Edwine, having once been a very experienced butler, for a very rich noble family, had heard his fair share of screaming children. Though the sound caught him by surprise considering he was in the middle of his place of business, and he himself didn’t have any children, though not for the lack of scheming by the female community, he wasn’t too shocked. He also recognized the scream as one of embarrassment, more than fear of death, and considering those currently in the bathhouse the number of patrons that could even make such cry was rather limited. Clearing his throat, a personal act to recompose himself, he first made his way to the cleaning area of the hot springs. Standing in the center of the entrance for a second he finally spoke in an even tone just loud enough for his words to carry to the back of the springs.

“I apologize for that disturbance. Please rest assured it was simply a sound of surprise and that no one has been hurt. I will be sure to reprimand the culprit immediately. I thank you for your understanding.”

After completing his explanation and offered apology he bowed slightly, placing an open hand against his the left side of his chest. He then turned and began to make his way back toward the front and down the hallway where the private rooms were. Even though they had been altered to help prevent the leaking of voices into the other rooms it would seem that Ethan had been rather embarrassed indeed. He wasn’t really going to chastise the boy, at least not harshly, for it was his own fault for the situation, a missed possibility by an aging mind he assumed. Less than a minute after his proclamation to the other customers he was reaching out to open the door to the private room where he had left Ethan. However, at the last instance he stopped upon hearing what sounded like some kind of struggle on the other side of the door.

“Just what was that girl doing to the boy?” Edwine thought to himself with a frown before finally opening the door.

“I should have known.” The elderly man spoke with an even larger frown once he laid eyes on the events transpiring in the room before him.

There indeed was a struggle, and it consisted of a poorly positioned Ethan and a rather expressionless girl holding onto one of the boy’s wrists and legs. His free hand was trying to keep his towel in a position to help maintain a sense of decency while his free leg was flailing about, trying to get a foothold on the girl’s shoulder to push her away. Obviously Ethan wasn’t fearing for his life too much because he wasn’t truly freaking out, though the shade of red currently covering his face and his wide eyed rabbit about to be eaten expression said that he was probably in a state of shock. Thankfully for the boy, as soon as the door open the two stopped struggling, though they maintained the same paired position.

“Oh thank the Keepers! Help me sir!”

Edwine looked from the pleading boy to his attacker before tilting his head with a sigh.

“What are you doing Katarina?”

“Just helping.”

“Huh?! Helping?! How are you helping?!” Ethan suddenly interjected upon hearing an explanation he obviously didn’t agree with.

This Katarina clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, creating the atypical “tch” sound in response to Ethan’s questions. She also looked away from both the boy and the old man at the same time.

“Did you just tch?!” Ethan yelled out incredulously, his mouth wide as his jaw dropped in response to her claim.

Katarina ignored the boy’s question and looked back to the old man.

“Did you just ignore me?!” Incredulously levels rising, facial expressions reaching physical limits of skin elasticity.

“Katarina please let Ethan go.”

“Really? How ridiculous.”

Ethan was about to snap at her reply, the final dam holding back his emotional distress collapsing, but suddenly recoiled when she let go of his arm and leg. The expressions that washed over his face, one after another, could possibly be watching a blowfish, having inflated itself, finally deflate its bulbous body. Ethan didn’t look like he felt victorious in his puffed up battle however, his grand retort falling flat without any wind to support it.

Meanwhile Katarina, after having released Ethan as instructed, stood and bowed slightly to Edwine.

“I will begin my normal routine then sir.”

“Thank you Katarina. Your help is greatly appreciated.”

“Help? You call that help?” Ethan managed to bring himself to ask after hearing Edwine thank his attacker.

“Tch.”

“Stop that!”

Ethan glared at this Katarina who stared back at him with a blank expression for just a second. She then looked away with emphasis before making her way out the door. Closing it behind her Ethan happened to look in that direction, a shiver running down his spine with just ferocity it was possible the sensation was even visible to Edwine. Why the shiver? Well that was because at the last possible second before the door shut Ethan saw that Katarina was staring at him.

Edwine moved to take a seat in a chair that was against the wall adjacent to Ethan’s couch. The movement caught Ethan’s attention and he looked away from the door and began to fix his towel to make himself more presentable. He looked up with he heard Edwine sigh while leaning back into his chair.

“I must admit sir Ethan, your presence has certainly been... exciting.” The old man, despite his claim, had a slightly tired smile on his mouth. He wasn’t so much physically tired, as emotionally stretched thin at the events thus far. It had been a while since he had to deal with children and he was just a little frayed though he was trying to hide it behind that weak smile.

“If you could, please excuse Katarina’s behavior. I asked her to look after you after you collapsed so I could tend to the other patrons. She works here part-time and takes her jobs very seriously.”

He paused before offering a sympathetic smile to Ethan.

“Very seriously as you can tell.”

Ethan was about to acknowledge Edwine’s clarification before a specific fact of his statement struck the boy.

“Wait... I collapsed?!”