I allowed Mahogany to lead me by the hand, eagerly chattering as she drew me towards the bathroom, and I put the shopping bag down as she directed before we left the dressing room. She pushed the door open revealing several showers, handbasins, a couple of toilets, but no people. She dragged me straight across the space to another door, which took all her body weight to open. It was then I realized... when she said, "Bathroom", she meant, ok fair enough, the room for the bath.
Down several stone steps, the room was cavernous, tiled floor to ceiling with several large stone pillars supporting a relatively low ceiling. It was much larger than the salle de dressing by at least half, but it was difficult to see the far side because it was filled with misty steam. It must, I calculated, run all the way back from the front room of the manor house to the corridor behind, extending from the balcony in the opposite direction from Miss Havisham's office.
The bath room was dominated by a large raised square stone... it's not even fair to call it a bath, it was virtually a swimming pool! With easily enough room for 8, 10, or twelve or more people to sit comfortably around the edges, it was only a "bath" in the sense of a Turkish or Roman "bath". The entire surround was a broad stone platform with three low stone steps down to the surrounding floor in all directions.
A thick mist of steam rose steadily from the water, maintaining a hot, heavy, steamy atmosphere in the room. Two women were floating around in the large expanse of hot water, so the floor of the bath was obviously lower than the floor of the surrounding room. It was difficult to be sure I recognized them, with their wet hair, and through all this steam, but I made the guess they had been among the maids I met earlier. Only their faces were bobbing around above water, but they noticed us arriving, and both faces were turned towards us.
There were two other girls, whom I recognized immediately as having been among the maids. The taller of the two wore only a towel around her torso which barely met at the side above her breasts, before gaping open down that side, and in any case stopping well short of a length that would be appropriate outside this room. The other was reclined on a bench, leaning against the wall, comfortably naked and using her towel as a seat cover underneath her. They looked like they had been in conversation before our entrance drew their attention.
Almost immediately, my lacy, wafting little cotton dress began transforming into a bedraggled, flaccid, soggy clump. Having surveyed the room I turned to Mahogany for a cue as to what to do next. Her top was already off, and she was wiggling out of her little shorts, her breasts wobbling around as she rushed to strip off.
"Come and meet the girls. But you're gonna need to get rid of that," hopping a little because she missed her footing when trying to pull her shorts off her foot, due to trying to point at my sad-looking, clingy dress as she did so. It was soaking up steam in heroic quantities, and rapidly becoming drenched with it.
Falling against the wall before finally freeing herself of the shorts, which had snagged on her left heel in her hastiness, she was able, while leaning there, to reach into the shelving which was stocked with towels, and toss me one. She then pulled one out for herself.
Clearly, this was a pants-off zone, and besides, my garment was thoroughly defeated by the misty humidity anyway. So I reached around to release the hook at the top of the dress at the back. I wasn't immediately successful with it, because my hands were now slick with steam, and the fabric had become sodden, but in a heartbeat, there was Mahogany, just slightly shorter than me, naked, right up close to my chest. She was reaching around my neck to help me, but of course, approaching me from behind would arguably have been simpler. I dropped my hands and allowed her to fuss with it instead. I could tell she was using the opportunity to stand close, our bodies touching, as she ostensibly just assisted me with unfastening my garment by wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling her face so close we were even sharing the same air back and forth as we breathed. I didn't need to peek in her mind. I could read everything that mattered in her bright, happy eyes.
She managed to release the dress, but didn't just let it drop. She followed it down over my shoulders, sliding it off me deliberately, her hands tracing my contours, including a seemingly unnecessary excursion to include the side curves of my breasts, sliding deliberately and unhurriedly down my body, even to the point of crouching down to the floor to help me kick off my shoes and step out of it, having slid it purposefully down the full length of my legs. And just like that, I was finally as naked as she. I tied the towel around, just above my breasts, in the same manner as the other girl, finding it marginally less scanty on my smaller frame than on hers, but still gaping unmistakably at the side, and flipping around at about the same length as the dress Mahogany had just stripped from me. The towel would stay fastened around me only if my movements were modest, otherwise it would surely let go and fall down. Mahogany threw her towel over her shoulder, and happily proceeded naked, as she drew me again by the hand towards the others.
"Guyeeez! Come and meet Shynalee," she brought me to the two ladies who were outside the pool. "This is Luna and Celine," she gushed as we approached them. Luna was the taller, and was standing up, leaning on a pillar over Celine, who was lounging naked on the bench. I decided to follow their lead on the etiquette of greeting one another in this peculiar social setting, not knowing if we were huggers, kissers, hand-shakers, or awkward little wavers. Luna leaned in to exchange a kiss near the cheek on one side, while Celine, still unabashedly comfortable in her nakedness, extended a hand to shake. We all exchanged very pleasant, "Pleased to meet you" sort of comments, which seemed genuine. Luna, I noted, was the one to whom Miss Havisham had assigned the task of flogging Mahogany on the dining table. I couldn't detect any ill feelings between them, and my cursory glance over Luna's mind showed no complex interplay between the two.
"And in the pool, that's Pensee and Cordilia," they waved as they came closer, and presently took up seats in the water, in a spot near where the rest of us were gathered. We shook hands and greeted each other, as I had with Celine. I was able to see they were naked in the water and not at all self-conscious about it.
I felt ensconced in a comfortable feminine blanket of acceptance, as we all chattered together, exchanging compliments on each other's hair, breasts, or outfits from earlier in the day. I didn't need any contrivance to gush about how pretty the maid outfits were, and I asked all about the corsetry, which they were all happy to discuss. In turn, Luna remarked on my outfit with what I sensed was genuine envy, and crafted some wonderfully affirming complements about my figure (ok, she said the outfit really pops because I have a cute bottom. It might not sound like much, but it made me warm inside to hear her say it. Don't judge me).
As we chattered on, Celine seemed purposely to raise the subject of Mahogany's punishment session as a jab at her, but I instantly saw that it was good-natured, and Mahogany was enjoying squealing in protest. That's about when I pieced together that Celine was the one whom Mahogany had singled out for a smack on the bottom on the way into the manor when I arrived. I brought it up, in the clearly fun spirit of the conversation, and Mahogany jumped in with an explanation.
