<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/g9ou6Oj.jpg)</div><br/>After ordering her simple breakfast in an almost empty tavern from the bartender, she mentioned that she was looking for the public baths.  The bartender held up one hand and dashed out of the tap room, leaving one sleepy looking gnome at a nearby table with a perplexed look on his face.<strong> "Whad'a say ti'm?"</strong>the gnome asked around a mouthful of eggs.  But the bartender returned a minute later with Dawn, the buxom blonde slave waitress in tow.<br/><br/>Dawn approached Miyuki and nodded,<strong> "Raulf caught me just as I was leaving.  I'm on my way to the baths, I know you're new and I can wait for you to finish breakfast and we can walk together." </strong>Miyuki thanked the large breasted blonde waitress and ate very quickly so as not to keep her waiting.<strong> "It's no problem,"</strong>Dawn said,<strong> "It means I can tell you about how the baths work here as opposed to back in the faded lands... or wherever you're from.  They're run by the paladins of the high lord's protectorate, and they have very strict rules.  You don't want to break them or you can find yourself banned."</strong><br/><br/>Miyuki swallowed the last of her milk, feeling a bit better with something in her stomach now.  Still she'd have to make a point to stop at fountains today and make sure she had fresh water, her lips felt a bit dry.  As Dawn and Miyuki walked, the slave woman explained about the baths.<strong>"So first thing you need to know is that the baths are used as a sort of communal meeting place in addition to a place to wash.  A lot of deals and such happen there, and you're likely to get approached by merchants if they overhear you talking and they think that they might be able to make a sale.  This is pretty common, don't show anger, just politely decline if they don't interest you and they'll move on.  Next, the main baths are open to both sexes and strictly clothing free.  But whatever you do, for the love of all the gods and goddesses, don't do anything sexual there.  First of all, there's kids there quite often, second of all, that's a sure way to get banned immediately.  Just be polite and you'll be fine."</strong><br/><br/>They wend their way upwards and north through the city as the blonde continued to explain.<strong> "When we enter, we'll pay the steward five copper as our entrance fee.  There are a few days every year that it's free, but five copper isn't too bad.  When we're in, the first room is the atrium where the bath vendor sits.  We'll turn left to go to the womens changing rooms.  There's guards on the doors and inside the changing rooms.  There's cubbies to store your clothing, and if you want to store your belongings there are locking cubbies that you can rent.  Just talk to the vendor in the atrium, sign your name, and give him the key once your items are locked up.  I usually only go with the clothing on my back and enough coin to buy entry and a bit of soap and oil, so I just use the free cubbies.  I've never had anything stolen, then again I don't have much to steal.  There are womens only privies off the changing room if you need them."<br/><br/>"After we leave the changing room there is the exercise rooms where you can work up a sweat if you like, running, jumping, some heavy weights to lift, nothing that great, but some people like to sweat before they bathe.  I usually skip that and go to the women's only cleaning area.  There is a small calidarius, large enough for maybe a dozen women.  That's a tiled room with benches and a steady stream of hot water flowing from a fountain in the center. You can use bowls and any soap or oil that you bought to wash while sitting on the benches.  Then it's off to the frigidarius, which is a very similar room, but with cool water fountain, and your'e expected to make sure that every bit of soap and dirt is off your body before leaving there.  Only once your body is clean can you enter the main baths, or the tepidarius.  The main baths are huge, hundreds of people can relax in them and not feel crowded.  The water is only a few feet deep, but is usually a very temperate warmth.  It gets hotter in the afternoon obviously as the sun starts baking into it.  I like it a little cooler, which is why I always try to go early in the morning."</strong><br/><br/>They finally arrived at the building and dawn finished with,<strong>"Oh, and since you probably have extra coin to spend at the vendor, you can also purchase things like a massage, towels, a servant to follow you during your time there, or even access to the private bathing chambers under ground where your whims are personally catered to.  I couldn't tell you much about those things though.  As a slave I tend to just spend enough on the entrance fee, a bit of soap, and then after I'm ready to leave, I just sit out on the tiles and air dry for a while.  Nothing wrong with that!"</strong>Dawn smiled and nodded towards the entrance of the baths, gesturing Miyuki to precede her.