Inside the Molokov Bay Chapel, a sunken bath lies like a quiet lake set in stone.
The sealed walls hush the world, made to cradle calm—lantern-soft light and womb-warm water both steering the heart toward stillness.
Hedi rests bare against the tile, breathing slow, mist clinging like silk to her skin.
The hush feels like the whole world cupping its ears to her meditation, holding its breath for her.
Rain drums the roof, yet the sound comes from far-off places and far-off hours, thin as hearing bees through a sheet of plastic.
Glug-glug~~ Selina dips her lips beneath the surface and blows bubbles like a mischievous child, then peeks sidelong through the veiling steam, hoping Hedi will look her way.
Hedi opens her eyes and sighs, trying to settle the bad mood of a broken trance, then lightens her voice to stop Selina’s bubbles. “The paper says some people like to use the bath as a toilet.”
“Gross!” Selina scoops a handful of water and splashes Hedi.
“It’s true.”
“My mouth was under the water—”
“Tsk tsk.”
Selina slips through the haze and hurries to Hedi’s side, peppering her cheek with quick little sparrow kisses. “Now you’re just like me!”
“Wipe it off and you’re fine. The other person—only mouthwash for them.”
“They definitely change the water!”
Hedi savors the little crease of panic between Selina’s brows, then juts her chin and puckers on purpose, playing ugly. “They definitely change the water~~”
“You’re bullying me! You wake up and bully me!”
“Because I’m a gloomy, devious little gremlin.”
Selina lunges, and both plunge into the blue, the surface ringing out with ripples. Hedi, caught off guard, chokes on several mouthfuls. When she bobs back up, coughing, she clamps Selina’s waist and turns, sprinting through the water toward the edge.
As Selina closes in, Hedi slides her right hand under, stirs neat and sharp, and calls up a small whirlpool. The spray spins with her wrist, a twining current that pushes Selina back.
Selina swims and swims, yet it’s like rowing upstream; she’s nudged helplessly to where she started.
“Love to be a brat, don’t you!” Hedi splashes her face in rapid bursts. “Still feel like being naughty?”
Selina’s look shifts from startled to resigned, then turns soft and pleading. “You’re cheating!”
“I never cheat.”
“You—” Selina tilts her head and wails, “You’re abusing me with magic!”
Hedi props her chin on the edge, eyes curious and unsure if the dramatics are protest or play. When the whirl fades, Selina, still sulking, slips to the far side. In yellow light soft as gosling down, Hedi can only make out a blurred outline.
“Really mad?”
Selina keeps silent.
“I just wanted to play,” Hedi says. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
The bath turns still, a desert without a heartbeat.
“My bad... my bad...” Hedi stands and moves closer. “Will you forgive me?”
Selina wordlessly turns her head away.
Hedi lifts her right hand, wrist curved in a pleading arc; her other hand presses to her chest, mirroring it, and she sways gently like a shopfront beckoning cat.
“What are you doing?!”
“I...” Heat stains Hedi’s cheeks a sultry crimson; the shame of doing something silly while naked locks her hands midair. After a breath of doubt, she bites her lip and mews, thin as a mosquito. “Meow.”
“Hmph.”
“Meow... meow...”
Selina side-eyes her and speaks like a drill sergeant to a recruit. “So you admit you’re a little kitten?”
“I admit it.”
“Answer me with meows.”
“Uh... meow...”
“Don’t stop your hands. Just like before.”
Hedi clicks her tongue, hesitating, but that sad little look—obviously put on—still loops warm around her. She gives in and sways her arms again.
“Mmm...” Selina narrows her eyes, a picky art critic drinking in the view. “Do it like this—” Hedi shifts from sitting to kneeling, hands still swinging like a leaf-boat bobbing, every motion speaking obedience.
“Still feels weird.”
“Selena Viola—”
“I... I’m still mad!”
Hedi seals her lips and yields once more, leaning forward until she lies light against the floor; one hand planted for balance, the other hand keeps that lucky-cat sway.
Selina circles behind, eyes gliding from Hedi’s white toes upward, then scanning left to right. Each pause, each slide of her gaze, shows pure appreciation—Hedi, in that instant, is a crafted masterpiece.
“Don’t push it,” Hedi warns. “You’ll make me mad.”
“Just a little! Just a little!”
“Enough.” Hedi loosens her limbs and slips back into the bath. “I think you weren’t mad at all.”
“You hit me with magic!”
“Fine, fine... I played along, too... so let’s call it even.”
Selina squat-sits at the edge, long fingers kneading her ankle, teasing down at Hedi in the water. “Very pretty.”
“Don’t be a creep.”
“Thick, and there’s a tiny mole! I never noticed!”
Hedi sinks, letting the warm water swallow her face.
“You said—” Selina presses a finger to her lips, “some people like to use the pool as a toilet?”
“You rubbed your ankle, then touched your mouth, and you care about that?”
“It’s different!”
Hedi turns and swims toward the side. “The Chapel changes the water every day.”
“Then why scare me—”
“You should’ve been scared to tears!” Hedi mutters, regret tugging low. “I shouldn’t have bothered.”
“You can’t bear to.”
Hedi pouts and leans on the wall, her thoughts drifting toward Naghtown’s Dark Realm.
Time lost in the coma wraps back around her, like a blank note slid through a door crack—no words, no creases, yet it pulls her from that blackout moment straight into now.
“Ever since stepping into the Dark Realm of the Shattered City,” Hedi murmurs, “I’ve been tangled with that thing.”
