Several hours later Iselsi Avelle's bare feet made no sound as she descended the smooth wooden stairs that led down to the lower chambers of the manse. She arrived at the next landing after just a few short moments, smooth stone tiles in an intricate mosaic pattern replacing the dark wood steps beneath her toes, though the essence flowing through the very architecture of the building kept even the tile floors comfortably warm. Across from her was an open archway leading to more stairs which would eventually lead to the baths themselves. Six doors, three on each side, lined the room's smoothly curved walls while in the center of the room stood a statue carved from flawless, snow-white alabaster. Three dancing maidens, each holding the hands of the other two as they spun gracefully, a moment of perfect beauty frozen forever in the stone. Avelle reached out and let her fingertips trail along the flowing gown of the nearest girl. The carving was so perfect that it was almost a surprise when the fabric didn't move beneath her fingers. She'd seen works by storied dynastic artists, but nothing that had captured life and movement so perfectly. It must have been carved by the hands of a Celestial Exalt, and not for the first time she wondered who had built the House of the White Lotus all those millennia ago...But any records that bore their name would have long ago been destroyed or altered to fit the Empire's falsified history, she now knew.<br/><br/>With a sigh she forced herself to move on, glancing up at the faces of the dancing girls as she went by. They were all beautiful, but something about their features, about the uniqueness of their expressions felt too specific to be abstractions of youthful loveliness. The sculptor must have had specific subjects in mind, real people who'd lived and inevitably died generations ago, even by Lunar standards where a generation could be thousands of years, if you were lucky. It was nothing more than idle curiosity though, and probably always would be. Avelle stepped through one of the doors and into a spacious changing room with shelves lining the walls to hold bathers' clothes and a large stack of fluffy blue towels waiting. She stripped down, bothering neither to close the door behind her or put on any sort of a show. No one was there to watch; the House's patrons were all asleep at this hour or, at the very least, in their rooms and the girls who hadn't gone home yet would all be down in the baths already.<br/><br/>A towel wrapped snugly around her naked body, Avelle finally headed down to the baths. Past the antechamber the stairs were carved from the stone the House had been built upon, brilliantly colorful blue alabaster with striations of green and white. Between the fluid stripes of color, the organic curve of the walls and the dim essence lights illuminating the path downward it almost looked as if the structure was made not from stone but from water made solid; not ice, but as if someone had pulled the waves from the sea and made them stand still for all eternity.<br/><br/>At the final landing four halls lead out to the baths and Avelle followed the faint sound of feminine voices and girlish laughter. She came to a large room with no real door, but the steam was so thick and heavy that her view was obscured until she was well inside. A large pool of hot water steamed invitingly, lit from within by pale blue essence lights beneath the surface of the water. The succulent aquatic plants and flowers that dotted the walls throughout the House were abundant here, growing upon the walls and hanging from the high, stony ceiling like living curtains of flower-dotted green. A few of her employees were there, taking a well-deserved soak after yet another exhausting day smiling and giggling at customers that thought they were Venus's gift to the world.<br/><br/>Avelle only occasionally joined the Girls in the baths; she had her own private soaking pool up in the penthouse suite, and she didn't like them feeling as of she were hovering over them. Between that and the almost unnatural silence of her approach nearly all the girls jumped, startled when their young mistress stepped up to the edge of the hot spring and dropped her towel before slipping into the delightfully hot water with a soft groan, a rush of relief flowing over her tired muscles.<br/><br/>"Evening, darlings," Avelle said, relaxing down onto one of the smooth stone benches carved beneath the water. "Don't mind me, just wanted a bit of<em>pleasant</em>company before bed after dealing with those petulant divas."