PM to join Repercussions, Physical and Emotional[Windchaser Pavilion]P2

[Taylani]

Taylani sat in silence as she listened to first Fallan, then Waisana speak. Her head bows, allowing the wet strands of her hair to fall forward still letting the tears fall unchecked. For so long she has tried to keep this impenetrable shell around herself, struggling to keep emotions from showing, trying to keep that little bit of herself to herself. She no longer has the strength of will to do that this day..or night..she had napped in the grasses, but she was not sure what time it was when she woke. The clouds had prevented her from seeing how far the sun was across the sky, so she wasn't even sure how long she had been out there. She just didn't have the physical strength to maintain her anger, nor to put up the blank wall that she had practiced so carefully.

She doesn't understand the bond between the strider or the Drykas, she doesn't know how that works nor does she know what it entails. She did see how Fallan and Stormdancer was together, an odd blend of familiarity and comfort certainly both times she had been forced to ride on Stormdancer's back with Fallan, the ride seemed to take away his own frustration. She didn't connect that both times she had been the source of his frustration.

Taylani realized with a little start that she had colored everything about these people with the act that had brought her here. She didn't think one could blame her for that, she was never a meek creature that just accepted and moved on. However, things were different now whether she liked it or not, she could not afford to fight a fight on principle. Not a fight that she was going to lose anyway. In the end it comes down to choice. She had not been given a choice in being brought here, she had not been given a choice to come to Fallan's tent the night of the auction. She had not been given a choice then, and she had been acting out the entire time since, trying to bring back any control in her life that she could. She despised the lack of choice, given time enough she almost always made the right choice but she had always been the type that she had to choose it no matter the length of time it took her to. Now she realized that she does have a choice. She could choose to continue to fight fruitlessly on principle that it was wrong to take away her life and put her in this life, or she could choose to accept what was done as done.

Suddenly Taylani gave a slight start as she realized that she had started to doze as she was lost in her thoughts, the act of jerking awake sent a ripple through her body. Looking up, her face etched slightly in weariness and emotion yet there was no trace of the angry bitterness, instead it was replaced with a thoughtfulness in her eye as she met first Fallan's gaze then turned her blue eyes to Waisana's.

"Sometimes. Sometimes I forget that just because something should be done doesn't mean that something will be done." Her words sounded thick to herself, sluggish almost. This could have been due to just the emotions that had left her raw and exposed, or simply from tiredness. "I have..much to think about.." She looked back to Fallan, she did have much to think about but she also knew that their own day was far from over, for she would have to find out how they were to move forward after this. Besides, the wind was starting to pick back up outside, which surely meant Fallan's family, if they were out there would be coming in.

"Thank you Waisana, for coming to see to me. You are correct that not every marriage is happy or good any where, but there is much to be said about having a choice." She didn't go further, because her mind was spinning already on overload with the answers she had been given. She moved her hands to the ground, levering herself up awkwardly using only her left leg to support and push herself up. She is not used to being ungainly in her movements, but for now the twisted ankle demanded she work around it, all she could hope for was a speedy healing process for it. She had come out fortunate, with the storm that they had ridden through..she could have been hurt far worse. That thought had her eyes sliding over to Fallan unbidden, knowing that his actions are what ultimately saved her from worse. She wasn't quite ready to thank him just yet, she wasn't quite sure what to do with him either, or what to make of his words. "I need to lie down." She murmurs softly, yes she was tired, and yes she was weary but she mostly wanted time to think.

With a slow, uneven gait Taylani moves from the living area, skirting around Fallan, to slip behind the partition once more. Fully clothed she manages to slip into Fallan's bedding, pulling the covers over her, laying with her back to the partition.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Fallan met Taylani's eyes after she had spoken the few disjointed words and nodded. There was much that she needed to absorb and doubtless after her night away she would need the rest. He allowed her to go and to disappear beyond the partition before he took his eyes off of her retreating back.

He glanced down at the almost forgotten fire and pushed the pot a little further back onto the heat so that it would boil once more.

"You have a biased view of our relationships," he commented in Pavi to Waisana with his back turned and then turned to face her. "What of the women who are abusive to their husbands? There are more ways to bully someone than just with violence. She does not understand our culture, much of what she says tells me more of her own than ours. She does not understand that here women have as much status as men. I have been to Syrilas and it is not like here, so she assumes much."

He wasn't sure why he bothered, he was fairly sure that it would fall on deaf and disbelieving ears. He expected better from the Opal clan, but then they were not Amethyst so perhaps he should not expect the same standards.

[Waisana]

The healer watched Taylani anxiously as the woman slipped into the sleeping area. She took a step forward intending to go and make sure she was all right but Fallan's words took her by surprise. She hadn't expected the man to talk to her and she didn't particularly want to him either but she couldn't get away with calling her biased. She shot him a withering look.

"You're a fool if you think my view is biased," she snapped. "I'm aware that women can be abusive to their husbands and believe me women can get as physical as men but that doesn't matter to her, do you understand? She is not a husband, she is a wife, her perspective is different. If I'd told her what women can do to their husbands, do you think that would matter to her? It isn't like she'd try to abuse you. By mentioning the opposite she can understand that in Syliras, there are such relationships as well as among the Drykas. She needed something she could compare. Surely you realise she sees you as an abuser?"

Waisana knew that she was ranting now but she couldn't help it. She couldn't believe how stupid the man was. Really and truly an idiot. She had to get away from him at the earliest opportunity yet worry for Taylani's welfare would probably stop her going.

x

[Fallan Windchaser]

Her words confirmed his suspicions that her view of the world was narrow and he guessed based on limited view she had gained in her pavilion. His words would fall on closed ears for she would likely be unable to realise that she based her assumptions on too narrow an experience of the world.

"You speak as though you know her. You know nothing of her and you know nothing of Syrilas." The latter he knew to be true at least in so far as Taylani was concerned for this conversation by the fire had reinforced the fact that Tay refused to recall the reality of her history in Syrilas and would never have told this woman the truth of that.

"You told her that here woman are subject to the whims of men and that abuse is common. You disgrace your pavilion and your clan; you who claim to be a healer." Finally he had allowed an edge of anger to enter his voice for her interference, but now his tone and his hands became colder. "You have done more harm than healing with your malicious tongue. Leave us be and remove yourself from my sight before I am tempted to prove the truth of your claims about men."

[Waisana]

Waisana looked at him in shock, her expression pained almost as if she'd been slapped. She couldn't believe he'd said that. How dare he say that to her! She hadn't done any harm, she couldn't have done any harm.

"I never told her that Drykas women are subject to the whims of men or that they're abusive," But Taylani's words about not being able to leave a daughter among the Drykas came back to her. Had her mention of her family wanting her to marry convinced Taylani that the Drykas treated women badly? Had her idle chatter made the woman run away and almost got herself killed? 

The healer suddenly felt ill. Not because of Fallan's threats but because of what she seemed to have done. Her body had gone cold and she had to fight the rising nausea in her stomach. She was a healer! She couldn't harm! That was unthinkable! That was against everything she believed in! The world seemed to spin now and she wasn't sure if it was because of her thoughts or the overwhelming dizziness that was taking over. The girl get to think about it much more because she felt the sensation of falling before the world went black.

x

[Taylani]

Within the sleeping area that she shares with Fallan, Taylani lays in the bedroll trying to block out all noise. She was being foolish, she knew, even entertaining the thought that what Fallan had said was anything more then a ploy to placate her once more. Even if it wasn't a ploy, even for some strange reason he was speaking true, what then? How could she possibly move past the hurt and the negative emotions that she had let build during the time in his tents. Her whirling thoughts, the unsettled stomach, and then the voices from the living area insured that she was not going to rest. She couldn't understand what is being said, her grasp on Pavi was too little to make out the words. Though she could not imagine they were happy words, the tones too abrupt.

It was not until she heard the anger in Fallan's tones that she stirred from the bedroll. Concerned, both for Waisana but also for Fallan, she had known him long enough to know that he is carefully controlled most of the time. Even when he was annoyed at her she rarely could tell it in tone or words, only by his abrupt habit of taking over. After pulling herself from the bedroll, Taylani was surprised at how much effort it took to do simply that much. However, Taylani is not known for her patience and habit of thinking things through. Once committed to an action she tended to plow head long on that course, come what may. So she found herself once more limping from behind the partition, just in time to see the healer crumple to the ground.

A shocked cry is uttered, before Taylani lurches forward, her blue eyes dark with fatigue but wide as she looks to Fallan even as she moves toward the downed healer. "What did you do?" She asked, her common smoothly flowed from her lips, but there was no accusatory tones in her words, only a question. She only asked because of the conversation she had heard, if not understood.

Making it to the Healer's side, Taylani once more allows herself to sink down to the ground, a grunt given when her twisted ankle takes a bit too much of her weight before she settles. Her fingers push back the flow of blonde hair away from Waisana's face, allowing her fingertips to brush across the healer's brow. It did not feel hot or too cold, and the rise and fall of her chest told even the layman that she was breathing.

"Maybe some cool water? Sometimes when performers get too worked up before a performance they will pass out..maybe this is similar?" She asked, clearly grasping for any answer. She had seen people pass out, but they were never out of consciousness longer then a moment or two, and was more caused by improper breathing thanks to nervousness.

[Fallan Windchaser]

There were many ways that the healer could have reacted to his words, but he would never have imagined that she might faint. It was such an unexpected action that even though in hindsight there were clear indications of what was about to happen, Fallan was not a healer and so Waisana crumpled to the floor before he finally reacted.

That reaction was forestalled by the words from Taylani which pulled him up short. At first he was slightly annoyed at the assumption that he had done something to the healer, but this was followed a moment later by the realisation that he'd been tempted to do something for all that the Drykas were known to be free with words and emotions.

It seemed however that there were limits on the patience of the others in the Pavilion and even as Fallan turned to retrieve some water he was confronted with the appearance of his father. Fallan controlled a start as he'd not heard him approach.

"Leave this to me, go back and sort this mess out between you," his father said, his hands adding an emphasis of command to the otherwise hushed tone that his father employed. Fallan nodded, his feelings mixed especially when he could anticipate how his mother would handle the news and gossip that would arise.

His father knelt by Taylani, a waterskin in his hand. "Leave this to me child," his father said to her as softly, a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "I think that you have some things to discuss with my son," he continued. "Though doubtless the Pavilion would appreciate if it were done more quietly as some will have been up half the night out in the storm and will be tired." His fathers accent was noticeably less strong than Fallans when it came to speaking the Common tongue.

Fallan moved quietly past, taking up his abandoned top and headed for the sleeping area, waiting only for Taylani to precede him.

[Taylani]

The emergence of the Ankal caused just a slight tension to build within Taylani's body. Something about Fallan's father intimidated her in ways that Fallan did not, perhaps it is because of the easy way he led the family, the way that the people within this pavilion defers to him naturally. It certainly wasn't because he had ever been untoward to her, but while she might have balked a little if Fallan suggested she leave the fainted Waisana, with the Ankal she merely looked to Fallan and nodded silently. Once more she pushes herself wearily up, and with one last look at the healer, the redhead skirted the older Drykas male. With her unsteady gait, she manages to slip behind the partition once more, her head high, but her eyes cast downward.

[Waisana]

As the healer's eyes began to flutter open, she became aware of the buzz of voices above her but it took her a few moments to realise that it was voices she was hearing. She managed to open her eyes properly, making out moving figures and a strange man hovering over her. She had no idea where she was.

As she tried to sit up, Waisana discovered how weak she felt and she wondered if she'd fainted or something. Seemed like that seeing as she was lying on the floor, her body sore from the impact no doubt, and she felt weak. So if she had fainted, what was the reason behind it? She squinted up at the strange man with the skin of water but be was in no way familiar. There was a storm outside, the rain lashing against the tent reminding her of all that had happened.

"Taylani!" she groaned, remembering everything in a rush. So the man hanging over her was a member of Fallan's family probably his father. She smiled weakly at the man and signed thanks for his concern as she forced herself to sit up. She glanced around trying to find the captive and her husband but there was no sign of the pair anywhere. The teen had no idea how long she'd even been out, it could have been ticks or bells for all she knew.

"Taylani? Where is she? Is she all right?" she asked the Ankal, fighting down the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her at the thought of what harm she might have done.

x

[Fallan Windchaser]

The Ankhal smiled reassuringly as Waisana struggled to a sitting position and he supported her in her efforts.

"Rest and worry not," he said, keeping his voice low. "Taylani is as well as can be expected. We will keep an eye on her, but she seems recovered from her time out in the storm. She will need her ankle monitored, but not now for you too need to recover."

He wasn't sure exactly why the woman had fainted, but neither was he about to allow the drama to continue when the family would shortly be returning in need of rest.

"Is there something that I can get for you? Would you wish to rest or shall we assist you to return to your own Pavilion?"