In Which Vonya Bathes

Vonya dripped.

It felt achingly good to be standing upon solid ground once more. Had it not been for the presence of the dwarf that had escorted her away from the ram pastures, she might have fallen to her knees and kissed the dry, dusty road. But that was a childish reaction, and she was, as ever, an emissary for her people. So she had stood and bade a formal farewell to the dwarf, beyond glad that her mud-laden skirts hid the weary trembling of her knees.

It was full dark by the time she’d whistled for Meena, and while she waited for the great cat’s arrival, she dripped. Great, fat squelching patties of mud that slapped against the dusty roadway, a sound she would forever relive in her nightmares.

In one hand, she held the worn, twisted end of a lead rope which led up to the sagging leather halter fastened securely around the white ram’s head. Esmerelda. A silly name for such an ungainly creature. And the truth of the dwarf’s insistence that she was a white animal remained to be seen; if anything, she was covered in even more filth than the draenei.

Vonya sighed. She was absolutely coated in mud, an almost obscene amount of which seemed to be collecting around her hooves, accompanied by, of all things, a giant goat. This has not been a good day. If anyone sees me like this, I shall simply die of mortification.

She glanced up the road again, and nearly cheered when she saw the great spotted frostsaber loping toward them. Meena. Thank the Light.

The great cat drew near, then came to a stop a few feet away, ears flickering and nostrils twitching. Vonya took a step forward and Meena took a step back.

“Oh, come now, Meena, this is just silly. I know I’m a bit dirty, but the sooner we get to an inn, the sooner I can be clean.”

Another sheaf of mud slid from her skirts and slapped wetly against the road. The cat took another step back.

Vonya threw up her arms, sending another spray of mud to either side. “Oh, you! Fine!”

Speculatively, Vonya turned to the ram, who immediately threw her head back and gave a half rear, bleating. Vonya’s brow furrowed. “Oh, a pox on both of you!”

This was never going to work. She could hardly arrive on foot in Thelsamar covered in mud, followed by a cat and a goat. She’d have to bathe in the Loch, crocolisks bedamned.

Her mind made up, she turned from the road and set out at a brisk pace toward the sound of water, Esmerelda giving a protesting bleat and Meena following at a discrete distance. When she finally reached the shore, she carefully scanned the area. She may have to bathe in a lake, but she was hardly going to give a public demonstration of draenei anatomy.

Satisfied that she was alone, she turned to Esmerelda. “All right, goat.” Esmerelda flicked her ears forward, listening. “I’m going to let go of your lead rope. If you’ve any sense at all, you’ll stay nearby. I will release you, but it will not be here; I don’t want you to simply be caught again. I will take you somewhere with fewer dwarves, but it will have to wait for tomorrow.”

Esmerelda’s tail twitched and Vonya sighed. Who knew how intelligent the bests were? Meena seemed to understand much of what was said to her, but Vonya hadn’t seen any flickers of intelligence in Esmerelda’s rectangular pupils.

She shrugged, then released the lead rope. Esmerelda danced a few steps away, then stopped in confusion at not being chased.

Vonya ignored her antics, scanned the area a final time, then stripped out of her mud-heavy clothing. I’ve so much filth on me, it would be difficult for a peeping tom to catch sight of anything titillating anyway, she mused to herself as she rifled through the pockets of her gown and removed the few items she wished to keep. She doubted she’d want to touch her skirts again once she was clean, so she may as well salvage what she could while she was still dirty.

She set the items aside, then waded into the frigid waters of the Loch. Oh, dear Light, that’s cold! Shivering, she forced herself to duck completely under the water, then surfaced with a gasp. The moonlight silvered the water around her, each droplet of water a frozen, sparkling diamond that seemed suspended in the air. Or perhaps that was the onset of hypothermia talking. Less poetry, more scrubbing!

Heeding her inner voice, she dove down and grasped handfuls of sand to scrub against her skin. It was almost like a magic trick. She would rub her hand against a mud-darkened limb, and when she finished, she was left with sparkling white skin. She shifted position three times when the water became so cloudy with mud that she could no longer see through it, but she finally managed to get the mud off. Even her hair was back to its customary soft golden vanilla, rather than a rat’s nest of sticky mud.

The water really isn’t so bad, now that I’m used to it. Perhaps I can finish my bathing here. Just a bit of that Kaldorei soap should do the trick!

The pale draenei squeezed the excess water from her hair as she left the Loch, looking like some kind of exotic water goddess as she stepped gracefully on to dry land, a light rain of water pouring from her and disappearing into the lush grasses. She stepped around the fragrant pile of her old clothes, then moved to the pack at Meena’s side. The cat stood as she approached, and hung her head a bit sheepishly. Vonya took a moment to smooth the fur between her eyes and whisper forgiveness for the cat’s earlier refusal to be ridden. She really couldn’t blame the beast.

Soap in hand, Vonya dashed back to the shore, chillbumps forming on her arms and legs as she lowered herself back into the water. She lathered carefully and was smoothing the first handful of floral bubbles across her arm when suddenly she was nudged forcefully in the small of the back, sending her sailing into deeper water. Immediately, she shielded herself and turned to face her attacker, the bright golden bubble sending out a gentle glow to illuminate…Esmerelda?

She gave a sigh of relief and dispelled the shield. What was that silly goat thinking, following her into the water? She shook her head, then swam a few paces away to complete her bathing.

Esmerelda followed.

Frowning, she swam a few more paces away, and still the beast followed, sending a wake of muddied water behind her.

“Shoo! Esmerelda, go away! I’m trying to stay clean, not get muddy again!”

She got an ear flick and a powerful bleat in response. Vonya treaded water as the ram made her way closer, then stood within arm’s reach.

“What do you want from me? This is preposterous!”

Esmerelda bleated and reached her head forward, lipping delicately at the soap in Vonya’s hand.

“Oh, no. This is my soap. And it is quite expensive! This soap is not for goats!”

Esmerelda pinned her ears back and flicked her tail, sending a spray of water almost directly at the draenei.

“Ack! Cease this at once!” Vonya fanned back out of flicking range, and was promptly followed by the ram, who lowered her head and sent a very deliberate wave of water in her direction.

“Arg! Fine! Fine! I will bathe you too, you ungrateful wretch. I saved your life today! You should be thanking me, not threatening to drown me!”

As soon as Vonya swam closer, Esmerelda ceased her antics and stood still.

“This is ridiculous. Me, bathing an oversized coat rack. Should they see me back home, they would never believe it!”

Esmerelda snorted in agreement, sending small ripples dancing across the water.

With a sigh, Vonya dropped the soap on the broad, flat area of Esmerelda’s back. When the ram twitched, the draenei frowned. “You had better stay still, this is going to take a while. And if you lose my soap I shall be very angry with you.”

Immediately, the twitching stopped, and Vonya gave a grim smile. This ram was not nearly as stupid as she pretended.

It was two more hours before draenei and ram finally exited the water. Vonya was exhausted and her fingers were utter ruin. But Esmerelda was clean, her now-white coat almost sparkling in the pale moonlight. The goat bleated and gave a few light-hearted bucks when she reached the shoreline, sending a spray of water across the nose of the snoozing Meena. The cat woke with a jerk, yowling and leaping back in startlement. Vonya smothered a smile at the look of impish mischief on the ram’s face.

She yawned, then beckoned to the two of them. “It is far past our bedtime. Meena, settle down, I need to get a new outfit from your packs. Esmerelda, come along, we will get you stabled for the night, then I shall release you tomorrow.” As she rummaged through her pack for a clean, dry gown, she muttered to herself. “I would wager that you shall be the only ram in the entire mountain range accompanied by the delicate scent of roses.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 and is filed under Storytime, ~ Vonya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.