¤
The man’s voice hit Saej’s ears like a knife, she had almost forgotten he was there as she stared at the stars and wondered if Zintila was looking at them too, missing her home. She took a moment before replying, taking her time to chew on the end and ponder if she should offer him some as he made an effort to wade over to her.
“This? Just some bluvi. It really relaxes ya.” She took a long drag from the pipe and blew a smoke ring, watching it float and consequently dissipate. In all honesty she didn’t really want to offer him any, but her better nature told her she should. Finally, she decided she would wait for him to ask.
“It’s made from flower petals, though I call it a tobacco. Really sweet stuff. It’ll get your head right.”
Above her, a group of kingfishers took flight from their roost in the trees. Their melodic cry filled the air like a choir and as they landed twenty feet away from Saej. She turned around to watch them. ‘Next time I come, I’m bringing some bird feed.’ She thought as she watched them strut and preen. A few of them were still singing, flapping their wings at one another if one of them got too close to where the other was pecking. The tiny lizards were out as well, lounging on the rocks, their backs like mini paintings of the night sky. She half expected them to twinkle. They were pretty. One made it’s way over to Saej, wriggling to her in its hurky-jerky manner over to sit on the rock beside her, nearly a foot away. It splayed out, and rested its head on the rock, only moving to emit a tiny yawn which made its maw open wide in a cute gesture of its tiredness. Though she wanted to, she made no effort to touch it; afraid it would bite her and knowing that it would likely leave if she tried.
She turned her attention away from the animals that inhabited the hot springs and back to the man. The public bath thing was still a bit, weird. In bath houses you had your own stall or room, at least, away from the other patrons but here everything was out for everyone to see. ‘I would be surprised if someone was spying from the bushes’, she thought, and her eyebrows raised slightly as the man still sat in the pool.