The bath water was freshly made - or so they were told. Eve Kim and Tanya Su were somewhat uncomfortable with the unclear and slightly foggy look at first, then the smell won them over - it was a medicinal smell, with a touch of ginger, sage and rice wine. The same kind of smell they remembered from some of those exorcists’ places they visited.

  They still had their underwear on when they soaked into the giant brick tub. The slightly tingling warm water actually had a soothing effect, on both their bodies and their minds. The sensation on their fingertips and toes came back. Then they could feel the sore on their backs and their necks again. As they sank lower into the warm brew, they could feel their tightly wound minds getting loose and the tension lifted.

  “So - what’s with the - the ‘shavings’?” Tanya Su couldn’t help but ask.

  “I’m - I’m not sure.” Eve Kim shook her head: “I just know that - normally if someone sneaks out, they need to do some kind of ritual to cut off their connection to the city. Maybe - I think maybe this is it.”

  “Why’d they call us ‘pigs’?”

  “Probably taken from what the smugglers used to call the smuggled.” Eve Kim sighed and sat at the bottom of the tub, leaving only her head above water: “I heard that smugglers used to mostly bring people into the city instead of out - and they all started doing some menial job at the Northern District. Can you imagine that?”

  “No, how long ago was that?” Tanya Su giggled.

  “Maybe - two or three decades ago.” Eve Kim sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The drawings of four gods, or maybe the four heavenly warlords occupied the center. “I just kinda remember hearing about it ever since the cruise ship accident, less and less people are coming into the city. Less tourists and less movers.”

  “Is that why they started charging the tax for those that move out?” Tanya Su asked.

  “Who knows?” Eve Kim shrugged: “With shit roads like that, they’ve gotta get the money somehow.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  In the next room, Alex Pearson was having a similarly relaxing time in the bath. He was not comfortable with the idea of taking a bath in a place at first either, until he saw the workers of this temple actually pouring freshly boiled water in. He even examined the leaves and tree barks with which they made the bath water to make sure these were the right ingredients. They were, and he was finally relieved enough to believe that this place was not a place of malice and danger.

  The two young women took only about two or three minutes longer than it did Alex Pearson. Per the request of those who worked in the temple, all three of them changed into simple loose but slightly rough clothes. They were assured that their personal belongings would be safe.

  The old man in a taoist robe appeared to be the one who would perform the “shaving” ritual. “Sit.” He said to them while pointing at three mats on the ground in front of the long desk: “Who will go first?”

  “They will.” Alex Pearson pointed at the young women: “They’re young. They weren’t heavily involved. They’re roommates - friends, their lives are intertwined, so they should go together.” Then he turned to them, primarily focusing his eyes on Eve Kim: “Trust me - or don’t, but you’d want to go first while the performer of the ritual is fresh.”

  “What is this ‘shaving’ ritual about?” Tanya Su asked, her lips quivering.

  “It’s better you don’t know, actually.” The younger man in a taoist robe interjected: “The more you know, the harder it is. But it will be good for you, and you will officially leave - ”

  “Essentially it’s a cleanse.” The older man in a taoist robe lit up the incense sticks in the burners and poured some rice wine into a bowl-sized round groove on the altar. “And my apprentice is right, the more you know the more difficult it is to do this ritual, especially when you’re going at it together.”

  Eve Kim and Tanya Su looked at each other, still hesitating.

  “Look, if we want to harm you, we would not be this careful or tell you to take baths.” The younger man said.

  “... fine.” Eve Kim sighed and let out a deep, long breath: “Let’s do it.”

  “Great. Relax and sit straight. Stay calm and don’t move.” The older man nodded.

  “Okay, sir. ” The younger man gestured at Alex Pearson to stand up and go to the corner of the room: “Can you wait by the side?”

  Alex Pearson did as asked. The younger man in a taoist robe gave the two young women two wooden coins and two copper coins, telling them to hold the wooden coins in their left hand and copper coins in their right.

  The older man raised his peachwood sword with two talismans impaled on its blade, swung it across the air above the heads of Eve Kim and Tanya Su, then chanted a spell. Fire emerged from the two talismans. The older man turned back, dipped his left hand middle and index fingers in the altar’s round groove and then slid both fingers along the blade of his wooden sword. The younger man pointed his peach wood sword at the sky along with his master, then both swung their swords across the air above the young women’s heads.

  Both men in taoist robes chanted together: “The just and loving heavens, the righteous and stern hells. The fruit is ripened; the bird is grown; the rain is gone; the fawn is ready to live. New start, new end, new life and new death. Be at peace and burden no more. Be gone. Let go.”

  “Clunk!” The sound of a metal object being slashed to two pieces resounded in Eve Kim and Tanya Su’s ears.