The women pulled Eleanora into another room—a huge lady's boudoir—and sat around her, talking incessantly in their language, examining her hands, stroking her hair, looking at her teeth; a couple even touched her chest. Eleanora had no idea what was going on, but she hoped that it would end soon.
After a few minutes of this, Rose stood up and clapped her hands. All attention was immediately on her. She made a short speech in Avelatani, which Eleanora of course couldn't understand, but it sobered up the women, because after she had finished, they all mumbled something and crossed themselves. At least, Eleanora thought that they crossed themselves; they kissed their fingers, touched their left and right sides with the kissed hand, and finished it with marking an infinity sign on their stomachs.
Then they took Eleanora and guided her over to another room, this time a huge bathroom with a bathtub the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
"What's going on?" Eleanora whispered to Rose as the women took her clothes off.
Rose smiled at her.
"This is called the 'purification ceremony,'" she said. "It starts now and doesn't end until the wedding."
"Uh…isn't that quite a long time?"
"The ceremony," Rose continued as if she hadn't heard her, "is a cleansing ritual that erases the past sins of the couple. Hugs, kisses, sexes, all are wiped clean after this ritual is conducted."
"Wh-What happens during the ritual?"
"First, one is cleaned as thoroughly as possible," Rose said, gesturing to the bathtub, "which is what we're going to do now. Then, the woman has to cover herself up around her husband so that he can never actually look at her until the wedding day. Understand?"
"Well, yes, but…why?"
"Because in ancient times," Rose said, testing the bathtub water, "it was believed that a woman can withstand any form of mental torture, but physical torture was another matter entirely."
"Yes, and what greater form of torture than not being able to show yourself off to your man?" one of Sebastian's aunts said, causing the English-knowing women to giggle.
"On the flip side," Rose said, smiling, "it was thought that a man can stand any form of physical torture, but not mental. Once these two people have gone through these challenges, it was thought that their suffering cleansed their past sexual sins, preparing them for marriage."
"It's an ancient tradition, and one that all of us have gone through," another aunt said. The first aunt translated and the other ladies nodded.
Eleanora got into the bathtub, shivering a bit at coming into contact with the warm water.
"But while I'm doing all of this, what's Sebastian doing?"
This was translated and the women grinned.
"Don't you worry," Rose said, dunking Eleanora's head into the water, "he's suffering for you as well."