"Okay, here we go..."

  Remora's voice was soft; soft like how it first was when she was trying to comfort Marina back at the tavern. Her fingertips grasped the zipper of the princess' wedding dress, causing her to tense in anticipation. For her, she was used to being prodded at and pampered whilst being completely bare in front of her servants, though it was usually elderly women who tended to her, not the hands of someone so young and alike her. She had to release a breath to try and calm her nerves as the zipper trailed down.

  At the same time, her mind wandered. She couldn' t believe that this fed-up peasant girl was the one undoing her dress tonight... when she was fated for other pns... when she was due to her prince... Gods... he probably wouldn't have even bothered with the dress. She felt bile rise in her throat at the thought and shoved it far away from her mind, knowing it would eat at her if she let such images linger. So... awkward or not... this situation was FAR better.

  She heard the slow zip as it trailed down her back and the loosening of the fabric around her body. She sighed, feeling like her burdens were unwrapping from her pale skin. She clutched the dress by the front, turning to face Remora who met her gaze and cleared her throat.

  "Right, so... I'll let you get in... get comfortable and all that... then I'll come back and help you with your hair." Remora nodded, gncing away with a quick clearing of her throat. Marina turned to her, clutching her dress still.

  "Thank you..." She murmured. Remora shot her a quick smile before disappearing behind the door once again. Once behind it, Remora turned and ran a hand through her hair with a weary sigh. She groaned, feeling the tightness of her braid that contained her auburn hair and began to weave her fingers through it, shutting her eyes and leaning against the door as she undid it.

  Gods, this is weird... She thought to herself. She felt... awkward... but not for the right reasons. Her tension wasn't necessarily due to the fact Marina was a royal, although her reservations about royals were still strong in her mind, nor was it because she was about to help a total stranger bathe and clean up... but of course that was certainly strange too... No, it simply was because she didn't hangout with anyone her age. Sure, she'd flit around with a boy once in a while, but that would always come to an abrupt end, usually due to their forwardness for something beyond ptonic... or their ck of personal hygene... or because they btantly treated her differently for being a woman... ugh.......

  And there was the other thing... Remora was far too picky about her men... At least that's what Babica would tell her.

  "When are you gonna get out there and bring home a nice young man?" She'd teasingly demand. Remora would respond with an eyeroll.

  "When it's convenient, Babcia... And now's not the time. All I need is you anyways." Babcia would shoot back with her own eye roll and a "bahhhh-!" Remora chuckled to herself at the memories of that recycling conversation. Then her mind drifted back to the girl currently in her bathroom, and she entertained herself with the thought of that poor girl figuring out how to accidentally drown herself in the bathtub.

  It was different... she was a girl her age. The st time she had what she supposed would signify for a friend of her gender and age was an ex-neighbor. She was a pretty, sweet thing who shared Remora's taste for adventure, and they'd often go down to the harbor or the secret tides they had found over the hill behind their homes, pretending they were on fantastical quests. Yet of course, that girl got to continue her adventure...she moved away... leaving Remora to what'll likely be her forever home in the Kingdom of Alverot.

  "Lucky..." Remora groaned internally. It seemed everyone wanted to travel, but not everyone could... She'd been without friends for a long time, letting herself get lost in the endless cycle of work, and a frown crossed her face at that realization. A new companion... would be nice... she considered. However, as her gaze flickered to the door and the person behind it, her mood quickly soured at the fact that she was even entertaining the thought of becoming... friends... with a royal of all people! She scoffed and shook her head. Hell no...

  Meanwhile, Marina slipped her foot into the water, feeling the sting of her scrapes rush up her leg, causing her to hiss through her teeth. Once it faded, she realized the temperature was so... awfully... wonderful... She stepped her other foot in carefully and submerged her body into the water, the cold bitterness of the night melting away within seconds. She sighed and drifted back, resting against the porcein wall. Gods, she wished she could just stay like this forever... it felt like floating into a warm dream away from all her pain, her agony, her nightmare of a life. However, after a few minutes, reality had to sink back in once more and she turned her head towards the door.

  "Remora...?" The meek and muffled voice sounded from behind the door. Remora opened her eyes and sighed, taking a moment to breath before making her response. Here goes nothing...

  "Yeah?" She cracked open the door. Marina was curled up in the water, her long, dark, wavy locks draped over her back and shoulders, her arms concealing her chest, her legs her midsection. She turned her head to look at her with those frowny blue eyes.

  "I'm um... ready..." She blinked at her, feeling pink tinge her face again and she looked down and away. Remora's lips rexed into a soft smile. For a royal, she certainly was pathetic... She nodded and approached her, picking up a nearby bowl and settling herself behind the princess.

  "Alright, tilt your head back for me." Remora filled the bowl with water and Marina complied. Remora hummed as she saw the angle her head was at... Yeah, no, screw it, she'll just take matters into her own hands. She reached over with her empty hand, gently slipping it under Marina's chin and coaxing her head back more. Marina held her breath and tensed as she shut her eyes. She wouldn't dare meet Remora's right now...

  Remora worked at an easy pace. She didn't want to seem rude like earlier by making it seem like she was rushing to get the job done... nor did she want to startle Marina with any harsh movements. She threaded her hand through her locks as she ran the water over it, the silence stretching on between them apart from the dribbling of the water flow.

  Marina felt her heart race. She usually hated baths. Not because she hated warm water or the feeling of being clean, but her servants made it horrendous. They'd rake through her hair, scrub her skin even if she excimed that it hurt, and the temperature they'd set it to was never to her liking. However, it wasn't nervousness of that kind of treatment that was making her heart race now... it was actually because Remora was treating her in such a stark manner.

  Her hands were gentle, her movements were slow, she didn't pull or yank, she didn't bark at her to move or to sit still... Marina almost wondered if she was actually doing anything back there. However, she quickly became convinced when Remora began to soap up her hair, the girl's nails tenderly scratching against her scalp.

  Never, in her life ever, did Marina feel such bliss and ecstasy. The sensations caused her eyes to roll back into her head and her lips parted with a sigh. Her skin tingled and rose into goosebumps and she had to surpress a shiver of delight. She felt like she could purr like a cat.

  Remora didn't miss it either, and the princess's reactions drew a smirk out of her. Just for fun, she dug in her nails just a hair more, elonging her ministrations, massaging her scalp from up to down and to the sides. Marina had to bite down on her lip to not make any embarassing sounds... Remora's smile grew. Seeing her act so soft... not in the way where she was helpless and scared, but in the way where she just melted into a state of rexation... it was amusing and dare she say... encouraging for her...? She turned her eyes to the side at the thought and frowned... No, no... just amusing......

  Remora rinsed out her hair, repeating with conditoner and another rinse. She could tell Marina was beginning to sink into a state of pure exhaustion as her shoulders slunk and her head dipped down occasionally.

  "I assume you can handle the rest." She stood and wiped her hands on a towel. Marina hummed and nodded sleepily. Remora smiled with a scoff, shaking her head. "Don't fall asleep in here. I need a bath too." Marina mumbled in response as Remora closed the door to the bathroom.

  Marina cleaned the rest of herself up to the best of her abilities, rinsing the muck from the townstreets from her legs and arms. She hissed as she cleansed the cuts and bruises on her feet and legs. It stung, but she knew it would help... or at least she hoped so. A knock from the door then startled her and Remora let herself inside.

  "I found some clothes for you... It's just some sleepwear, but it should fit." Remora held up the white women's nightgown, presenting it to her. Marina couldn't help letting her lips turn down at the sight... it was the pinest thing she'd ever seen, but it at least looked comfortable... She sighed and nodded.

  "Thank you..." Gods, she's never said those two words this much in her life... She thought to herself. It was an embarrassing observation... But at least she would be clean and warm and safe... As Remora left, she stood out of the bath, dried herself off with the towel provided, and figured out the workings of her new peasant clothes. She looked in the mirror again. Her tear stains were gone and she looked just like any average towns girl, causing her to wilt at the sight. As she exited the bathroom, Remora almost whizzed past her towards the tub.

  "Thank the Gods, finally..." Remora muttered, already stripping out of her beer stained dress. Marina's eyes went wide and she turned away.

  "So... should I just...?" She wasn't even sure what to ask her. As Remora was unclipping her bra she turned back to her. Marina responded by finding anywhere and anything else to look at.

  "Uh... yeah, get comfy however you want... I'll be right out. Then I can get us some dinner." She replied before promptly shutting the door. Marina felt her stomach grumble at at st word alone, leaving her to sigh and sit down on Remora's bed in waiting.

  She continued to observe Remora's room, taking in tiny details she missed before... things like photos of who she would assume was Remora as a child with Babcia as well as some other older gentleman... collections of seashells... and a theme amongst her collected books about the sea. She rubbed her arm anxiously, before noticing how soft her skin felt from the soap she borrowed. It made her usual scent fade away... her familiar smell of floral luxury dying off her body. She couldn't recognize any part of her former self anymore, and though she felt the urge to, she was far too tired to weep about it. She simply id back on the bed, staring aimlessly up at the ceiling. She felt so incredibly sober, but somehow her head was spinning. She just couldn't process what her life had just become... where her choices led her... and all because she wasn't given a choice in the first pce... She closed her eyes...

  To think... she could've been in some bed, somewhere, having a completely different experience at this moment. She did what she had to in order to have some sembnce of control, because with him, she knew it would be stripped from her in horrifying ways. And while she was at least safe, she didn't have control here either... and again, that helplessness and dark cloud began to creep back in, causing her to grab a pillow and curl into it. Her spiral was quickly intervened as Remora exited the bathroom in her own nightwear, rubbing her hair dry with a towel.

  Remora looked down at her. Marina didn't move, she only pathetically tried to hide from the world in that pillow. Remora's expression softened and she sat down next to her... She may not like her, but even she's had days where she had come home and id in that exact same position. She sighed and rubbed Marina's back briefly.

  "Hey... you asleep...?" Remora kept her voice just a notch above a whisper. Marina only mumbled into the pillow to answer her. Remora sighed. "Okay, well... you hungry...?"

  Marina's stomach growled once again at the mention of eating and she let out a muffled "mhmm..." Remora chuckled softly and stood up from the bed.

  "Alright, I'll be right back..." She quietly shuffled out of her bedroom and down the stairs. She peeked around both corners for any sign of Babcia. She saw a light on in her grandmother's bedroom, confirming her position. She had to work quickly and quietly.

  She slipped into the kitchen and uncovered the pot. The steam hit her face of a delicious smelling stew of veggies and beef, the seasonings flooding her senses tastily. She hummed after a deep inhale and her mouth began to salvate. She reached into the cabinet and grabbed two bowls, filling them both quickly with the dle and covering the pot once more. She licked her lips in excitement, before turning around, nearly dropping them at the sight of Babcia, standing there with a smug grin, a raised eyebrow, and her arms crossed.

  "You must be hungry..." Her grandmother teased with a knowing glint.

  Authors Note:Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hope you all are loving my girls so far...! I'm excited for all of you to truly meet Babcia hehehe >:)