The girls wash up

"I hope you're right Winlay." Mika answered as she slipped the oversized shirt from her slender shoulders.

"I'm sure I am." Winlay replied as she looked over Mika standing before her in her underwear. Mika's skin was soft and smooth, but under her tanned skin, Winlay could see her friend's lean muscular form as she washed the grime from her arms. The water was not warm, but it wasn't cold either and Winlay let out a sigh of pleasure as she joined Mika by the sink in the back of the work shop.

The girls washed side by side taking turns scrubbing each other’s backs. It seemed perfectly natural for them to remove the wrappings that covered their breasts and set them aside so they would stay dry. Winlay had seen Mika dressing before, but sharing the sink side by side and the feeling of her warm skin under her fingers made her realize just how pretty her friend really was. While Winlay applied sister Margaret's ointment to the scrapes and cuts on Mika's arms and hands Mika recounted to Winlay the details about how she and Adam found the Oracle in the Templar's prison and their harrowing escape through the passageways that ran under the old buildings of the convent.

"We'd better hurry." Mika reminded Winlay when she paused, enjoying the feel of the soft soap cleaning the filth from her legs. "Unless you want Adam and the Oracle to see us like this." Winlay felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she imagined what the two of them would look like to Adam if he were there to see. Both young women clothed only in their white panties, dripping with soap and water, he could see all of their curves. Winlay wondered if he would prefer Mika's slender muscular body, small breasts and blonde hair or her own more generous curves, fuller bosom and rich brown curls.

"Ha!" Mika laughed "You would like that, wouldn't you?" Winlay silenced her momentarily by splashing a scoop of water on her face. Mika sputtered in surprise and then tried to scoop a handful of water back at Winlay, Winlay saved herself by catching the blonde's wrist before the water could get to her face. Winlay had enjoyed this type of wrestling with her younger siblings, but she was no match for Mika. Almost effortlessly Mika captured her hands, pinning them behind her back, and lifted the soaking wash cloth over her head menecingly.

"Do you surrender? Or will I have to soak you?"

"I give up Mika!" Winlay conceded goodnaturedly "Will you let me go now, or do I have to pay a forfit?"

"That sounds fair, my beauty" Mika replied deepening her voice to mimic a man's "I'll take a kiss as my prize." Before Winlay could protest, her lips were covered gently by Mika's. After her initial surprise, Winlay found she enjoyed Mika's embrace. Her soft lips tasted sweet and fresh, much nicer than the taste of beer or wine that had been her experience from the few drunken kisses that the villiage boys had stolen from her at dances. Also, Mika's kiss was gentle and inviting, not at all clumsey or demanding - for an instant Winlay almost forgot herself, but the jolt of feeling when her bare nipples grazed Mika's brought her to her senses. Squirming just slightly in Mika's grasp was enough to free Winlay from her grip. The two women still dripping from their water fight stared at each other waiting for someone to say something - anything.

"Do you like women Mika?" The question brought a smile to Mika's face.

"Well I certainly liked that." She answered with a chuckle, "but it's complicated, and we don't have enough time for me to explain just now." She tossed the cotton wrap to Winlay as she continued playfully. "Not unless you really do want Adam to see you looking like that." Mika's banter eased the tension and knowing that Adam and the Oracle were on the way was enough of a reminder to deflect the many questions that swamped Winlay's mind.

She turned away from Mika and avoided her eyes as she wrapped the long soft strip of cotton tightly around her torso hiding her mounds from sight before pulling the oversized shirt tightly around her and slipping her arms into the loose sleeves. That really had been the nicest kiss anyone had ever given her and she wondered if kissing Mika back would have been such a mistake. Did she like Mika like that? What would Adam have thought if he had seen the two of them barely dressed and kissing like lovers?

Despite the incident with Mika, Winlay's mind returned time and time again to the knowledge that soon Adam and the Oracle would be sharing the room with them. The shirt she was wearing did not even extend to her knees and the material clung to her damp skin; there was little she or Mika would be able to do to preserve their modesty as soon as the men arrived.

And the men would have to wash up too. Adam would be as nearly naked as Mika and Winlay had been when he and the Oracle washed themselves at the sink. Winlay had often seen men working in the fields bare chested and wrestling in the harvest fair, but she knew that she would feel very differently when Adam was only a few meters away wearing only Xelta knew what as he washed himself. Mika thankfully stopped teasing Winlay and moved to the window peeking through the curtains into the gardens.

"I wonder what is taking them so long?" She asked apparently not the least concerned with how little of the back of her thigh was covered by the loose shirt. “If they are caught by the Templars it won’t take them long to find us here in sister Margaret’s workshop.” Mika had the lock picks in her hand again and was fidgeting with the leather pouch as she stood by the window.

“Shhhh…” she turned back to Winlay “someone’s coming.”