Well, it was no more than she’d expected, really, Em thought dolefully. She wasn’t a prude—she wouldn’t have minded being naked in front of a stranger so much when she was younger. But she hated putting her stretch marks and sagging bits on display now—she couldn’t help it.
Still, there was nothing to do but carry on with it. Taking a deep breath, she reached behind her and unzipped the tight, dark blue and silver dress she was wearing and put it into one of the clear glass lockers. Next came her bra and knickers. And of course, her shoes.
She folded her clothes neatly and stored them in one of the empty glass lockers. Then, at last, she was standing there nude, feeling both vulnerable and uncertain. She had to admit now she was grateful that Rarev hadn’t been allowed to come in with her. She wouldn’t have wanted the tall, muscular Monstrum to see her in the altogether like this.
“Now what?” she asked Elfa, who still had that serene look on her face.
“Now we must enter the Mists,” the bath attendant told her. “Come.”
She led Em to the door with colors swirling behind it. Em saw swirls of crimson, blue, deep forest green, and other colors all swirling behind the clear glass.
“Are those the Mists?” she asked, pointing to the swirling colors.
“They are indeed. Come—let us enter them with a clear mind and a pure heart,” Elfa told her. Then she opened the door and slipped inside.
Em followed her, wondering if the “Purifying Mists” were going to be warm or cold. Was she going to be shivering when this was over? And how long did she have to be in here? Also—
But her thoughts cut off abruptly as she stepped through the door and her feet left the floor. Suddenly, she found that she was floating.
“Oh…oh!” she gasped, unable to keep her composure when she was apparently tumbling through the multicolored Mists with no way to get back to earth.
“Do not fear…” It was Elfa, floating by with that same, serene look on her face. She was lying on her back, almost as though she was floating on the surface of a calm lake. “Simply let the Mists cleanse you,” she advised. “When you relax, they can work on you properly.”
Em didn’t know if she liked the idea of simply relaxing when she was free-floating in the middle of the air, but there didn’t seem to be much else she could do.
“Er, how long does it take? This, er, whole Purifying process?” she asked Elfa, who was almost out of sight, as she continued to float.
“Until you are purified, of course,” the bathing attendant told her. “Please relax—it will take a great deal longer if you do not.” And then she floated completely away and was lost in the swirling mists.
Relax, hmm? It was easier said than done. Em generally kept herself under rigid control—she had to, considering how much she was in the public eye. Also, it was easier to keep things penned up inside herself—if she let them out, she feared she’d become sloppy and emotional, and no one wanted that in a World Council Minister.
Still, she couldn’t deny that sometimes she wished she could let go of some of the tension constantly knotted inside her, like a ball of tangled wire. Sometimes she even wished she could give control of herself and her circumstance to someone else—someone who would understand and take over and run things for a time. Not forever, mind you—just for a little while so that Em could take a deep breath and not feel like the weight of the world was always on her shoulders.
Well, it literally is on my shoulders now, she thought. If Rarev and I can’t get the mining rights and bring back some Yillium—
But that thought was only making her tense up, so Em pushed it away.
Relax, she told herself. Clear your mind like they taught you in those meditation classes you took to help deal with the stress. It’s the only way to deal with this situation.
Besides, it might be nice to just relax for a while, as the bathing attendant had suggested. To float around like a leaf being carried on the current to who knows where.
Em looked around herself. The room they were in seemed to be huge, though it was empty of anything but the swirling Mists. Also, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around besides herself and Elfa. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold so she wasn’t shivering or sweating, despite her naked state. All-in-all, perfect relaxation conditions, she decided.
Taking a deep breath, she attempted to unknot her muscles and let herself float, as Elfa had been doing. It wasn’t easy and required many deep, calming breaths, but finally she felt her body loosening up and she was able to let her limbs float free.