean again.

"Would you like some of the maids to remain with you?"

Now it was Octavia's turn to look confused. "Why would they need to stay with me" she wondered.

It was then that she noticed some of the maids looking at her tail expectantly, and it clicked.

"You mean to stay and wash me. No, no, no that's way too embarrassing. I should be fine by myself."

"Are you sure? That is a very long tail you will need to clean. It could take a while." The head maid responded, where she too was looking at her tail, likely wanting to feel it, like the group on the carriage did.

"No really. I can handle it by myself."

Dejected, the maids turned and left the room, leaving Octavia to her lonesome again.

Wasting no time, she stripped off her rag and which practically disintegrated from how fast she removed it, to then climb into the bath.

"Ahhhhh, so good."

With all the travel, the fighting and even the dinner, this was the first time she has truly been relaxed. The hot water caressed her skin and scales alike, washing away the stress from the day. It felt so good and relaxing that her eyes started to close.

…

"-via."

"-tavia."

"Octavia!"

"Ahh." Her name being shouted made Octavia jump.

It would seem that without realising it, the warm water had slowly lulled her to sleep. Thankfully, she was packed into the tub nicely that even if she did sleep in it, she wouldn't end up underwater.

"Wha- who said that that." Looking around, trying to find who had woken her. What she found was Sylvia at the hidden door, looking away from her.

Octavia got a strange sense of deja'vu.

"Why does this feel familiar," she mused to herself. It didn't take long for it to come to her, where the events from the day came flooding back.

Hands at her chest, she was about to shout at Sylvia but knew that would be a bad idea. Given that Octavia had just stared at her as she bathed, and Sylvia was actively looking away, it wouldn't do well for her to berate the girl.

What she didn't know was that Sylvia was only looking away because she was trying to wake up Octavia. She had ample time during her slumber to ogle her.

Of which she used very wisely to do just that.

"I just came to say good night and found you asleep. It's bad to sleep in the bath you know."

Looks like Octavia was getting berated again.

"Yes, yes, I know. I shall get out now and head to bed."

An awkward silence then filled the room as neither knew what to say. Sylvia was still facing the other way, hiding the blush that she was currently sporting, and Octavia was either waiting for her to leave to then exit the tub, or to find the right time to apologise for before.

"Sylvia… about before. I…err…. I didn't just barge in. I did knock, but there was no answer. I thought something may have happened to you, so I entered. But the reason you didn't answer was because you were soaking your hair in the water at the time. Sorry."

"Thank you. I kind of figured that's what happened. I'm sorry I shouted at you, but I'm sure you understand why. But other than that, there is no need to say sorry. It was just a mistake."

A few seconds passed where Sylvia then followed this with a quick "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Sylvia."

After Sylvia said her piece, she headed back into her room to end the night.

Octavia followed suit, cleaning herself off with the towel the maids left behind, and then headed for her bed.

As soon as she got under the sheets, it was clear that this was a quality bed. Much better than the shambles in the cabin.

While not to modern-day standards, it was definitely a bed you would expect medieval royalty to be using.

Curling her tail around into a position that worked for her, she slowly started to drift off, into what will be the most restful sleep of her new life so far.

The first of many she hoped. But she would have to wait and see whether that would be the case though.