Under the hot trickling stream of water in the back corner of the cave, Nicolas scrubbed himself using a bar of strong soap. He then shaved his beard and considered shaving his head, but decided to wait to see if the delousing medication worked. The filthy water splashed off his body and fell between rock crevices to the side of the shower area. When he finally felt clean, he jumped into the bathing pool. The back section was at least five feet deep. The pool wasn't as warm as the hot spring that fed the shower, but he welcomed the cooler temperature. For months he'd lay in his own sweat.
It was hard to pull his body from the pool, but his stomach eventually growled and he wondered how long he'd spent cleaning himself and thinking about Zenya's tears. One minute wasted on her was too long
