Chapter 7: The Bath, Again

Hinata slept for eleven hours.

Mai sat beside the bed the whole time, with a clerk's ledger open on her knee.

Every ten minutes she checked Hinata's wrist.

Odile came at noon and stood in the door.

"The barley stands gold to the wall," the High Priestess said.

"The blessing takes a Saint's strength. She will wake hungry and weak. She should be washed and fed."

"I'll do both."

"I thought you would." Odile's eyes crinkled. "The maids have been told to leave the bath door alone."

She went out, and Mai sat on, listening to Hinata breathe.

At dusk Hinata opened her eyes.

"Mai?" It was a thread of a voice.

"Right here."

"Did I do it?"

"The whole field. You did the whole field."

Mai brushed the chestnut hair back from her damp forehead.

"You also fainted in my arms."

"Behind a pillar. Nobody saw."

"Nine clerks saw."

Hinata gave a weak giggle.

"I'm so tired, Mai. I feel as if somebody poured me out."

"Then I'll pour you back in."

She helped Hinata up and walked her to the arch, with one arm tight around her ribs.

The sunken bath was steaming again, the surface strewn with pale petals the maids had left.

Mai set a stool by the edge and sat Hinata down on it.

She undid the white robe, slowly, and slid it off Hinata's shoulders, and unwound the cord of the red hakama.

Hinata stood bare and swaying, soft and pink and exhausted, with her hair to her waist.

"Look at me," she mumbled. "I'm a mess."

"You're gorgeous."

Mai took her hand and led her down the steps into the water.

It closed hot and silky around their legs, then their waists, and Hinata let out a long, shaking sigh.

"Oh, that's good."

"Come here."

Mai stripped to the skin in four fast movements and slid in behind her.

Mai sat on the submerged bench with her back against the tiles.

She drew Hinata down to sit between her legs, with Hinata's back against her chest.

Hinata sagged against her.

"Mm. That's nice."

"Close your eyes."

Mai scooped water over her shoulders in her cupped palm, and again, and again, until the tension went out of her muscles.

She washed Hinata's arms and her neck, and the long slope of her back, and her breasts, which were heavy and warm in her hands.

Hinata's breath changed.

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