Chapter 59

Once we had broken up our awkward hug in the middle of the street the four of us walked together more closely than before. Some of the tension that had been built up between us had been broken in that moment. I hoped this would be the start of them accepting my request of treating me like an equal rather than a master.

I looked over to Torien. "Are you two hungry? The five of us came back from a dungeon alive, with all limbs attached! We even got the slaver's guild off your back. We should probably celebrate tonight."

Torien cracked a grin. "Really? Well, adventurers are known to party a little after coming home from dangerous missions. All of us are true adventurers now so maybe we should partake in that tradition."

I looked to Morrigan next who just shook her head and laughed. "Well, it's hard to argue with that logic." She looked over to Bella. "How about you? Does that sound like a plan?"

"I think I'd like that. We should celebrate the five of us coming together."

I looked down at Mimi silently playing a sword on my belt. I stroked the hilt gently with my thumb. "Maybe we can get a room and have food brought to us so the five of us can share in private."

Torien looked down at the sword. "Does Mimi um... eat food though?"

"I can eat anything!" The four of us looked around, hoping no one would notice the additional voice coming from nowhere. I didn't know if I should tell her not to talk in public or not. I figured most people wouldn't notice but if someone did that might bring a few questions. I didn't really know how mimics talked in the first place.

"Is there any way to limit who hears your voice Mimi?" I asked quietly.

"Um... No? Not that I know of."

I grimaced. "In that case please try to keep your voice down in public and don't talk when we're too close to other people. At least for now."

"Okay!" Her voice was quieter but no less enthusiastic.

I sighed.

"Does the bath house we went to last night serve food? Or should we pick something up and take it to our room first?" Bella asked.

Morrigan's face lit up. "Bath house!?"

I smiled at her, "Does that sound appealing to you?"

"Yeah! I've never been in one before! I heard they feel amazing!"

"I thought cats hated water?" I asked sarcastically.

Torien crossed her arms. "We're Pantharians, not housecats."

"Lilith, it's actually very rude to compare beastfolk or Demi-beastfolk to the feral animals they resemble," Bella said.

The smile on my face faded. "I'm sorry. The joke was meant to be lighthearted, I didn't mean to be rude."

I could see the question on the tip of Torien's tongue but she held it in.

"It's probably better you made that kind of mistake with us rather than a free demi-human. But it is a bit strange to hear that kind of thing from a beastk- someone who looks like a beastkin rather than a human. If it makes you feel better, the two of us have heard that kind of thing so often it hardly offends us anymore." Morrigan said.

I awkwardly scratched the base of my horn. "Well, for what it's worth I'm sorry. I'm sure you have lots of questions. My intention is to talk about some of my secrets later tonight, in private."

Torien smiled, "So, you're actually going to tell us some things? I had been hoping but..."

"I am." I nodded. "I'm not thrilled about your status-"

"Clearly," she interrupted.

"BUT, if nothing else, there's no way you would be able to go around telling other people. Whether you wanted to or not. I would prefer to trust you on your own merits, and I do, but this way you would be incapable of actually telling anyone. That would protect both of us in a way."

"I suppose that makes sense. Frankly I wasn't sure if you would tell us or not. Even if you didn't though, you seem so bad at actually keeping them I figured I would find out eventually," she said with a snarky grin.

I shrugged. "I mean, I had to reveal part of one in the dungeon but Mimi here saved my life in return," I said patting Mimi's sword hilt. "If I hadn't done that I wouldn't be walking here with you."

The smiles of my companions went grim all at once.

"Come on guys, I didn't mean for that to be a downer," I said.

Torien nodded. "But it's true, it can be easy to forget how close we scraped by there. I'm not sure if any of us would have made it out if Mimi hadn't helped you there. Anyway though, the way you said that was also a slip. Part of one, that means what you did wasn't even the whole secret, and worse, that wasn't even your only secret."

I frowned. Shit, she's got me there.

I sighed. "Anyway, this is getting much too close to topics I'd rather avoid in public. Besides, we're here," I said while looking up at the sign to the bath house.

Bella bumped me with her shoulder. "You seem quite eager to return here, especially after how anxious you looked last time we were here."

So she had noticed. "I'm really not sure why I felt that way last night," I said honestly. "But it really did feel good once I was there. I'd like to share the experience with all of my friends."

We entered the bath house. The same male elf from last time was at the desk. I squinted at him... yeah I think he's an elf. I better not say it out loud and possibly get myself in trouble again.

"The four of us would like another room for tonight. We'd also like to order food if that's possible."

"Of course, I can give you a menu to take with you to your room." He looked over at the twins, his eyes landed on their collars. "Slaves aren't permitted in the baths however."

I frowned. "They're uh, servants though. I'd like them to join us so that they can attend to the two of us."

His eyes went back to the collars. "I'm very sorry miss, I didn't realize. Though perhaps it would be proper to better clothe your servants."

"Yeah... they lost all of their equipment in our last dungeon and their replacements aren't ready yet."

He nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry to hear that. In that case, the price for a room and use of the baths is 30 silver for the two of you and 10 silver to bring along two attendants. Are servant's beds fine for them?"

"Uh, do you have any rooms with two beds?"

His eyes trailed up and down the two girls, their temporary work clothes doing a much worse job at hiding their curves than their old equipment. He put on a gross smirk. "Ah I see. Sure, 40 silver total for two double beds."

I counted out 40 silver coins as fast I could to get away from this guy, he kinda creeped me out.

Once I placed the silver on the counter he pointed to the hall we had gone before. "My colleague over there will show you to your room."

This time we were led down the hall by a tall demi-beastfolk woman with white wolf ears. Her tail swished back and forth gently as she explained the rules to us once again. I sorta tuned it out but the twins listened intently. I idly wondered if it was because they cared or if they just didn't want to make me look bad. I was probably overthinking it, if they hadn't been here before they were probably just curious.

"...here's your key. Room 18." She finished and handed me the key.

We went up to our room to put our things away first. Once the door closed Mimi immediately reformed in front of us. She looked around curiously for a moment but the room wasn't much different to the one we were in last time.

"Lilith, can I come with you this time?"

"Sure, but you'll have to take a different form. Maybe a necklace would be the best? You haven't really had a chance to practice imitating people yet so I don't know if it's a good idea to attempt that now."

She nodded and I became flustered when she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck. The moment passed quickly though and I felt like kind of an idiot when she formed into a necklace like I suggested only moments before.

All of us started to strip down, a brief glance told me Bella had used her transformation racial ability once again. Torien didn't seem impacted at all by seeing us naked but Morrigan. She was scarlet red, shooting quick glances at my and Bella's breasts. She was not nearly as subtle as she thought she was. No one called her out on it though, I didn't mind and I think Bella might be interested in return. I opted to forgo a towel this time, whatever anxiety I had last time had passed.

The four of us went down the stairs in an unusual order. Morrigan followed me like glue and Torien was following Bella. It seemed closer to our adventuring order than when we were spending time casually. I didn't realize why we took this order until we got to the bathing area though.

Bella and Torien clearly gave us a little space on purpose, both entering the waterfall a bit away from us. Morrigan was still bright red, she obviously wanted to be paired up with me but when we were actually here she completely froze up. I smiled and took her hand, gently pulling her into the waterfall with me. I ran my fingers through her hair and carefully worked the scented oil infused water into it. This was also the first time I had been able to actually touch one of the twin girls' cat ears and I happily took advantage of it. It was kind of cute to see Morrigan lean into the attention.

She couldn't look me in the eye, almost more embarrassingly locking on to my bust instead. Working the oil into her hair seemed to have made her realize what she was supposed to be doing because she began to lather the scented oil into my naked fur too. Her hands were curious but unsure. Content to glide over my 'safe' areas but she hesitated any time she neared my breasts.

I gently took her hands and placed them on my breasts, making it clear that I didn't mind the attention. She glanced up at me very briefly before looking down again out of embarrassment. It was kind of cute to see this side of her, so different from how she normally acts around us. She was a bit more shy than her sister at first but once she opened up she became bubbly and boisterous.

Her hands worked the water and oil under my breasts, between them, and along the top. She hesitated again at my nipple but gently ran across them as well. I ran my hands down her body too, she jumped in surprise when I started cleaning her breasts as she had mine but didn't respond negatively to it.

I was getting aroused. I sighed and turned my back to her and started cleaning up my more intimate places myself before things went any further. We were still in public and we were probably already pushing the limits of what we could get away with here. Any doubts I had were gone now though, Morrigan was obviously interested in me. That meant we would have to have a talk about that too after I told them a more about myself tonight. The obvious power imbalance between us would be tricky to navigate but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't interested in her too.

After she had washed my back we swapped and I ran my hands along her smooth skin while she cleaned her own intimate places. The smooth skin of her mostly human like body was an interesting contrast to Bella's. It was oddly both more familiar and less so at the same time. I felt the echoes of my previous life bump against the current experiences of my relatively short time in this new world.

We left the shower holding hands, catching up to Bella and Torien who had been waiting for us. Morrigan was still quite shy and couldn't even look at me now, though she didn't let go of my hand. It was rather endearing seeing her act like a pure maiden for me. Bella smiled at me warmly and Torien's face held a much more wry smile.

The four of us climbed into the same bath that Bella and I had used last time. Morrigan now sat on the other side of the two girls, probably trying to get a bit more distance from me so she can calm down. I did see her peeking around at some of the other girls in the nearby baths from time to time but I don't think anyone really noticed.

I sighed and relaxed into the water. It's felt like a really long day. The upcoming conversation was bound to be stressful too but honestly I was happy I would finally be able to tell them everything without worrying about the consequences. While my secrets are all important ones, I don't think they're so crazy that it would cause them to see me any differently.

I closed my eyes and slid deeper. Hot baths are great.