Jenny: Winding Down

Domitia was a good maid, for all her wane looks. She fluttered about like an anxious feather on the wind; the wet cloth was especially refreshing. The soft sides of her back were beginning to harden with cramps and she was sure her of what her lip looked like. But the coolness of the room and the quiet and Domitia's ministrations helped steady the world. In a few moments she was finding it hard to remember what had just happened, and it came to her in faint, blurred images, like trying to recall a dream. Until Domitia laid her on her back, and the movement dragged angry red pain down her shoulder. She put her teeth on edge and lay still as the throbbing slowly ebbed.

"I'm sorry," Domitia said presently from beyond the damp cloth.

"Don't be," the Guttersnipe managed. "Calidus and I - we go back..." She paused, then groped for Domitia's hand, holding it in a tight, companionable grip that took her back to her Lord Ambrosius' bedridden days, which made for bad memories. "Thank you for that blow. I might be a dead pigeon now if you hadn't jumped in." She dragged the cloth off her face and propped her head up to look at herself. "Am I very bloody...?"