The fact that Cole's hair legitimately looked cleaner after that simple scrubbing was actually a little bit worrying. This was good though, progress.

The suds were drifting away and being filtered out of the water by the natural flow of it, and now their immediate vicinity smelled of rosewater on top of the already slightly ozone and mineral scent of the air. The rag that Krem folding over in one hand was dragged behind Cole's ear as soon as he was holding still again.

"If you'd ever run your fingers behind your ears and seen the grease and dandruff that gets stuck behind there, you'd know why ears need to be clean."