Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ai winks at her. "We've met before. Remember? A long time ago when ye were very little." she says padding over to the cub and rubbing noses with her.

"If you remember well enough, ye just might remember who I really am too..." says Ai knowing that the cub was right there when she first transformed into a lion. "tell ye what... I'll give ye a bowl of ice cream iffin ye do... in the mean time... let's go get washed up... I bet there's a really pretty cub under that impromtu mud bath. By the way... how do the stings feel now?"

"Then we definitely need to go to the baths and soak that venom out. Shall we everyone?" says Ai with a grin, leading the way to the door.

The baths are still open, but only barely. Most of the villagersave already stopped by. Still the proprietress sees them coming and lets them inside.

"Lady Ai!" she cries happily. "When did you get into town?" she asks hauling down a stack of towels and leading them all to the back room.

"Just a few hours ago. You have been well, I pray." says Ai nosing Salunia forward. "Our princess ran afoul of a hornet's next, but the mud and Tam's magic doesn't seem to be doing much for the pain. Perhaps a long hot soak will help her feel better."

The woman examines the cub and smiles. "Well, I don't know about the stings, but she sure could do with a good soaping first. Remember the rules, don't foul the pools... clean her up first. I'll put some salts down for you to use. That should do the trick."

Ai sighs. "No... no salts, my dear. She's related to Kero and ye know what they do to his skin. Some nice scented soap and a long soak should do her fine. Wouldn't ye agree, Fortuny?"

"Very well then. I think I have just the right soap for her then, do you like rose, little one?" asks the woman reaching under the counter and coming up with a small flower shaped bar of soap. "Here ye go, just fer ye." she laughs putting it in a tiny basket along with several coarse brushes. She hands the basket to Salunia who bobs her head in gratitude.

Then she turns back to Ai with a worried look. "Lady Ai, I know you came late, so as not to disturb the other. And I really hate to rush you, so can I ask a favor of you. My little boy's birthday is tonight and I really was hoping to close early. Still, I trust you, so if you could lock up as you leave, I'd truly appreciate it. There is no one else here but you five and if you can take care of yourselves as you always have, I can go home without a worry to my name. Is that alright with you then?"

Ai chuckles softly. "You tell Daryl that I wish him a very happy birthday and we will be happy to take care of ourselves. The towels still go in the far bins, right? I don't want to mix the soiled ones with the clean."

The woman bobs her head happily. "Yes, everything is as before. I can't thank you enough. Enjoy your stay.. good night all." And with that she peels off her apron and hangs it on a peg by the door, leaving the five lions alone in the echoing confines of the massive baths.

"Well then, shall we get you cleaned up, Princess, so you can enjoy a soak with the rest of us?" laughs Ai leading the way to the back pool.

Ai smiles and leads her to a small stone tub gently steaming near the larger pools. "This is probably more to yer liking and ye need to get cleaned up anyway. Can't go into the big pools unless yer clean..." she raises her voice on the last to remind Kero he needed to rinse off first.

Ai turns Salunia over to her mother and quickly rinses off beneath a hand operated shower, then dives in after him, relishing in the heat, but it soon grows too much for her, so she swims to one of the cooler edges and stretches out on one of the submerged ledges, watching Kero and Hopian act like a couple of kids.

As she is already wet, that part doesn't bother her, but she was half asleep on the ledge and didn't appreciated get splashed in the face, so she moves a little further down, out of reach of their antics and tries again with beleaguered sigh.

Sputtering she comes up for air, her eyes promising retribution. As Hopian is the closer, she launches herself at him and tickles him unmercifully with her tail. It may not be as versatile as Kero's but she can wield it with deadly accuracy