Of Captures and Horses (Taylani)

[Nkosi Sunrunner]

"She not want to be here but she have no other place. No home. So make this her home, now she want be here." Nkosi mulled over Taylani's words before nodding, "You have a home you miss? You should stay for kids, not have to love Fallan but love kids. But Fallan not bad. Just stupid sometimes." He finished with a light grin, thinking about the deal the two seemed to have made and steering her away from subjects she obviously didn't like. It would explain why she had looked like she might bolt when he approached her. Polishing off his food with a swiped sip of his dads mead Nkosi stood. He shook off the tired feeling that came with eating and laughed loudly. "You not need horse. We have horse, for packing and practice. It will be fun." "Is that why you can't even ride properly, Nkosi!" He turned and flicked his cousins ear, before jerking his head towards where they kept a few extra horses. As they walked he spoke, a hint of a sigh in his voice, "I not have my own yet. None have," he tried to think of the correct word while his hands already formed the one he searched for, "wanted me yet. But soon." Nkosi stayed silent after, leading her to where the horses were. Most were the companions of his family but two were packers, as he called them. Docile things, they often were used to teach the younger ones to ride. Nkosi had been avoiding riding unless they were moving a lot. Seeing how awkward he was untying the beautiful beast he realized he needed to get back on the horse, literally. "We go away from tent a little. That way not break anything, we take turns or ride together. One can lead so not spook. You not speak any Pavi? You want learn? I want learn more Common but lots speak Pavi and not speak Common after. Soon, no one speak it well or at all."

[Taylani]

Now Taylani was incredibly curious, her expression open in her curiosity as she follows the man out of the pavilion. His words were strange for her, and spoke to what she thinks is his naivete'. "Of course I have a home I miss. I have a mother that I miss, a father. How does Fallan know that I don't have a husband waiting for me in Syliras? What happens if I have three children already?" Of course she had no husband, no children. Fallan found out just how inexperienced she was the first night he had purchased her, but this one did not. And surely there would be wives here separated from their husbands and children if they were taken like she was. None of the Drykas men had asked if she had been married before clubbing her, her dress would have covered any Chevas mark but she supposed they could have looked while she was unconscious. This thought sent another blush blazing across her cheeks.

"Do you think that all the captives, the slaves, were just waiting for someone to pluck them up and give them new life? No most of us...most ..we had things we were doing." She didn't mean to get on a high horse so to speak, ranting a little until her steam run out and she quietens down. "No I most certainly won't love Fallan..He will have the children he gets on me, I don't want them so why not let him have them. Two and perhaps I can go home." She shrugs now, slowing as they neared where the horses were kept.

She smoothed her skirts down, his words on riding with him reminded her of the day before when Fallan had insisted she ride double with him. The closeness of their bodies had of course lead him to take things from one thing to another, no best not think of that if she didn't want to burst into flame from the blush. "I think it would be best if I walked.." She gestured with her hands to her skirt, yesterday the skirt had slid up all the way past her knees in the most revealing way. "I need to learn Pavi, since I don't want to have to have Fallan for everything I need done. I don't know if I can learn it..it seems complicated."

[Nkosi Sunrunner]

"Then maybe you not have kids. Kids not want be left, family important, they be sad if learn. We not insult Cheva, if you have mark of marriage Fallan will send home." He said it with assurity but the truth was they were in desperate times. Still, none would go against a Goddess or marriage, both were sacred separately and together. "I think you angry but can visit family. Not prisoner but Fallan use Fallan's rules. Andrea visit family when pass again, she have brothers. And not slaves, we need work to survive. People who brought have to work or they die. Drykas not support those who not support themselves. But we not talk about things make you sad anymore. Not friends yet but not need to argue." Nkosi gave a nod that to him put the discussion to rest. He had been raised around such things so he seen nothing wrong. People of all types and races became Drykas or came to Endrykas. It was simply the way things were. But he remembered Andrea's own frustration when they arrived and smiled. "When want ride say so. We work together, you teach me, I teach you." Nkosi thought about it from her point and conceded with a nod, "Hands look confusing but help say more. They more words with words. It sound strange but I teach words and say what hands mean. Then you copy. You do same for me? I not understand all you say but know what mean." Slowly he reached for Taylani's hand, treating her much like he'd seen others do with spooked horses. Then he moved to switched their hands so she held the horse with him, and stopped the horse. It was then he remembered the mounting block, and gestured for her to wait and jogged back the way they came, returning after a few chimes with the mounting block. "I not know how get on without." He admitted easily. Then he stepped up to the top and third step quickly. His height wasn't great but it worked to his advantage, he swung his right leg up and softly on the horses back. it rested there a bit uncomfortably, pulling a strain in his leg. He used his hands to keep a grip at its neck and bounced with his left foot. It was a short test bounce, followed by a shorter, firmer one that slid him onto the horses back. It almost sent him off to the other side as well but like a child he clung to its neck and wiggled his hips until he was comfortably seated. "Now we go, just guide not pull. What word you want know first?" As he spoke Nkosi gave a little squeeze his lower legs very slowly. At first it refused to move, and Nkosi chuckled at the refusal and pressed a bit harder. The horse took one step forward, and the man shook his head. "You try, pat her hind. Maybe she go. I not ride often, am losing learned things."

OOCSorry for all the chatter, I know I put it in his CS but the more I write with him the more I realize he doesn't shut up

[Taylani]

Taylani sighs softly, rolling her eyes but not really in disgust or annoyance, just ...because she was tired of the animosity that she harbored toward anyone Drykas, and because he was making it so difficult to continue to harbor them. "I don't have the mark of Chevas, never really even had a boyfriend but that is not the point." She lifts her shoulders in a defeated shrug and nods at his suggestion that they not talk about things that made her sad. These days it seemed that it was everything, but the Drykas boy beside her was actually making her feel a little better..a little bit like she could breathe again.

She didn't believe that Fallan would have let her go if she had ended up being marked, he was pretty insistent the night he bought her, and made it very clear what her uses were. Yes he spoke about not just taking but giving as well much like Nkosi was explaining but it was hard for her to focus on that when he had preambled the conversation with the fact that she would be the mother of his children.

Shaking her head, the spray of red hair swinging gently in the pale light of Syna, Taylani had to fight herself from yanking back away from him when he reached for her hands but it was a fight she won for she only flinched a little. Fortunately she had gotten used to the beasts, though not comfortable around them yet, she let her fingers stroke the silky neck while she waited for him to bring the mounting block. She knew what that was as well, she had used one just yesterday when she found herself on a horse for the first time.

"You are just learning to ride?" She asked, perhaps Fallan's family being herdsmen was the reason that Fallan himself had been riding before he could walk. It kind of made her feel a sort of kinship with him, made him feel more relative to her. She reached over and gave a gentle tap..and then a more firm that got the horse moving, albeit at a very slow trodding pace.

"Yes. I think we could help each other learn. You seem to have many words in common, just perhaps need to know how to place them?" She asked, her head remaining turned down toward the ground watching for holes or other things. She wasn't sure how much the horse would know to avoid such things. "For me it is everythng. I know the barest basics. Food, water, air, and horse. I know thank you, and please. But none of the signs that go with."