Many, many strange things have happened to Merrill in years past, but she could probably put this experience towards the top. She woke in a large white basin, loosely cradled to someone’s chest. It honestly wouldn’t be the first time she woke in someone’s arms—after all there had been that one time when Isabela was showing her how to do that one thing: body shots, she recalled idly. After some movement and a little inspection, she realized that she was cradled against Anders, who appeared to be out cold.

He often kept strange hours, she remembered, but she’d never before woken in his arms in some strange basin. There were knobs on the wall at the other end, and out of curiosity she twisted them. She was pleasantly surprised when water came spurting out of a spout and pleasantly warm as well. She had been living in a cave prior to suddenly finding herself here, and with the ready availability of warm water, she opted to take a bath before exploring later.

—-

After setting Blackwall to the task of getting Cassandra down and ushering the strangely tall dwarves into the living room were several of the others were, I began to wander the warehouse. I wasn’t at all surprised when I found Pierce and Dorian eavesdropping, though. I clamped my hands onto their shoulders and they went ramrod straight.

“Now, boys, don’t you have something better to do than eavesdrop on people having emotional conversations?” I asked loudly. I had a feeling I made my point.

—-

Anders was wet. He realized this slowly as he came to wakefulness and wasn’t initially perturbed. Prison wasn’t exactly the driest place in the world, but he considered that perhaps he deserved it after…everything. This was a different kind of wet: warm, pleasant, fragrant even. His arms were even wrapped around something pleasantly warm. Everything about the present situation was pleasant and strangely so. He blinked his eyes blearily, dazedly taking in his environment. 

He didn’t think he’d ever forget what he found.

Familiar cropped black hair was the first thing he saw, causing a lazy smile to crawl onto his lips. Merrill. If she was here, then it was a dream, but as his arms tightened around her, he was astonished at how solid she felt. 

“Are you awake, Anders?” Merrill asked, looking over her shoulder at him. Anders shook his head and blinked a few times. 

“Merrill, what are you—” His mind fizzled to a stop. Her shoulder was completely bare and he realized—now, eons too late—that she was completely naked, sitting between his legs, and leaning against his chest.

“M-merrill, why aren’t you wearing any clothes?” he asked. She shrugged.

“Because we are in the bath,” she answered. He looked down and nearly leapt out of his skin.

“Why is the water red?!”

“I think it’s blood magic. I dropped an orb in the water and suddenly it turned red. It smells quite nice.”

“YOU HAVE ME IN A BLOOD MAGIC RITUAL BATH?!”

–Wiz of M