Masks were important in her line of work; she understood that. A different face for every customer, and a different dress or suit or fashionable boa walked out the door each day. But when the tinkling bell above the door rang for the last time each evening, she sometimes found herself without any faces left at all.
That was the wonderful thing about her spa-going companion, she decided, reclining slightly in the mud-bath next to her -- all her soft-spoken companion saw, all she ever wanted from her, was her. She only hoped her own presence was as comforting.