Timaeus did not often get a chance to escape the confines of Eubocris anymore given the nature of his work, but every now and then the Baron's brother would get lucky. This had been one of those times when Nico encouraged the younger Valaoritis to take a few days off. Even though this seemed like a gesture of good will done out of the goodness of Nico's heart, Timaeus knew that there was another reason why his brother wanted to make sure that the boy let go of the reigns for more than an afternoon. The stress of the position was getting to him. Even the most emotionally sound of men would struggle to lead a unit on the best of days and Tim just wasn't that. He had gone from sailing the world, only needing to care for himself to needing to look after the well being of hundreds of men. It was rather jarring to his system and that simple explanation as to why Tim needed a break was only about half of the reason why Tim was seeming to be more akin to a loose cannon every single day. He had come back after four years to learn that his father had died. This meant that the boy had not seen the man who had sired him since he was sixteen and he was now much older than that.

Timaeus didn't like to admit it, but the death of his father bit at him immensely. There was no way to convey how deep his shame and regret was for not coming home sooner. Had he done so, maybe he could have had a chance to say goodbye and have a sense of closure that the open seas had stolen from him... no, that Tim had stolen from himself. He had countless opportunities to return and he took none of them. Now he could not lay the blame on anyone else, but his own miserable self. This ate away at him constantly and there was very little he could do to numb the pain besides the soothing relief that alcohol provided. No one knew that Timaeus was quickly turning to the bottle to numb his pain and that was how it was going to stay if he had a say in it.

Even though his habit had been kept under wraps, the toll had not. Now he was a bit snappier with everyone. It was easy to hide in the unit as he was expected to be tough as nails there, but at home? That was a whole other issue. Tim had had one too many disagreements with his family to be blind to the toll everything was taking. He clearly needed to get away for a few days and at this point the Valaoritis were more than happy to oblige.

Timaeus might have had a short list of the various places he wanted to go on this extended break, but given that they were all outside Colchis the Lord had to settle for the province of Elimea. It was the practical choice that also satsified Tim's desire to travel given the distance from the central province of Eubocris. Nico had also lauded praises upon the hot springs, claiming that Tim would come back a completely different man after having a few days to soak in the warm waters. The younger man had been inclined to his eyes at his brother's proclaimations, now that he was here, he had to admit that his brother had a point. Sinking into the hot baths, letting the water crawl past his shoulders and up his neck, the young man could feel the tension that had been boiling up in him melt away. He didn't think it was possible, but the proof was staring him right in the face.

At the moment, the Captain was alone so he held no shame about releasing a deep sigh as he leaned his head back. The noise echoed off the cave walls, which in a way was a funny sort of noise as his own noise of contentment was amplified. If Tim wasn't so absorbed in his own relief, he might have laughed at it. Why not? No one could hear him. There was no one to judge the man.

Reaching out of the pool for a moment to take his pile of clothes laying discarded nearby, the Valaoritis made a makeshift pillow for his head to rest on as he leaned back. Once he was happy for the placement, he allowed his eyes to slip closed, fully drinking in the relaxing qualities of the hot springs, completely unaware that he was soon about to have some rather mixed company in the form of his Drakos comrades who were also on their way to the baths...

Who knew what lietenant and her best soldier would think of finding another high ranking soldier in the same baths as them?

Her expression was wry when Phaedra only urged them onward, to the springs. She had no illusions about her commanding officer. She was a stiff, formal woman -- not accustomed to taking things easy or slow. So she said nothing, instead urging the horse onward until they had reached the place where they had to leave the horses behind. She took her bag of supplies from the horse’s saddle, and slung it over her back -- giving Phaedra only a nod.

She stayed quiet until they reached the place where the cave opened up, leading them inside with a sigh of relief as the already warmer air began to dampen her skin. Already she could feel her shoulders dropping, the tight tension across her shoulders ebbing away into the warmth. Her feet found the floor of the cave to mostly be smooth, with a slight grit. It seemed that they weren’t the only ones to know of this place. She turned back to Phaedra with a grin, adjusting the weight of the bag on her back.

She moved into the cave until she was comfortable with the level of light still left, that which would make her shadow, and then began to pull off her clothes. If she was going to relax, then she was going to do it right. Sitting in wet clothes was no fun, and she was sure Phaedra had seen enough of her over the years that it would not matter to the commander.

”Hurry up, Phae or I’m going to throw you in myself.” The soldier said candidly, all but chucking her clothes across the cavern. She had not even noticed the man that was soaking in the same bath, her eyes not quite adjusted to the darkness just yet. She laughed, a girlish sound for someone so brash and unstereotypical of her fair sex, before setting her foot into the first part of the pool. ”If I wasn’t scared to end up impaled on a rock, I’d just jump in right now.” She said, edging further into the water. She let out a small sound of delight as the water skidded up to her ankles and then her knees, lapping higher and higher.

It was only then that her senses seemed to kick in, a slight sound -- a ripple in the water, or a rock skittering…something caught her attention. Her gaze narrowed, and she stood naked from the waist up, glaring into the darkness. ”If someone else is here, you best announce yourself before I drown you myself.” She hissed, her tone sharp as it echoed off the walls.

While the military officer and her second in command made their way into the caves, Timaeus was starting to understand why his brother had been so quick to laud praises onto the springs. As the warm mineral-rich water soaked into his skin, the military camp could practically feel it drawing all the aches and pains that had built up during the short period he had been back in Colchis. Honestly, Timaeus had not known that he had been so tense in the first place until he had the warm, bubbling waters to force a relaxed state upon him. It was a strange sensation for him, realizing how worked up he had been and feeling it all floating away. As cliche as it may sound, Timaeus could have sworn that the last time he had felt like this was when he had been out on the open seas with Adrestus and Sokari. Back then he had no worries, no real concerns -- or at least ones that paled in comparison to the ones he faced today with his duties regarding the Men of the Heights and assisting his brother in his own role as the Baron.

He had never stopped to actually consider how jarring of a transition that had truly been. After all, Timaeus was not very good with dealing with the past (as evidenced by his drinking problem) and as much as he missed his life out at sea; the young military officer had subconsciously recognized that pining for a life that was now lost to him was not healthy for him. So, he had shut a large part of that out. He had forgotten what it felt like to not have to worry about keeping new recruits in line or finding a place in the budget for new weapons. Maybe when he got back to Eubocris, he should try to find things like this that could help him unwind and not have to walk around with a heavy ball of stress weighing him down so heavily. After all, clearly, his own method of drinking himself out of his misery when the doors were closed at night was not exactly working as well as he thought that it did.

However, Timaeus was quick to chase these thoughts away. Thinking about the future seemed to be too taxing when this lovely paradise was right in front of him. Leaning his head back on his makeshift pillow made of his crumpled clothes, the Captain sunk lower into the water, allowing the almost saline-smelling water lap gently around the base of his neck. As the cave was fairly dark, having only been lit by the smattering of burning braziers on the wall, most of his body was obscured beneath the inky black waters. (That was, of course, save for the general outline of his body.) Perhaps more could have been easily seen if the dim lighting had been burning just a smidge brighter, but ultimately this was going to be for the best as Timaeus’s newest companions in this unique bathhouse arrived.

The nobleman from Eubocris scowled slightly at the sheer amount of noise that they were making -- which really wasn’t a lot, truth be told. However, their innocent chatter seemed to be almost deafening amid the previous silence of the cavern. Before the two of them had arrived, Tim could have heard the gentle droplets of water fall down from forming stalactites against the floor of the cave or the occasional groan from a shifting rock. But that was now lost as the two women chatting about not wishing to be impaled and having half the mind to toss the other in. Even though Timaeus was a little less than pleased to have the serenity of the moment disrupted, he wasn’t really showing his annoyance openly beyond the odd glare through the darkness.

Even though he had been in the cavern longer than the two of them, his utterly relaxed state and sleepy eyes had made it difficult to properly adjust to the darkness of the cave. He could see two dark blobs moving about on the other side of the pool, but there was little else that he could make out beyond that. The foreign features of the second-in-command and the warrior-like physique of the lieutenant were almost impossible to make out in the darkness. However, he could make out the general movements that came with the two of them undressing -- but that was more from the rustling of fabric than anything that his eyes were picking upon. Now he would be a liar if he tried to convince himself that he didn’t perk up a little bit when he realized what was happening across the pool, but the Valaoritis lord was not stupid enough to try and gawk at the two of them across the pool. This, after all, was nothing like the last time he had found himself in the company of a bare lady in a bathhouse. That had been in Egypt where the rules regarding modesty were far laxer than the customs Timaeus had grown up in Egypt. He was more than well aware of this simple truth which was why even though his blood was running hot as a primal part of him dared to dream of some sort of repeat of his run-in with Nia, he had the common sense to pointedly look up at the ceiling as they rushed to get in the water.

Timaeus didn’t announce his presence during those few brief moments that the two Molossian soldiers remained unaware of there being a third person with them. He saw no reason to do so, after all. He was minding his own business on the other side of the pool from them. As the two of them had not gone through the effort to make sure that they were alone before they first started to strip, Tim could only assume that they were not overly concerned with being seen by others -- so there was no reason for him to speak up for the sake of their own modesty. Plus there was the simple fact that Timaeus really didn’t want to engage in any sort of small talk at this moment. The warm waters were doing a fantastic job of luring him to sleep and if these women were intent on keeping to themselves, Timaeus was not going to intrude just for the sake of a moment of brief flirting. It was just far easier to keep to his own as far as he was concerned.

However, it seemed to be that the two ladies across the way had not immediately begun to strip out of a lack of concern for modesty, but the foolish assumption that they were alone. Which, of course, they learned was wrong just as soon as Timaeus shifted back to lean on the pile of clothes behind him, setting off ripples of water that could not have been formed by water dripping into the pool from some cave fixture high above him. Instead of ignoring him like Timaeus assumed that they would, the military Captain was soon being met with a barrage of threats to reveal himself under the threat that he would be skewered by the weapons that they had brought if he remained silent.

Sitting up at the rapid change in atmosphere from one that was relaxing to tense, Timaeus squinted through the darkness at the two women, unsure of what to make of these words. Was he worried about being sliced by two women or drowned in the waters? In the simplest terms, no he was not. Granted, this stemmed from the assumption he held that these women were not also soldiers like him, but instead were sisters or something to that nature. If things turned hairy, Timaeus was fairly confident that his military training would tip any scuffle into his favor despite the fact that it would be two versus one. Not that it was going to get to that point anyways. Timaeus had come to the caverns of Eilmea to relax, not fight.

“Bold of you to assume that I am not armed as well.” He muttered with a light laugh dancing in the corner of his lips. The lord’s words were more to himself than anything else, but the sheer echoing nature of the cavern walls carried his words over to the women anyway. Scooting himself up in the water, Timaeus revealed his bare upper half as he swung his arms back onto the ledge, leaning onto it as he attempted to placate the girls into thinking that he really wasn’t that much of a threat. Though if he thought that his decision to remain on the dark side of the cave while talking about nearby he had discarded a sword was a good attempt at setting the two women at ease… Well, he was clearly going to have to work on his people skills, wasn’t he?

As he focused on the blobs across the pool, he could begin to notice more details that he hadn’t before. Like the light color surrounding the woman who was not yet in the pool -- probably the fabric of a dress, she had yet to take off. However, it wasn’t enough to make out the fact that the woman in the water was currently wearing nothing on her upper torso. It was for the best really that Timaeus couldn’t see this sort of thing. He might have been forced to grow and mature when he had to take up the mantle of responsibility with his military position, the mere sight of a woman undressed might start a fervor in him that would be hard to quench in any sort of modest way.

“Timaeus,” He quickly supplied, not wanting his words to be taken as a threat of his own towards them, “I would come over to you two for a proper introduction, but I’m guessing we’re all not in the proper state for that.” A light chuckle escaped him as he explained why he was not going to jump out of the pool and race over to say hello. He could not say for certain what kind of state that the two of them were in, but Timaeus was completely bare and he did not want to have to deal with how these two women might react if they happened to catch a glimpse of his unclothed form. After all, his silence had already earned him threats of death. If they were going to take this route to preserve their modesty then Timaeus was not going to move. Not until he was certain that the threats of drowning and skewering him were not going to be acted upon in the time it would take to pull back on his military tunic.

However, that didn’t mean that Timaeus was not going to act the part of a gentleman like good noble lords like himself were supposed to do and offer some sort of reassurance that he had not technically seen anything that was out of line. “If it’s any consolation, I can’t see either of you.” He doubted that it would do him any good, truth be told, but at least if they decided that the crime of being in a public bathhouse first was something worthy of death, the gods would at least know that he had been honest with him not violating their modesty. Granted… if they decided to follow through anyway, that illusion of not seeing anything would likely be ruined.

Though, then again, would being strangled by two naked women in a bathhouse really be the worst method of reaching Hades? Tim thought that it wouldn’t be that bad of an exit, but he wasn’t exactly going to goad them into that either. Or at least he was hoping to not do that. It could very well be that they were not happy with his introduction. If this was the case, well, Timaeus would be in a rather tricky situation.

But that all depended on what Zosi and Phaedra thought of their new bathing companion didn’t it?

This was typical. Phaedra had finally been forced to relax and do something fun for a while and there was already some complication. Luckily, Phaedra wasn’t disappointed. She was used to this sort of thing. It seemed nothing ever truly went to plan in her life. That was why she was always on alert for any sign of trouble. This man who had not thought to announce himself as two woman began to undress in front of them was just one such bit of trouble, and it made her glad she always brought a weapon with her everywhere.

However, The man seemed entirely unconcerned with the threat of violence, claiming himself to be armed as well. Still, it would be easy enough for the two of them to defeat one man if it came to that. He, however, seemed entirely disinclined to fight them, which Phaedra certainly appreciated. She was supposed to be relaxing after all, whatever that meant. Zosi, as always, spoke the words that she merely thought. Whether or not he was armed they would easily be able to take him.

While his flippant attitude towards her threat annoyed her, at least the man had the decency to introduce himself. Phaedra resheathed her knife, crossing her arms across her own chest. “Lieutenant Phaedra of Molossia,” she introduced herself, hoping her title might lend a little credence to her threats that would be dangerous if he tried anything. Phaedra glanced over at Zosi, who showed no indication of offering an introduction. “This is my second, Zosime,” she added. It was only polite that they all knew each other's names.

The man however, seemed to think that it was perfectly acceptable that they might share the baths together. Still, Zosi seemed insistent that they would still find a way to enjoy themselves. If he wasn’t leaving, like hell was she going to undress in front of him despite whatever he might claim to be able to see or not see. Phaedra began wading into the warm water, chiton still firmly on when she felt a low deep rumble. She heard a few rocks fall from the ceiling, splashing into the pools below.

Phaedra’s eyes went wide. This was a bad sign, it wasn’t a coincidence that the moment she had entered the water the ground had shook. She wasn’t about to risk displeasing the gods. “Come on Zosi, we’re leaving now.” It only took a few steps before she was out of the pool, quickly stuffing her belongings back into her sack. No good could come of this. The ground continued to shake, only growing stronger. She had finally gotten all of her things ready to leave when there was a large crack, and clattering of stone. The cave suddenly went dark. As Phaedra looked up towards the exit she saw what had happened. The mouth of the cave was now completely blocked with...well she couldn’t see in the dark, but she assumed there were now rocks blocking the entrance to the cave.

She had always expected that she’d meet her end at the hands of some Egyptian or a Northerner. That she might meet her end here, stuck in a cave with a strange man, having done something to displease the gods, that was not something she had ever prepared herself for. Neither an earthquake nor a rockslide were something she could fight, nor was the will of the gods something she could subvert. For the first time in a long time, Phaedra was well and truely scared.