The Best Bathing Chambers at Dolphin Cove Weyr

Writers: Devin, Yvonne
Date Posted: 17th April 2025

Characters: Cosani, H'run
Description: Sometimes the most surprising things are found in unexpected places, like a new friend in a bathroom.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 18 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: K'mai, E'tarix, I'serin, Kadira

Cosani

H'run

Cosani grabbed her bathing supplies and headed out, almost colliding with someone in the hall. "Oh, sorry!" She looked up to see an unfamiliar man.

The unfamiliar man was carrying a bag in one hand and a very large towel in the other. He glanced down at her hands, then looked up with a smile. "I am on a quest to visit every bathing pool in this Weyr and I cannot seem to find the one on this floor. It seems you are here to save me."

She gave him a longer look. He was pretty. "Maybe I am. New transfer?"

"Maybe I am." He juggled the things in his hands until he was able to hold one out to her. "H'run of blue Calcifeth. And you are...?"

"Cosani, of green Shalith." She shook his hand. Maybe? Was he considering a transfer? "The baths are this way." She led the way down the corridor.

"Thank you, Cosani of green Shalith. Out of curiosity, which of the baths do you think are the best?" H'run asked as he followed her down the hall-- back the way he'd come. **I really am lost.**

"The ones you get to have in your weyr. But unfortunately I can't get one of those," she said wryly.

He let his gaze settle on her rear. "Oh, I beg to differ, my dear. Forgive me if this is a bit forward but I do believe that if you put your mind to it you could get into just about every bathing chamber in the Weyr."

"I have standards." But a faint smile curved her lips.

"For a good bath I could be persuaded to drop mine," H'run replied.

Cosani snorted. "There's nothing wrong with the bathing room here, except for it not being private."

The bluerider refrained from rolling his eyes. Cosani, he decided, was the human equivalent of a cactus. "I did not say that there was anything _wrong_ with your favourite bathing chamber, darling. I merely said that I am on the quest for the _best_."

She considered that for a moment, then laughed as she pushed open the door to the bath. "You should probably try your luck with the Weyrwoman, then."

He made a face. "Flame it. I have no luck with goldriders."

She laughed. "Do you have fancy baths where you're from, then?"

"Dragonsfall Weyr is not renowned for its plumbing, so no. However as long as the generator is running the baths are fine enough." H'run followed the greenrider through a door into the bathing chamber, where he stopped a moment to survey the large room. Rough hewn stone walls enclosed a set of several pools strategically lit by glowbaskets. Benches lined the walls beneath hooks for clothing. He wrinkled his nose at the light scent of sulphur and hurried after Cosani since she looked like she knew which pool was which.

"Ah, Dragonsfall." She smiled to herself, pleased to get some information out of him. "Did you come here to escape the cold?" Cosani went to the pool at the back and set down her small bag of supplies.

The bluerider debated being evasive, as he had been with others. But part of him wanted to talk about it, and not with E'tarix. "I'm escaping a man," he said finally. "I just... couldn't bear to be there anymore, for a while."

"Oooh," Cosani said as she pulled off her clothes. "I bet he was an asshole."

"It would be easier if he was. Instead he's a liar." H'run dropped his tunic and trousers on the bench and stepped into the warm water with a sigh.

Cosani slid in across from him. "Doesn't the lying make him an asshole?" She scoffed. "Men are awful. I wish they weren't hot."

"Shells, I do too. But I like being hot so it's a dilemma." H'run dunked his head and shook his fingers through his hair as if he could shed K'mai along with the day's sweat and cares. "It's even worse here with everyone running around half naked all the time and showing off their beautiful, sculpted bodies. It's very rude."

"At least you can enjoy looking at them even if you know they aren't worth the trouble." She picked up a handful of sweetsand and began scrubbing her arms.

"Use this instead," Hr'un said, holding out a bar of soap speckled with herbs from his own little bag of toiletries. "It smells divine."

She looked skeptical for a moment, but took the soap and sniffed it. "That's . . . nice." She smiled a little. "You have fancy soap?"

"No, it belongs to the Weyrwoman and I just stole it." He rolled his eyes. "Of _course_ I have nice soap. Sweetsand is an abomination to skin."

"Is it?" Cosani frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, it seems to work fine."

"Sweetsand is like a desperate man. It's _available_... but why settle? With sweetsand you might as well be rubbing your body against the cliffside. Soap, if well made, cleans you up _and_ fixes your skin. This one has oatmeal husks for scrubbing and pressed oils from seaberries and citrus that I promise will leave your skin softer than silk. Sweetsand could never," he said with a sniff.

She smiled in amusement. He clearly had opinions. Cosani lathered up the soap and rubbed it over her arms. "Hmm . . . that does feel nice."

"Of course it does. I do know what I am talking about." H'run rummaged through his bag and carefully unwrapped another bar of soap from a waxed burlap handkerchief. Now that Cosani's lack of education about proper bathing was sorted, he went back to their earlier topic of conversation. "Anyway, as I was saying... I came here because of a man. I was desperately in love... shells, I still am. Isn't that the stupidest thing? But after swearing up and down and on every egg since Faranth that he can't fall in love with anyone at all, what does he do? He goes and falls in love with someone else."

"What a dirty, lying _tunnelsnake_," Cosani said with relish as she rubbed her skin with smooth, creamy lather.

"_Thank_ you." The bluerider sunk into the water up to his ears and stared moodily across the bathing pool. Hurt sunk its sharp claws into his chest and throat. "The worst part is that he's so nice. No, actually the worst part is that the man he's fallen in love with can't love him back."

"Ooh, really? Weyrmated or something?"

"Worse. A bronzerider with a stick up his butt," H'run said mournfully.

"A _bronzerider_? What was he thinking?" Cosani bent to rinse her arms and shoulders. "Leaving you for a man he can't even touch."

The bluerider sighed. "I had resigned myself to just being... there. If he can't fall in love with anyone, that's one thing. I was happy enough to accept what he could give. But to tell me that and then fall for someone else, and I have to _watch_ him fall in love... I hate it, Cosani."

"I just met you about five minutes ago and I know you deserve better. You're hot and you share your nice soap. Men should be falling all over themselves for you."

"I am a catch," H'run admitted. "Want me to wash your back? I am too heartbroken for ulterior motives, I'm afraid."

Cosani pouted. "And here I was just getting interested. If you're in the mood for fun later, come see me." But she still turned around and handed him the soap.

"Maybe tomorrow," H'run said with a sigh. He took a moment to lather the soap between his palms before touching Cosani. Her skin did feel delicious for someone who thought sweetsand was fine to use... but he was still thinking about K'mai. "What about you? I've shared my very predictable heartache. I want to hear something about you."

"Well, I don't have any heartache because I don't fall in love," Cosani said as she leaned into his touch. "Not like your lying tunnelsnake lover, but because I don't _want_ to. Men are for sex, not mooning over."

The bluerider snorted. "I hope for your sake that you keep thinking that way, and also don't accidentally fall in love with someone who won't love you back. There are so many songs about heartbreak for a reason."

"Have you thought about punching him? That might make you feel better."

"I'm a harper, not a fighter. I need these," H'run said, wriggling his slender fingers. "It's too risky."

Cosani grinned. "Do you want _me_ to punch him for you?"

H'run laughed. "Whatever did I do to inspire such loyalty, sweetness?"

"I don't need much of an excuse to want to punch a man." The greenrider laughed. "Although I probably shouldn't. Wouldn't want to cause another interweyr incident like that Candidate did."

"That was _your_ Candidate harassing one of ours. It was all anyone could talk about for _ages_ at Dragonsfall! Potentially that was a bigger deal than Kadira Impressing a blue dragon in the first place." H'run leaned forward eagerly. This was a much better topic than rehashing how much K'mai had hurt him. "We never heard what happened to your girl afterward, or at least I didn't. Tell me _everything_."

Last updated on the April 22nd 2025

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The Best Bathing Chambers at Dolphin Cove Weyr