Their boots made light crunching noise on the dry dirt road as the three made their way across to the local village tailor.

  Around them, life in the village continued as normal. Air thick with humidity but cool from the distant sea-breeze — traders and villagers chattered, bickered, and laughed — the bell from the shrine sounded.

  Maya led the way into the shop. The only one with her hood over her head.

  A dry clunking sound as the door opened into a room stacked and organised with shelving and racks filled to the brim with pieces of clothing and light armour.

  “Interesting,” Maya whispers under her breath.

  A middle-aged lady with curly black hair turned around and greeted them as they took a few paces into the building. Wooden walls held up the high ceilings as an opened window at the rear let cool air in.

  “Hello hellooo-” she exclaims.

  She was chirpier than most of the people that the three have encountered in the past few days. A nice change, maybe too big of a change.

  Maya and the tall lady behind her awkwardly raise a hand to greet her.

  “Well, who do we have here?” the lady asks.

  She quickly paces across the room to where the three stood, still calibrating on how to match the bubbly persona in front of them.

  “Um—” Maya took a quick thought before she finished her sentence, careful on every word that comes out of her mouth next.

  “Need clothes, need a change,” Amia interjected. Finger pointing and gesturing at the poor state of their garments.

  “Well, you have come to the right place!” the lady squeals. “And oh my you poor darlings! You are not wrong about that, my little sweetheart.”

  She grabs Amia and Maya by the wrist as she drags them towards the back of the room.

  Amia’s companion followed. The slight tightening of her fist missed by everyone bar one.

  A subtle look by cyan eyes signalling to her that there is no danger.

  “Now let’s see. Three pretty girlies, one smaller than normal, and the other taller than normal. Oh, what a day!”

  The shop-keeper fumbles around some shelving pulling out a small selection of clothing and attire.

  “Thanks,” Amia politely says, “but we’ll take it from here.”

  Her hand grabs the clothes from the lady.

  “Oh, darling, of course! Please, take your time.”

  The lady lets out a small chuckle as she turns and heads in the opposite direction from the three, humming a tune as she walks off.

  Maya nervously turns to one of the shelves that she has had her eyes on since when they first walked in.

  The tall woman looked at Amia.

  “Well — just, I don’t know. Just find something you like.”

  Maya’s eyes shifted to the direction of Amia’s whisper without turning her head. Sensing the trace of frustration in her words.

  Moments passed as the three browsed through the shop picking out the attire that they needed, as well as a selection of spares and accessories.

  Maya stood at the counter taking out coins of ema for the purchase.

  Her body now covered in a dark red split thigh dress, one of her legs contrasting against the dark colour of the fabric through the split as she stood.

  She didn’t discard her cape, it had returned to where it originally was, wrapping around her shoulders.

  Amia watched as she places a handful.

  “Oh, darling. This is way too much!” the shopkeeper squealed.

  Maya slowly returns a few coins to the pouch, one at a time.

  “Uh, are you sure?” she hesitantly asks, hands slowly moving to confirm what she was hearing was correct. “Because we literally are buying full sets for three people.”

  She had a point. A new dress itself averages around ten to fifteen ema pieces, and full light armour sets around twenty to thirty.

  But Maya kept that thought to herself.

  “Yes, yes!” the shopkeeper confirmed.

  The smile and the bubbly personality remain unchanged.

  Amia looks up after she finishes donning the last thick-leather pauldron around her right bicep. Shoulderless, but the extra freedom of movement available gave her more confidence than a full steel pauldron would.

  She had done away with her stretched tunic, now opting for a white fitted bodice that layered above her bra, and open chest body leather armour that sat above that.

  Her companion had donned on something similar, although with no hint of leather or steel armour in sight. She had chosen a teal halter half-top that wrapped into a collar around her neck. Ensuring that her stomach remained uncovered. Fitted shorts of the same colour replaced her black leggings. The thick fur-hide armour that covers only her chest returned to where it always sat.

  All three women had black thigh-high stockings — Maya being the only one out of the three that had replaced her boots for thin leather thigh-high ones.

  The same dry clunk sound signalled their exit from the store.

  Maya went to pull her hood over her head, but Amia’s hand subtly tugged on the fabric and stopped her.

  “We are different people now, the village doesn’t know that,” she says quietly, but loud enough for Maya to hear.

  Maya nods.

  The walk back to the inn wasn’t far, but the silence that held in the air made it feel longer than it should have.

  “You’re thinking,” Amia says to Maya.

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  Maya did not turn.

  A small hesitant croak escaped her throat as she tried to find the words to say.

  “Do you think it’s weird that we were able to get so much new gear for such a good price?”

  Amia paused — the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.

  “What are you saying, that the prices weren’t correct?” she asked.

  “No, they were,” Maya corrected, “she was adamant.”

  Amia let her think for a few paces.

  “Never mind, it’s only one place,” her voice trailed off as she finished her sentence.

  Confusion struck Amia, but she won’t question what Maya meant, for now.

  Maya raised a hand and waved at the burly figure standing outside the entrance to their inn.

  It was Nikolai — he had an arm pointing across the street.

  “Hey,” the suddenness from Maya caught Amia by surprise, “let’s go to the bath-house.”

  Amia faltered in thought from the suggestion.

  “Okay..”

  The bath-house stood low and wide squeezed in between two other buildings — stone walls sweating faint moisture, lanternlight glowing behind fogged glass.

  Steam rolled out as the door opened.

  The air inside was thick, humid, and alive with the quiet murmurs of conversation and the steady hush of water.

  It was communal.

  Men and women shared the same pools — separated not by walls, but by habit and distance. No one pretended modesty where there was none.

  This was not intimacy.

  This was maintenance.

  Maya paid at the front.

  “That will be 5 era,” the man nonchalantly says.

  Maya pulled out five silver coins from the pouch.

  “For all four of us?” she asks.

  The man gave her a blank stare.

  “Right,” Maya finished before walking towards the archway that led to the first set of pools.

  “Even more interesting..” she utters under her breath.

  She was the first to step into the threshold between the steaming pools.

  The changing alcove was nothing more than a row of wooden benches and wall hooks. Weapons were placed in a guarded rack near the counter just before the entry to the threshold — watched by a heavy-set attendant who did not look easily fooled.

  Nikolai stripped first.

  Practical. Unembarrassed.

  Linen peeled away — he was not wearing any of his armour on him — steam caught on old scars across his shoulders and ribs. Amia did not realise that there were more.

  Maya removed her cape and dress without hesitation. The dark red fabric slid from her hips, elastic bands darkening faintly where they brushed damp skin. She did not rush to cover herself.

  There was no need to.

  And around them, others did the same.

  Amia undid the clasps at her waist as her body armour and white bodice came free.

  Black underwear soon followed.

  The steam softened edges but did not hide shape. The weight of her breasts shifted slightly as she stepped from her boots, thigh-high stockings rolled down in slow, deliberate movements.

  The tall woman next to her removed her halter top last.

  The teal fabric clung briefly before releasing. Steam settled across broad shoulders and down the strong lines of her torso. Taller than most present — even here, she took space and drew attention without trying.

  They stepped into the water and heat climbed instantly.

  The pool was waist-deep, mineral-rich, the surface rippling softly with each movement.

  Maya settled herself opposite Amia.

  Nikolai remained near the edge, angled outward — posture relaxed but awareness unbroken.

  Amia’s companion lowered herself next to her and did similar.

  Moments passed as the four relaxed in a heap of steam and mist.

  Amia had her eyes closed and the water sitting just below her nose.

  Maya made sure that the space around them was clear before she spoke.

  “It feels wrong,” she said quietly, leaning back against warm stone. “The calm.”

  Amia raised herself just enough so her mouth was above the water-line to speak.

  “It feels too tight.”

  “Correct.”

  Maya’s gaze moved between Amia and the towering figure next to her.

  “You’re comfortable like this,” she said.

  Amia did not quite understand..

  “With what.”

  “Standing bare in a room full of strangers.”

  Her eyes focussed on Maya as she spoke.

  “Bodies are easy.”

  She paused.

  “And voices?” Maya asked.

  The background noise of murmurs and laughing in the opposite end of the room filed the gap between the four of them.

  Water lapped gently at their ribs.

  Amia leaned back slightly, chin tilting up to meet the face of the tall figure next to her.

  “You think this would’ve changed today,” she said.

  “I had hoped so.”

  A group of young men entered the next pool across from them, laughing, splashing water carelessly. One of them glanced briefly at the height and broad shoulders next to Amia — then quickly looked away.

  Normal curiosity.

  Nothing more.

  Somewhere in the distance, the bell of the shrine dully tolled again.

  Maya and the two companions looked up at the ceiling beams.

  The steam was thick, but it appeared almost distorted.

  “You felt that?" she asks. Looking up with half her head in the water and crimson hair floated around her.

  Amia’s companion nods as Nikolai answered,

  “Yeah.”

  Conversations around them continued.

  No one else had reacted. They were none the wiser.

  The subtle distortion of the steam in the air faded away as the bell rang its last toll.

  Maya stood slowly as water cascaded down her bare figure.

  The rest followed suit.

  Their walk across the road to their inn was uneventful, and that unsettled Maya.

  The villagers around them continued their daily routine.

  Fishermen traded stories and banter, merchants chattered loudly to their customers, and guards—

  Realisation struck Maya. Hard.

  There were no guards.

  No sense of anyone or anything with authority.

  She continued trying to deduce what else she may have missed as she followed Amia up the stairs to their room.

  Upon entry all four of them went to their own separate corners.

  Amia wiping and tending to her blade.

  Her companion on the chair with her arms crossed and eyes closed — one strong leg crossed over the other.

  Nikolai organising different items and equipment into corresponding pouches and backpacks.

  Maya sat on the edge of the bed with her fingers curled into the bedsheet.

  Thinking.

  “Nikolai,” she finally spoke.

  “Yes, Master?” he asks — it was the first time he had referred to her as that so clearly since the four of them had been in close proximity.

  “What would you think if I sold you three dress and armour sets for a fraction of what it normally costs?”

  Nikolai pondered for a moment.

  “I would think that you aren’t okay.”

  “Exactly.” Maya added.

  The conversation had caught Amia’s attention as she slowed the wiping of her blade. Her mind caught in two places as she focussed on their conversation and how they conversed.

  “With a village where their main trade is fish, why would everything be so cheap?” Maya continued.

  Nikolai pondered again while he places himself inside his cuirass.

  “Supply and demand?” he half-answered. The other half more of a suggestion.

  “From fish?” Maya thought hard, “and that makes everything else cheap?”

  “It probably means there’s a more sinister reason behind keeping townsfolk happy,” Amia did not look away from her blade as she raised it in front of her to inspect her work, “or quiet.”

  The silence that filled the room felt stronger this time.

  Amia turned her head towards Maya and Nikolai — alternating — when she realized that there were two pairs of eyes staring at her.

  “What?” she asks innocently. “That’s what I’d do.”