[Envinyatar]

Jack eased himself out of the tub with a decidedly reluctant sigh. The tips of his fingers had gone all ‘pruney’ and the water had gone a bit cold, but if he could have, he would have stayed happily immersed in the fragrant waters for…well…forever, he thought. He’d never before had such a bath. A dip in some cold lake or squatted down by the edge of some colder stream had been good enough for him until now.

But now he’d crossed the line from utility to luxury. And he found he had no desire to go back.

He wrapped one of the thick towels about him and with another began to dry his hair. There was a small mirror in the room, steamed up of course from his bath, which he wiped clean with a few swipes of the towel corner. Jack tilted his head this way and that, considering his cleaned up face in it.

‘In for a copper penny, in for a silver,’ he said aloud as he picked up the straight razor and lathering brush on the small shelf by the mirror. Clean, then, and clean shaven, too, he walked to the door and opened it a crack, reaching out with his long arm to pluck up the bundle of clean clothes the server girl had left.

He dressed quickly and ran the comb he found through his thin, sandy hair, pushing it back in as neat a manner as he could behind his ears. With a light step, Jack went out the door, whistling a merry tune quite loudly. A notable fragrance of bathsalts trailed behind him.

Down the hall, he noted someone was just going out the door to the common room. One of the servers, he thought. He passed by his room, not feeling a bit tired anymore and went back out to the big room himself.

‘Maybe I can find Tollers and give him a hand with his chores,’ he said to himself. ‘Then we can go fishin’ sooner.’ He looked about the common room, wondering where the fellow had got off to.