Wild Rose (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6

We're finally entering a town! I'm so pleased that I decided to sing a jolly tune, dancing round and round, holding my dress up so that it doesn't rip. The men take turns square dancing with me, and I am truly enjoying it. Mr. Pete plays the flute and Luke plays the penny whistle, we're camping about 10 minutes away from the city enjoying the moment, but woah! Ike steps in and follows my steps, twirling me round and round, "Oh, I didn't know the big bad soldier knew how to dance, a surprise really", I remarked. He smirked and pulled me a bit closer, "I do have a life you now." I shrugged and finally the tune slowed down into a nice waltz. Ike bowed and I curtsy, "May I have this dance, my lady?" He held out a hand and I smiled brightly and delightfully take his hand, he gently pulls me in and begins to lead. As we waltz, sparks begin to fly. I don't know if it's a girl thing, but we both just can't stop smiling or staring at each other's eyes.

He twirls me one last time and we stood there staring at each other, "I'm a bit dizzy.." I whisper. He smiles and twirls a lock of my hair and I freeze up. "I am too." He replies, I arch an eyebrow playfully and then whispered, "We should get a move on, tiger." That froze him up real good, I smirked and walked off towards the cargo wagon, petting the horse gently and offering some sugar cubes.

We arrive into the town a bit faster than I expected, we were all just excited to see other beings rather than the same ones for a straight month. Yes, we haven't seen a town or a city or even other people for a month, other than that guy that I knocked out yesterday. I look around in excitement and I feel like I'll burst with joy sooner or later. Ike walked up next to me and I looked up at his face to see him smiling down at me, I arch my brow in the air questioning, "What?" He studied my expression and then snapped back to reality, "Oh! Yes, it's a nice place isn't it?" I laugh and nod in agreement, "Indeed it is. It's been a while since I've seen anything like this." Ike froze up a bit. "I'm sorry, it's been hard on you." I looked up and shook my head smiling. "Actually, I've wanted adventure all my life, and now...I'm getting a taste of it." We begin to walk some more, the crew is all excited and they want to to head towards a tavern in front of us, I shake my head and point to a sign that says, "Barber and Cleaning." They just need to clean up, I force Ike in their too, he doesn't have a single flaw on him...he just needs to clean up. I've decided to go to the women's salon which happened to be right in front of the men's barber shop. I enter willingly, the women in the salon turn their heads towards me, all I see is pure jealously..why? I know I'm pretty, but come on! Looks aren't everything! Well, maybe for these women. The woman in charge grabs my face and examines it, "Not a flaw on yah, but you need some cleaning and my special remedy for your hair. Other than that, your a beauty! Come, come, darling, your an outsider...correct?" I smile, or try to, she's sort of creepy. "Yes, madam, I am. I've been traveling." She nods, "With a pack of monsters, other than the one with the purple hair, he's a big catch isn't he?" Ike?! Wow, he attracts more attention than I thought. She looks me up and down, "Your still a virgin, correct?!" My eyes pop.

She catches my expression, but I reply either way. "Or course madam! I would never think of such a thing!!" She nods in agreement. "I like you girl, a beauty and innocent...hard for a fellow to find ones like you, don't see them everyday!" She snorts and I try to put on a smile, it comes out crooked instead. She puts up a screen and I strip down into the war tub, I scrubbed my body and face and hair clean, the woman added her hair remedy and after 5 minutes, I washed it out. The only thing that I was clothed with was a towel.

She pulls me into the dressing room after using some special thing to add that bounce to my wavy black hair. I use to have that bounce, but no on my traveling, it's back and I'm happy. She quickly dried out my hair and it didn't frizz! One of the key points in the remedy, then she made me wear a nice puffy purple blue dress that covered my legs and was short sleeved. She gave me a matching pair of shoes, I looked into the mirror, she had transformed me...just all from that cleaning session. She handed me a parasol and I thanked her gratefully, she shook her head and told me to enjoy my time here. I waved goodbye and walked out of the salon, fresh and clean.