PM to join Desperate and Pregnant

[Taylani]

It seemed to Taylani, by the way this conversation was going, that she was going to have to just make judgement calls over what was too much and what wasn't. She certainly didn't feel like she "knew" things the way the healer said so often that mothers knew. Perhaps when faced with the actual problem of her flight she will instinctively know. The flight was already almost guaranteed to end in her death, and the death of the child obviously, and that saddened and frightened Taylani. However the alternative, at least the alternative in her mind, was worse.

One hand raised, her fingers pushed her hair behind her ear in an absent gesture, and she did not miss the gestures that the other woman had made. Again Taylani knew that the gestures were often ways of interjecting thoughts and emotions to words to give them new meanings. While she did not know what the gestures meant, the gestures and the advice to have a healer on hand when the child comes gave Taylani a pause.

"What would a healer do..when the child comes?" She asked, wondering in earnest how another would be able to help the birthing process. Though she expected to either be dead or be in a city by the time this child comes around the words give her slight pause.

[Irea Rasar]

"What would a healer do..when the child comes?" The innocent question made Irea wince. When a woman's hips were too narrow to permit a safe birth, many healers would do things to widen the passage so the child could pass safely without killing the mother. Unfortunately, most of these things were very painful and had a high chance of causing the mother to grow ill. Not to mention the fact that their description would terrify any but the most stout women. To save Taylani quite a bit of worry, Irea replied, "Watch. Keep mother safe. Help if need." She replied with a slight grimace. Her own hips were a little too thin for her liking, and the thought of needing one of those procedures herself did not bear thinking of. "Want boy or girl?" Irea asked to change the subject, her smile returning. Though more men were needed among the Drykas, Irea couldn't help wanting a daughter, when the time came. She knew a few others who shared the sentiment.

[Taylani]

Taylani noticed the grimace when the healer seemed to try and assure her that it was a normal occurrence to have a healer present at a routine birth. She was already inordinately worried simply because she felt already at a disadvantage from what she considered to be a normal gestation period. Normally she would be here with her husband, or her mother if her husband was the squeamish sort, and her mother would be here to hold her hand and assure her that childbirth was natural, that women's bodies were specifically designed for that. Instead she is in a land full of strangers, albeit mostly because she kept them at an extreme distance, with a man who she was utterly confused about in regard to her feelings, and planning what most people would safely assume would be a suicide run.

She had enough on her plate to worry with, she didn't dwell on what ifs that were seasons down the road. Instead she shakes her head, allowing the red of her hair to spill over her shoulder. "It doesn't matter if it is a boy or girl. I hadn't really thought that far ahead." Though she flashes to the mental picture of a red hair girl child, with Fallan's gray eyes. The thought of Fallan's influence on the child's genes did not repulse her nearly as much as she thought it should. "Boy or girl, as long as the child is free."

Sighing, Taylani goes back down her checklist of questions in her mind. This next one, basically what can she expect to have to work through the next few weeks would be easy enough to ask naturally. "I understand that sometimes women are sick to their stomach, is there anything else I should expect this early?".

[Irea Rasar]

"It doesn't matter if it is a boy or girl. I hadn't really thought that far ahead. Boy or girl, as long as the child is free." Taylani said with a shake of her head. Irea couldn't help the amused smile that found its way onto her face at the woman's naivety. She was Drykas, now. Family. No child of hers would be a slave. The long hair proved it; slaves did not have hair like that. She really should have braided it, though. All Drykas women did. "I understand that sometimes women are sick to their stomach, is there anything else I should expect this early?" The healer thought over the words for several seconds. Sick to the stomach. That meant...Nausea. Gods, but Common was cumbersome. If she ever had occasion to be around Taylani in her free time, Irea would be sure to teach her some Pavi. "Sick, yes," Irea said, "Much. But over soon." The healer pondered her next words, trying to decide how to say it. "Ah...Stomach hurts." Irea doubled over, clutching her stomach in a mimicry of a stomach cramp, "And tired." The healer thought for a few more moments before continuing, "Sore," She gestured to the woman's breasts, "Want make milk. Little sore." Irea smiled reassuringly at Taylani, "Is not so bad. But not same for all. Some head hurt, some back. Some want food, some no. Is different."

[Taylani]

Taylani shifts a little, bringing her legs around to curl beside her just to let blood flow return to her lower extremities, her right arm coming down to press her hand into the ground, giving her support. "Much sick?" Taylani repeats, using the same grammar error as the other without thinking about it. "I am not very sick now, but your saying it can get worse?"

When the healer gestured to her small breasts Taylani stiffened, perhaps for the first time truly understanding that her body was going to be changing dramatically. She knew on some level that it would change, she just hadn't sat and realized just how much it would. "Doesn't sound pleasant." She murmurs half to herself, wondering if what the healer described was early symptoms of pregnancy and if she would have to combat all of those on her flight out of Endrykas. It almost gave her pause in her planning...almost. "The man..he insists I learn to ride. Is that safe?"

[Irea Rasar]

"I am not very sick now, but you're saying it can get worse?" Taylani did not sound very eager about that prospect. Irea sympathized; she had seen truly ill mothers, and some had even come close to death. It was a pitiful sight. Those were usually the older ones, however. The ones whose bodies were no longer fit for carrying children. She doubted Taylani would suffer that fate; she was in the prime of her life. The healer nodded slowly, "Yes..." She admitted, before quickly adding, "But you strong." Irea smiled, "Young. Strong. Drykas." Of course, the woman probably did not have her wind marks, yet, but that would likely come in time. The woman grumbled something Irea couldn't understand, before asking, "The man..he insists I learn to ride. Is that safe?" The question very nearly made Irea laugh out loud. She had to press the back of her hand against her lips to keep her mirth contained. Once the healer had regained control of herself, she replied, "Ride is good. All Drykas ride. Not fast, make bounce." She made a jostling sort of movement, "But slow. Slow is good, yes? Walk is worse." Surely the woman had not planned to walk as Endrykas moved, did she? That would be dangerous and foolish in the Sea of Grass, especially for a pregnant woman. "Not so bad until big," She made an expansive gesture near her own belly, "But careful."

[Taylani]

Taylani scowled, at the healers words calling her Drykas, everyone was forever trying to convince her that she was Drykas. Yet she was not Drykas, she was adamant about that, even before she concocted the plan to escape she was always intent on getting home. After her two child bargain with Fallan was completed he was suppose to take her home, only the fact that she realized she could not leave her children -particularly girl children- here in Endrykas alone had caused her to scheme.

"I am not Drykas." She said firmly, dropping her blue gaze to the ground for a moment. She composed herself so that she might not give away the bitterness that still filled her heart. "I have walked this long, as long as I stay in the midst of the people as they move..or walk with the ..the chained captives." There were very few of those, captives who refused to play nice. More and more they accepted their fate and were unchained as they went further away from their past lives. Taylani was stubborn, and headstrong but she was not so stupid as to think she could physically fight her captors. Otherwise she might have found herself in that crowd. "But walking is worse then riding?" This might cause her problems, because she certainly didn't plan on taking a horse with her.

[Irea Rasar]

"I am not Drykas." Taylani stated firmly, her gaze dropping to the floor of the tent. "I have walked this long, as long as I stay in the midst of the people as they move..or walk with the ..the chained captives." Irea's eyes widened. Most Drykas rode as they traveled, due to the long distances involved. The woman must have been in better shape than the healer had first thought, to be able to do so for so long. It impressed her, despite the foolishness of it. "But walking is worse then riding?" Irea determined to correct Taylani later, once her question had been answered. She was Drykas, even if she did not admit it yet. "Yes," The healer confirmed, "When big, walking hard. Hurt self, hurt baby if not careful. Riding safer, easier." The healer had thought that was self-evident. Apparently not. "Drykas." Irea insisted, feeling the need to correct the woman on her error. "Husband Drykas. Live with Drykas. Eat Drykas food. Child Drykas. You are Drykas." Taylani clearly resisted many Drykas customs, though she was certain that resistance would fade in time. Everyone came to know that the Drykas ways were best for them. It would probably displease the woman to hear that, but she needed to understand it.

[Taylani]

Taylani was relieved to hear that the woman spoke of later in her pregnancy, when she was big -the thought of her getting so big that walking was difficult sent a shiver through her. This would not effect her plans then, by the time she was that big her escape would be over, either failed, successful...or dead. She didn't want to think about how she would get on the horse if she was that big, considering the trouble she had mounting when he had forced her to start learning. Mounting still was not easy but at least she could do it.

Yet it was the healers last words that caught Taylani's ears, and she really did intend on being polite and civil to this woman. She honestly tried to keep her own anger and bitterness from effecting her words, but Taylani was not known for her clear thinking in times of annoyance. A dark expression takes over the redhead's features, and her fingers that wasn't holding herself up clenched tightly. "I am not Drykas. He is not my husband, never my husband. I am forced to live with the Drykas, forced to eat Drykas food...forced to bear Drykas child..but I am not Drykas." She almost stumbled over the words Drykas child, for if she had her way the child would never know who the Drykas were, let alone his or her parentage.

[Irea Rasar]

Taylani's response took Irea aback. The healer hadn't thought that the other woman would be so forceful about it. For that matter, she hadn't seemed confrontational at all. She would accept her new life, eventually. There was no need for Irea to be so insistent. It wasn't her place, anyway. That was Taylani's husband's responsibility. After a few moments of staring in surprise at Taylani, Irea lowered her head in apology, "Sorry." That was a thing Taylani would learn in time, as well; picking her battles. Irea knew Taylani was not ready to call herself Drykas, and found that she respected the woman more for her honesty. Lying to please someone else never worked in the end. "Need know more?" She asked after a time, giving the other woman a careful smile; a sort of peace offering. She had been wrong in pushing the woman, when they had only just met.