Wordcount: 874
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Word War. Nothing’s better than a bath!

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the Outline to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

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Promises to Keep

Blue walked into the bedroom while Horn went off to play in the baths. He was looking forward to a bath himself, their homeworld had communal hot baths instead of showers much like they did here. Showers were used for single rooms or folks who were stationed too far away from the sulfer springs.

He sat down on the bed with a happy whoof! and bounced in the glorious softness. Atlantis was good a providing them what they needed to survive, but it was nice to remeber that life was more than the bare essentials.

There was a wardrobe along one wall and he opened it up curious to see what lay inside. He found a wide eange of robes, that looked like they were stored in case of guests. Several sizes, although for the most part the patterns were one size fits all. In several muted colors, most likely what ever was the commonest color dyes for the area.

There was a delighted churling song from the other room as Horn sank into the warm water and shared his delight with the whole building. He could, if he was happy enough, use the hollow spines along his spine to sing as well posion. It’s an odd skill not one that ever elf learns, it’s like learning to throw your voice, amusing but no real value.

He could hear Nathan getting into the water as well and a muted one-sided conversation where Nathan talked and Horn chirped and whistled and purred. He grinning, remembering his own playtime in the baths with the other trainees and the variou elves. It was the one place that he’d learned that the elves were really just odd looking people, that they could play and laugh just like anyone else.

He closed the closet reufully and started carefully working off the layers of clothing and bandages. There were still some small scars from his first run in with Black and then the fresher wounds from the fight with the guards. There was one scar that was left over from his homeworld that still shone through the tangle and he ran a finger down it with a sigh.

He’d almost died that time, facing down a large cat in one of the arena battles. It was meant for fun, not danger, they tried to tag the cat with long sticks with sponges dipped in paint. It was easier with bulls and he’s overestamted his own ability to dodge.

But it was a reminder of things that he had done once or than he would never do again and he grinned even as he remembered how stupid he;d felt as his trainers were yelling at him and stiching him up. There was that suportive sense of family there that he really missed. There was some of that with Brians group, but not as much.

They were things he’d had to learn to live with though. Some doors stayed closed no matter how much you wished they’d open again.

With a last rueful grin he dumped the clothes and the bandages on the bed and headed into the bath room.

The water was hottest at the top and then mergded with colder water gradualy on the way down. Horn had drifted down the false waterfall about a third of the way and was purring with the happy burble that meant he’d already soaked in as much of the heat as his body coul tolerate. He’d leach it out and then move back up again in a happy cycle until the hot water ran out.

Although Blue wondered if it would run out here.

Nathan was submerged in the top pool with a towel over his head and that relazed boneless look that people only got in when the water was just right. Blue grinned and made sure to make enough noise that Nathan knew he was there.

Nathan nodded his head, just enough to let Blue know he’d heard him, but otherwise refused to move from his happy place.

Blue laughed and carefully slipped into the water on the other side of the pool. The water was hot enough that he had to get in slowly, but it was wonderful in a way that transcended words. He made a happy noise and Nathan laughed.

Horn chirped in that happy daze from the next pool down, and Blue was too happy to tease him. He sank down into the pool and relaxed in the same bone weary way that Nathan had, but he left his eyes open. Even here, now, in the center of such a peaceful place he has to be on his guard. Horn’s life was his sacred duty and that wasn’t something Blue would ever take lightly.

He wondered what that oath meant now though, when the people and gods he’d given it too were so very very far away. He tried not to think of it too much, after all Horn still needed him, oath or no oath, and he couldn’t leave him even if there was nothing to bind them other than a shared history. Blue was loyal to things even beyond his oaths and that was something he couldn’t change without fundamental breaking him sense of self.