Traitor's Moon

replied.
    Riagil and his wife, Yhali, led the Skalan nobles through cool, tiled corridors to a series of rooms overlooking an inner courtyard.
    â€œLook there!” Alec laughed, spying a pair of small brown owls roosting in one of the trees. “They say owls are the messengers of Illior—Aura, that is. Is it the same here?”
    â€œNot messengers, but a favored creature all the same, and a bird of good omen,” Riagil replied. “Perhaps because they are the only predatory bird that does not feed on the young of the dragons, Aura’s true messengers.”
    Alec and Seregil were given a small, whitewashed room to themselves at the end of the row of guest chambers. The rough-textured walls were inset with numerous well-blackened lamp niches. The furnishings were elegantly simple, made of pale woods with little ornamentation. The bed, a broad platform surrounded by layers of an airy cloth Seregil called gauze, was a particularly welcome sight after their cramped public quarters at sea. Looking around, Alec felt urges held firmly at bay during the sea crossing making themselves known and regretted they were only spending one night here.
    â€œOur bath chamber is being prepared for you and your women,” Yhali told Klia as she and Riagil took their leave. “I’ll send a servant to escort you.”
    Riagil spared Seregil a cool glance. “The men will use the blue chamber. You remember the way, I’m certain?”
    Seregil nodded, and this time Alec was certain he saw a flicker of sadness in his friend’s grey eyes.
    If the khirnari saw it, he gave no sign. “My servants will conduct you to the feast when you have refreshed yourselves. And you, Torsin í Xandus?”
    â€œI will remain here for now,” the old man replied. “I’m not acquainted with some of our party, it seems.”
    As the khirnari and his lady withdrew, Torsin turned and addressed Alec directly for the first time since his arrival. “I have heard many times how you saved Klia’s life, Alec í Amasa. My niece Melessandra also speaks most highly of you. I am honored to make your acquaintance.”
    â€œAnd I yours, honored sir.” Alec managed to keep a straight face as he accepted the man’s outstretched hand. After a lifetime of complete obscurity, such widespread notoriety was going to take getting used to.
    â€œI will join you momentarily, if you will excuse me?” Torsin said, entering his chamber.
    â€œCome along, you two,” Seregil said to Alec and Thero. “I believe you’ll enjoy this. I certainly intend to.”
    Crossing the flower-filled courtyard, they entered a vaulted chamber, the walls of which were painted blue and decorated with more of the whimsical sea creatures Alec had seen on the exterior walls. Sunlight streamed in through several small windows set near the ceiling, the rays dancing off the surface of a small, steaming pool sunk into the floor. Four smiling men of varying ages stepped forward with murmured greetings to help them out of their clothing.
    â€œLeave it to the Aurënfaie to make a guesting custom of bathing,” Alec remarked to cover his initial discomfort with such attentions.
    â€œIt doesn’t do to tell your visitors that they stink,” Seregil murmured with a chuckle.
    Before Alec had met Seregil, a bath was something undertaken only as an absolute necessity, and then only in the heat of high summer. Daily ablutions struck him not only as absurd but downright unsafe until he’d been won over in Rhíminee by the amenities of heated water and tubs without splinters. Even then, he’d considered Seregil’s devotion to such physical comforts to be just another of his friend’s forgivable quirks. Later, Seregil had explained that bathing was an integral part of Aurënfaie life and the heart of hospitality.
    And now at last, he was going to experience it firsthand—if in a slightly altered version. Separate bathing for men and women was a Skalan custom; Alec wasn’t sure how he could have gotten through a communal bath with Klia.
    Clay pipes brought heated water into the bath chamber from somewhere outside. The steamy air was redolent with sweet herbs.
    Surrendering the last of his clothes to the attendant, Alec followed the others into the bath. After so many days at sea, it was a delicious sensation and he soon relaxed, watching the play of reflected light across the