Shiver!!!

"The best kind of arrangement."

"I quite agree." Kiss!

Very kiss.

Meanwhile, Svetka is preparing for her court lessons with the Darkling.

She has a host of assorted servants to help her with that who arrive shortly after she finds her room, led by a beautiful woman with auburn hair that catches the sunlight like fire, wearing a cream kefta with gold embroidery and a lining of red fox fur. There's something otherwordly about her - a lot of things. 

She orders the servants to draw a bath and fetch her kit, and tells Svetka, tone brusque, "Into the bathroom. I have orders from the General to get you presentable."

"Uh, okay? Who are you?"

"My name is Genya." She herds Svetka into the bathroom. "Now, strip."

"I can take a bath myself."

"The sort of presentable the King demands cannot be bought with a simple bath. There are a myriad of lotions and the like you will need, on top of likely multiple rounds of rinsing and scrubbing - especially if you don't wish for me to change your underlying appearance much."

"Oh. Um."

"Not changing my appearance too much is good."

"Then strip."

She starts taking her clothes off.

She gets the bath filled with steaming water. "Do you object to others scrubbing you, as well?"

"I'd prefer to do it myself." She enters the bath, biting her lip at the temperature.

"Very well." She dismisses the servants, then. "I don't mind the excuse not to have those girls here... Several of them are in some noble's pocket or another." She walks over to inspect the soaps and such on the shelves near the bath - not in reach from the bath itself, though. Clearly it's assumed anyone in these rooms isn't scrubbing themselves. 

"I prefer not to have spies in the bath."

"Yes, well, keep up a dislike for others doing things for you, and you'll avoid some of it."

"Thanks for the tip."

She smiles, perhaps, and starts instructing Svetka on the various soaps and tools - what body part they're used for (there's an awful lot of categories, here), what order they should be used in, what they do, how to use them correctly...

It's a good day for her when she has more than a half sliver of soap to work with, so.

She's learning a lot.

It's an important skill set when interacting with the nobility; Svetka reflects on the Darkling, now, and her appearance should be to that standard.

"I'm assuming it's not just washing up?" she says as she finishes scrubbing.

"Not in court, no. Simple cleanness is honesty and vulnerability. And there's none of that among the nobles."

"Your appearance creates your narrative, and the Darkling's strategies within the court rely on certain narratives."

"I won't be putting makeup or the like on you tonight, though. The Darkling wants your simple cleanness for herself; but tonight we must still lay the foundation for your court appearances."

Nnnot going to unpack the first half of that last sentence. Nope. Moving right along.

"What's that involve?"

She explains the beginning of the intricacies of appearance - makeup and fashion, bearing, the meaning of scars... And she's very clear that this is an exceptionally focused skim.