purple diamond in the rough

Wait… Indigo told the other woman to give Gypsy a bath and… Where was the stream? Shouldn’t she be bathing in a stream? There couldn’t be a stream this high up, could there? The man assured her that neither he nor his woman intended to hurt her. Again, they always said that. Time would tell if they actually meant it. Even if Indigo meant it, how could he control the actions of his woman unless he did indeed mete out punishment?

Ears tucked back as she felt Indigo leave the room. The woman, Duchess, gently directed Gypsy down the stone hall. Gods, she really didn’t like this place. Too smooth. Too echoey. The smells were wrong and she couldn’t feel the wind or the sun. She was very disoriented and it got even worse when she was steered into the room with the water. The sound of the liquid drowned out other sounds. Gypsy was completely at the mercy of Duchess. Her anxiety was pretty bad and the moment that she stepped into the stone tub, her tiny frame began to quiver.

Gypsy couldn’t enjoy the lengths that Duchess went through to get her clean. Silver eyes were wide the entire time and she continued to shake until it was time to get out of the water. Thankfully Duchess helped her out of the tub. Had she been forced to do it on her own, she’d have fallen flat on her face, possibly breaking something. Once back on the cold, stone floor, Gypsy began to shake anew. This time because her bony body was chilled from the water. A skin was placed over her and Gypsy took one corner in one tiny paw and wiped the water away from her face. She didn’t like the feel of the droplets clinging to her short, pale fur.

With care, Duchess led Gypsy down the short flight of stairs and back to the main hall. So sensitive were the lady’s other senses that she could both smell and hear the fire long before they came close to it. Once they entered the room, she could feel the heat pouring off of the flames. The mottled lady shrugged the fur away and gingerly made her way across the strange stones towards the fireplace. She stopped before it became too hot and then settled down upon her stomach beside it. The heat of the flames killed the chill instantly, but she still couldn’t wait for her fur to dry.