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[Taylani]

She continues to eye him quietly for a long moment, taking in his gray eyes, the set of his mouth, and the way he held his body. Taylani presses her lips together, then licks them almost nervously before she nods her head, "Then lets get started again." Stormdancer, sounded like a name for an animal and having had an encounter with Wildfire, Rue's strider Taylani was not as timid about the idea as she might have been. Though she still struggled with the ideal that these people were so close to animals.

"Dance is something that takes ..years to learn. It is not something that will be a quick study, and one lesson." Again she steps back, and her body going back easily in position one. "Just like it takes a long time to develop habits that we do without thought, it takes a long time to train our bodies and to stretch the muscles properly."

Smoothly she moves again, this time taking the hand that was flat against her stomach slowly up to join her right, so that her hands create a bow over her head. Her torso lifts, her head tilts so that her neck was long and in line with her body. Her legs move as well, the right foot that was lifted on her toe raises slowly up and then kicking back behind her. Her left leg bracing against the ground, not trembling nor showing any sign of weakness as her entire body is supported by it. Her back curves so that her neck, spine, and leg are all in an alignment even though one leg is out.

Once she has demonstrated she brings herself back to a standing position, moving to stand beside him once more. "I will help you, as this one takes balance and limberness." She pauses, wondering if riding a horse would help his balance at all, and she doesn't know he might be used to doing something that would work his balance. But if not, then she was there to help keep him upright. "This is a training exercise, we do not want to push too far. But each time we will go further and further. Hands up," She doesn't take pleasure as she did the first one, but she was far less cold and blank. Instead she was ..just her. No facade, no struggle with emotion, no tight control. "Careful of your elbows. Elbows will make things look..ugly if they are turned out too far. They could hurt your own arms if turned in too much in support."

Once his hands were raised, she runs her hands lightly up his arms, skimming his skin and trying to ignore the part of her mind that reveled in the cords of muscle. Instead she focuses on his form, making sure his arms were not bent too much but not completely straight as well. "This is the last form that a man does the same as a woman. The rest of the forms will be different."

Her hands run back down over his arms and along his sides, to rest at his waist again. "Now right leg gets lifted, do not draw it back until you find your balance on your leg. I will help steady." To indicate which leg she was speaking of she taps lightly on his right hip. "Once you reach your balance bring the leg behind, but keep your back and neck with your leg, the lower spine curving.." Again she draws a gentle line along the middle of his back to demonstrate what she was speaking of.

[Fallan Windchaser]

The moment of tension seemed to ease a little and Fallan relaxed a little so that he could concentrate on what she was saying. He nodded in response, understanding that new skills took time to perfect, especially those that relied upon physical coordination.

Her demonstration still divided his attention for she was still new enough to him that he found himself admiring the curve of her neck when he should have been concentrating on the movement itself. He could not help but be impressed with the way that she was able to hold the pose so well and with so little apparent strain. This to him explained much about the muscles on her body and the tone that they had, which was far better than what he expected from a soft woman from the city. If nothing else, this was a good enough reason to him for her to continue with her training for it would stand her in good stead for the rigours ahead.

He raised his hands as instructed, not quite understanding all that she said, but accepting it as good advice that would perhaps come clear in time when he had passed the stage of merely attempting to recall the position and was focussed on the perfection of it.

Much as he enjoyed the light touch of her hands his eyes narrowed at little at the news that after this he would have a special set of moves to remember and practice, where he would not be able to simply watch and copy as she practised. It was an additional complication but he had set his own feet on this path, and unasked, so it amused him more than bothered him that any difficulties he might encounter were of his own doing.

He wobbled a little as the weight came onto his left leg but this was mostly because he was concentrating too much on it. His balance was acceptable, not something that he'd spent much time worrying about, but since he rode, as all Drykas did, bareback his balance was reasonably well developed. With his eyes focussed ahead his balance returned, but with it came the wish that no one he knew saw this. He drew back his right leg, wobbling again a little and then attempted to create the curve in his spine that she spoke of.

[Taylani]

With every wobble, Taylani was there her hands sure and secure on his waist, not pushing or pulling but simply providing a steady point. Then as he leaned out, she moves her hands, one to his flat stomach, the other to his lower back. "The muscles here," a gentle caress of his abdomen, " And here.." This caress was to the lower back to show him which ones she spoke of. "Keep them tight, they will help keep your posture correct. Bend a little, curving your back..." Both hands are now flat on their respective sides of his body, pressing inward to help align and guide the curve of the spine.

When she feels that he has gotten the alignment corrected she steps back, slowly. Taking the time to admire the lines and curves he represented, in another life perhaps he would have made a fine stage performer. Not in this one of course, but then it becomes more apparent to Taylani that she would not be a fine stage performer in this life either. Clearing her throat, dismissing the darker maudlin thoughts from her mind she forgets herself for a moment and gives him an open smile.

The smile was brief, just the barest few seconds before she remembered herself and once more wiped it from her lips. Lifting her chin, she inhales deeply before nodding. "That will do. If you are serious about this, then daily we will practice. We will stretch, and work your limberness. For now we will keep to those two poses. When you can do each pose without corrections, and then move from one to the next smoothly. Then we will continue to the final four. Then the real work will begin."

She smooths her hands over her belly, and down her thighs, working out any wrinkles in her plain dress, more to give her hands something to do then any real worry about the state her dress was in. "Fallan?" She asks, her voice still quiet lifting at the end in a question. She does not look up at him, afraid that she might give away something she does not wish to him, instead she focused on the ground at his feet. "Is there..any way we can, I mean you can get word to Syliras? To my parents, so that they know that I am still alive?" Her fingers clasp together, in front of her tightly, so tightly that her knuckles become white. "I have been gone so long, I know that they have to be so worried.."

[Fallan Windchaser]

In any other circumstances this intimacy would have had him fighting the urge to carry her back to the bedding so that he could explore her naked body and attempt a different sort of dancing. As it was he was concentrating far to hard to do more than enjoy the touch even as he found the role reversal somewhat odd.

It was one thing to finally get the position well enough to satisfy her, but with every moment the position became harder to hold and he began in truth to understand her a little more. He dropped the position with some relief and took her words seriously, nodding and smiling at her point that they would need to practice this together every day.

His mind was still buried in the memory of the movements, attempting to fix them there so that in the next morning he would be able to repeat them, and perhaps even impress her with it when she spoke, the tone of her voice snapping him back to the present.

He frowned, torn by the question. Family was the basis of everything among his people. How could he deny her this? It would be a betrayal of what he believed, and yet how could he?

His mood lifted and then fell again as he considered what could have been had things been different, not that she would ever have been interested in a windmarked barbarian. What devious paths the gods laid for them; his gain in return for her pain. The price perhaps she paid for living in a god forsaken city.

"Tay," he said after a moment. "What is it that you would have them know? That you are alive? That you are well? They cannot know where you are. If they suspect that you are captive or in danger they may attempt something and the Sea of Grass drowns those who do not know its paths."

He hadn't ruled it out. He wasn't sure how it could be done in a way that they would believe it, nor how it could be sent without revealing its origins. A glimmer of an idea began in his mind, one that he doubted she would understand, but he waited for her answer before he voiced it.

[Taylani]

Praying, to no single god but to anyone that might be listening, silently Taylani waits. She considers it a good sign that he did not immediately dismiss her request and her heart leaped into her throat. Of everyone in this world, her mother meant most to Taylani. Over everything that had happened to her since she was taken, over everything she has had to do, and promise to do, the worse was by far the thought of the pain her mother must be in.

When he speaks she finally looks up, one hand raising to tuck an errant red strand of hair behind her ear, her teeth chewing on her lip gently. As soon as he finishes she closes the gap between them, reaching to take his hands in hers, her blue eyes seeking his grey ones, pleading in them openly.

"Please Fallan, I am their only child. They might attempt to search for me any way.." She hesitates, but does not turn her gaze from him, "Especially since..They would be informed that the Syliras Knights turned me out. I might have found a ride on a caravan heading somewhere. Or I might be wandering, and they will search for me if I don't send word."

She pauses, torn between wanting to resume her mask, her vulnerability of exposing this need to him making her feel very small and weak indeed. Yet short of being taken home, this meant more to her then even her own physical..emotional well being. So Instead of hiding her desire from him, instead of hiding the need behind her blank mask she simply exhales, and speaks quietly, earnestly. "Fallan, I am your captive. I am yours, you have me there is nothing that will change that. I am not asking to tell my parents that I am trapped in this ..this place. I am not asking to tell my parents I am with the Drykas. Just that I am well..and that I am trying to get home. Just to give them some peace of mind at the very least."

[Fallan Windchaser]

It was a request that he wished that she had never made and now he was caught in the horns of a quandry. Were she just a slave then her wishes would be naught, though even then he would have found it hard to refuse. Still though what she asked was difficult to agree to.

"Fallan understand," he replied. He did not voice the question of whether her parents assumed her dead. She was a city girl turned out into the wilderness where he doubted that she had any knowledge of how to survive. He thought it likely that they had searched, knowing she was unlikely to travel far from the city on her own. But they would have found no trace of her and would have assumed the worst. Was it fair on them to give them knowledge that she was alive but not to tell them where? He could only imagine if he were her father, and of course he would be grateful for the news, but he would also question the lack of information and would assume that there was good reason for it being withheld. It could only mean that while she was alive she was not well and had perhaps even been forced to pass the message. It also assumed that they could be sure the message was from her.

Questions spun in his head, ones which he was unable or unwilling to raise with her, yet he could not refuse, nor could he not offer an explanation. Instead he could only work his way through and see where it led.

"If not say where, father wonder, no? Bad story, father worry." Now a new thought came to mind, one which he realised he could in no way prevent. There was always a flow of people through the city, some of them strangers, especially now that they were on the Syrlia border. How hard would it be for her to convince one of them to pass a message? How soon would that occur to her? He doubted it would take long and unless he kept her chained in the tent then sooner or later it would come to pass.

His original idea came back to mind, but still it was not right to raise it, he wasn't even sure that it was a good idea. "Need tell good story. Good story, they stay at home, yes? She would know them, know what would make them happy. This was something he was a little reluctant to use against her, but it was clearly important to her and perhaps he could bargain a little.

"Tay tell good story?" he asked, wondering if she would realise what he was asking.

[Taylani]

Taylani had revealed more about herself in the last few moments of conversation then she had in the last ten days. He had finally gotten the answer to the question he had posed about why she was outside of the city, she had revealed the weakness of how much her family and their peace of mind meant to her, and she revealed that there were certain things that she would do anything for.

So when he spoke again, she nods, and panics a little as another rush of emotion was on the verge of erupting. Unwilling to give him yet another little piece of her, but also not wanting to make him angry enough to withdraw the hope that he dangled in front of her, Taylani did the only thing she could think of that he might not question but allowed her to hide her face until she was once more in control. Taylani moved quickly against him once more, her arms raising to encircle his neck as she randomly notes once again how well their bodies fit against each other with her height and his height being so similar.

Once securely hidden from view, the grief of what he was asking of her -what she knew would have to be a perquisite of allowing her to send word- displayed but not in tears. Instead she struggles to keep her voice maintained, though the strain was evident when she spoke. "I understand that I have to lie to my parents Fallan. I can't really tell them that I am being bred like a common animal and not expect them to worry can I?" She tried hard to keep her voice steady, stating a fact, though a little more of the bitterness that has become commonplace within her psyche. "No. Just tell them..Just say that a troupe was leaving Syliras and I went with them to improve my Dancing." She closed her eyes against what she will say next, knowing that this little addition will seal her parent's acceptance, though the pang in her heart was more for the acknowledgement that it will never be true, "Tell them that I will be flying..use the name T-tayla...that is what they call me, they won't question. Though they will..resent me for not telling them." Her voice broke toward the end but she managed to reign in her emotions, no tears fell though it was a close call. This was the last nail in the coffin of her old life.

[Fallan Windchaser]

He was a little distracted by his thoughts and thought nothing untoward of her moving in close to him; it was what he wanted and yet did not consider that it might be calculated. Certainly it distracted him and prevented him from thinking too clearly.

He nodded as she spoke, revealing still more about her then she had before, details that her parents would clearly recognise. It seemed a good story, probably better than he had hoped for. He still wasn't sure how it could be sent without revealing it's origins but equally that was easily resolved without too much effort.

What made him pause was the temptation to modify the message, to change it just a little to set the ground for what might come later, though he knew in his heart that it was fantasy. Could he win her heart and her soul as well as he body? Those were the prizes which he sought and those were prizes which were not easily bought.

His arms had come around her as she came in and now they tightened a little. He would send the message he decided, would find a way to do it and it should be done soon. She was warm against his chest and he allowed himself to pretend that this was how it could be between them one day.

"Fallan send message," he said at length, and meant it. He asked no price, not there, because she had already revealed much that she had kept hidden. Likely it would not be the only message that she would want sent, and even if she didn't perhaps he would. It was something that he would need to think upon deeply before making any decisions.

He held her tightly, sensing the tension in her body and understood some of why, though none of the detail. "Make parents happy," he added and tucked his head against hers whilst he hugged her.

[Taylani]

As his arms closed about her, Taylani allowed herself a moment of comfort, of warmth. So long she has fought to keep herself apart, to remind herself that to him she was nothing more then a possession to enjoy and use. It was becoming more difficult to keep that thought in her mind, and more often the thought that it could have gone far worse for her. Fallan had bought her, but it could have just as easily been another who was less kind, more cruel. She did not know much about slavery, nothing but the horrors that she had heard whispered amongst her and her girlfriends. And while she had not seen the kinds of things rumored, she acknowledges that she does not go far from this tent alone. Yet Fallan, while still taking what he wanted at night, still was not unreasonable.

So when his arms tightened, and his head bent against hers, she did not stiffen or move away, instead she turns so that her face was buried against the curve where his shoulder met his neck. She almost sags with relief against him when he agrees to send the message, and the sheer fact that she had not had to barter anything else with him to do so did far more towards breaking her bitter resentment then even Taylani herself realized.

She had not realized how much she was holding in until he had agreed, and her body felt watery and not at all steady as she sought comfort against him. Perhaps if she was thinking rationally she might rationalize the idea that she was simply using his body much the same as he uses hers. Except for her it was simply seeking the comfort and warmth of another, pretending that he cared for her more then just the woman who would bear his children. Pretending for just a brief moment that she was not his captive, his slave, to draw strength from his embrace.

It is a long moment before she felt composed enough to speak, she does not pull back from the embrace -time enough to go back to being simply his captive later - but she does move just enough so that her voice was not muffled by his shoulder. "How do you say Thank you in Pavi?"

[Fallan Windchaser]

It seemed that he had made the right decision, though he wasn't entirely sure that anyone else would understand, indeed he wasn't entirely sure that he did either. He had now made a commitment that he would not break, creating an obligation to Tay that hadn't strictly been necessary, but then neither did he intend to have his children brought up by a cold hearted slave who hated them.

A lot had changed in just the few days since his impulsive purchase and it certainly hadn't worked out the way that he'd previously imagined having his own captive would have done. But then this was also potentially the start of his own Pavilion and he now had a much clearer view on his memories of his parents and how they ran theirs. Actions which had seemed inconsistent now started to make a degree of sense where they hadn't before, in part because of the time he had spent away and in part because he was now responsible for someone other than just himself.

Some of the tension had seemed to drain from her for she relaxed just a little and his embrace grew a little tighter then relaxed as she pulled back to speak.

"Thank you," he spoke the words in his own tongue though they seemed sterile without the modifiers to show what he meant, a thing impossible with his hands around her, but still, he'd spoken enough in Common to appreciate that tone of voice served some of the same function in that language.