A Case of the Blues

Writers: Ames, Anaria
Date Posted: 31st March 2011

Characters: Wirnan, Lyranel
Description: Lyranel makes a mistake that causes some pretty humorous results.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 1, day 22 of Turn 6

Wirnan

Lyranel bustled around hurriedly. Her task for the day was to
inventory a small batch of goods that had come in from one of the
Minor Holds, and to distribute some of it to people who were in need
of it. Looking down at the hide she carried with her, that one of the
other ladies had nicely read over with her to make sure she could
recognize all the words, she noticed with some satisfaction that she
had completed everything except one task. Wirnan had been out of
sweetsand, and there was suppose to be some for him in this shipment.

Lyranel looked about the small storage room, trying to figure out
where the sweetsand was. She knew what it was, but rarely got the
opportunity to use it, as both cotholds she'd lived in had considered
it to be too much of a luxury. Both had been farm cotholds, and had
found that it was possible to clean themselves up using various parts
of certain plants. She began picking up boxes, climbing shelves, and
peeking in and around things, trying to find the sweetsand. "Ahhh,
there you are!" She exclaimed, grabbing the package.

She hurried up to the Steward's room, lugging the sack of sweetsand
along with her. Wrapping lightly at his door, she called out, "Steward
Wirnan? I have your sweetsand, sir."

"Come," he called out, busy poring over a set of hides that had
required his attentions. He hadn't intended to work back in his own
quarters, but he really needed to get things done. Wirnan glanced up
to see which of the girls had come.

"Hi, I'm Lyranel," she said, flushing slightly. "I'm new here, I don't
believe we've met." It was odd to her, meeting so many new people on a
daily basis, but it was exciting as well.

"Lyranel, yes. Welcome to Amber Hills. I gather you know who I am
already or you wouldn't be carrying that sweetsand for me." He smiled
gently at the young woman. "The baths are just back there. Why don't
you put them in the jar I keep there for that purpose. It's the only
one there, so you can't miss it."

Lyranel nodded, and hurried off to complete her assigned task. Maybe
this wouldn't be so bad after all, this was a task that she could
easily handle. Humming to herself as she went about her task, she made
sure not to spill any of the sweetsand as she worked. Once her duty
was completed, she went back out to the main room. "All done for you
Steward!" She glanced down at some of the hidework that Wirnan was
working on. "Wow, you certainly are a busy man aren't you?" She asked.

He gave her a sort of amused snort. "Aye, there is much that needs
seeing to and I am normally the man who has that job." He pushed the
hides aside, thinking that he just might enjoy a soak in the water to
work out some of the kinks in his neck.

"You look tense," Lyranel commented. "You should take a break, have a
nice soak. How about I go get you some fresh linens as well?" She
asked. She hoped that doing just a bit more than required of her would
leave a good impression with the Steward.

"That would be wonderful. Thank you Lyranel." Wirnan was pleased with
her initiative. Rising from his seat, he moved towards the back of his
quarters where the private bathing area was located. "Just let
yourself back in."

In a few moments, he'd slipped into the private room, disrobed and
found himself soaking in the warm waters. It felt absolutely amazing.
He closed his eyes and just allowed the heat to soak into his muscles.
Wirnan could feel the tension just ebbing away. Reaching behind him he
took the cap off the jar of sweetsand and dipped his fingers inside.
With his eyes still closed, he began to spread the cleansing sand over
his arms and chest. Something felt a bit different as he rubbed the
sands over his flesh. Opening his eyes, he nearly bolted upright in
the water. His arms were blue! Blue!

Dunking them quickly in the water, he scrubbed at them trying to get
off whatever was on him. That was when he saw that his chest up to his
neck was also blue. He scrubbed at it uselessly.

"Lyranel!" He shouted angrily knowing the girl should still be around.
Wirnan was so upset he didn't care two wits that he was still sitting
in the waters when he'd hailed the serving girl.

Lyranel had returned with the linens, and hesitated slightly at the
call. On one hand, it embarrassed her to consider heading into the
bathing chambers while Wirnan was clearly in there naked. On the other
hand, he did seem rather upset, perhaps he was in some sort of
trouble. Her decision made, she burst through the doorway, covering
her eyes to shield herself from Wirnan's nudity. "Sir?" she asked,
since she was unable to see what was occurring in the room.

He didn't care that he'd called her into the room. He was bustling
with alarm and anger. "I'm BLUE!" He shouted. Holding his arm out of
the water, even while he pulled one of the towels into the water to
cover him. "Look! My arms and chest are blue! I put on the sweetsand
and..." His eyes darted to the container. "Are you SURE that was
sweetsand?"

Lyranel dropped her hand to see what he was talking about, as his
words didn't seem right. But sure enough, Wirnan sat before her, all
visible parts save his face and neck colored a pretty shade of Harper
Blue. Lyranel wasn't sure how to respond. "Uhm... I think... but I
don't really know... we didn't have sweetsand at my cothold very
often, but it _looked_ right," she said, trembling in fear. Tears
welled up in the corner of her eyes, and threatened to spill over. "OH
Shards, I messed up, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, falling to her
knees before him. He hoped that the Steward wouldn't be the type to
send her back home.

"Shards, you think it _looked_ right! You mean you didn't check?" His
voice was up, but when he say her reaction he took a calming breath
before he exploded. "Look, Lyranel. Go figure out what you _did_ put
in the container, fix it, _and_ find me something that will let me
scrub this off of me." He paused, then when she didn't move right away
he added, "Now, go!"

Lyranel stood quickly, trying to stop the steady flow of tears coming
from her eyes. That wouldn't look good, her being in the Steward's
room for some time, then running out all teary-eyed. She felt stupid,
and worse she felt uncultured and naive compared to the other
residents of the Hold. She couldn't read, she didn't know sweetsand
from what appeared to be a dye...

She headed down to the laundry, and located a drudge, who showed her
where the sweetsand would be. Lyranel hurried back to the Steward's
room with it, where she poured the remainder of the blue dye into the
waste bin, and then filled the jar with sweetsand. "I'm so sorry," she
said one more time, not sure if there was any way that she could "fix"
what had gone wrong.

While she was gone, Wirnan had removed himself from the very blue
water and donned a towel to cover most of his body. He gazed down at
his toes, his legs and every inch of him. He was _blue_! Even the
parts he'd _not_ scrubbed with the dye had turned blue simply from
being in the water. The towel he'd dragged in with him as a covering
was also blue.

When she returned, he stood to the side and watched. "Just make sure
you get _all_ the dye out of there. I don't need this to happen
again." He'd have to wait for the water to clear before he could try
and scrub the dye off his body, _if_ he could get it off.

The water in the bathing pool circulated from a force that Lyranel
didn't necessarily understand, but a bit of waiting, and directing the
water about resulted in it becoming clean. "I... I think it's good
now," Lyranel said, still unable to control the trembling of her body,
or the fears of being sent home. **Please, let this dye wash off
easily...** she thought, but she knew better. She'd dyed some things
with vegetable dyes at her cothold, and remembered how her hands
stayed orange for days afterwards. Looking down, she noticed her hands
were just as blue as Wirnan's body.

When the water was clear he contemplated starting the cleansing
process, but he was not about to do it with the girl still in the
room.

"If you'll excuse me now Lyranel," he inclined his head towards the door.

Lyranel flushed bright red, "Oh! Of course!" She exclaimed, and left
Wirnan alone so he could do what he needed to. While she waited for
him to finish his bathing, she forced herself to concentrate on things
other than her fear. Like how - despite the fact he was blue - what
she saw of the Steward was quite attractive.

**Since when do you think like this, Lyr!** she chided herself.

Last updated on the April 27th 2011

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A Case of the Blues