A/N: Scratch that comment from the first chapter. This is a story dump spanning the time from Yulia City to Daath without a predetermined number of fics. It looks like I have more than three floating around in my head, though I'll try to keep them chronological. If all else fails I'll leave a note on top of each story giving an approximate timeline for it.

From Yulia to Daath

Story 2

Beds and showers

The beds of Belkend Port's sole inn, like the whole of the city, were strange, alien. Instead of a nice soft featherbed that would fold around him only so far and remain wholly solid and still, the bed in this inn in this city didn't cooperate. It… well it shifted as he sat on its edge. While the covers and blankets were soft and normal, the stuff under them was anything but. Too solid to be liquid, yet too… mobile to be solid, he decided that the substance under the mess of coverings and the like could only be sludge. It even smelled wrong… Wrinkling his nose at the faint chemical smell that rose from the apparatus he was supposed to be sleeping on, Asch the Bloody gritted his teeth.

He wasn't going to be cowed in by a… a bed. He was going to sleep, damn it! The strangeness of the bed be damned to Lorelie's darkest hell! Gathering his courage, Asch grimly pulled down the covers and stared at the deceptively smooth, rectangular mattress. It didn't shiver, or twitch as it had when he'd been forced to sit upon its edge. The subtle rolling motion that had crossed the length and width of the mattress had made Asch's blood go cold. The wrongness of it had been so pervading he'd hopped up and turned in time to see the mattress slid back into its proper shape.

"You will be still." Asch snarled at the potentially semi-liquid mattress.

The mattress remained still, as if cowed by his stern tone. It looked so damned harmless, and –though he hated to admit it- after a day spent powering the Tartarus with fonic arts it looked so very attractive. Soft blankets, fluffy pillows, both beckoned him, invited him to seek some peace in slumber.

Asch pulled off his casic, yanked the long length of fabric off. The priestly garment's soft tassels tickled the back of his neck. Still glaring at the bed, Asch tossed the length of fabric over his shoulder, with shaking hands he tugged at the leather bands that kept his tabard in place. It was like an oversized shirt really, one he happily pulled over his head and let fall heavily behind him.

Still the bed didn't quiver, it just sat there, held still by the wooden box that served something of a cage for it. Frowning, the God-General parted with the last of his accessories with obvious reluctance. Gently Asch leaned his sword against the wall, then, cringing with every step, he advanced upon his most unlikely of foes.

"You will be still." Asch ordered the bed once again. He gathered all of his courage, reminding himself of all that he was. He was one of the youngest and most famous God-Generals within the order of Lorelie, the survivor of Akzeriuth, heir to the Kimlascan Crown, the blood of House Fabre ran through his veins…

Asch considered his foe with slited green eyes, and decided to end this quickly. He leapt, determined to force the mattress into stillness. No son of Fabre would lose to a mere covering filled with liquid!

X

A loud thud nearly shook the floor under her feet. Cuddled under a soft yellow blanket a thick book of Kimlascan law in hand, the Princess of Kimlasca Lalvandear hardly noticed, as her feet were safely above the floor and set down upon the chair's accompanying leg rest.

"Damn you! I'll finish this, now! Raging blast!"

Looking up from her books, Natalia frowned. She could have sworn that Asch had screamed something… Closing the book, the princess of Kimlasca Lavendear untangled herself from blanket and chair. Just as she had gotten to her feet there came a hoarse masculine cry of shock. Then, ominously, it was followed by a long silence.

Before Natalia could become worried enough to investigate there was a knock on her door. As she moved to answer it, the door opened, and a very wet, chagrined, Asch stepped inside her private quarters. Clothes tucked under one arm, drenched in something too thick to be water the God General flinched when he realized that the room was occupied.

Having had others come to her room throughout the day with that same look of chagrin on their faces, needing exactly what Asch clearly needed, Natalia managed a grin.

"I am guessing that like the other five people, the innkeeper did not tell you the one room with working bathing facilities was occupied?" Asch managed a grunt in reply. Though the sound seemed unruffled his green eyes were wide. Most telling of all was the fact that he hadn't moved more than one step inside. Natalia laughed, and at Asch's answering glare she turned her unseemly brazen laughter into a more appropriate giggle. "Please, do not go. You look like you really need a bath."

Translucent goo slid off the god-general's form, landing with wet splats on the floor. The stuff gummed up his long hair into a shapeless crimson mass. Gingerly Asch touched his head; the motion would have ended with him running a hand through his hair. Natalia was suddenly reminded of a younger Luke. She could clearly see those few times when the crimson haired boy would run his fingers through long red locks. It was a nervous habit, "a tic" he had dubbed it, favoring her with a rueful grin…

The memory faded as Asch cringed when his fingers encountered the grey tinged goop. No grin, rueful or otherwise, graced his face.

Slowly, gingerly, the God-General grouped for words, fought to articulate his thoughts... his gratitude.

"I'll take you up on that offer. Thank you."

"You are welcome." Natalia retrieved her book and tucked it under her arm. She flashed Lu- no Asch, a warm smile as she fumbled with the thick text. "I will give you some privacy. Yulia only knows what Anise would do if she heard about this! Could you imagine what she would say if I stayed?"

Asch's answering shudder told Natalia that he knew about Anise, even if he didn't know her personally he knew of her. With a grimace that told volumes, Asch the Bloody shifted his grip on his clothes. Taking the unsubtle hint for what it was Natalia left without another word.