Zachery lied in the hammock, rubbing his eyes to calm the headache down. This was a lot for the man to take in.
Great! Just great, Zachery! You spent three years trying to avoid both the Earth Empire and the Holy Alfar Kingdom, and now you're in enemy territory! How could you make such an idiotic mistake like that?! He mentally chastised himself, slapping his palm against his face while feeling the beads of sweat falling from his forehead.
Suddenly, he tensed up and turned his attention back to Altairea. He questioned her bewilderingly, "Wait a second. You said that you were responsible for knocking me out? I remembered getting hit by some powerful force, but I just thought I collapsed from head trauma. Are you an alfar mage?"
She didn't make eye contact, but nodded at my accusation.
"I'm not very comfortable with that," she remarked.
From what I know, the alfar possess powers of mysticism and sorcery, but the most powerful of them' all are the mages who have the power to generate psychic energy, using it to manipulate the energy around them to their whim.
"Why are you uncomfortable?" Zachery asked.
Rubbing the side of her arm in timidity, she looked away before returning her gaze. She said meekly with a droplet of sweat on her brow, "L-let's just say that I have my personal demons on the matter."
Arching a brow, the boy was confused by her statement, but shrugged and changed the subject. He reached his hand out and said, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zachery Huang Honda. What's yours?"
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zachery. I hope that we will become good friends," she said as she bowed her head. Smiling and hyping up, she suggested, "How about a bath? It will help you relax and clear your mind of fatigue after only an hour and a half of recovery."
Zachery complied and got up out of the hammock, only to realize that he was naked. Stunned with his eyes widened, he asked in confusion, "Umm...what happened to my clothes."
Altairea didn't respond. Instead, her lips pursed with her face turning red as she gazed at his member. She shook her head and averted her gaze back to the man's eyes. She answered with a stutter, "O-oh, I t-took them off, s-so it would b-be easy to treat you! I h-had to examine your body t-to make sure there weren't any further injuries, also."
Seeing the girl's reaction also made the young man's face blush. He quickly picked up the blanket that dropped onto the floor and wrapped it around his waist, covering up his shame and then proceeded to where the bath was with Altairea guiding him.
12-minutes later, Zachery was taken to a medium-sized room with a single bronze tub wedged in the side and a washing sink with a mirror hanging on the wall above it. Zachery walked up and saw that the tub was already full of water. He leaned down and dipped his head.
It's cold. Must have been in here for hours. His brow furrowed as he felt the tingling sensation coursing through his nerves.
"Sorry if the bath is a little cold. I had it prepared for you when you wake up but since you were out for so long, it's no longer of any you now, is it?" she apologized timidly.
Walking over, she raised her hands outward and out of her palms was a flash of purple lightening. After it struck the surface of the water, the bath was hot again as steam began to fester out.
"There you go. Now, it's ready." after the alfar girl left, Zachery proceeded to take off his blanket kilt and sunk his body into the water.
He could feel the stress slipping out of his body, letting out a sigh as his muscles began to loosen up a little. Looking up at the beige ceiling, he thought: This is pretty nice. Been a while since I had a nice, relaxing bath, but I can't be too engulfed in this. Once I'm done, I'm going to have to head back to my ship and get the hell off this planet before the guardians discover it's location.
He pondered for 20 minutes on the matter. However, his train of thought derailed when he heard the door opening behind him.
"Have you come to check up on me, Altairea," he mused with a smile. When he turned towards her, his face lost all expression with his mouth agape.