Page 5 of Agnarr's Jarlin

“I can’t say that I love it, but if it is going to be part of my life, I guess I can give it a go,” she said, giving me a hesitant smile.

“Okay, let’s go quickly then before everyone starts to rise.” I handed her leggings and a tunic and ushered her out the door.

PIPER

Agnarr and I walked hand-in-hand in the early morning light. Agnarr was the first male that I had bathed or showered or whatever with. I’d never been in a sauna before. I thought they were all just steam rooms. I was hoping for actual water. It wasn’t long before we approached a large wooden building with double doors. Agnarr pushed them and they swung open, causing me to gasp. I was faced with what looked like the world’s largest swimming pool with steam rising from it. Five older-looking orkin stood in water up to their chests and looked to be deep in conversation. There were several hallways on either side of the pool and Agnarr led me down one. The hallway had three doors.

“There are two steam rooms here and one shower room. They are all used communally, so I can’t guarantee no one will walk in, but I think it is unlikely,” Agnarr said, opening the door to the shower room.

We stepped inside and I saw a row of shower heads on one wall and a low bench on the other. There were cubbies for what looked like people’s belongings and one larger cubby with towels and what looked to be bars of soap. Agnarr began to strip down and I just kind of stared with my jaw hanging open. This was going to be a lot to get used to.

I pulled my tunic and leggings off and folded them, along with my boots neatly into a cubby. I returned to see Agnarr had already turned on two shower heads. He handed me what appeared to be an already-used bar of soap.

“Yousharesoap with the entire tribe?” I gasped.

“Já, it’s soap. It’s self-cleaning. You think we should throw away a bar of soap after one use?” He asked, looking at me likeIwas the idiot.

“Well, no, but—” I stopped. I couldn’t even think of how not sharing soap would work. I guess each person could bring soap with them from their own cabin? I looked at the bar of soap, it was clean enough. It wasn’t like it had hair on it or anything. Well. I guessed I was doing it.

“Do you have washcloths?” I asked.

“Já,” Agnarr nodded toward the towels and I saw there was a smaller pile of neatly folded washcloths. I grabbed one and then stepped under the shower head next to Agnarr. He was already stroking himself down, but I was too nervous about someone walking in to be remotely turned on. I turned my attention to cleaning myself. It did feel good to cleanse my skin of the grime from the road, even though I was on edge. Just as I started to wonder about shampoo I looked to see Agnarr using the bar of soap on his hair. I wondered what they did about conditioner but followed suit. When we were done, Agnarr handed me a towel while he dried himself off.

“Do we put our dirty clothes back on?” I asked.

Agnarr laughed as if that was ridiculous.How was I to know?

“No," he said, walking to another cubby I hadn’t seen before. He pulled out what looked to be two more towels, but as I unfolded the bundle I realized it was a robe. When I put it on, it was my turn to laugh, it was brown and so long that it pooled at my feet. With the hood up I would look like Obi-wan Kenobi.

Agnarr looked at me, puzzled. “How does everyone bathe on Earth?” he asked, as we gathered our belongings and headed out of the sauna.

Thankfully, we left before anyone else saw us and headed back to Agnarr’s cabin while I explained individual showers and bathtubs that were in almost every American home. Agnarr was shocked that everyone had their own shower and bathtub. It seemed that only orkin of high social status had their own sauna here.

When we returned, Agnarr opened the drawers of his dresser one at a time.

“It seems Tora knew what to expect. She has restocked the dresser with fresh clothing for both you and me. My tunics and pants are in here, but there are items for you as well,” he said, handing me a fresh set.

After pulling the clothes on, I headed to the small washroom to see if there was anything I could use to do my hair. I felt like a messy bun, as I had been wearing it, probably wouldn’t be appropriate for meeting all the new women, but I didn’t know how to French braid my own hair. I wasn’t stupid enough to ask for a blow dryer and a straightening iron. I opened the drawers and found what looked like the orkin equivalent of bobby pins. A rush of jealousy washed through me at the thought of another woman using Agnarr’s bathroom and I fought to tamp it down. We had talked about prior partners. It wasn’t until I started collecting some to use that I realized Tora had probably placed them there for me. This was going to take some time to get used to.

I settled for twisting my hair into a crown, an updo that was simple but always seemed to impress people. I looked at myself in the mirror. Still the same Piper. I felt like the last several days had aged me several years but I didn’t look worse for wear.

“Pip,” Agnarr called to me from his room and I walked out.

“Yes?”

Agnarr’s eyes went wide and he rushed me, pulling me into a tight embrace.

“You look so beautiful,” he said, “I mean, you looked beautiful before but with your hair pulled back I love that I’ll be able to see the lovely pink of your cheeks.”

He looked down at me and stroked my face, causing me to blush.

“It’s nothing much. I wanted to be presentable for the other women,” I explained.

“Well, you look lovely,” he said, before kissing my cheek gently, leading me to blush even more.

“Can you...” His voice trailed off and he looked uncertain. “Sorry, I am new to this too. Can you braid my hair?”

“Oh, yes,” I replied hastily before heading to the bathroom to get a comb and a strap of leather.