"Grimy," Krem replied, wrinkling his nose some. He glanced around, then went back to the edge of the pool and hauled himself back out to start searching in his clothes until he came up with a little bundle that had a solid little brick of soap in it with worn corners, smelling faintly of rosewater. There was also a little folded rag in the bundle, now crumpled in his fist. He came back with it and sank into the water again, more easily this time now that his body had acclimated to the heat.

Lathering the soap between his hands, Krem returned and without hesitation started to scrub at the top of Cole's head, a look of concentration on his face. This wasn't the first time he'd had to do this for someone, and there were flashes in his mind of his and one of the others holding down Rocky and scrubbing the layer of dirt and blackpowder off of him. It had been a mess and he'd walked away from it with a black eye, but it had been worth it to be able to walk through a cave filled with spiders without them noticing the stink of the powder. Didn't stop them getting attacked, but at least it wasn't because of their sapper.