The mentions of accusations of exploitations set Luitwin silent in his tracks, slowing his pace to mull over a possible reply. He at least, sincerely this time, listened to every word Ardnt spoke and with depth. But still, it was hard to find something to say. "... I would not believe them, no. I prefer to let my eyes speak for me, rumors hold more bite the longer the circulate, and Herzland has nothing but insults to throw at our neighbors." It was a sore spot for him, surely, evidenced by his face and how he skirted around the topic. Both by personal experience, and just his remorse over the recent state of Lichtmule's social community. Between the slander and the recent attempts to skew the laws of sanctuary, many of his cloth were tense, afraid of change that could drop the moment they loosen their grip on the juries.<br/><br/>"But what is proving a simple guard wrong do for you? For your image? You say you redeemed yourself to him, but then you made yourself look like a right brute to the rest." Luitwin wasn't dismissive, nor particularly angry in tone, just curious. He stared down Ardnt with those eyes that begged reason. "Is that really worth it in the grand scope of things?" And he was interested, genuinely, in whatever Ardnt came up with for an answer. He wondered if Herzland would benefit from such brazen attitudes, if perhaps then they could confront their own taboos. Luitwin, like all his brothers, was more than content to sweep everything under the rug until it became too hefty a matter to step over.<br/><br/>He stopped himself and took a turn, motioning Ardnt to follow him to the balneary before he literally got sidetracked, face still turned down in thought with a hand to his chin, brows knit and eyes narrow.<br/><br/>When they stepped into the empty bath he shook himself of those previous matters to unceremoniously hang up his top robe, clasping hands together and reviewing the situation. "Ahhh... How would you like to do this? Does Alriah have such rooms? You could sit on the steps.. Oh, I should check your stitches too-- and clothes." His eyes darted, and he sucked at his teeth and frantically turned, "Ahhh! I forgot a set of clothes too, proper linens this time, you'll have a robe too. They're not far, go ahead and undress, I'll toss those after and you won't have to wear them again." He left Ardnt there, weaving around the corner of the room's set of old wooden doors. The balneary was empty anyway and would be for quite some time, his brothers typically taking their baths during sunrise.<br/><br/>He took a short couple of minutes, returning with a tall stack in his hands. A set of plain underclothes, and the folded bulk of a wool top robe. It was much like his own, but in a light gray to be distinguished from the holy men. On top was a black sash, contrasting the red strip that was tied around his waist with blessed beads. A difference on his part was a light cloth bag that hung over his shoulder by a cord, stowing away the black hose that covered his legs till now. With everything set aside he brought a proper sponge with him to Ardnt where they sat on the stone steps, half submerged in shallow waters. Luitwin hiked up his clothes to the knee and hovered over the other man to get a closer look at just how much stress he put on the stitches.<br/><br/>".... It... could work.. I don't want to remove these just yet, and you should thank our sutures that your skin would tear long before they would." He dragged the soaked sponge up Ardnt's torso, pressing into the healing wound. "I'm worried.. But, if it doesn't get infected from whatever you might've rubbed in it from that jail cell air, I'm hoping it'll be fine." Eyes switched from the wound, down Ardnt's chest, then back up to his face again. "You might have trouble leaning even after the surface heals, God hopes you'll let it anyway. What I'm unsure about is how your muscles will fair.. it is a sensitive area, you're lucky its higher than a lung."<br/><br/>He gazed a few seconds too long, brows raised in question when Luitwin finally got the nerve to speak, "The beauty of the balneary is that I don't have to tend to your lower half so much." The monk found his voice was close to a whisper, whether he intended to keep hushed or not. "Since my presence.. bothers you. You're welcome to wade around, it could be quite relaxing. Good for your muscles too. We use this room for therapy sometimes in the later hours if we have an old body in our midst that could use the workout. I'm.. sure you'll agree, that old bodies that stop moving lock up faster, didn't you say something similar yourself?" Luitwin stood up, letting his clothes fall back to his calves as he carefully walked up the wide steps, leaving Ardnt with the sponge. While the man bathed, he could pick up those sailors clothes and have them disposed, shouting back a "Don't forget to dip your head!" with the aide of the room's echo.<br/><br/>Luitwin moved over after to kneel down next to the bath's edge, as close to Ardnt as he could manage. "Would you like me to tie your hair back for you? Herzen men who wear their hair long have it bound at the nape, it keeps it off the shoulders. I'm sure with hair as thick as yours, it would do well to keep the tangles from setting." While he held a long range conversation with Ardnt, he distanced himself enough to open that cloth sack across the room and roll each stocking up his legs, back facing the pool. They tied together at his waist, before he leg his clothes drop back down again and retied his sash. After that getting back into presentable shape was as easy as slipping on his shoes and pulling on his robe. "I hope they fit you, Ardnt. They are of decent size, and made to fall loose. We give our patients trousers, a lot of them are poor, they're not used to our legwear." That, and a laborer's trousers were easier to wear than hose for sure. A farmer must treasure convenience above all else, Luitwin figured. The Alrians were likely similar... as similar as they could be to Herzland folk.