Episode 36
Travelling Light E036S01 Transcript
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light: Episode Thirty Six.
[The music fades out.]
The Traveller
14th Herach 850.
To the community at Emerraine, who carry the Light.
My dear friends. It has been over a week since my last missive and I am pleased to say and we have not seen so much as a hint of Scarry or the Guillemot since we left Yzhnyaba.
As brief as that previous sighting was, it was certainly alarming. Aman has since been taking particular care as she plans out route. We are still destined for Kerrin, of course, but she has made a number of changes to the itinerary in the hopes of obfuscating our precise movements.
One of those changes has brought us to Il-Xhe Station, a glittering little settlement in the Ker-Xhen system, and not at all our usual sort of destination.
Money flows through Il-Xhe like water. It has made a name for itself as a holiday destination for its system's wealthiest inhabitants – and those of several neighbouring systems, too.
Everywhere one looks, there are merchant boutiques selling hand-crafted jewellery, finely tailored clothing, delicacies imported from across the galaxy, sweets that shine like jewels in their gilded boxes.
Not everyone here is a member of the idle rich, of course. Like any resort, people are needed to pour the drinks and fluff the towels and keep everything running smoothly.
Fortunately, the governing body of Il-Xhe Station is well aware of how much they owe these people. It is their labour that keeps that money flowing, after all.
As a result, workers here are fantastically well compensated. They receive excellent pay, free food and housing, and are generally treated as- Well, as what they are: the very means by which the wealth of Il-Xhe Station is produced.
We arrived at about mid-morning local time, only a few hours behind ship's time. I was just wondering what I might do with my day when the melodic jingling sound of the ship's tannoy chimed above.
“H-hello?” came Hesje's voice over the speakers. “Hello? Is it- Yes, good, it's on. [nervous laugh] Um. Could everyone please come to the common room? Please? Um. Soon as possible. Thank you. Sorry.”
They were no less nervous a few minutes later, when they stood before the gathered crew and cleared their throat for attention.
[clears throat] “Uh. Thank you all for coming, I realise this is short notice. I-I wanted to catch you before you all dispersed for the day. Um. Well, um. The thing is, uh… Um”
Duyren had apparently been eating her lunch at the time of the announcement and had seen fit to bring her bowl up with her. She called out around a mouthful of rice and vegetables.
“Come on, Hes. Spit it out.”
“I might say the same to you,” Hesje shot back, but the interaction seemed to steady them rather. “The this is, I am aware that this expedition has not gone precisely as we might have hoped, let alone planned.
You have all been so patient, worked so hard, and I-I wanted to thank you. Not only in words but with a gesture of my, my, um. Well, my… my thanks. [clears throat]
To that end, given the recent turn of our financial tides, so to speak, I have taken it upon myself to set aside a portion of the proceeds from our most recent sale and put them towards… An excursion to the Xhin-Der Spa and Baths!”
There was a long pause in the wake of this announcement. I think we were all aware that this was not a wise decision. The Tola's finances were better than they had been, but it might well need that money in the future.
But in the end, Aman spoke for us all, expressing the sentiment we all of us felt in the moment of that announcement.
“God that sounds good.”
Il-Xhe Station is not my kind of place. When I imagine my perfect holiday destination, I imagine muddy boots and peaceful countryside, days spent out of doors, invigorated by the rain, and cosy evenings inside, warm and well-fed, with something good to read and someone sweet to read with.
But I cannot deny, there is something to be said for luxury! [laughs] You can see the attached archive entry for more details of the spa itself. But even the transport on Il-Xhe was beautiful, humming gently as it glided through the transit corridors, the recycled air smelling clean and fresh, like cold grass.
After our day at the spa, I sat beside Wolph on the journey back to the docks. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd sat down, too relaxed not to. His head rested against the window, his soft snores steaming up the glass.
On the seat opposite, Tsabec was scowling at their handheld communicator.
“Blasted thing…” they muttered, prodding at the screen.
“Everything alright?”
They glanced at me, still scowling. “It's just not connecting…” [sighs]
“I could have a look at it for you if you like – might be a loose bit of wiring or-”
“No!” they said, shoving the communicator back in their pocket. “No, no, don't worry. I say, you look jolly pink.”
“I feel jolly pink,” I agreed.
My afternoon of spa treatments had left me feeling pleasantly wrung out, steamed cleaned and crisply ironed. I do not remember when I last felt this good.
Next to Tsabec, Annaliese gave a satisfied hum. She had her eyes closed and looked almost ready to fall asleep right along with Wolph.
Perhaps today's indulgence was not a wise financial decision. Perhaps Hesje should have set the money aside for a rainy day, kept it ear-marked for some unknown tragedy lurking below a distant horizon.
But looking at the faces of my friends, soft with joy and unburdened for the time being from any of the usual concerns of their days, I could not wish for any other outcome. [sighing] I only wish Óli could have joined us.
Send my love to all at home. I shall write again soon.
[The click of a data stick being inserted into a drive that whirs as it reads]
The Traveller
Entry HE85014-4: An account of a trip to Xhin-Der Spa and Baths and the treatments there offered.
Key words: bathing practices; health and well-being; Il-Xhe Station; Ker-Xhen; personal hygiene; rest and relaxation.
Notes:
Upon our arrival at Xhin-Der Spa and Baths, we were first shown into private changing rooms to discard our ordinary clothes in favour bathing costumes and silky soft dressing gowns.
I was struck by how ritualistic it felt – shedding the vestments of the outside world in preparation to enter another, quite different realm of being.
To my astonishment, I came out of the changing rooms into clear, bright sunlight. I cannot imagine what it must cost to make the artificial light and recycled air of a space station feel so much like a warm spring day.
The central atrium was beautiful, with grooved wood panelling the walls, dark stone tiles on the floor, and luscious plants growing in decorative pots artfully arranged around the room.
It felt so peaceful, not the sterile stillness of enforced silence but a gentle, natural calm that I found quite contagious.
I spotted the others looking not quite themselves in their spa clothes, enjoying drinks beside a small artificial waterfall. That is, uh, I say “artificial”. It was real water and it was really falling. I suppose that is as real as a waterfall gets.
As I joined them, Hesje passed me a treatment menu and a glass of something clinking with ice. “You like ysgau berries, don't you?”
“I do,” I said. “Thank you very much.”
I took a grateful sip and started flicking through a few pages of the menu, not sure where to begin.
There are few topics more delicate than that of personal grooming and hygiene. How a person keeps themselves clean, even what is considered “clean” or “dirty”, is at once profoundly personal and deeply culturally ingrained.
But as I turned the treatment menu pages, I started to wonder if Xhin-Der had done the impossible, and actually could provide something to suit every taste.
The others booked themselves into this treatment and that – Aman for a full-immersion mud bath, Annaliese for a body rub with hot sand, scented with cardamom and amber.
I decided to start with a massage, easing into the new experience with something familiar, and I soon found myself melting into the massage bed as the attendant eased the knots and tension from my muscles.
I let myself get lost lost in the feeling of the attendant's hands on my body, warm and firm. Skin against skin, not erotic but utterly delicious.
I breathed deeply and settled into a place of profound inner calm, not unlike the feeling I get sometimes in services at temple.
Hesje, meanwhile, lay on the bed beside me apparently quite as contentedly while an attendant pummelled their entire body with heavy wooden truncheons. It did not seem particularly restful to me, but each to their own.
I bumped into Annaliese in the corridor afterwards, her skin glowing and sending up little wafts of spice-scented air whenever she moved.
“I am going to get a drink,” I said. “Would you like to come?”
But Annaliese shook her head. “I'm booked in for a keratin deep condition. Oh, you won't recognise me! I won't recognise myself!”
When got back to the main atrium, I found Wolph beside the waterfall. He was partway through a pedicure, with two round discs of something cool and fruity on his eyes and a mud mask on those parts of his face not covered in hair.
“What colour polish are you getting?” I asked as I took a seat.
“He can't hear you,” came a voice from nearby. “He took his hearing aids out.”
I looked round and found Tsabec lying on a reclining chair nearby. “Gosh,” I said. “You look, uh... comfortable.”
“I am. This stuff is marvellous.”
By 'this stuff', I took them to mean the gloopy green algae paste they were smothered in from the neck down.
Their whole body was covered with some kind of wrapping to hold the goo against their skin, and it oozed out from the edges here and there, leaving little puddles on the chair beneath them.
“You look like a sausage with an infection,” I said.
Tsabec ignored me, but the attendant seeing to Wolph's pedicure broke into a grin. “It's tremendously good for you,” she said, half chiding. “You should try it.”
“Perhaps I will.” I introduced myself, and asked her name in return. She was called Sai-Xhan, and she had been born and raised on the station. “How long have you worked here?”
“Seven years this spring. I love it,” she added, with obvious sincerity.
“What do you love about it?”
“Oh, everything! I like the process of doing the treatments. Some of them are quite technical, you know – you need a year's special training before you can do nitrolectric peels. I love learning about all the new treatments and how they work and what sorts of bodies they work best on.
And I like helping people. Moulting, for example, can be really uncomfortable for some people, but we can help make it easier. And they come out the other side feeling so much better.
Or clearing out the gunk and debris that might build up in the crannies of someone's shell. That can be a real health risk, not to mention being dashed uncomfortable.
But even if someone is 'just' indulging themselves, I like helping people relax, helping them feel good.” She smiled at the intricate decoration on Wolph's nails. “Help them feel pretty.”
“There is nothing wrong with indulgence,” I agreed.
Sai-Xhan's brow twitched, her expression thoughtful. “I think it's more than that, actually. I think you need it. I think you need to find ways to be nice to yourself.”
A flush came into her cheeks and she shot me a self-deprecating look.
“I don't mean everyone should fork out for something like this. It's about time, not money. Giving yourself time and care. I think we deserve it. Everyone does.”
Finally, I found my way to the hot springs – an extraordinary feat of engineering. It looked for all the world like a natural spring, with real stone shipped in from a neighbouring planet and, an attendant informed me, a mineral content carefully calculated for to give maximum health benefits.
Hesje and Duytren were already there, though only Duytren acknowledged me when I entered. I sat down beside her, easing myself down into the steaming water, wincing at the delicious heat.
“Are they alright?” I said, nodding at Hesje.
They were floating, eyes closed, their fur spread out from them on the water's surface, their face just poking above the waterline.
“They'll be fine. Their species is semi aquatic.”
“Oh. I did not know that. I do not think I have ever seen them so relaxed.”
Duytren huffed a laugh. “I don't think you've ever seen them relaxed, full stop. [sigh] It's been hard on them, this trip. They deserve this.”
I thought back to what Sai-Xhan had said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Yes, they certainly do.”
[Title music: rhythmic instrumental folk. It plays throughout the closing credits.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light was created by H.R. Owen and Matt McDyre, and is a Monstrous Productions podcast. This episode was written and performed by H.R. Owen.
This week’s entry to the archives was based on an idea by Snootleboop, with accompanying artwork available on our social media accounts.
If you've got an idea for an archive entry, we want to hear it. You can send us anything from a one line prompt to a fully written entry through our website, by email, or on social media. For more information, see the show notes.
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