"Aria!" She called out her name and the other woman smiled and a small figure popped out from behind the woman. "Riri!" Neriah nearly choked on the name.
"Oh My Lady!" The two of them moved forward and so did Neriah, enveloping them in a hug.
"Oh Aria! How are you here? Oh my gosh. I can’t believe you’re both here. I am so happy to see you. You have no idea how much I have missed you both. Oh Riri!" She hugged them so tight and they hugged her with the same gusto.
"Oh My Lady, I was so worried about you. When I heard you were captured and brought back, I feared for you. I thought that barbarian would hurt you as soon as you became his wife. Oh you have no idea how terrified I have been." Now that she mentioned him, Neriah could suddenly remember. He said he would send her a present. Was this it? Were they his present? What was he planning? Did he help her and bring them here with her? Why did he do that? What was he hoping to gain?
Did he really just do it for her out of the kindness of his heart? Really? But why?
...
"Oh he is sooooooo handsome. I had no idea barbarians could look so good. He appeared and opened up my cage. When he set me free, the sun shone upon his dark curls and his eyes dazzled like beautiful embers, his hands strong and muscled reached for me and I could not help but fall into them. Ahhhh! You are so lucky, princess."
Neriah had been in the bath for about fifteen minutes and all that time was spent listening to Riri describe Barak over and over again. Literally drooling over the man. Neriah could not believe it. Riri was not one to get attached to anyone so easily. In fact she hated everyone who was not Neriah and Aria.
But Neriah also knew that Riri had a weak spot for handsome tall men. Neriah could remember that Riri had also drooled over Lyle the first time she had seen him, but not to this extent. And that was what left her baffled.
She had been raining praises upon praises, singing terms and terms of eulogies for the man.
"Am I right, Aria? Do you not think he is charming?" Riri turned to Aria and so did Neriah.
"I will not say he is charming. I just believe that since he set us free and allowed us to come with My Lady, he might not be as horrible as we thought he would be." Aria simply said as she rinsed Neriah’s hair.
"Oh please, he is a deceiver! I believe he has some hidden reason for sending you both to me. He said it was a present but I do not believe that liar." Neriah scoffed.
"To be fair, My Lady is the liar." Riri shrugged.
"Riri!" Neriah stretched her hand to capture the fairy, but she was quick enough to dodge the attack.
"I do not mean what you did was wrong. But you did lie."
"You little—" Neriah hissed and scoffed, "Do you mean to say you now like that barbarian? Are you taking his side?" Neriah eyed her fairy wickedly.
"No..." She shook her head, then she smiled and blushed, "Maybe."
"Oh you little traitor!" Neriah hissed.
"Oh but princess, you should have seen him. You should have seen how gently he smiled, how calmly he spoke. It sent ripples through my body. I melted at the depth of his voice. He is the dream of all women. Oh dear princess, you are highly favored by the goddess to have such a man for a husband. He is so huge and tall and—"
"You mean unnecessarily big." Neriah scoffed. "I mean he can either be tall or huge. Why will anyone be so horribly tall and huge at the same time? Look at my Lyle, he has the perfect height and perfect body build nad—"
"Oh my lady, you are just blinded by your love for sir Lyle. Anyone else with well functioning eyes would see that your sir Lyle can not be compared with your husband." Riri interjected.
"Are you to say my eyes have gone bad?" Neriah inquired and the fairy chuckled nervously.
"Nooo, I only mean to say my lady loves sir Lyle so much that she does not see any other. Am I right, Aria?" Riri managed to asked, pulling Aria into the conversation that she clearly was not willing to delve into.
"Aria do you think so too? That that barbarian is better than my Lyle? You have seen him too, yes? So tell me, do you agree with Riri?" Neriah shifted her gaze to Aria.
Aria’s eyes shifted to Riri with a death glare for drawing her into this. "My Lady, of course not." Aria forced a big smile on her face as she spoke. "Your Lyle is someone chosen by My Lady personally. No one can be better than the person my Lady chose." Aria with her sweet tongue got Neriah smiling victoriously.
"See Riri, you are the blind one. No one compares to my Lyle," she closed her eyes and began to picture him in her mind. " His pale skin that still glows, his lovely green eyes that shine even brighter than my own. His rich golden hair that sparkles like beach sand, and that beautiful face. Ahhh!" She screamed and slapped the surface of the water with her palms as the thought of her precious lover was overwhelming.
"And you would compare him with a brown-skinned, black-haired," she began to state irritatingly the physical attributes of her husband, "golden eyes, slightly dented chin, straight nose, broad shoulders, strong arms," the more she talked about him the more her bath water seemed to get hotter, "loud laugh, broad smile..." What was she thinking, Neriah wondered. Why was her heart racing? Why was she getting hotter?
Why was she suddenly remembering their kiss earlier? WAKE UP NERIAH!!
"I_ I mean that ugly, disgusting being! P_please, he does not compare to m_my Lyle." She managed to stutter the words out.
"The water has gotten cold. H_help me out." She ordered. Maybe it was the water that was making her feel dizzy and weird. Why else would she be remembering such a disgusting scene?