Chapter Twenty-Three

"I'm fine!" Devona protested yet again. She could at least walk, for Grenth's sake.

It was Cynn, surprisingly enough, who had been the most concerned on their return to the Atal Ra cavern. "Devona, no one has ever seen you like that… ever. Pardon us for being slightly worried."

The only thing more annoying than how she broke down like a terrified child was how people kept bringing it up. "I wasn't prepared for what the Seer could do. It took advantage of a momentary weakness. Others of its kind won't get the same opportunity. It's over."

They passed the arches that signified the academy grounds proper, and Coran turned to the procession. "Vekk, could you escort Devona to one of the guest chambers? Despite what she says, she could use some rest. For the rest of you, I would like you to report to King Adelbern. He probably should know of the skirmish and that one of his captains will be recuperating here for a short time."

Aidan looked at Devona, silently asking for permission, and upon receiving the warrior's nod, gestured for the rest of the team back towards the exit.

For a moment, the warrior's voice wavered. "What… where are you going?"

The prince turned about, and wrung his hands. "I have some work to attend to, and I suspect the Krewes will soon be reporting in with whatever they have discovered up to this point."

"Are you sure I can't be of help?" She stepped forward, and slowly reached out to Coran.

He sensed her approach, and subtly retreated from her touch. "It's mostly administrative duties, I fear. I mean no offense, but I don't think you are exactly trained in those tasks. You do need some time to recover… my dear. No one rebounds from what must have been such a truly crippling psychological assault in such a short time."

The warrior looked positively forlorn as Coran moved with all haste towards the central complex of Atal Ra. Even as rattled as she still was, she could tell the prince wasn't telling the whole truth… why was he running away from her?

"I suspect it's because you smell." Vekk said near callously, correctly guessing Devona's internal question. "Horribly, in fact."

Devona initially rejected the idea as preposterous.

"He's been living among us Asura for near one of your decades." The tiny elementalist explained. "He's grown accustomed to our hygiene. To be honest, I'm amazed he could bear being around all of you for as long as he has."

"You… really think that's all it is?"

Vekk shrugged, "That would be my guess."

"But… I washed two days ago." Devona protested, then seeing Vekk's jaw dropped, incredulous expression, the warrior sheepishly cringed and added, "Wrong answer, I suppose?"

The Asura shook his head in dismay. How could a species actually survive with such horrific personal grooming? "Come with me… we'll get you cleaned up…"

* * * * *

This wasn't clean… this was outright sterile.

There was literally no smell in the air, and the polished tile floors and walls shimmered from the tubes of artificial lighting running across the bland, barely textured cream colored ceiling.

There were only two things of note in the moderately sized space; a console in the far left corner, where a female Asura was standing, looking rather bored, and a smaller steel frame enclosure with deeply translucent windows.

"What… is this place?" Devona asked, slightly unnerved by her distressingly unnatural surroundings.

"This is the Sonic Honed Oscillating Waves Engendering Rife Sterility, known in short as the S.H.O.W.E.R.S." Vekk stated, as if annoyed that he had to describe the surroundings. "Yunda here will program the sonic emitters to project the proper frequency to... shake the stink off you at the molecular level."

The warrior tried wrapping her mind around the procedure, and failed. "You don't use water to clean?"

"Do you know the parasites, impurities, and/or pathogens that live and thrive in water?" Yunda berated from her position. "Using water can leave you filthier and in worse health than not using it at all."

"I shall leave you to Yunda's care." Vekk said quickly. "I'll be waiting outside when you're freshened up."

"Alright, bookah… strip down and get in the chamber." Yunda said dryly.

Immediately, Devona's world shifted… she remembered being paralyzed in the darkness. The Asura's black eyes morphed into the impossibly blacker eyes of her Seer torturer, taunting her as her hands moved without her accord, pulling the laces of her hauberk free and dropping the armoring to the floor, joining the rest of her plate and mail.

"Yes, a delicious specimen… you will be a wonderous meal." The Seer crooned, two of its hideous hands rubbing her flanks. "Firm, well maintained meat… I do so love it when the livestock prepares itself for consumption…"

"Woman, let me assure you that there is nothing about you I would find attractive. Now get undressed and get in the sonic chamber. You're not the only one that's going to want to use the S.H.O.W.E.R.S."

Devona's eyes bulged as once again reality won over her treasonous mind. Yunda's eyes were narrowed crossly, her left arm pointing towards the enclosure. She shook her head in a vain attempt to clear out the memory, then said, "Yes, of course. I apologize."

She hastily undressed, and fighting back nervousness entered the open end of the steel frame. The warrior yelped when the open end abruptly slapped shut with a hiss of air, and snarled at herself when she heard Yunda laughing.

"That always gets first timers!" The Asura chortled, and with the sound of a few beeps, the S.H.O.W.E.R.S. came to life.

Devona could only describe the feeling that buffeted her as "weird." There was a deep, low trilling hum that seemed to come from everywhere at once in unison with what felt like a million hands shaking her gently.

"Raise your arms every ten seconds or so to make sure every part of your body receives cleaning." Yunda ordered.

As Devona complied, she found the shaking was starting to make her eyes water furiously, and so she instinctively closed them.

And once that happened; the nightmares returned…