Tumble's Bath
A feisty street urchin evades city guards so she can take a bath in the river. Why? Well, because her owl forced her to.
This is a story following Tumble, one of my favorite characters, in the epic fantasy series I have been working on. This is the first time I’ve posted anything related to my long-form fiction, and I am very excited to share it with you!
I hope you enjoy Tumble’s Bath
For a city famous for its natural springs, waterfalls, and pools, it was impossible to take a bath in Scindere. Or that’s what she said anytime someone complained about how she smelled. Tumble didn’t think she needed a bath most of the time, but for the past Cycle, Hoots threatened to push her into the river if she didn’t do it herself. “Timing’s not ideal,” she told him whenever he brought it up. “The Cleansing Ceremony is coming up. They don’t want some scroungy kid getting the water dirty after they went to all the trouble of purifying it.” But Hoots was never logical in these matters, and it is very hard to argue with an owl that’s bigger than you are.
Perched atop the roof of the local inn, Tumble inspected the water line of the Western River from where it started at the Middle Tier Falls, to where it exited Scindere under the Southern Wall. Just as she thought, every single square foot of the walkway was cordoned off by Verdrydian Guards. She expected as much. Curse Hoots and his sensitive beak, but she knew this would happen. She sighed. There wasn’t much to be done about it. All she could do was watch and wait for a window of opportunity.
Two days after the Cleansing Ceremony had started, and she still hadn’t had any luck accessing the river upstream of where the sewer drained from the slums. That normally wouldn’t have bothered her—water is water is water—but Hoots would be able to tell. So, she waited, and waited, and waited. Until four days into the Cleansing Ceremony, she found her opening.
It was just past midday, and the sun peered out from behind the clouds in all its burning glory. Tumble nearly passed out from the heat, but before she did, a thud below her vantage point stole her attention. A Guard had collapsed from the heat and lay crumpled, half-covered by his robes. Before long, a cry went out, and Guards converged on their fallen friend. Tumble knew a window of opportunity when she recognized it and leaped off the eaves of the Inn onto the adjacent roof. From there, it was a straight shot to the waterfront, where she could dive straight into the river, rinse the crud off her, and climb out before the Guards knew what had happened.
She took off at once, but in her excitement, she misjudged the distance between the two buildings and nearly tipped backward onto the alley floor two stories down. With heart racing and sweat-stung eyes, Tumble knelt on the roof’s edge and caught her breath. That was close. Hoots may be fast, but he was nowhere near close enough to help her if she fell. She’d need to be more careful, or else Hoots would never let her go out on her own.
A cry from below caught her attention. Her leg had been draped over the edge, and one of the guards caught sight of it. Tumble scrambled up and sprinted towards the next roof, this time judging the distance correctly, and landing mid-stride well past the edge.
“oo-OO,” she hooted triumphantly as she leaped from roof to roof, all the while easily outpacing the Guards chasing her below. Tumble laughed as they yelled at her, and in no time, she was well ahead of them. But she didn’t let herself feel the thrill of the chase until she lost sight of them; she risked too much by drawing this kind of attention. Once she had put enough distance between her and the guards, she had to admit, it felt pretty good to run where the air was clean, and the wind blew freely.
Then she neared the last house, and the river came into view. It was smaller than she remembered this close to the waterfalls, but Zothros be praised, it was clear and blue as the sky. All hesitancy fled her as the necessity of continuing forward combined with the promise of refreshingly cool water below. So, when she reached the edge of the last house, she launched herself, arms forward and eyes closed, ready to be embraced by the water below.
The water was far colder than what she’d expected, but she should’ve known better. The Cleansing Ceremony involved releasing floodgates that held back snowmelt sourced from the Rim. As a result, the normally tepid water would turn ice cold as the water flushed the filth from tier to tier and then out of the city.
But she wasn’t prepared—for how cold the water was or for how shallow the river was—and so while the cold hit her first, the river bottom hit her next, right in the head.
Dazed but still conscious, she wheeled about to find the surface, but she couldn’t see it; her collision with the silty river bottom stirred up the silt. She spun around underwater, trying to orient herself, when suddenly she knew which way was up. Hoots had arrived, and while she couldn’t see him, she could sense that he was hovering somewhere above her. Good, she had an escape route; all she needed to do was get to the other side and hope there weren’t any Guards waiting for her. It was then that Tumble realized she’d spent quite a while underwater without needing to come up for air. One of the benefits of Hoots that she often took for granted. Hoots helped her in many ways, mostly subtly except for this one. It would be hard for her to explain away a child-sized owl and what seemed like she had the ability to breathe underwater.
But that aside, there was still the matter of where to go. Air might not be needed, but she was freezing—she needed a way to escape the guards. Then, as if in response to her need, splashes followed by wild thrashing sounded from her right, which could have only come from heavily armored guards trying to swim. The escape route determined, Tumble casually swam towards the other side of the river and pulled herself onto a small dock where Hoots perched, waiting for her.
“Happy?”
Hoots hooted contentedly.
“Good, can we go home now?”
Hoots took to the sky in response, and Tumble followed after a quick glance across the river showed a line of dumbfounded guards scanning the water instead of the other side.
This is the second submission for Bradley Ramsey’s Halls of Pandemonium prompt competition. The competition’s scoring is based on reader engagement. If you think I should get a top spot because of my writing, please like, comment, and restack this story to show your support.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!
AMB
I love original traditions and rituals. The cordoning off, release of meltwater, it adds richness to the world.
this was amazing! i would love to have a child-sized owl as a companion 🖤🦉