Vallum set the squirming girl down after they entered the lobby of the hot springs.
"You take her from here, Kay."
Kenra immediately scooped the girl up and carried her off to the girls' bathing section.
"I can walk on my own," Sari complained.
"You can, but I want you to come with me. I don't want you to run away." Kenra said as they left Vallum's line of sight. The last thing he heard was Sari yelling. "I'm being kidnapped!" Followed by an "Oh hush." from Kenra.
Vallum smiled to himself as the girls disappeared and then went to take his bath. They had decided that they would take baths, and then reconvene in the mixed gender pool.
In the changing room, Vallum took off his bandages and walked to the pool with only a towel. There were a few people in there, but they all moved away from him after seeing his scars. He didn't have any problem with having extra space to himself, so he shrugged and started washing up in the warm water.
When he was done washing, he went to wait for the girls in the other pool. Bathing suits were required, so they all had to rent one from the hot spring. The girls had beat him and were already in there. Both of them were glowing from their recent bath.
"It's about time, slow poke." Sari tossed Vallum a coin.
"Why? I don't even want to know where you keep these coins." Vallum said in resignation.
"What did take you so long, Val? We have been waiting for a while." Kenra asked.
Vallum looked between the two of them, trying to figure out if they were serious. He thought he had taken a perfectly normal amount of time in the bath, but apparently it was outrageous.
"I got caught in a conversation." It was true, though that wasn't the reason he took so long. He was simply enjoying his time.
Kenra raised her eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything.
"Splash!" Sari called out as she did just that to Vallum. Water splashed across his face.
"What?' Vallum asked, "You couldn't escape, so now you are going to try and kill us?"
"I will wash away all your feelings so that you can be with Vynn!" She proclaimed maniacally.
"I can't be letting you do that!" Kenra playfully tackled the girl.
"Mm. I have to save Vynn first anyway. I guess I will just have to use you to do that, and then either make you share big brother or... get rid of you."
"Now now," Vallum said, "No one is getting rid of anyone. But I do think that we should talk about our rescue plan for Vynn."
The group discussed their plans to go to the warehouse that Vynn was at, and free the slaves there. They would hope to find Vynn, or at least some clue as to where she ended up. They talked about it for a while and then Sari wrapped up the conversation.
"So, we'll rescue her, and she will live happily ever after with big bro." She said.
"I think you just missed the meeting," Vallum said.
"I am just saying the plan. How things should go, not how they will go." Sari added innocently.
"You can't just randomly add to the plan."
She tossed him a coin.
"You can't buy rights to the plan either!"
"Hmmph." Sari pouted. She sank down into the warm water until only her eyes were showing and blew bubbles.
Kenra looked to Vallum, "Do you think that you'll be ready to go tomorrow, Val?" She eyed the scars on his chest.
"We need to rescue Vynn as quickly as possible, so yes. I have a bad feeling." Vallum said gravely. He then sank down in the water next to Sari.
Without having good reason, Kenra followed the others' suit and sank in the water until it reached her nose.
For several minutes they sat in silence, looking like hippos in the water of the hot spring. They earned several weird looks from other people in the pool, but no one said anything. In actuality, they had started a trend. Little by little the other people were sinking down in the water so that it covered everything except their eyes. After a while, every single person in there was almost completely submerged. Then, suddenly Sari stood up and got out of the water.
"That was fun." She said merrily.
When she moved, she broke the spell that she had inadvertently cast on the pool and suddenly it came back to life. Everyone went back to moving around and talking to each other... except one guy. There was one person who stayed committed and stayed submerged in the water. The man simply looked around at all the other people moving around, like a hippo taking in his surroundings. The man was still submerged in the water when the trio left the hot spring.
"I am glad that we did that before going on our rescue mission." Kenra said.
"It's my rescue mission." Sari corrected.
The two bantered back and forth as they went back to the inn. When they got back, Sari and Kenra went to the room, while Vallum went to the stable.
'We are back, Raef.' Vallum carried a slab of hay to Raef's stall.
'Moo. (You left?)'
'Now that is just mean.' Vallum made an exaggerated show of pain on his face.
'Moo. (So, you did leave?)'
'...'
'Mroo. (You never said goodbye)'
'So, you are mad at me? I'm sorry. I'll say bye next time.'
'Moo. (I won't)'
Vallum and Raef went back and forth until he finally said bye to his bull and went back to the room. He walked in on Kenra and Sari in bed, sleeping. He entered quietly so that he wouldn't disturb them and then laid down on his bed roll. It reminded him of his days in the arena, when he would wait around on his bed roll all day until the fight. Then he looked over to his companions.
'I'm free now. Free with great friends.' He thought before falling asleep.