.
The space given by Caelum was much appreciated and she settled her eyes on his watching his face closely. She hoped silently that her own reaction to him didn’t put him off though in the time they had been touching she didn’t think it did. Instead she slid the sketch pad towards him when he asked for it, her body leaning forward with the gentle push until finally she stood. There was too much intrigue thrumming through her veins that she had to watch what he was drawing. Her body shifted around the table carefully until she was standing to his side and watching with large eyes.
“You recognize me?” It was to her to think someone she never met before recognized her; she didn’t realize the lack of the literal translation until his next set of words. She grinned to herself while muttering “Nevermind.” His words hit close to home, somewhere deep inside of her turned its attention to Caelum like a feline who just decided something was interesting. How did he know how to string those words into exactly who she was? Most people saw her for the healer she was, the student and the teacher but no one saw the rest after just starting to talk to her. “How do you know these things?” She murmured, it was more a whisper then anything since she was standing beside him, her eyes never leaving the motions of the charcoal on the paper.
Caelum was better at drawing then she was, her mouth relaxed as she studied the drawing and took it from his hands when he offered it. The shading on his jungle scene was better than hers has been, granted she didn’t get much into the shading aspect of her drawing but he had gotten the bend and curves of the leaves better then she had as well. Pale fingers hovered over the drawing, tracing the branches without actually touching them so she didn’t smudge the charcoal. She didn’t notice him examining the cheese knife until it was held out to her, she was to engrossed with his drawing.
“W-what did you say?” She put the sketch pad down and looked at the cheese knife when he asked her to prick her finger. Shock at the question spread through her veins like ice and she wasn’t entirely sure how to react. One did not typically hear the phrase ‘prick your finger and ruin my pretty drawing with it’ okay those weren’t the exact words but they might as well have been. It was artist’s blasphemy, and healer’s blasphemy! Her mouth opened to ask him why he wanted her to do it but the inquiry was squashed the second the idea hinted at her lips. He was one step ahead of her it felt like and she shifted her weight beside him slightly frustrated that she couldn’t know right then.
Patience Alaia, patience. Scolding herself briefly she turned her mind towards his question that hung in the air. Could she trust him? The war was brief in her mind; the doubt that tried to sicken her thoughts was chased away almost as quickly but the overwhelming belief that she could trust him. She had no reason not to and yet she had just met him that evening as well, her mind was made up and if he didn’t stop her she’d reach out and grasp his hand in hers. Her fingers would curl into his palm and her eyes would search his face though she wasn’t really seeing his face. This time she was ready for it and the sensation wasn’t as unpleasant but more a way to seek the answers she wanted, a way to confirm the trust that was washing away the thunderstorm of doubt.
The look in her eyes was distant again and it only took a tick of his desire to help her suffocating her and the journey he was going to take. Journey? The path, or rather it was more of a journey he was planning to take directly to her. She was standing there though and she wasn’t planning on leaving Riverfall for a while so he couldn’t possibly know that, plus her gift was to limited in time to stretch that far. It was cloudy and unclear to her but she didn’t push it to try and assume something that wasn’t in the vision. When Alaia didn’t see anything that should cause her alarm she focused on him again and gave his hand a soft squeeze finally giving him the answer to his question that she felt was completely true in that moment. “I don’t know why, but I trust you.” Her smile was gentle and lacking the fear she had, had last time they touched though there was still a lingering taste of guilt in the back of her mouth for using her gift to pry.
Releasing him the konti reached out to seize the cheese knife and brought it to the thumb of her left hand, pressing the sharp tip into her pale flesh the quick pain registered as a flinch of facial features but she otherwise remained silent. A bead of crimson life stood out like fire against her skin coloring and she quickly pressed the bloody fingerprint into the center of the keyhole drawing. “I’m so sorry…” she muttered in regret to the image, she was ruining it and she felt the need to say sorry to it. Pulling her thumb away she sucked the blood away from her skin momentarily, frowning around her thumb as she looked at the ruined art and then at him “…better be worth it, you draw better than me and that was painful to ruin.” she paused and then added with a thought "Now that I trust you and everything ... what the petch?" She blushed as she swore, the word uncomfortable and virgin on her lips "Did I use that right?" Quickly she knitted her brows in worry "I heard it from a patient ... I think it is a swear right? Yeah I think it is." Her eyes widened with panic as the words tumbled out of her mouth "I'm sorry I shouldn't have sworn at you, that was uncalled for."