Mina gets a better look at her injuries.
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♫♪Suggested Music: from Peaceful Journey on AudioNetwork
By the time they reached the room he had rented, Mina almost wished she had taken him up on the offer. She didn't look at the foot, but could feel the heat spread to the sides of her sole. He unlocked the door, and Yuila rushed Mina as soon as they entered the room. The girl's arms came around her waist with force.
"You're back!" the Crone cried, pinning Mina to the wall before Edvard could even shut the door. "Oh, I'm so glad, Sapo! Are you all right? Is your foot—?"
"Let her come in, Yuila," he said, locking the door.
"You should sit down, Sapo." Yuila nearly pushed the older girl onto the bed, then knelt to her feet.
"It's good to see you, too, Yuila." She moved her foot as the Crone reached for the bandaged appendage. "I'll take care of it."
Yuila got to her feet and went to the table, pouring a cup full of wine. "This will help you feel better."
Mina looked dubiously at the cup, but took it. "Thank you." Her eyes went to where Edvard stood akimbo, watching her somberly. He started to say something, but a knock came to the door and he opened it a few inches.
The maid from the ground floor stood there. She looked to be about Yuila's age, and curtsied before speaking. "I've been sent to tell you that the baths are empty, if you please."
He nodded and gave her a bronze coin. "I'll give you another one if you tend the women's bath for us."
The girl's blonde braids bounced as she smiled widely and nodded. "I will. I'll ready the towels." She turned and bounded down the hall.
He closed the door and looked to Mina. "Do you want to eat before a bath?"
She sipped the wine slowly. "No, I think a bath would be better."
"I want one, too," Yuila chirped.
He nodded. "You need one."
The rooms holding the men's and women's pools were a half-floor below the entry level, and the descent lent a cooler climate to the stone chambers. The hall was lined with benches and hooks outside the changing rooms, and Edvard paused Mina and Yuila after their unhurried passage down the curving staircase. The young maid met them in the hall and handed Edvard two towels and a cork-stopped jar from her basket, and then knelt to where Mina and Yuila sat on one of the benches.
"I'll do it," he said as the girl fingered the bandage on Mina's foot.
The girl stood and looked to Yuila, who smiled beneath the scarf over her head.
"You can take that off now," he said to the Crone.
Yuila obliged, and the maid blinked in surprise at her.
He shook his head at the maid. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"No," she said barely above a whisper.
He carefully cut the first layer of bandage from Mina's foot, noting she winced at the touch. The maid and Yuila looked on curiously. He nodded to the maid's basket. "What else have you got in there?"
Mina saw Yuila move closer to the maid as the girl looked into the woven basket.
"Oils. Patchouli, and sandalwood, and heliotrope, and clove, and spearmint." The maid held a jar up higher for Yuila to see. "And tuberose oil."
The last layer of bandage stuck to Mina's foot, and Edvard gently pulled it from the blood-crusted skin. She made a disagreeable face, but said nothing as the cloth came loose.
He sat back and sighed, looking to her, touching the back of her ankle. "Maybe it'll look better after a bath."
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