Caius could tell right away that he wasn't going to enjoy waking up. Like starting to open the front door and realizing just how miserable the weather outside was.

  Feet? Pain. Legs? Sore. His back was informing him that he had overexerted something, but he'd lifted many heavy things last night so the cause was obvious. His neck ached from sleeping in an awkward pose.

  Trying to stretch some life back into his limbs, he banged his elbow into the tub. Not an auspicious start to the day. He sat up, muttering a curse. He wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. In his own bed back home, not on the wooden floor. But if being miserable kept him in bed he'd spend half his life there, so he got to his feet.

  Inside the big tub, the water looked crystal clear. Around the base, on the floor, was a ring of filth.

  Right, he had asked the tub to shed filth the night before. "Introducing the most scuffed water purifier ever," he chuckled to himself. Strange that the language had a word for purifier, actually.

  "I've never heard that word before. What does it mean?" Came a raspy voice from behind him.

  Caius was so startled he actually jumped. He hated when that happened. Of course he knew exactly who it was, but he had forgotten she was there. Turning, he spotted Idunnir bundled up in the corner. She'd added her own cloak to the magic one he had wrapped her in.

  Which shouldn't have been necessary, he'd made sure to use his magical heat-and-waterproof one. If anything she ought to have been too hot.

  Finally processing the question he answered it. "A purifier is something that... cleans things... very thoroughly." That got him a nod of acceptance from her.

  "Why is there a tub in here?" Came her next question. Calm and unconcerned, as a point of interest.

  The room was surprisingly well-lit, the candle from the night before still glowing. Her lips still looked blue...

  Caius groaned as he finally put the pieces together. Frustration at the wasted effort mixed with a deep embarrassment, and the surge of emotion was overwhelming. He gripped his amulet, pressed the clasp on the outside of his sleeve to his forehead and waited for it all to pass.

  Idunnir was actually very accommodating, waiting patiently as he eventually got his thoughts together. Caius pulled over one of the chairs he had moved aside to get the tub in and sat down, turning so he wasn't looking straight at her. It was always easier to talk that way.

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  "After you collapsed, I had no idea what to do. I knew it was most likely due to the tea I made wearing off. When I got you in here and saw your lips were blue, I assumed you were dangerously cold."

  She nodded, waiting for him to continue. Which was welcome, Caius hated interruptions that made him lose his train of thought. He went on: "At the time, I decided that the best thing for it was to get you in some hot water." Then he paused to give her a chance to comment.

  "You like things to be clean, I remember how many times you went to wash yourself. So once you had me in the water you gave me a bath." She continued the explanation.

  Caius was pleasantly surprised that she put that part together, because explaining it would have been mortifying. Though it was a bit strange to see her so perceptive. The previous morning she looked more vigilant than thoughtful.

  As if she could read his mind, she continued "Normally I can't think so well in the morning. Something is different today. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing."

  Idunnir was obviously gifted at reading people. It made a lot of things fit together, such as why she and Marcus had let him tag along despite how strange he was. And that had to be a wonderful skill for a merchant like Marcus to have around. But why could thinking be a bad thing?

  He decided to just ask. So far, the conversation had been wonderfully levelheaded. "Why could it be a bad thing?"

  That question earned him a long, long stare. It made him uncomfortable, even though he was looking off to the side. Usually when people stared at him like that, it was because he had missed something obvious. Again.

  "You really don't know, do you? So you must be from somewhere else."

  Lying was an option. But he didn't like lying. Even if he wanted to, he didn't know enough about this place to come up with anything convincing. So he told her the whole story, odd as it was. Getting it all out there was such a relief.

  "Well you aren't lying and you aren't mad. Is this power you have normal, back where you came from?"

  "No, we don't have anything like it back there." He clarified.

  She nodded slowly. "I would say that you're one of the Touched, but I've never heard of any of them doing what you can." He was about to ask, but she continued "You wouldn't know what that means. Neither do I, really, but whenever someone can do something... strange... people call them Touched."

  "That's a thing here?"

  "Yes, I've met two. There's a lady in Bracwell called Liv, she can give you a new eye if you lose one. Just eyes, nothing else. Sometimes people come from very far away to get her help."

  Strange, but useful. And it was a relief that Caius wasn't some kind of fantasy version of an outside context problem, he suspected it would make his life much easier. "So the strange part is how odd the things I do are?" She confirmed that with a nod.

  The conversation had gone on a bit of a tangent. Common in Caius' experience. Meandering conversations came packaged with neurodivergence. Like anxiety. Or academic difficulties.

  "You didn't answer my question earlier, about thinking being bad."

  It didn't take some kind of genius to interpret the way her shoulders slumped as "bad news" in body language. But Caius really wasn't expecting the answer that came with it.

  "Not just anyone can make that tea, even with the recipe. And I'll be dead in three days without it."