Prose log with Lo Hak
Who: Euram and Lo Hak
When: Right after being dumped in the lake
What: Discussion of fairy tales and right and wrong.
Euram was still quite apprehensive around the bath-master. He still did not entirely trust the apology he’d been given and tried to make any chance meeting as short as possible. However, he could never avoid the baths completely; he would never survive if he had to deal with any sort of prolonged dirt or unwashed hair. Today the need for a bath was even greater as he had only hours before been soaked to the bone after falling in the lake. His clothing was still a terrible dripping mess as he entered the baths.
Lo Hak had been sitting on next to a small pile of towels, folding them slowly. He did little things like this day in and day out, trying not to think of his now empty bed or worry to much. If you worried to much, the bad stuff always happened. He looked up when Euram came in, blinking, taking in his messy appearance, smelling lake water on him. "Did you take a dip in the lake?" he asked, as if it wasn't obvious, but hey, better not to assume with Euram.
Even though he should have been expecting the other voice, it still made him jump a bit as he was pulled out of his thoughts. The lost look in his face was mostly replaced by a sullen pouting as he looked at Lo Hak. “Obviously,” he said shortly, “Next I’m certain you will ask if it was by choice when it of course most certainly was not!”
"It usually isn't when you're fully clothed," Lo Hak finished folding his towel and set it aside, rising. "So, bath or massage?" he asked, not his usual smiley self.
Euram huffed a bit at that, but didn’t retort. He’d been chastised enough for one day to take most of the fight out of him. “A bath,” he replied, already divesting himself of his blue cape. He looked at it with chagrin at how the lake had harmed the delicate fabric.
Lo Hak nodded. "Do you want a certain scent?" he asked Euram as he led the poor, drenched boy to the baths, getting towels as he went.
“Anything would be preferable to the putrid smell of that pond,” Euram said indecisively. He took of the coat as well, obviously in distress at its state. “You have a place for these correct? One where the former luster may be refurbished?” He knew it probably wouldn’t be, but he hoped that just drying them out would make them wearable again.
"I can have them dried," Lo Hak offered, taking them and folding them gently into a basket. "You can change behind the screen," he nodded. "I'll be right back with your soaps," he smiled and went off into the other room to select the scent he thought Euram might appreciate.
“Ah good, good,” Euram said distantly, allowing him to take them and going behind the screen. He sighed audibly, as he disrobed the last of his soaking clothes; today had not gone at all how he’d planned. He only hoped that the bath would be relaxing and not only cause further turmoil.
Lo Hak came back in with a small tub and knelt, arraying them out. He had chosen a soft rose scent for Euram - not overpowering but subtle. Not to mention it would help get the lake gunk out of Euram's hair. "Do you mind if I ask how you got in the lake?" he asked him.
Euram sank into the tub feeling mildly better with the clean and warm water. He looked up as Lo Hak re-entered, managing to keep his flinch backwards as small as possible. “Ah, well…” Euram began, not really knowing how to describe what had happened. It would have been easy if Sigurd hadn’t reprimanded him for blaming others already. “What was supposed to have been a pleasant trip about the lake was tainted by unwanted persons aboard.” Ok, so the reprimand had made him feel bad, but not change his story.
"Rocked the boat?" Lo Hak asked, using an old term from the islands, attempting a pun. He continued arraying the soaps and shampoos and conditioners.
Euram, of course, was unfamiliar with any lower class colloquialism. “No nothing so base,” he said, water flicking from his fingers as he waved his hands in emphasis. “What began with simple words turned larger as that horrid little.” He paused, coming back to himself before continuing again. “It was an unfortunate situation that need not have happened and completely ruined everything with the fair princess.”
"Oooh, I see," Lo Hak nodded, then suddenly switched. "Do you want me to help wash your hair?" he asked. "Help get the lake gunk out?"
Euram flinched once again at the question. He was not unused to others pampering him, but he was still wary of the other. “Ce..certainly,” he managed to get out, the desire for clean hair winning over the fear that anything would happen to him. “Ha ha, This is, ha…quite a change,” he laughed through the smile covering the grimace.
Lo Hak tried to chuckle, but some of his mirth was lost, as a lot of it had been lately. He gentle guided Euram's head back to dip it in the water and wet it before pouring shampoo on. Carefully he dug his fingers into the blonde hair, massaging at the scalp and gently running his fingers through the locks. He was glad for something to do, to take his mind of Wyatt not being there. "So, you were trying to get a little alone time with Lym?" he asked.
Euram relaxed once the pampering began. It had been so long since he’d been properly catered to. “No! no, nothing so debauched!” he attested instantly. “It was with the proper company of both Sir Sigurd and Geddoe…and her…bodyguard.” The last word was practically spat, and it was obvious he intended to blame everything on him still.
Lo Hak kept working, twisting the hair, running his fingers through, massaging the scalp. "Well, that explains why you were on the lake at least," Lo Hak noted.
“Hmpf,” Euram said deciding he was done speaking on the matter. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to imagine for a moment that he was back in the baths at home, the sweet scents of the soaps had been chosen by him and there were a slew of other servants about to cater to his whims. He sighed largely when he opened his eyes to the walls of Budehuc instead and all of the problems therein. “I have a question,” he stated at long last, “But I am certain you will not have the answer.”
"You'd be surprised," Lo Hak shrugged. "So, fire away."
It was a good thing that Lo Hak was not in his line of sight or he’d have had a great deal more trouble asking him. “Do you believe it may have been…inappropriate…to have invited the princess?”
Lo Hak blinked, pausing a moment, thinking on that for a moment. "Well, you like her, right?" he asked. "If that's the case, then no. It's not wrong to try and spend time with someone you like. That's the only way to get to know each other, right?"
“Get to know her?” Euram repeated quite confused. “I know her perfectly well!”
"What do you know about her then?" Lo Hak asked him. "Besides she's a princess and has a brother and whatnot."
“Well,” Euram started quite pompously. “She…um…well she…” He trailed off, jaw dropping as he realized he really had no idea.
Lo Hak guided Euram's head down to the water again, slowly running his fingers through the hair to get the soap out. "From what I hear, you were a potential suitor before the war in your country started, right?" he asked as he worked.
Euram was easily moved in his current state of uncertainty. He was so lost in his thoughts that he needed to process the question before it made sense. “What? Oh yes!” he replied finally, talking much more certainly. “Not only a suitor I was the top favored to win her hand!”
Lo Hak pushed Euram's head up and reached for the conditioner. "I'm not trying to be rude when I say this, but... weren't you just trying to win her hand to gain political strength for your family?"
Euram rounded on him for that face full of shocked outraged. “No!” he protested loudly. “Na..naturally that would have been merely a fortunate outcome for my family but it would not have mattered to me either way!”
Lo Hak wasn't moved. He sat there calmly with his legs crossed and his hands still slick from the conditioner. "Euram...," he paused, searching for the words. "Could you have made Lym happy, if you married? Would you have been happy?"
Euram pouted with indignation at the question, ready to repeat what he’d been practicing since his father explained the plan. “Of course, I would have made it my utmost priority! How could either of us not be, with so perfect a match?”
"Was it perfect to Lym? She's what, twelve?" Lo Hak asked. "A little girl being forced to marry a man from a noble family she barely knows. You think you could make her happy, when you can't even tell me something about her besides the basic facts?"
“Don’t disrespect the princess like that!” Euram all but shouted at him, though it was tempered greatly by the uncertainty in his eyes. “How dare you refer to a member of the royal family as a ‘little girl’ there are titles for a reason as everyone here seems to forget!”
"It was a statement of fact," Lo Hak pointed, not letting Euram's anger get to him. "She carries the title Princess, but she is little girl, Euram. She's like twelve. Even carrying a title doesn't change that, just as calling Toma a bodyguard doesn't change the fact he's still just a little boy Lym's age."
“Toma is completely different,” Euram protested again, sounding much less certain of himself. “Of course you would not understand the workings of the noble class, but it is quite common and as is known to any who are able to read the storybooks it ends quite happily for all.”
"Does it?" Lo Hak asked him. "Fairy tales are just that - fairy tales. They are told to children to help them sleep at night and make them hope for a better tomorrow. The tales told to commoners from the soldiers guarding their nobles are much different. Their fairy tales tell of disloyal husbands and wives that cry at night, the only thing uniting them a ring and children. And to be honest, none of the nobles I ever saw as I island hopped and sailed around looked happy next to their wives. There were a few, but not many. And we understand better than you think, the workings of the noble class. Our views are just of the consequences of your actions, not the thinking that goes into them." He shrugged, having said his bit, unapologetic.
“I am quite finished with your company!” Euram said turning back around and facing stubbornly at the wall. If he’d been in any other situation he would have left leaving no alternative but the end of the conversation.
Lo Hak made a huffing sound and reached out to begin working on Euram's hair again, to finish the job he started. "I didn't mean to insult you, Euram," he said quietly. "I was just trying to make a point."
Euram didn’t respond looking every bit the petulant child as he crossed his arms and stared straight ahead. He wished Lo Hak would leave him be as it became harder to keep his emotions under control.
Lo Hak worked his fingers through Euram's hair, quietly going about his chore. He guided Euram's head back and into the water, and slowly began to work the conditioner out, his face blank and distant, which Euram could see from his position he wanted too.
Euram couldn’t enjoy the pampering that had felt so pleasant merely moments before. He knew he didn’t deserve it, he didn’t deserve anything with how horrible he was. He remained calm for as long as he could. “Enough!” he said, swiping at Lo Hak’s hands and curling up into himself.
Lo Hak pulled back, not a little bit shocked by the sudden movement. He nodded and washed his hands in the water and toweled them dry. He rose and made to leave for the other room, to let Euram have his solitude. "Hey, Euram," he said, turning towards him. "If you really like Lym, then you should keep trying. Who knows? She may come to like you. But if you're doing it just because it's something left over from your old life, stop. You'll just end up hurting yourself." He shrugged his shoulders and left the room, going back to folding towels, just needing something to do, anything at all.
When: Right after being dumped in the lake
What: Discussion of fairy tales and right and wrong.
Euram was still quite apprehensive around the bath-master. He still did not entirely trust the apology he’d been given and tried to make any chance meeting as short as possible. However, he could never avoid the baths completely; he would never survive if he had to deal with any sort of prolonged dirt or unwashed hair. Today the need for a bath was even greater as he had only hours before been soaked to the bone after falling in the lake. His clothing was still a terrible dripping mess as he entered the baths.
Lo Hak had been sitting on next to a small pile of towels, folding them slowly. He did little things like this day in and day out, trying not to think of his now empty bed or worry to much. If you worried to much, the bad stuff always happened. He looked up when Euram came in, blinking, taking in his messy appearance, smelling lake water on him. "Did you take a dip in the lake?" he asked, as if it wasn't obvious, but hey, better not to assume with Euram.
Even though he should have been expecting the other voice, it still made him jump a bit as he was pulled out of his thoughts. The lost look in his face was mostly replaced by a sullen pouting as he looked at Lo Hak. “Obviously,” he said shortly, “Next I’m certain you will ask if it was by choice when it of course most certainly was not!”
"It usually isn't when you're fully clothed," Lo Hak finished folding his towel and set it aside, rising. "So, bath or massage?" he asked, not his usual smiley self.
Euram huffed a bit at that, but didn’t retort. He’d been chastised enough for one day to take most of the fight out of him. “A bath,” he replied, already divesting himself of his blue cape. He looked at it with chagrin at how the lake had harmed the delicate fabric.
Lo Hak nodded. "Do you want a certain scent?" he asked Euram as he led the poor, drenched boy to the baths, getting towels as he went.
“Anything would be preferable to the putrid smell of that pond,” Euram said indecisively. He took of the coat as well, obviously in distress at its state. “You have a place for these correct? One where the former luster may be refurbished?” He knew it probably wouldn’t be, but he hoped that just drying them out would make them wearable again.
"I can have them dried," Lo Hak offered, taking them and folding them gently into a basket. "You can change behind the screen," he nodded. "I'll be right back with your soaps," he smiled and went off into the other room to select the scent he thought Euram might appreciate.
“Ah good, good,” Euram said distantly, allowing him to take them and going behind the screen. He sighed audibly, as he disrobed the last of his soaking clothes; today had not gone at all how he’d planned. He only hoped that the bath would be relaxing and not only cause further turmoil.
Lo Hak came back in with a small tub and knelt, arraying them out. He had chosen a soft rose scent for Euram - not overpowering but subtle. Not to mention it would help get the lake gunk out of Euram's hair. "Do you mind if I ask how you got in the lake?" he asked him.
Euram sank into the tub feeling mildly better with the clean and warm water. He looked up as Lo Hak re-entered, managing to keep his flinch backwards as small as possible. “Ah, well…” Euram began, not really knowing how to describe what had happened. It would have been easy if Sigurd hadn’t reprimanded him for blaming others already. “What was supposed to have been a pleasant trip about the lake was tainted by unwanted persons aboard.” Ok, so the reprimand had made him feel bad, but not change his story.
"Rocked the boat?" Lo Hak asked, using an old term from the islands, attempting a pun. He continued arraying the soaps and shampoos and conditioners.
Euram, of course, was unfamiliar with any lower class colloquialism. “No nothing so base,” he said, water flicking from his fingers as he waved his hands in emphasis. “What began with simple words turned larger as that horrid little.” He paused, coming back to himself before continuing again. “It was an unfortunate situation that need not have happened and completely ruined everything with the fair princess.”
"Oooh, I see," Lo Hak nodded, then suddenly switched. "Do you want me to help wash your hair?" he asked. "Help get the lake gunk out?"
Euram flinched once again at the question. He was not unused to others pampering him, but he was still wary of the other. “Ce..certainly,” he managed to get out, the desire for clean hair winning over the fear that anything would happen to him. “Ha ha, This is, ha…quite a change,” he laughed through the smile covering the grimace.
Lo Hak tried to chuckle, but some of his mirth was lost, as a lot of it had been lately. He gentle guided Euram's head back to dip it in the water and wet it before pouring shampoo on. Carefully he dug his fingers into the blonde hair, massaging at the scalp and gently running his fingers through the locks. He was glad for something to do, to take his mind of Wyatt not being there. "So, you were trying to get a little alone time with Lym?" he asked.
Euram relaxed once the pampering began. It had been so long since he’d been properly catered to. “No! no, nothing so debauched!” he attested instantly. “It was with the proper company of both Sir Sigurd and Geddoe…and her…bodyguard.” The last word was practically spat, and it was obvious he intended to blame everything on him still.
Lo Hak kept working, twisting the hair, running his fingers through, massaging the scalp. "Well, that explains why you were on the lake at least," Lo Hak noted.
“Hmpf,” Euram said deciding he was done speaking on the matter. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to imagine for a moment that he was back in the baths at home, the sweet scents of the soaps had been chosen by him and there were a slew of other servants about to cater to his whims. He sighed largely when he opened his eyes to the walls of Budehuc instead and all of the problems therein. “I have a question,” he stated at long last, “But I am certain you will not have the answer.”
"You'd be surprised," Lo Hak shrugged. "So, fire away."
It was a good thing that Lo Hak was not in his line of sight or he’d have had a great deal more trouble asking him. “Do you believe it may have been…inappropriate…to have invited the princess?”
Lo Hak blinked, pausing a moment, thinking on that for a moment. "Well, you like her, right?" he asked. "If that's the case, then no. It's not wrong to try and spend time with someone you like. That's the only way to get to know each other, right?"
“Get to know her?” Euram repeated quite confused. “I know her perfectly well!”
"What do you know about her then?" Lo Hak asked him. "Besides she's a princess and has a brother and whatnot."
“Well,” Euram started quite pompously. “She…um…well she…” He trailed off, jaw dropping as he realized he really had no idea.
Lo Hak guided Euram's head down to the water again, slowly running his fingers through the hair to get the soap out. "From what I hear, you were a potential suitor before the war in your country started, right?" he asked as he worked.
Euram was easily moved in his current state of uncertainty. He was so lost in his thoughts that he needed to process the question before it made sense. “What? Oh yes!” he replied finally, talking much more certainly. “Not only a suitor I was the top favored to win her hand!”
Lo Hak pushed Euram's head up and reached for the conditioner. "I'm not trying to be rude when I say this, but... weren't you just trying to win her hand to gain political strength for your family?"
Euram rounded on him for that face full of shocked outraged. “No!” he protested loudly. “Na..naturally that would have been merely a fortunate outcome for my family but it would not have mattered to me either way!”
Lo Hak wasn't moved. He sat there calmly with his legs crossed and his hands still slick from the conditioner. "Euram...," he paused, searching for the words. "Could you have made Lym happy, if you married? Would you have been happy?"
Euram pouted with indignation at the question, ready to repeat what he’d been practicing since his father explained the plan. “Of course, I would have made it my utmost priority! How could either of us not be, with so perfect a match?”
"Was it perfect to Lym? She's what, twelve?" Lo Hak asked. "A little girl being forced to marry a man from a noble family she barely knows. You think you could make her happy, when you can't even tell me something about her besides the basic facts?"
“Don’t disrespect the princess like that!” Euram all but shouted at him, though it was tempered greatly by the uncertainty in his eyes. “How dare you refer to a member of the royal family as a ‘little girl’ there are titles for a reason as everyone here seems to forget!”
"It was a statement of fact," Lo Hak pointed, not letting Euram's anger get to him. "She carries the title Princess, but she is little girl, Euram. She's like twelve. Even carrying a title doesn't change that, just as calling Toma a bodyguard doesn't change the fact he's still just a little boy Lym's age."
“Toma is completely different,” Euram protested again, sounding much less certain of himself. “Of course you would not understand the workings of the noble class, but it is quite common and as is known to any who are able to read the storybooks it ends quite happily for all.”
"Does it?" Lo Hak asked him. "Fairy tales are just that - fairy tales. They are told to children to help them sleep at night and make them hope for a better tomorrow. The tales told to commoners from the soldiers guarding their nobles are much different. Their fairy tales tell of disloyal husbands and wives that cry at night, the only thing uniting them a ring and children. And to be honest, none of the nobles I ever saw as I island hopped and sailed around looked happy next to their wives. There were a few, but not many. And we understand better than you think, the workings of the noble class. Our views are just of the consequences of your actions, not the thinking that goes into them." He shrugged, having said his bit, unapologetic.
“I am quite finished with your company!” Euram said turning back around and facing stubbornly at the wall. If he’d been in any other situation he would have left leaving no alternative but the end of the conversation.
Lo Hak made a huffing sound and reached out to begin working on Euram's hair again, to finish the job he started. "I didn't mean to insult you, Euram," he said quietly. "I was just trying to make a point."
Euram didn’t respond looking every bit the petulant child as he crossed his arms and stared straight ahead. He wished Lo Hak would leave him be as it became harder to keep his emotions under control.
Lo Hak worked his fingers through Euram's hair, quietly going about his chore. He guided Euram's head back and into the water, and slowly began to work the conditioner out, his face blank and distant, which Euram could see from his position he wanted too.
Euram couldn’t enjoy the pampering that had felt so pleasant merely moments before. He knew he didn’t deserve it, he didn’t deserve anything with how horrible he was. He remained calm for as long as he could. “Enough!” he said, swiping at Lo Hak’s hands and curling up into himself.
Lo Hak pulled back, not a little bit shocked by the sudden movement. He nodded and washed his hands in the water and toweled them dry. He rose and made to leave for the other room, to let Euram have his solitude. "Hey, Euram," he said, turning towards him. "If you really like Lym, then you should keep trying. Who knows? She may come to like you. But if you're doing it just because it's something left over from your old life, stop. You'll just end up hurting yourself." He shrugged his shoulders and left the room, going back to folding towels, just needing something to do, anything at all.