PM to join Hunting For Amateurs[hunt]

[Taylani]

Riding along side him, getting used to the rhythmic sway of Freedom's back, Taylani still kept tight hold on the Yvas, even though an ache had started in the small of her back from keeping the same posture for an extended period of time. A simple stretch would relieve that ache but things were going so smoothly -at least in Taylani's mind- that she was reluctant to do anything that might break the horses gentle gait. So she did was she has been practicing since her run, ignoring discomfort or uncomfortable thoughts and actions.

If Fallan had realized just how prepared she had been to die on that run, he might have been a little more upset to learn she had done so with his child. She had known that the greatest, and far more likely, possibility was to be hunted down by one of the many predators out there. She had prepared herself to die a very gruesome death, dwelling on for a week prior to her escape to try and callous her mind to it. So when she did run she didn't take the horse that she had grown attached to, didn't want Freedom to suffer just because she did.

Of course she hadn't been suicidal, just resigned, and that was in the past if not distant past so Taylani looked ahead. She noticed the grasses and noticed that they were still traveling away from the city, and automatically she darted a glance out over the plains not knowing exactly what she was watching for but looking all the same.

Her red hair, braided and plaited over her shoulder, caught the sunlight as she returned her gaze toward him. She rode in silence for a moment, giving just a little squirm a minute stretch that was barely a movement to try and release the knot of tension that was riding low in her back. His answer, as many of his answers whenever she directed a question about him to him, was short and Taylani thought that it seemed as if he was glossing over the details that he did give her, let alone leaving out important details.

Perhaps Taylani didn't have the right to ask about his past, perhaps she didn't have the privilege of knowing what made Fallan himself for every event had shaped him to be the man he is today. She doesn't know, particularly because now that he has lifted the constraints of slave from her mind she is not exactly sure what she was in regards to him. A lover? A mistress? Or perhaps simply a past time to while away the hours and gain children. This last seemed a bit absurd, considering the amount of effort she had been simply to be a past time but it is not something that Taylani can put from her mind easily.

So when he gave a short abbreviated answer Taylani almost left it at that. However her own relationship with her mother had ground to a halt forcibly by his people, and she hated the thought of another relationship with their mother be so strained. "That is all?" She asked, not in an accusatory tone but a question all the same. It almost sounded like something a child might say when asked why they were sent to their room. Taylani couldn't imagine the animosity being so compact into just that reason. "Many mothers want their children to do well..to do better. It is a mother's job to guide their children to do the right thing. Did she do such a poor job of this? Is that why you changed your name?" She had accepted his reasoning easily enough, and the fact that Drykas' names were so fluid did not confuse her. She understood his explanation for that very well. However she was starting to wonder if it wasn't because of him trying to break free from his Mother completely.

[Fallan Windchaser]

The day was turning out better than Fallan might have expected for the weather was holding and there was even a little sun. Even a seasoned horserider and member of the clan didn’t necessarily enjoy being out in the cold and the wet when the point was reached that the wet penetrated through every layer of clothing. Of course it was sometimes necessary, especially when reckless people risked their lives to flee through wildernesses where they had no hope of survival.

The contrast did much to give him pleasure and he sat easily upon the back of Stormdancer, one hand loosely draped on the yvas as much for someewhere to put it than for any other reason he glanced over at Tay and smiled, admiring the way that the sun reflected in sparkles in her hair. Although she was somewhat difficult and he still wasn’t entirely sure about the responsibilities of being in a relationship, he needed only that one glance to dispel all doubts. Of course he wasn’t entirely naive about it, he knew his attraction to her hair, peculiar as that attraction was, but it was a peripheral attraction, one that drew him in and shut down some of his natural cautions about being with people, but it could not survive the conflicts with a personality that he did not like. It wasn’t as though she was the first red head that he’d met but she was the only one that he felt this particular attraction to.

His musings however were not to be at this point for she continued to probe about his relationship with his mother. He didn’t stop to consider the reasons for that probing for it didn’t matter to him whether she was asking because she was curious, because she had some feminine agenda or because it simply seemed a casual subject of conversation. He placed no particular weight on the question, accepting it as a natural one to ask between two people who did not yet know each other very well.

It did not however make the question any easier to answer and he knew instinctively that the question would not go away even if he refused to answer. It would sit behind those blue eyes of hers and fester until it was asked again, perhaps in a different way, even to a different person.

He looked over at her with a longer glance this time, searching her face to confirm his suspicions over that but could not read it either way. ”Yes, agree,”he answered at length, ”Fallan think mothers want best for children. Think Tay want best for children.” This perhaps was an unsubtle comment, but there was no escaping either the threats that Tay had made on that first day, nor her apparent disregard for their child. It was one part of her that he did not understand and frankly did not trust. He had feelings for her that went beyond anything that he had allowed her to understand, which was easy enough as she did not suspect them, but so far she had not displayed the motherly interest in children that she claimed for others.

He considered how to formulate an answer and struggled still to put it into words, less still how to then put those words into Common. ”Want and do not same. People not horses. Decide what want for horse, mate to get result want. Sometimes work, sometimes not.” He realised that he was over generalising and not getting to the point that he wanted. That point still eluded him so he was quiet for a moment while the thoughts ran though his mind.

”Young horse, run wild, do what want. Mother decide horse old enough to ride, train horse, accept rider, obey rider, do what rider want. Horse think rider right, trust rider. Horse run in herd, follow older horse, stronger horse.” He waved at the horses that they rode, ”Freedom follow Stormdancer, think Stormdancer herd leader. Stormdancer think Fallan herd leader.” The latter was not entirely true he knew as Striders were different, but there was enough truth in it to make his point. ”Mother good with horse, train horse very well. Fallan not horse, not train well.”

There was a wealth of untold detail that attached to his words but he considered that he had explained it well enough, even if he didn’t realise that every answer unlocked a thousand questions. ”Mother instinct born in woman, born in mare, Fallan think. Mother instinct not always make good mother.” Of course he was placing all the blame on her, but still, surely it was her fault?

[Taylani]

While he seemed to almost lounge on his horse, she was far less graceful and comfortable on hers. Though she no longer sat almost hunched over the yvas holds, she did sway with the natural gait of Freedom but it was not the easy seat that an experienced horsewoman would have. It was one of the rare moments that what seemed such a natural grace within her -that wasn't natural at all but built by years of dancing- failed her. However it was a learning process, and everything was stored as a lesson in her mind. Even the fact that the ache in her lower back spread to her inner thighs, was noted as fact as well as complaint. Even as toned and muscular as her legs were, they were not used to long periods of time spread over a horse whose gait constantly shifted working muscles unused to working in such a fashion. It would seem that she had a new set of practice and muscles to condition which was good considering since her escape attempt she had not even attempted to practice her dance.

She felt his gaze on her, and in response to his gaze she straightened her back more so, as well as tried to keep the squirming down trying to find a different position to bring some relief to her muscles. Yet there was something inside her telling her not to show weakness to him, some part of her pride that demanded she bite her tongue before she mentioned the soreness of a novice rider.

Fortunately he began to answer her question. And while the answers did not outright give her an answer, they were cryptic enough to cause her to think on them, to try and decipher what he was trying to say. His comment about her wanting what was best for children drew her eyes toward him but she stopped short of reaching his gaze before she dropped them again. Shame, her old friend that kept creeping in on her had found a new way to niggle at her mind. Before it had been invited by her seeming enjoyment at the hands of one who forced her, now it comes at the back of thoughts about how easily it had been to give herself and thus her child a death sentence.

His words confused her for a long moment, and for a minute she thought that he had deliberately changed the topic of conversation until he tied it up neatly about sometimes a mother's instinct did not make a good mother, which also sent a small barb into her as well. But she was used to those little barbs of pain, so easily given, and after a while so easily accepted as normal. Yet she did not let that deflect her thoughts on his words, and when she speaks her tone held a dryness, and her brows were raised.

"Hmm.. so your mother tried to ..train you, make you do something that was best for the herd..in this case Drykas?" Turning now, not a whole turn because she was not that comfortable with Freedom just yet, but just a half inch turn so she could turn her face fully toward him, and still tilt her head to the side. Her braid falling off her shoulder to dangle with the motion. "Something that you did not want to did not want to do, but that didn't matter to her. It was for the good of the Drykas.." The parallels she was, perhaps not so subtly, drawing between what it sounded as if he was accusing his mother of doing to him and what he had done to her made a wry smile twist her lips. Of course, certainly it was nothing compared to being bought and for the lack of choice being raped until conception occurred but everyone's troubles always seemed so huge compared to other peoples. Perhaps his own were equally as hurtful and consuming as hers was. She wished that she could reach over to take one of his hands, as she had the first night in the tents when she had sought to give him a measure of comfort.

"Perhaps Tay isn't the only one that needs to bury the past?" Her voice quiet, and slipped into the third person that Fallan used so often when he spoke in common, only because it felt right rather than being right.

[Fallan Windchaser]

He was beginning to wonder if they had set off in an unfortunate direction, a poor choice of terrain where what they sought was not available and he was considering changing his mind, steering Stormdancer towards a set of higher ridges.

The tone of her voice when she did reply caused him to glance over at her, but her face conveyed nothing of what she might have been intending and he shrugged it off as merely yet another translation problem. He nodded at the words, considering that perhaps she had a point. Perhaps it needed, perhaps all that it had ever needed was someone who was not involved to voice an opinion. There was no one within his family or even in the more distant family who was not involved, did not know too much of everyone. Of the motives behind Tays opinion he had no real idea. She had never seemed vindictive, well at least no more than could be expected of someone in her position and in truth she was less of that than most, but perhaps he considered that was because her emotions had been turned within as she dwelt overly on the hurts that had been done to her.

That she said as much, when she accused him of the same was fair justice he considered even if it did make him smile, though the smile was also caused by the pain of an arrow striking too close to the gold for comfort. Now her mid was turning back outward and whilst he enjoyed the flowering of it, he was all too aware that behind the beauty of the flower there were thorns and if he came too close then he might regret it.

He was spared an immediate answer as his scanning of the ground finally revealed what he was looking for in a set of large fleshy leaves whose colour was darker than the grass which mostly hid them. He turned Stormdancer aside and urged her forward, dismounting easily and without much thought as he sprang to the ground and knelt beside them, his hand running over them in a double check to be sure that they were what he thought, for the sea of grass was large and it wasn’t impossible that this might be something he’d not seen before but looked similar.

Only then did he glance up to see if Tay had joined him, then waited patiently until she approached.

”Try train Fallan yes,”only now did he continue the conversation, here where he could see her eyes as he spoke. ”Not much good for Drykas, good for mother.” His lips twisted into a wry smile at this here where they could not avoid each other. Just as he had raised questions over her own assumptions regarding motherhood so he could not avoid her implications regarding choices removed and decisions imposed.

It had been so simple before when he had all of the control and could decide how much slack she could be given. Now that they were theoretically equal it was not so simple. Of course, if he wanted then he could have the last say, but that would be an extreme measure and not one to be used lightly.

”Maybe Tay right. Maybe past is past, not in present.”

[Taylani]

Taylani had determined, when they had settled into this uneasy truce and she had realized that she could never leave Endrykas as long as she had surviving children here, that she would not dwell on what he had done to her. That she would not dwell on her past life in Syliras either, that she was going to put blinders on and look only to the now, and to the future. That was easier said then done though, and Taylani wasn't sure if it was just something that she was just going to have to learn to live with or if it would lessen with time.

She hoped it would lessen with time, the urge to lash out occasionally that built within her chest that she was almost always able to mitigate by throwing her energy into learning something or another. At times the urge was so heavy that she wondered if she would have submitted to the training of becoming a seductress if it meant avoiding that bothersome urge to hurt others around her the same as she had been hurt.

However what really mitigated that was the kindnesses shown to her, the kindnesses that she wasn't even sure he knew he gave. The protective arm over her as they lay sleeping, the watchful eye he kept on her out here that made her able to come without the worry and fear of predators. All of these were mitigating forces on the emotions that she had thought she had excised from her heart but in reality she had just sent to a deep freeze.

When he stopped and slid off Stormdancer, Taylani remained mounted only out of sheer will. If he was simply checking something she did not think she could remount immediately, and she was biting her lip just to keep from telling him that her body was aching. So when he looked up at her after inspecting something on the ground she nods and slowly leaned forward drawing her leg over the horses back and painfully slid down. Once her feet hit the ground she almost lost her footing as her knees buckle but thanks to Freedom and her hold on the Yvas she caught herself.

After just a moment she began to walk toward Fallan, placing one foot in front of the other though her legs felt a little wobbly. With every step she became more sure footed and soon enough she walked almost naturally. Almost because she still walked gingerly to walk out the knots that had formed in her lower body from the ride that seemed like a quick jaunt from his own reactions but for her might as well been a three hour hard ride for as much as her body was used to sitting upon a horse.

Slowly sinking to the ground in front of him, the smallish leafy plant between them, Taylani settles easily enough on her knees. The green linen fabric of the pants that Rue Nightsong had sewn for her stretched over her legs even as teh blouse of a light colored purple allowed her ease of movement if not as much modesty as the ruined dress she had been brought to Endrykas in.

When he speaks she looks up at him, her head moving in a fashion that might have flipped her hair behind her shoulder, tossing it for lack of better word had it not been braided. The movement underscored that she was not as yet used to wearing her hair bound in anyway, more used to having to toss the red length over her shoulder by a practiced flip of her head.

"Everyone has opinions on what is best for them. For their family..." Taylani continued to look at him with her blue eyes fastened firmly on his grey ones, "For what or who they consider to be theirs. Rarely do the opinions meet exactly, and there will be conflict." She had forgotten almost of what she was talking, was she still speaking of him and his mother, or him and herself. "When there is only one party giving and the other benefiting there will be consequences to both."

Now that she was off the horse, on firm ground beneath her and didn't have the irrational fear of falling she was able to reach across and she did so without even thinking about it to caress his hand softly, then gripping it "The past is much more difficult to ignore then I had thought but sometimes it is necessary to start from the ground up on a new building then to try and rebuild on the foundation of a crumbled past."

She shrugs, again not really certain one hundred percent that she meant that Fallan and his mother needed to work on a new foundation rather then trying to build a relationship on the crumbled ruins of the old..or if she was speaking of her and Fallan once more. In any event the conversation was starting to become uncomfortable in the fact that she was starting to feel wary again on the hidden meanings behind both their words. So she tried to change the topic of conversation, "Is that what you are looking for? Does it grow wild here or all over the grasses?"

[Fallan Windchaser]

Perhaps she was right, he considered as she spoke the words. For so long he had avoided the past and indeed had run away from it. Now she reminded him that it could not be avoided, but what was the lesson here? He was more than a little confused by what she presented to him here.

The past was a complicated weave far more complicated than any that he had woven, more complex than even Skylar might hope to attempt. In there were strands that had been abandoned and allowed to fly loose whilst others were stopped and buried deeply where the light of the sky no longer reached. In other places new braids intersected and were woven in, perhaps just as Taylani was now.

Was she suggesting that he accept the past for what it was? Or was she suggesting that he should attempt to trace back the strands and unweave what had been woven in the hope that it could be formed into a new and more harmonious pattern?

”Past difficult,” he answered and returned the grip of her hand. ”Not sure, best route,” he admitted, ”build new foundation, start new. Leave ground alone, pitch tent on ground given?” To his mind it was more in the nature of his people to allow the past to be the past, yet that could easily be merely a justification that he used. Still though, he was who he was and should he attempt to change that or to find a way, a path which all could accept even if all knew it were not the perfect solution? It was difficult and he knew not what the solution was.

”Yes,”he answered, allowing at least for now the change of subject. He reached to his belt and gripping the leather sheath with his fingertips, eased the hilt of his knife free with his smaller fingers and palm, then drew it and sliced free the leaf.

”See leaf?” He opened it out so that she could see the leaf. ”Grow Syrila border, not sure all Cyprhrus. Grow wild, yes.”He wasn’t sure if it grew elsewhere for he hadn’t looked for it anywhere else. He handed her the leaf and slipped the knife back into the sheath, then pulled a trimmed down thigh bone from his belt and waved it at her. ”Digging stick.” He wasn’t entirely sure if she knew of such things or if the citizens of Syrilas ventured much beyond their walls in the hunt for food. Any forager would not need to be told for it was probably the most simple of implements. Perhaps though in Syrila with metal more easily available they used something else.

In any case actions were easier than words and he used the sharpened end to swiftly loosen the soil around the base of the plant and then with a firm grip around the leaves he gently tugged the plant free complete with the bulbous and tapered root which projected from the base. He shook it free of the loose dirt and then wiped off most of the rest. He pulled out his knife again having stuck the bone back through his belt and sliced the leaves off and then handed her the root.

”Can eat, but cook. Horse like, can dry for store.”

He examined her as she examined the root. He hadn’t missed the way that she had dismounted or the discomfort in her walk from the horse which he found surprising given how little that they had been riding. It placed a limit on what they could do for the time being. But with the one plant here there were bound to be more, so they could comfortably forage here for a while. He was also aware of her presence and that was distracting as ever. He was unsure if he liked her hair braided for all that it was the Drykas way. He had known her first with unbound hair and it would always be buried in his memory. For now he had to resist the temptation to reach out and touch it, and so he simply smiled instead.

[Taylani]

At his return of her grip on his hand Taylani gave him a small smile, but was relieved when he accepted the subject change. She was completely and utterly confused by him, which was really not a new state. He had always kept her on edge, his touch and his words often contradicting. At times she had small hope that she was not simply a thing to him, at others she knew only despair that her entire life would be spent as being just the mother of his children and a fond past time for him. The fact that she wasn't sure if she should want to be more then that or if she should be grateful for the lack of entanglement being able to just accept being a bed mate for him caused it's own forms of confusion for her.

However whenever they did something like this, something that was productive and not simply trying to untangle their pasts or enjoying each others body she didn't have to question every word, thought and feeling. Instead she was able to just be, which oddly enough was the easiest thing of all.

So when he hands her the leaf, she smoothed it out in her palm, noting that it covered the entirety of the palm. She nods as he spoke, hiding a smile at his term digging stick. She had seen gardeners in Syliras, and known that they used what they called a spade. When he began to dig she knew for certain that is what he was talking about.

She watched him closely, under the ruse of learning about the tuber root he held, but mostly she was assessing him and the way he held himself. She accepted the root, though she had seen them well enough before just never seen them growing. Neither of her parents were gardeners, so she had only seen the end result. "I didn't realize that they could grow wild. In Syliras we...they..." She quickly changed the word to exclude herself and was proud that she only gave a gentle flutter of her eye lashes that was an aborted flinch "They grew gardens, using some of the landscape within the walls to grow these, and other plants." She cut him a sideways glance when she added, "It was safer then trekking outside of the walls."

She pushed her red braid back again, though how she had braided it just made it bounce back over her shoulder again. She was going to have to learn how to do that properly so it wasn't so bent. She had seen some who purposefully braided their hair on a curve around their head, she had just been going for a simple braid. She had used too much tension, which is why one side curved though she didn't know what had gone amiss. Either way her first few attempts at the hairstyles so common amongst his people were either a dismal failure, or more annoying then helpful such as the braid today.

"I have never used them for much more then added flavor in stews and soups. Do they taste different dried?" The Drykas had a way of preserving their foods, a way that she had never attempted before. In Syliras she had the markets close at hand, and her father often hunted with a group of other men to provide the meats. So she hadn't had the need for long term storing, it was another thing that she needed to grow accustomed to.

She transferred the root to her left hand, so that her right was freed that being her dominant hand. Casting her eyes across the scape of the land, she first eyed the drop off where a rolling hill started its gently slope downward. It attested to the time she had spent outside of protective walls that she kept an eye on such things now. But once she was as certain as her very inexperienced eye could be that there was nothing lurking in the distance she began to look closer, within the grass.

Her legs were sore but once she had walked the rest of the way to Fallan the knots had already released, she knew that tomorrow, maybe even as early as tonight the stiffness would set in. But it would not be a bad stiffness, but one that let ones body know it had been exercised. It was something she was beginning to miss in her refusal to take up her practice again.

Pointing with her right finger, a short distance away was more leafy plants, though some of them were tall skinny leaves rather then squat fatter leaves of the tubers.

[Fallan Windchaser]

He returned her subtle gaze, unsure if she had actually made a joke about being outside the safety of the Syrilan walls or if it had been anything other than a realistic comment rather than a subtle dig. The latter was not really who she was he thought so he put that thought aside and instead smiled softly.

”Sometime hunting good outside walls of city. Sometime best prey hardest to catch.” He wondered what it was like in that hunting party that had caught her. Who was the one that chose her? Of course they would have taken her anyway but he wondered what the one who had made the decision had thought and if they had any thoughts other than that she was there and available? Fallan knew that he would have selected her out from a group, and knew too that his choice would have been based on the very shallow basis of the fact that her hair was the colour it was. Even now he only had to see it glint in the suns light to know how lucky he was that no one else had bid at the auction. He had heard that many after had reached much higher prices, which he didn’t understand, but if any others had bid then he could easily have lost her and that would have been something that he would have regretted greatly.

”Taste much same,” was his answer to her question about how they tasted when dried, ”flavour not quite strong.” He followed her finger towards another stand of the plants and nodded in satisfaction for the fact that here indeed they could spend some time. Though he enjoyed riding it was not the point of todays journey and there were serious sides to them being out here. One aspect of that was to gather food for the family and the horses, another to teach her something of how to survive out here, though that carried a risk, though one that needed to be taken. Soon she would become a good and experienced rider, and now she would start to learn how to survive in the grasslands. Once the child was born and the weather improved with the turning of the seasons then they would start to head North again towards Syrilas and her family. That horse was never going to be fast and would never match a strider on the grasslands, but with enough head start and once she had cleared the border then she might well manage to get away.

The thought saddened him because he knew it would always be a risk, even if she managed to accept being one of them. To stay here meant that she needed to choose to stay, and that because she wanted to, not because she felt that she needed to, because it was for the best or because she was forced. This ultimately was why he had made the choice that he had after rescuing her that night when he could so easily instead have enforced her captivity. That his choice had been instinctive rather than one of rational consideration did not seem so important to him, at least once he’d thought back over it and rationalised that decision.

”Good spot,”he said acknowledging her pointing and stood offering his hand to her to help her rise. It wasn’t that he thought that she needed it, it was simply a means to hold her hand and once she had stood then he would pull her in close to him, push that braid over her shoulder, resisting the urge to take it into his hand and roll it round that so that he could tug it and control her. There was a split in his mind between wanting her in that way and wanting her to be here.

He looked her in the eyes and then kissed her softly, his arms pulling her into him. ”Fallan want Tay stay with him.” He wasn’t sure why he said the words, it seemed a natural progression of the thoughts which had just run fleetingly though his mind.

[Taylani]

She nods at his words answering her question, more out of simply habit of carrying conversation. It was odd that she was finding that she had to re-learn these habits that over the season she had lost. She had to re-learn to simply respond to talking cues, for she had so long not wished to encourage idle conversation between Drykas and she, that she was actually rusty in normal conversation. There were other things she was having to force herself to let go just for some peace of mind. It worked for the most part, she was managing to subsist in a peaceful manner, floating through her days numb and avoiding emotion. Some days were easier then others, but it was the dreams that really manifested much of what she tried to suppress during the waking hours. Disturbing dreams, or delightful dreams that lacked the confusion any feelings that she might have for him caused her.

So when he rose and offered her his hand, she took it, though not because she needed it, the momentary lack of grace when she had dismounted had melted away once the cramped muscle had been relaxed. No she took his hand because it seemed natural to, just like it seemed natural to allow him to draw her close, to familiarly push her inept braid back over her shoulder. And when he kisses her lips, the gentleness of his lips cupping hers made it seem only natural for her to lean into him though her lips did not curve into a smile.

When he spoke, she looked at him for second before her lips parted to speak, "IFallan, I already told..." Her words trailed off as her eyes continued to probe his. They had had this conversation had they not? Twice she believes, maybe more, has she assured him that she wasn't able to leave again. Twice she explained to him that she would never be able to live apart from her child, to leave him or her here without her.

She knew his common was not the greatest, though it still beat her Pavi hands down, but she didn't think that he hadn't understood that she wasn't going to be able to just skip on back to ..back to what had been her life. Yet what else could he be saying? Surely she was not allowing some half-baked desire that she kept having to root out of her heart give more meaning to his words then what he intended for them to have. The desire to have meaning in Endrykas other then simply a vessel to plant children within.

The struggle within her mind showed plainly upon her face, she was too far broken to put up the blank expression that she had affected for much of her early stay in Endrykas. For the moment tubers were forgotten, even the one that she still held cradled within her palm, and she made a decision that she had been avoiding. She told herself that she avoided it because it was obvious what Fallan's answer would be, but perhaps she avoided because she was afraid of what her response would be.

She decided to ask him, "Why do you want me to stay?" She lifted her chin, looking for all the world to see as if she was preparing herself for him to land a fist to her chin, preparing herself for a blow. Many things ran through her mind as to why he would want her to stay. The first was obvious, since the start he had always been more attentive to her hair and made it no secret that he enjoyed its coloring. "My hair is not that unusual it seems here, and it won't always be this color." Her mind drew a picture of her mother, how she last looked with gray hair taking over her temples and streaking through her own brightly colored red hair.

She wasn't aware of when her hand hand risen to lay against his shoulder, and neck. Not until she realized that her fingers stroked the ends of his dark hair out of habit now. "It can't be because of the miza you spent on me.. I can replace that amount..it wasn't so high .." She let that sentence die before she finished it. She was well aware that she had gone for the lowest sum other then those who were forced to be kept in chains due to violent objections to captivity. Even the woman who was so catatonic that she had to be force-fed had brought a higher sum then she, and it was a testament to the perversion of Taylani's mind that it bothered her somewhat.

"So tell me Fallan. Why do you want me to stay?"

[Fallan Windchaser]

Given the limited way that he was able to express himself in Common added to his reticence to actually opening up with her, he realised almost immediately from her expression that once more he had managed to confuse her with what he actually meant. He wasn’t even sure on reflection if that wasn’t a good thing since whilst it always sounded good in his mind, that was because he was always able to imagine her responding well to it. Out here in the real world and outside of the comfortable confines of his mind he wasn’t so sure at all that it would work just as well.

This time was not the first that he had said something akin to this to her, but it was the first time, he reflected, that it had been done when they had some degree of equality, when she had some ability to choose and to say no. Perhaps that made a difference because for once she did not seem to be immediately reaching a conclusion, regardless of whether that might be the right or wrong one. He returned her gaze and added some steel into his heart which but moments before had been more open and more vulnerable.

But then her words seemed more open and more vulnerable too so he allowed the slight tensing that had come with the realisation of how his words might be interpreted to relax and his mouth to relax back into a smile.

Her question though was so vast and he found himself back where he had been in that moment in the auction room when he had allowed his heart to outweigh the common sense of his mind. How could he translate feelings into words? Perhaps it might be easier if he actually told her that? A movement over her shoulder caught his attention for a moment causing him to smile for it was clear that Stormdancer had caught scent of tuber for her ears were perked forwards whilst the nostrils on her slightly raised head flared in their direction. It seemed however that both of them waited for his answer.

He returned his attention to Tay and tried to pick the right words for a change. ”Fallan know hair change when Tay old and wise. Fallan know that flower fade with time, but not wrong admire flower in bloom, smell scent on warm Summer day.” It seemed to be easier now to speak Common if he took his time and spoke more slowly, especially when she helped by reminding him of words. ”First day Fallan see Tay, Tay bold, strong.” Now he had to choose his words more carefully, to parse between those things that he had thought and could tell her and those things that he was not sure he should tell her.

He hesitated again now, his mind flitting ahead to the words and anticipating he reaction, then trying to find new words. ”Hard explain. First day, Fallan want Tay. Challenge yes, see mare not broken, want for self.” He was fairly sure that this wasn’t going well, certainly it wasn’t going at all like he had ever planned it in his mind. His lips pursed in concentration and a slight frown burrowed between his eyes.

”Then auction. Not sure able explain, not sure understand then. Want Tay. Yes want sleep Tay, of course. All men want same.” He was starting to really regret going down this route as it was just getting worse. Having started though it was impossible to go back no matter how bad it had become. ”Want sleep yes. More, not want other men sleep.”

He sighed. ”Wrong words, not speak heart. Sleep Tay not reason want Tay. Want Tay for Tay. Sleep good, not resist first night. Want much sleep, hair not help.” If she could pick any meaning out of this he wasn’t convinced. If she could unpick the right words from the wrong ones then he would be very surprised.

”Fallan want Tay body yes, Fallan want Tay children yes. Not reason. Fallan not make Tay slave. Tay slave not give heart. Fallan want Tay stay here. Fallan want Tay want stay here. Not forced stay here.” He tapped on her chest. ”Fallan want Tay heart open.” In the end the words had jumbled and he wasn’t even sure that he understood what it was that he wanted her to understand.