Letters to Rautu: Soap

The commander was charged with finding a suitable present for the birthday of Count Ross on King Alasdair's behalf. As the king had little idea of what the count could need or want that he did not already possess, he left the matter of the gift to the commander for he only trusted his advisors to find something fitting of nobility and Alasdair wanted the gift to be fitting in character.

The woman overall believed the count to be the squalid sort, unclean only in his filthiness of manner and the slicked state of his thinning hair. She therefore ruled that soap was to be the perfect gift and when next on patrol she would procure some from a new shop in town. The commander and the Den Asaan scoured the streets in search of the particular shop and when they came to it, they were treated with an odd display in the window.

Each bar of soap and creation of cleanliness retained the shape of a slice of cake. Even the smell emanating from the shoppe's open door bore the correct scent and the Den Asaan demanded that he be allowed to enter to assess the goods being sold.

The commander held him back and assured him that the shoppe indeed sold only soap and not treats but the giant would not hear it when there was clearly the proof he needed before him. She adamantly demanded that they had not come to new bakery and called his attention to the lack of ovens and heat present for the shoppe to be one.

"Traala, I can see them and smell them," the giant argued. "Why would something that it meant to cleanse be in the form of something that is meant to be eaten?"

"It's a device, Iimon Ghaala," the commander insisted. "Your attention is caught by the pretty display of cakes and they are hoping you will go wandering in, believing it to be a bakery when it's really only soaps and fragrances."

"Why would your people use such deception for something so small?"

"I suppose because people need such things so sparingly that they make them in the shape of
something more enticing to catch your eye and hope you will purchase something once inside."

The giant's violet gaze was suddenly caught on one bar of soap in particular. This bar seemed as though it were made of chocolate and it was even brazen enough to have a cube of brown sugar plunged into its center. The Den Asaan was convinced that his mate was fooling him only to keep him from his precious delights and leaped into the shoppe to test the cake that has so ardently lured him. When the giant entered, there were many manner of things that caught his eye, baskets of cupcakes and pyramids of sliced cakes.  He mistook them for their scent and sight, and did see their true nature until it was too late.

The commander hurried inside only to find the giant poised over the chocolate looking cake he had wanted. She called out for the giant not to eat it but to no avail as the giant had swiftly plucked it from its place and lifted it to his lips. She watched in horror as the giant took his first bite and stood back, in fear of his impending enraged reaction.

When the taste of the cake was not what he presumed it would be, Rautu's eyes opened wide in anger for the detestation of being so cruelly deceived. The Den Asaan crushed the remainder of the soft soap in his violent grasp and roared at the proprietor for utilizing such trickery. He pinned the young proprietor against the back wall and lectured her on the subject of dishonesty in trade for some time until his mate approached and kindly asked him to join her outside.

The owner apologized for her apparent ruse and claimed that she only wished to create items people would enjoy with greater frequency. For the giant's troubles and as a peace offering for the misunderstanding, she invited them to take one of the new chocolate based soaps to try in hopes they would find it to their liking and return for more.  

The Den Asaan looked at the chocolate-looking soap and grunted his approval as he took the largest piece he could find. He quickly gave it to his mate and demanded that she return to the keep to bathe. When his mate remarked that she had only just cleanse herself that morning, the giant asserted that she did not smell enough like chocolate and therefore another bath was needed.