Darin let Ridahne get her back to the room even though they paused to speak to some people on the way. To the servants’ eternal credit, they did not comment on Darin’s clearly tear stained face or dejected posture. They just hurried to follow Ridahne’s orders. Upon arriving at the assigned room Darin took on look at the bed and had to restrain herself from just falling face down into it. Instead she forced herself to wait for the bath. When it was ready, she finally sank into it and at that moment it was the best feeling in the world. The hot water felt great against her skin and the water smelled amazing. She felt better. She could just melt and sleep in the tub.
Instead she listened to Ridahne suggest leaving Tasen as soon as this thing with Harai was done. That made good logical sense. Originally Darin wanted to spend a week in Tasen, but if this were anywhere else, she would be ready to go by now. She had seen the market. She had learned about the people of Tasen. She had caused just a little bit of trouble. She had rested. There were extra things like Ridahne laying her demons to rest and Darin figuring out public displays of her powers. The only thing left was resupplying, and Darin had a feeling that the Sols would take care of that. Well, she still needed to write her letters to Ravi and her mother. That could be done tomorrow. They could leave the day after tomorrow, bright and early.
Would that be enough time to deal with Harai? Darin wasn’t sure. Actually, no, that was perfect. If Darin didn’t give herself a time limit, she wouldn’t actually solve the problem. She had tomorrow to figure out what to do with the man. That should be plenty of time. She scowled at herself as the water cooled. She didn’t want to think about this now. She wanted to spend time with Ridahne, to get clean, to finally sleep long enough to not feel tired. So, she pushed the thoughts of the Red Hand far from her mind to deal with in the morning and picked up the bar of soap to start scrubbing. It wasn’t long before she was clean and levering herself out of the tub to put on clean clothes that were slightly too big but made out of an impossibly soft cotton. She was ready to sleep.
As she stepped out from behind the screen, she told her sister, “Let’s leave for Atakhara the day after tomorrow. I like the sound of that. It sounds like.” Darin paused as she searched for the right word, “Simplicity. We can see Hadian and meet his wife and plan your wedding and see another part of Azurei. Tomorrow we finish up what we need to do in Tasen.” At long last she fell into the bed, “Is that okay? Do you have anything to do in Tasen that will take longer than a day? Or can you get everything you need for the wedding tomorrow?