“Hello, and welcome to Pok-Nok’s communal baths.” Push-guided through the main entryway into the baths by Lulu, a second goblin greeted us as we passed over the threshold. She was smaller and shorter than the Pok we’d met at the receptionist counter, measuring only about half my own height, but her complexion fit more with the preconceptions I had about goblins being green. Though not a deep and pure green, this goblin’s skin did have a mixed fleshy complexion with green hues. Her ears were equally large compared to Pok’s but her features were smooth and she appeared to be much younger by comparison. She greeted us with a forward bow, wearing a full length violet colored kimono hemmed with green and gold lace. Contrary to her greenish complexion, this goblin had purple eyes and loose reddish-orange hair that flowed halfway down her neck.

“Hi…?” I responded weakly, raising my right hand and offering a halfhearted wave. She was completely clothed which made it feel all the more awkward that I currently stood before her in nothing but my birthday suit.

“Hi Pik, This is Lyssa’s first time. She broke the shower curtains so we came here to bathe today.” Peeking out from behind me, Lulu greeted the young goblin whose name was apparently Pik.

“I’m surprised Lyssa didn’t break your bath sooner. I’m a really big fan of your matches in the arena. I hear you participated today as well? I can’t wait to see the recordings!” Giggling like a schoolgirl, Pik steepled her hands together and offered an unusually large smile. It would’ve been a cute face to behold if it weren’t for the fact that all of her teeth were pointed and sharp looking.

“Yeah… I don’t think you should watch this last match… It’s, not good.” Scratching my chin with my index finger I sheepishly averted my eyes from the goblin girl. If Lyssa won all of her previous matches then this kid was certain to be disappointed when she saw today’s match between me and the minotaur.

Pik paused a moment. Lost in thought, she pondered my words before abruptly changing her stance and returning to a prim and proper attendance. “Sorry, I forgot myself. Mother says I’m supposed to introduce newcomers and returnees to the facilities. Welcome, if you have any questions or requests I’m here to listen to them. Now if you’ll follow me.” Motioning with her hands to follow, Pik proceeded into the first area of the bathing facilities.

“This here is the prewash station. All patrons are required to wash themselves clean before they are allowed to enter into the main baths.” Pik pointed towards several rows of upturned stools and buckets. Each station had its own showerhead and set of shampoos and conditioners. Large mirrors lined the entirety of the prewash area as well.

“The main baths consist of three main pools and a sauna. Please disregard the imps and enjoy your time in the water after you’ve washed up.” Pik moved her arm pointing out the rest of the area to us. “The frigidarium is chilled by our frost imps and hosts only a few fire imps to keep the waters from freezing over. The tepidarium is where you might find some imps fighting over time in the water, it’s also the middle ground between hot and cold here at Pok-Nok’s. And finally for baths we have the caldarium which is the hottest of the three we provide and features the most fire imps.

I looked to the baths and saw the imps. They were pretty easy to tell apart. The fire imps all had reddish complexions and potbellies, while the frost imps all possessed pale blue complexions with flat bellies and their limbs weren’t as thick as the fire imps. Both sets of imps had short pointed horns popping out from the backs of their heads, long pointed ears, and chins along with their noses which reached out well beyond their other facial features.

“If you need anything of me I’ll be over there.” Pik pointed to a set of tables and chairs set up in a corner near the washing stations. She then bowed and went to greet Zavis and Mayv’lar who’d just arrived through the bathhouse threshold. I hadn’t noticed before but Mayv’lar’s features reminded me of a mouse, except his limbs were long and gangly, and he had four eyes instead of just two. My eyes almost drew over to observe Zavis as well but I shook my head and walked over to take a spot at one of the washing stations. Unsurprisingly Lulu joined me, seating herself in the station directly to my left.

Zavis and Mayv’lar joined us, but not before I’d had time to rinse my body down with the sprayer. As I was applying the shampoo to my unevenly sheared hair Mayv’lar sat down at the station directly to my right while Zavis took to the station adjacent to Lulu’s. “Do we have to all sit right next to each other?” I asked, noting the multitudes of unused stations further down in each direction.

“If we did that then there wouldn’t be enough room for us to socialize.” Engaging the water of his own sprayer, Zavis chimed in with a beaming smile. “Besides I’m curious what Lyssa’s plans are for making a living in the future if you’re not going to be fighting in the arena anymore.”

“No idea…” I droned. I wasn’t particularly interested in prolonging my stay in Neth’Lareese any longer than I had to. I still needed to figure out a way of returning to my own body and without the ritual book I’d initially used I wasn’t certain how I’d be able to accomplish that. I would need to start looking for a solution, and soon.

“Lulu found some money so Lyssa doesn’t need to do anything for a while.” Chiming in over Zavis, Lulu spoke an opinion that suggested I stick to being jobless. The thought was fine by me since not working a job would give me more free time to investigate and research this Neth’Lareese place I’d fallen into and figure out my bearings.

I looked to Lulu to offer my thanks for her suggestion and stopped in surprise. Somehow in the short amount of time she’d been sitting there, Lulu had engulfed herself in a cloud of white bubbles. The only part of her I could see was the ends of her hair which folded out and away from her seated location. “How… did you end up like that?” I asked in astonishment. I’d barely finished scrubbing my own hair and here she was completely hidden by bubbles.

“Lyssa… Help. Lulu can’t see.” What I presumed to be an arm reached out from the mass of bubbles in search of the sprayer.

“Just how helpless are you…” I sighed. Wincing slightly as I stood up, I reached out and grabbed the sprayer above Lulu’s station. Turning it on I proceeded to wash away the multitude of bubbles plaguing Lulu’s body.

“She’s got you captured. Hook, line, and sinker.” Zavis laughed as he watched my efforts to clear the bubbles from Lulu’s body.

“Stop staring at us and focus on washing your own body.” I reprimanded, turning Lulu’s sprayer onto Zavis’ face. Was it the right choice to be so friendly with him? I didn’t know, but thankfully Zavis didn’t respond negatively towards my watery aggression. Instead he uttered submissive acknowledgement and returned to watching his own reflection while scrubbing down his body.

Once I’d babied Lulu to squeaky-clean perfection by removing all the bubbles from her, I returned to soaping up my own body. The mirrors didn’t help my composure since Lyssa’s body reflected back at me every time I happened to catch a glance, but the bubbles that soon enveloped the fair Lyssa’s skin from the soap used helped to alleviate a small amount of my stress.

“You seem distracted. Is something the matter?” Mayv’lar noted my subtle embarrassment and spoke up.

“Nothing in particular…” I lied. If I told him that the problem happened to be the awkwardness of looking in the mirror and seeing a woman reflected back instead of a man, I’m sure it would cause an uproar, or at the least a slurry of questions I didn’t feel like answering.

“I understand… Today held a rather tragic event for you. Losing to a minor demon like a minotaur has got to be one of the most demoralizing things you’ve ever gone through.” Beady eyes blinked away at rising bubbles while three-fingered hands scrubbed the demon’s furry body into a lathered fluffiness. “Please understand though that if it happens again, I won’t be able to help in the way that I did unless you are conscious and willing to offer me a portion of your life force.

A disturbed chill ran up my spine. What did Mayv’lar mean by a portion of my life force? “It’s fine. Thanks for helping out but I don’t plan on fighting anymore so you won’t have to heal me.”

“That’s what I don’t understand though. How can someone so emboldened and empowered by the pure embodiment of rage and conflict such as yourself, go without fighting?” Beady eyes blinked, water from Mayv’lar’s sprayer cleansed his fur of the gathered bubbles.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Turning on my own station’s sprayer to wash off the soap, I twisted to look at Mayv’lar and offered him a quizzical stare.

Mayv’lar stared up, as if looking past me, rather than at me. “Nothing. Forget I said that.” I stated plainly, returning to face the mirror in front of him while he rinsed off.

I turned the opposite direction and caught Zavis’ eyes. He offered a smile and a brief wave before returning to his own tasks. Weird…

*             *             *

Lulu ran, jumped and splashed into the tepidarium pool, disturbing and disgruntling a couple of the imps in the process. So far this’d been the only time I’d observed Lulu having any motivation whatsoever to engage in physical movement beyond walking speed. I on the other hand took to the stairs at the shallow side of the pool. My injured leg wouldn’t tolerate a sudden forceful splash like that and I had no desire to impose needless pain upon myself. Sinking to my shoulders in the water I sighed a breath of relief. Warmth washed over me and I allowed it to take over my emotions. Angled water jets stirred up a current which served to mix the cold and hot conditions the frost and fire Imps were imparting into the water.

“This is nice.” I uttered, leaning my head back into the water and letting my uneven locks of hair float out around me. One thing I hadn’t counted on was the lightness I felt as I lay back. As a guy, I’d never gotten the hang of floating on my back in water. My low body fat and muscles always made it impossible. With Lyssa’s body however I could feel the peaks of my newly acquired female chest serving an actual purpose as the breasts acted as buoys. Their fatty softness was keeping my body from sinking below the water’s surface.

“That looks like fun.” Lulu complimented, watching me float from an all-too-close distance. I opened my eyes to see her staring directly down at me.

“Wha-blb!“ Startled, I temporarily lost my concentration and sank below the water’s surface. Resurfacing as quickly as I could physically manage, I reached for air, coughing hysterically in order to free from my lungs the water I’d accidentally breathed. “Don’t do that! You surprised me!”

“It looked like fun so Lulu wanted to see how Lyssa was doing it.” Lulu’s tone was apologetic but she didn’t offer a verbal apology, instead she’d assumed the same position I’d had previously and was floating herself slowly away towards the middle of the pool towards Zavis.

“This is fun and all, but what will you do once Lulu has no more funds to support your lack of earnings? Finding money isn’t exactly a cost-free endeavor you know…” Zavis spoke up as Lulu’s drifting form floated into him. Gently guiding her floating body to one side, Zavis approached my area of the pool.

“Like I said, I don’t know. I haven’t actually thought about it yet.” I responded to Zavis’ approach by sitting down at the pool’s edge and burying my body under the water up to my shoulders. This attempt to hide below the water’s surface was pointless though since it remained crystal clear.

Despite my discomfort at having him close to my now female body, Zavis seated himself beside me at the pool’s edge. His gaze didn’t stray to look at my body though, instead he kept his eyes looking out into the pool. “The arena is lawless at best. If that’s too much for you to handle then perhaps you might consider joining the Enforcers guild. They’re always looking for people to help expand their influence and encourage peaceful coexistence between the races. Plus you wouldn’t have to fish for reasons to beat up on others anymore since you’d be justified in the use of violence… to suppress violent individuals that is.”

“Enforcers guild?” I asked, offering Zavis a quizzical stare.

“Indeed. They’re a new group that are attempting to emulate human moral conduct in the form of what the humans call a police force. From what I’ve seen today, it’s glaringly obvious that you’ve started an attempt at emulating human behavior yourself. I figured if that’s your interest right now, then joining this group might help you find whatever it is you’re looking for.

I sank into the water and breathed out, blowing bubbles onto the pool’s surface. I didn’t need help emulating humans. I am human, or at least I was human. My mind still remained human even if my body was now that of a demon’s. “Why would I want to leave one violent profession just to join another?” I sighed, tipping my face upward so that I could speak without getting water in my lungs again.

Zavis offered me a somber look as he spoke words that sounded as if he were consoling me. “Lyssa, even if you force yourself away from violence, one day violence will find you. When that happens, I highly doubt you’ll be able to control the outcome. Violence is a part of what makes you, you and that is a fate you’ll never be able to escape.

I didn’t want to think about the violence I’d faced today, or any violence I might have to face in the future. Honestly I didn’t want to talk about fighting or policing, or anything of the like for that matter. I’d nearly died today, of that I was certain. The last thing I wanted to do after recovering from this ordeal was to put myself in mortal danger all over again.

“Fine, whatever… I’ll consider it.” I muttered in response, but only so I could get Zavis off my back about the topic.