Oh Look, It's You! (Taln)

[Nikavi]

Her gold eyes glinted sharply and mischievously as he lectured her. She had never gotten a good verbal lashing from a Dek before, and she had to admit that this man deciding she deserved one was quite funny. She let him at it though, not stupid enough to ignore his words for garbage, but it appeared he had made some errors when he had judged her character.

"Can't a person be both? I care deeply for many things, but even if I were an Endal, Taln, I could still die tomorrow. What would change would be who cares. I am happy to be alive, and so should you. The life of a Dek is better than the life of a worm, or a fledgling bird. You don't depend on our lives, but we depend on yours. The things I dislike are few, and those are things that can't be changed. If I become a Dek, then I become a Dek. If I am an Avora I will still try and bring up your caste, and the only ones who can take you away will be Endal. And if I become Endal no one can take you away, and then you can come and fly with me and my Rista."

"How did I waste my kiss?" Her eyes blinked owlishly and she shifted again, giving the illusion of feathers on her shoulders ruffling. "I spent it how I wanted to. Even if someone orders you away, Dek, I'll wait until I'm high enough to get you back."

She smiled at the Dek and continued to pick at her fish, eating it, her gold eyes glittering and magpie. They flashed up to his every so often. "You don't need to protect me. If others find a Dek guarding a Yasi like she belongs to him they'll hurt you even more. I don't want them to hurt you more." She then caught the hungry looks he was giving her food and reached for a second piece of fish to hold it out to him, waggling it in the air before placing it down for him to take. She didn't want him to feel like she wanted him to beg for the food. It was there for him to get.

"Go on, have some. I hear the bear that lives in your stomach waking up. Feed it." She smiled and stuck out her tongue before continuing to eat. She was much more proper at eating than other Yasi who seemed to have been cows in their past lives.

[Taln]

"I don't understand how a person could give their everything to achieve a goal but still not care whether or not they die. You either want to -do- something and have ambitions or you simply don't care about it all. Death and violence are real and-- oh never mind. It doesn't matter what a dek thinks right?" He looked away from her gold eyes and toyed with his lip ring again. She was a yasi completely and would never understand. Taln keenly felt the widening chasm of caste and age so he stayed quiet while she talked. His interest snagged quickly on her comment. "What's wrong with the life of a fledgling? You get someone who will shelter, feed, water and protect you! It's a life of total trust between fledgeling and caretaker! A special bond that could never in a million moons be compared to the life of an unseen worm or a starved, beaten hated dek! Are you sure you're Inarta?! I wouldn't ever compare a worm with a bird Nikavi." The man looked at Nikavi with shadowed emerald eyes hinting of his more troubled and unspoken thoughts. "Yasi, they'll beat me even without the excuse of protecting you. When I stand too tall, I get in trouble for it. If you were that worried about someone hurting me, you would never have publicly suggested even half of the things you did last time we met." The dek didn't mean to snap at the poor girl, but the scent of food nearby, edged his voice toward temper. A guy could only starve for so long before he got more than a little irritated. Taln's green eyes blazed with fierce hunger as she carelessly waved around the food as though it meant nothing. When she stuck out her impertinent little tongue he grabbed at the food and swallowed it whole before she finished offering it. He watched her intently as she picked daintily at the food with negligence, silently yearning for more of the rare delicacy of fish.

[Nikavi]

"You don't understand. I could achieve all my dreams today and die tomorrow. They would not matter any more. I would live happily and die alone. Don't belittle yourself." She was starting to feel like a waste of his time. Maybe she just should have forgotten him and instead worked on helping him off Skyinarta. Life out there would probably better for him than being a begrudged Dek in here. She should have freed him like some little trapped hawk.

"You aren't the fledgling. We depend on the Dek. All of us depend on the lower castes to do our work and our cleaning and to live our lives as we pursue greatness. All I want is to fly, Dek. To touch the clouds and look down and see all the land. And I want you and my Rista to be happy. My only two friends, and one I promised to make never be a Dek again. Maybe I am not an Inarta if I compare us to fledglings and worms while our Dek take care of us. I would do anything to even be a real fledgling so I could fly that way." Her eyes glinted defiantly at the Dek that seemed so bent on making her feel bad for speaking.

She averted his eyes when he snapped at her and lifted them to consider the angle of Syna in the sky, wondering if she had enough time to visit the Wind Eagles and speak to them. She didn't feel like the Dek wanted her around, but she reached and nudged the food towards him without looking before lifting her hand to rub her temple the same way he had earlier.

"Have it. I don't eat as much as I used to anymore." She said to him quietly, hoping to keep him from snapping at her again.

[Taln]

His gaze flicked to the girl's face, and he wished his hair would grow faster to cover his expression better. Taln quietly listened to her and although he couldn't understand, it wasn't from lack of trying. Maybe people who could read and write thought higher things he just wasn't meant to get. Somehow he couldn't grasp any of it. Nikavi had the yasi education so the fault must be with him. Just a big dumb dek who didn't do or say things right, or understand concepts that seemed to come so easily to others. "I wasn't belittling myself Nikavi, I was just stating who I am. Never should I have spoken so freely without respect." He responded in a deep and pensive tone. His shoulders slumped and he fidgeted with his large hands. "You would belong there for sure. I can see you have the confidence to be an Endal. You--you made a friend? That's good. I mean a dek is a nice pet, but it's better to have someone of your own age and caste who can understand you better. I don't always talk or think good, I guess because I can't read or write like you can." Taln had hurt her feelings for sure, with the tone of her voice unmistakably defensive. The man lowered his head downward and averted his gaze to the side. From beneath lowered lashes, he watched her golden eyes turn skyward, obviously wanting to leave and he didn't want to keep her from what she wanted to do. His pitch became lower and more quiet as he spoke. "I'm sorry Yasi Nikavi to offend you like that. You are far more Inarta than I am, and I never intended to insult you." When she nudged the food closer he turned his entire head away from it, sickened by his stupid reaction to food. It was dumb of him. It's not like he hadn't gone hungry before and it certainly wouldn't be the last he'd go without. There was no excuse for how he'd reacted. How could he eat when he'd hurt the only person in the world who called him her friend? Why would she even do that for such a big dumb dek? Taln managed to choke out a shamed whisper, "No, thank you."

[Nikavi]

Her gold eyes looked to him at his tone and she inwardly cringed. She didn't mean to bother him. Not at all. "You act like you are so unimportant. You are very important, you and all the Dek. No one may like to admit it, but the Dek are the people who do everything for us." She lowered her eyes slowly, looking pensive. Rarely did Nikavi become this way. She liked the euphoria of laughing and smiling. Being hurt and lonely was not something she found enjoyable. "Speak freely to me at any time. I like that. You are as fierce as any Inarta. You speak your mind boldly, but you are wise with it. I'm just a reckless Yasi."

"I made more than one friend," she said quietly, watching him fidget nervously. "I have a Dek friend and a Yasi friend, but it is my Dek friend whom I worry about more. Rista can fend for herself and find others in awe of her. But Taln can not without being killed..." Her gold eyes darkened then brightened playfully. She leaned in slowly to not frighten him before she whispered to him quietly. "I'll teach you what I know of it. I'll teach you how to read and write. We just have to keep it a secret."

A small smile tweaked her lips. "You don't need to say sorry. Thank you, though, Taln. Please, you don't need to call me Yasi unless others are near and you don't trust them." Her eyes darkened when he turned his head and she reached to gently grab his chin, as softly as she could to not seem threatening again, and turned it to face her. "You are much more Inarta than me. Don't reject my food. You can reject everything else I offer you, but for once just say 'yes' and take it."

She released him afterwards and began to poke the burn he'd helped soothe. It was a shiny, smooth thing now. She'd have something to show off to the others when she was done her Bendi.

[Taln]

Taln wanted to look anywhere but at Nikavi as his thoughts roiled and churned. 'She was the only person who -ever- called him a friend. The only Inarta in Wind Reach that wasn't ashamed to be seen with him in -public, in broad daylight.- Fierce? Yea as fierce and desperate as a starving dog that would bite the hand that feeds it! And it's not like Endals and Avoras provide all the food we eat--oh wait, yea they do. Deks are just nameless bodies that can be replaced effortlessly by any another drudge with a petching pulse. Wise?! Did the Avora whack the girl in the head harder than he first thought?!' "That's true. Your yasi friend has some caste while she learns and gets an apprenticeship. If I dodge a hit, it just makes them madder is all--" He shut up the moment she moved in closer and he sat stiffly with rigid shoulders. Nikavi had to be teasing him again with the one thing he wanted more than life itself! "..I'll teach you how to read and write." "Actual reading and writing?" he asked, his pitch raised in never before heard hope. His mind was filled to brimming with the incredible idea of reading and writing, and he tried not to jerk away in surprise when she grabbed his chin. Abruptly he was brought back to what she was saying, way too close up and personal. Taln knew his hair was still too short this early in the season to hide half his face as usual. She might force his face to her as so many others had done, but he couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze. His green eyes flicked swiftly to the side, trying to at least have the last semblance of privacy allowed a dek. "..Don't reject my food...just say 'yes' and take it." The man was incapable of disobeying such a direct order, especially when she had him by the face. When she released him at long last, he had no other choice than to mumble, "Yes." Reluctantly he took the food she gave, feeling like she was pitying a scrawny, pathetic dog. His copper hair slid forward to about mid brow as he bowed his head down to look at the food in his hands. Taln's face and neck burned crimson as he choked down his shame along with the much needed meal.

[Nikavi]

"Do you not trust me because I am a Yasi?" She asked as he stiffened when she moved closer. "Yes, actual reading and writing." She smiled at him again, trying to be friendly and make him relax again. "I'll teach you what I know."

His reaction to her touching him made her cringe as well. The Dek didn't trust her. Not at all. Didn't trust her and didn't like talking to her. The look in his eyes showed his reluctance to take what he wanted, and she was starting to grow upset at him. He acted like a whipped, beaten dog, which was probably not that far from what he really was.

"If you don't want it, then never mind. I'll just get rid of it elsewhere." She reached for it back. "Never mind any of it, Dek Taln. I see your eyes. I give it to you because you're hungry, and you aren't even happy about it. If you want me to leave you alone now, then I will."

Even as she finally snapped out her words she looked sad. She liked this Dek, but she just couldn't help but see he disliked her, and that felt just mean to her. Without considering her actions, she brought djed back to her eyes, which increased the dimmed headache again, and looked at the aura around him. He showed shame and injured pride. He was upset and uneasy.

Nikavi sighed now and raised her hands to her eyes, rubbing them as she removed the djed again. "I was only trying to be nice to you..." She said quietly.

[Taln]

"Nikavi, I completely trust no one, especially not myself." His large shoulders rose and fell in a typical shrug as though this were as common as speaking of the weather. "It's just...me, I guess. Sorry, I know you just wanted someone to play with and make you laugh. But I'm not a yasi, nor am I a young teen either. I can only be myself Nikavi, as you can only be yourself. It's not personal or anything. I've been a dek for about as long as you've been alive, and I know of no other way to be." He looked at the girl with bright flecks of hope standing out in his vivid emerald eyes. She could give him something he'd wanted since he was five--to read and write-to be able to think with real words! "There's nothing I want more than to read and write. I know it's something most Inarta take for granted and would rather tell jokes and play games. But for a big dumb dek like me, it's a chance to -learn- ya know? I mean really get to know how to think better and stuff." Taln didn't know what to say or do. The yasi just seemed irritated and a bit sad that 'her pet dek' wasn't being funny, amusing and entertaining enough. Was he a friend or was he 'her pet dek' who's sole purpose was to amuse her? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Confused as all petching hells, he had no idea what this girl wanted from him! Did she want the friend to build trust with and share thoughts with her? Grabbing his face and getting annoyed with him for acting like himself, showed otherwise. Nikavi only showed her happy with everything in the world side and didn't share her fears or worries as he had with her. His green eyed gaze scowled (squinted) at her features intensely, trying to figure out just what the hells this girl actually wanted from him. On the other hand, when he really was just 'her pet dek' that always obeyed her orders, she wasn't completely satisfied with his behavior on that either. It seemed to make her offended and even further annoyed with him, in fact. Was it because she was too young to understand or just wasn't ready to accept the dark underbelly of reality? Or in true Inarta fashion, she chose to ignore or skip over anything she just didn't want to see or hear? Maybe he'd gotten -too- personal and wasn't supposed to tell her anything that wasn't funny? Was Taln expected to flaunt her authority and act like another yasi, going against the training he'd had for longer than she'd been alive? Or did she want an obedient pet dek that followed her whimsical orders to only be happy and amusing to and for her? When she reached for the empty parcel and took it back, he didn't know what to say. She was a nice girl, as far as yasis went, and he thought she -might- mean it when she called him her dek friend. His thoughts were interrupted by Nikavi using that Djed stuff again. Taln shifted his gaze away abruptly, not comfortable with her bleeding eyes and the thought that she was was trying to mentally dig into him against his will. Be nice? Taln didn't think she grasped the idea of how everyone had dignity about handouts--even a low life dek. He flicked a quick glance at the girl again and saw how despondent she was. "Nikavi? Straight off, I'm not trying to upset you--I'm just trying to please you. Can I ask you something, coz I just don't understand and I'm not sure you do either? Last time we met, you said you wanted to claim me as your own. As in, you own me and all my further actions. To show me where to sleep, eat or work. Yet now you say that I'm your friend? I'm confused. Do you still want to claim me and own me, or do you want a friend? I'm not questioning your right to either, because it's entirely your choice. But I just really need to know, -what do you want from me?- A pet dek to call your own as you would a dog, or a friend to truly share things together? I can't please you or follow your orders unless you tell me what it is you want from me. You're not happy with how I'm acting, so please explain what you -do- expect of me to make you happy again." Taln remembered the wineskin and took a long draft, closing his eyes as the moisture slid down his throat. Uncomfortable with it, he looked directly at Nikavi, his green gaze locked on her golden eyes, because it was one of the few things he knew for sure that she wanted. And he waited. Secret : On hold or to be removed once technical matters are decided on.