Although Hannah was supposed to go to one of the many scrap dealers near the headquarters to get the parts I needed, it took her a while to get back. Abby wanted to use the opportunity to show me the rest of the property, but as the answer to my question "Is the rest as bad as the garden" was a simple "yes", we decided to have a cup of coffee instead. At least - I had coffee. Abby was more into tea. 

"I'm back," Hannah said after what seemed like an eternity, "And I got all the parts you wanted. But I had to get one more thing. That's why it took me a bit longer."
"It's not like I had any other plans," I smiled as Hannah sat down next to me and looked at me as apathetically as ever. "I'm well aware of that," she replied, "But I think the other item I got might be more important than the spare parts at the moment."
"You got me a crutch so I can walk without help?" I joked, but Hannah shook her head, bored, and pulled a device out of her item bag that looked like an electricity metre from my world. "Do you feel fit enough for us to measure your ether level?" she asked me frankly, and I just mumbled, "It still hurts when I walk, but otherwise I should be fine by now."
"Excellent," Hannah nodded and pressed the device into my hand, "You've hopefully read all the children's books by now, so you should know roughly how to focus your power on one point. Concentrate on this device. If you do it right, the little ball in the middle will change colour, and the brighter it gets, the higher your etheric level will be. And since I've gone to the trouble of researching your skills a bit, don't even try to cheat. Your repair skill alone consumes a huge amount of ether, not to mention the puppeteer skill." Funnily enough, I wasn't even trying to cheat. In fact, I was interested in the result myself, as I should have a lot of ether available, based on Aurora.

I tried to remember the explanation in the book, and as I concentrated on the metre in my hand, the whole room suddenly began to glow with a golden light. Abby, who'd been watching over a cup of tea, smiled satisfied and said, "We all knew she was special from the start.”
"Yes. But I didn't expect her to be beyond my level without practice," Hannah muttered, "Even when I try hard, I can only get a high silver. And that took years of work." I didn't understand what they were saying, and of course they knew that too, so Hannah started to explain the system to me at a very high level, "It is actually quite simple. The whole system is divided into five categories. Grey, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond." Hannah then reached for the device herself and what was gold to me was silver to her. To show me a second aspect of the device, Abby then joined in and although she also made the room glow silver, the intensity was much lower. "Your potential within the level is represented by the luminosity," Hannah continued her explanation, "you are already very high within the Gold tier and if you had been trained to use your ether as a child... you might already be one of the few Diamond Levels in the world. You definitely stand out." Then, suddenly, she murmured, "It is truly impressive how flawed the Adventurers' Guild's judgement of you was. You're a diamond in the rough. Not a worthless piece of trash." I was a little flattered by the praise, but I didn't mind that the Adventurers' Guild had so little interest in me. "As a next step, I want you to use your skills to do the repairs," Hannah said and I protested briefly, "I can do most of it by hand. The effort is manageable."
"Perhaps. But we'd be fools to pass up this opportunity to practise," Abby winked at me, "Besides, I don't want to spend the next few days listening to you moan about having to fix the clogged drain by hand." I had probably expressed my displeasure about this one too many times in the last few hours. "Okay. You win," I murmured, dragging myself the 150 yards back to the bathhouse.

This time, however, Hannah accompanied us, presumably to monitor my use of ether. "I'm certainly not going in there with that stench. The few days locked in the chamber were enough," Hannah said, and I also had thoughts of escaping again, "I say you try and make the repairs from here."
"I can try," I shrugged, concentrating on the first item - the broken mechanism responsible for all the windows. Once that was fixed, the building could be properly ventilated again. Overall it was probably no surprise to anyone that the first two repairs went without a hitch, and with a little guidance from Hannah I even managed to avoid taking an immediate break. A complete success I would say at this point. While I was feeling really proud of my progress, Hannah suddenly muttered, "We've still got a lot of work to do. You're still wasting too much ether."
"Stop belittling her progress," Abby suddenly said sternly, "For someone who had no idea until recently, her progress is actually quite good."
"Do you feel well enough to continue?" Hannah asked, unimpressed by Abby's words, and I simply replied, "I want to take a bath. There's no turning back now."

Of course I was aware that my motives for repairing the bathhouse were rather selfish, but for once others were benefiting from it... apart from the person who had to clean the whole building. The last two repairs took a little longer. But I learned that I needed a clear path in order to use my skills. As soon as an obstacle blocked the direct path, my repair skill wouldn't work. So we had to spend some time finding the right places. Replacing the pipe was relatively quick, but the water pump took a few tries and once that part was done, Abby and Hannah had to hold me for a while. The moment had come when I was at the end of my power. I realised this when I suddenly felt dizzy again.

"I think I'll take it from here," Abby grinned, "It's been a while since I've used a significant amount of ether myself." 
Much like Kirsty or Hannah, Abby seemed to have an ability that allowed her to just snap her fingers to do certain things. Suddenly, brooms and other cleaning utensils flew in our direction and immediately began to clean the bathhouse. 
"Wait a minute," I asked, confused, "if you can do that? Why is everything here so run down except the building we live in?"
"Unlike you, my ether regenerates very slowly... even with Cáit's potions. That's why I only use them when I really need them. And I don't see the point of cleaning things we can't use anyway," Abby explained, "But I think we can all agree... I'm certainly not going to clean the bathroom by hand. Especially if you want to use it today. You were even reluctant to enter the building before."
"Housekeeping magic? That's almost as rare as Ems' repair magic," Hannah asked in surprise and Abby grinned, "Yes. And it's great for taking care of the headquarters. But with my skills, I'm completely useless in dungeons. That's why you'll always find me here.” The words hit me surprisingly hard and I gave Abby a sad look. She didn't seem to miss it either, because she just said, "Don't worry, I've gotten used to playing the maid.” I probably shouldn't tell Abby that in my old world there were even coffee houses where the staff dressed up as maids. I don't know why, but somehow I got the impression that she might actually enjoy it.

"Somehow I get the impression that the majority of the guild members aren't necessarily suited for dungeons?" I laughed and Abby nodded, "Unlike Shane and the twins, we're not former adventurers or soldiers. Our main goal is to search for hidden treasures from an earlier time. We only do all the extra quests because we have to go back to the dungeons again and again anyway."

The bathhouse was officially reopened in the evening. With the heating system working again and several taps filling the pool, we soon had enough water to take a long bath. With the twins still on a mission and Sara having other things to do, our group was reduced to Cáit, Hannah, Kirsty, Abby and myself - four beautiful women and the ugly duckling Em in between. I had intended to go in alone, but as the basin was probably big enough for ten people, the others decided to join in. When I saw the four of them in the changing room, my inferiority complex kicked in again. "Finally we can have a proper wash," Cáit said excitedly. "That was the idea," I murmured, trying not to show too much of my insecurity. The four of them didn't seem to have any real problems running around naked. And I suspected that, after a few weeks in a public bathhouse, they were enjoying the peace and quiet of their own four walls. For me, however, it was a complete change. I had a shower in my little flat and I used it alone. I didn't share it with anyone and usually no one bothered me there either. Here I was suddenly sharing the pool with four other girls. And all four of them would have looked down on me in my old world. Yes, my brain was in panic mode at that moment and there was no reason for it.

Cáit and the others must have been in the water for quite a while before I could bring myself to take a step out of the changing room towards the basin, covering myself as best I could with my hands. Cáit noticed my tension and suddenly swam in my direction. She looked at me in confusion before saying, "Stop worrying so much. We all just want to enjoy the wonderful warm water together." 
"But..." I started, but Cáit interrupted me directly and said surprisingly seriously, "Save your buts. If you're seriously worried about us seeing you naked, then please don't forget one little thing, lass. This isn't the first time for Kirsty and me. We've both seen you in your underwear before, for different reasons. I've even put your bandages on and washed all the blood off you. We should be nervous because it's the first time you've seen us like this. But we don't give a shit.”

Then she whispered in my ear, "You're gorgeous. You just need a little more confidence.” Then she took my hand and gently pulled me into the warm water.