Alex decided to go to the slave baths, and when he got there, he ordered anyone in there to leave, and come back in ten minutes, or so. He ordered Lillia to go look for strawberry scented shampoo and soap, as he walked into the pool, his clothes disappear and gently dipped Neko into the warm water, her face the only thing not underwater. "She's so cute...."
When Alex came into the slave showers, he was greeted by maybe thirty or forty naked elf women. The showers were huge, and every elf in them was gorgeous. Many of them blushed and looked around, expecting something strange, wonderful or horrible to happen, since their master, or masters, never came down to the slave showers unless he wanted them all to bathe him. Even then, Arkurus had never requested such a thing, it was only something previous masters liked. They quickly vacated and Lillia went off to find some soap and shampoo for the little angel.
Neko was curled up in Alex's arms, soft, warm and asleep. She moaned a little as she was slid into the water and opened her eyes slowly. She looked confused for a moment before she realized she was in water, and then simply closed her eyes again and allowed herself to drift, depending on Alex to keep her head above the water. The warm water steamed slightly, and its heat relaxed her body comfortably and simply made her cuter as she allowed the soft current to tickle her toes.
She wasnt the only one. A small, cute little
elf girl, probably a new slave, floated lazily in the showers not to far from them. She was naked, of course, and floating peacefully, oblivious to the fact that orders had been given to leave the showers.
Alex smiled at all the naked woman and reminded himself that he would have to get them all to join him in the bath sometime. He then stopped and realized that a green haired girl was still in the bathhouse. Since he was in such a good mood, he decided to let her off easy and aimed his finger at her.
Suddenly the female elf would feel someone tickling her sides and feet. Like dozens of little feathers were grazing her body, tickling her.
The girl began to giggle and laugh, and splashed around a little as she lost her floating balance. She looked around and saw the there was no one else around but continued to giggle as she was still being tickled. Obviously confused, she looked back at Alex and tried to take a few deep breaths before she asked "Um...excuse me (giggle). Do you know (giggle) where everyone (Giggle) went?"
Thats when Alex may have noticed something strange about the girl. Although she was an elf and in the slave baths, she didnt have a collar like all the others. The collars were naturally water proof and could not be removed by anyone but Arkurus, and yet she wasnt wearing hers. If Alex looked back, he would see her towel and a collar lying on top of it with the name "Rhona" On it. Since it was the last one left behind, it was not unreasonable to presume that it was hers and that she had somehow removed it.
Neko continued to float peacefully in the water, held up by Alex's arms, or hand at this point. Her little wings flapped slowly under the water, feeling pleasure as the water dragged back and forth through them, though not nearly as much as the massage she had received earlier.
Alex looked at the girl and canceled out his spell. "Are you Rhona? I am Alex, the new Master of this house. Tell me, how did you get your collar off?" he wondered, pointing to the collar. "As for everyone else, I gave them an order to leave, so I may bathe Neko here."
Rhona suddenly paled and covered herself with her hands. "I-Im sorry! Please forgive me master!" She said with a bow that uncovered clumsily and dunked her head in the water. She then quickly covered herself again and blushed hard as she ran for her towel, avoiding his question. "I-I will leave you to your bathing." She added, trying to leave as quickly as possible. That was another strange thing about her. Arkurus had personally broken every single one of his elf slaves. Like Lillia, none of the other elves had a any shame in their nudity anymore, and none tried to cover themselves like Rhona had. She was also avoiding a direct question from a master, the master now. That was not standard elf slave behavior.
"Stop," Alex suddenly ordered, and if Rhona tried to go out the door, she would run into an invisible wall. "Sorry about that. Are you okay? I just didn't want you to leave. Please, come back into the pool, I want to talk to you," he said. If she did, he would then say, "What's your name? Are you new to your role?"
Rhona hit the wall and fell on her butt. "Owy..." She groaned. She looked at Alex with fearful eyes blushed a bit as she went back into the bath, only going up to her knees and still holding the towel, which was wrapped around her body to conceal her. "M-My name is Rhona." She said somewhat stiffly. "And I..I am new, Im sorry if I displeased you sir." She added with an awkward bow. She managed to back up a bit as she did, closer to a central pillar near the bathes, but just outside of them.
She was a strange slave, able to remove her collar, shy about her nakedness, and not currently hung up on a wall in Arkurus's training room. To add to that, she only hardly obeyed his orders, getting in only to her knees and called him sir instead of master. Both of these things alone would be met with swift and painful punishment by Arkurus, and made it clear she was not trained, not even a little, and as it was she wasnt even acting like a slave at all. How much truth was she actually saying? If she was lying, that would be a capital offense for a slave.
All the while Neko peacefully floated in the water, her wings still flapping softly, the warm water feeling rather good to her
"Your behavior is odd, your actions would get you beaten, and you call me sir instead of Master. I'm surprised you're not beaten or being hung up like a steak. You're hiding something. Tell me," Alex ordered, before looking around. Where did Lillia go?
(He sent Lillia to find strawberry soap and shampoo)
The girls swallowed and suddenly darted back up the stairs out of the pool, but she didnt head for the door. Instead she ran up to the main pillar and placed her hand on it. She then said "Visckie!" Suddenly, all of the water in the pool froze instantly, trapping Alex and Neko in the water. The ice was cold, but not as cold as it should have been which probably meant it was magical in nature, and that much harder to break.
Neko's eyes shot open and she began to struggle a bit before her eyes started tearing up. "Paba...Paba..." She began to cry, frozen all the way up to her face. Rhona bit her lip and said "I-I didnt mean t-to...I mean, please let me out, I have, um, duties to attend to." She said, clearly badly shaken. "Besides, only me and a few others know the word to undo the ice spell, I will send someone back to get you out but you have to let me leave!" Her legs were trembling slightly and she took no joy in the little angel's distressed cries.
If Alex tried to break the ice, he would run the risk of hurting Neko, particularly her frozen wings. Teleporting would also be in affective, and although he could probably shape shift to escape or meld through the ice with his powers, the same could not be said for Neko. But chances were that he would not need to free himself.
Rhona was so busy looking at Alex and making sure he didnt do anything that she failed to see the door begin to open, and didnt see Lillia poke her head in. With a simple mental message, Lillia would attack her and restrain her, and she knew how to. Even enslaved dark elves were still dark elves.