[ Between traveling by foot in a filthy dungeon then walking across the sands in the desert sun, Balthier's body and temper are in desperate need of a bath, even with how charmed his garments are against sweat and smell.

He'd be lying if he said his thoughts had not turned, regularly and with curiosity, toward their new knight companion. He speaks little, lends a hand to defend without being asked, and there's a hollowness to his eyes and worrying thinness to his frame. Neither are a surprise, not with two years in that hell of a prison. What is surprising is his immediate commitment to the princess, and his very clear tolerance for the pirates.

He does cut his hair, he does pull on the discarded uniform of some man of iller fate. But Balthier suspects -- with a kindness he would never admit to possessing -- the others' spirit is in need of some mending.

So, at breakfast at their inn in Rabanstre on their second day, he claps Basch cheerily on the shoulder. ]

Eaten? Good. You're coming with me. I need a bodyguard for the baths.

[ He does not, but it's the best string to pull. ]

And I've already paid for it so do not waste dear Princess's coin.

[ Also not her coin, but she isn't there to sell him out. ]