Stay True

Chapter 9

Clara was very glad that the spell had been lifted. She and Colin had discussed whether or not it was Melanie in private, and they decided that yes, it had been her.

"But why is she doing this? She must have known that the spell would fail," Clara said. She had decided to call what had happened to her a spell, since the word "enchantment" still had a sort of mystery to it, a happy, light feel, a sort of, well, enchantment.

Colin said, "Melanie is probably testing the waters. She may want to test how easily she can get into the castle, how difficult it would be to disguise herself as another. I believe that with this, she determined that it is rather simple to bypass our security system. The guards we have are unsurpassed by any in the kingdom, but unfortunately, they are still not the best. Well, I mean, they are the best we have to offer, but..."

"I understand, Colin, do not strain yourself." Colin crossed his eyes at her and they fell silent for time. "But..." Clara sighed. "Melanie is powerful, yes?" Clara asked. Colin nodded. "Then why does she feel the need to try something out? You have told me before that she continually practiced magic, despite it being outlawed, so it cannot be that she feels her powers are 'rusty'. She already knows the castle inside and out, having lived here practically her entire life, so she must already know all the ways to bypass the guard system. So what is it that she is doing?"

Colin echoed her sigh. "I do not know." He suspected that Melanie might have been simply curious about whether or not the ways of the castle had changed. Of course, there was also the possibility that it simply was not Melanie's doing at all. He told Clara that possibility and she shook her head vehemently, brushing it away despite having the very same thought herself. This is what Melanie wanted, Clara told herself. She wants us to doubt each other, to plant wrong ideas in each other's minds, ultimately growing into weeds and poisoning our thoughts.

They were both trying to think, to reason through all of it, but they kept getting themselves stuck in circles of logic, dragged down. Eventually they let it all go. They were just so tired.

Eve poured oils and herbs into Clara's bathwater that evening at Didacus's suggestion, and drawing extra hot water. Clara stepped into the bath. "Ow, hothothot!" she squealed.

"You know, it's said that hot water is very good for relieving tension. If you knew that you wouldn't complain as much," Eve said wisely, pouring more steaming water into the tub.

"Gahhh!" Clara tried to relax. "Well, as it so happens, I did know that and I did complain about it, so there." Clara rubbed some soap into her hair, noticing that a lot of it went to waste when Eve rinsed it out of into a basin. "What a waste," she sighed, echoing her thoughts aloud. Coming from a rather poor family, Clara was very conscious about things going to waste.

Eve just shrugged. "What are you going to do about it?"

Clara thought that the question was rhetorical, but it got her thinking. "Hmmm...There are so many people out there who never get to have a good bath. A hot, soapy one like this would be heaven for them! Even lukewarm would seem like a luxury...we could do a peasant scrub!" At this, Eve wrinkled her nose in disgust, but Clara plowed on. "All we would have to do is save any wasted, leftover potion suds and we could bathe peasants who are too poor to wash their entire family or who live too far away from a water supply to bathe regularly! We would have to have separate stalls for the men and women, which means Colin would be in on it too-leave that to me. But if people are too gross, they can bathe themselves." Clara thought she was doing well. She made to get out of the bath, but Eve pushed her back in.

"Just because those people out there don't get a good bath very often doesn't mean that you shouldn't either." Eve took a handful of bubbles and sat contemplating them for a while, watching them pop. "Maybe it would work...only don't call it a peasant scrub. Call it something like...riches for rags, I don't know, something catchy." She wiped her hand on her apron and held out a towel to Clara.