He proceeded to closest of the three unclaimed tubs. It was partly full of cold water. It would be a bit less then knee deep, but he decided he was not about to just sit in it. The fire for heating up a great big kettle had not been relit yet.
Well, the cold'll wake me up, he decided, pulling off his clothes. He looked woefully at the clothes, which were going to need mending in addition to washing. He had only packed a few changes of clothes before relocating to Agmar's room. The realization came back to him that the only possessions he had left were in one large bag. All his books were gone. He slumped down, putting his forehead down on the edge of the tub.
Somebody else came in and claimed a tub. Stott finished undressing and put his first foot in the water slowly. The foot was still too pink. He had forgotten about that. Again he could not figure out how long ago that had been. Then he was glad he did not have a tub of steaming water.
The third bather slipped and fell into the water with a splash, and promptly yelped. "Sweet gods that's cold!" A woman's laugh came from the first tub, and Stott could hear water being poured and running down some part of her. He felt like he was intruding, and tried to focus on getting himself clean.
He was sore all over, and the cold water did nothing to help that as he rubbed at himself and poured water over himself for rinsing. Standing there wet was perhaps not a great improvement over just sitting in it, he considered. He was shivering by the time he finished.
