Closed [Pig's Foot Tavern] The Temptation of a Woman (Kechaiya)

[Caela Dorin]

.

The doctor didn't answer straight away. It was a good sign in the dancer's mind that the woman was actually thinking it over rather than rushing into this. If she agreed to it though then what could Caela teach her? Well, appearance would be a big part of it. Enhancing Kechaiya's looks would be an interesting challenge; something would have to be done about the black eyes after all. There was no way of getting rid of them obviously but she could perhaps draw attention away from them.

As the woman returned with Caela's tea medicine, the blonde found herself trying to examine the other's ebony eyes in the light from the fire. They were very much there, extremely noticeable and she had no idea how to soften to shock factor of them. Do something with her lips? The dancer found herself staring intently at the foreigner's lips as she began to speak. She nodded along, her eyes never leaving the woman's lips as she half-listened to what she was saying.

Lip pomade, I think but what colour? Her skin is too dark for anything that I'd wear. Or is she? Could she get away with red or something? A dark red, maybe rather than bright? How can I find a colour that'll work on her lips? I'll have to bring her shopping and-

The dancer's line of thought on cosmetics was cut off abruptly at Kechaiya's words. Had she just said that she wanted to make Noven feel more good than a prostitute would? Caela prayed that her true meaning was being lost because of the language barrier otherwise what in petch did Kechaiya think that she was going to teach her? If she thought that the dancer was going to help her with sexual matters then she was very much mistaken. How was she even supposed to- Oh, she had some ideas how those things could be taught and there was no way in hai that she was dwelling on them. Her cheeks had begun to burn at the mere thought and she hoped that the dim lighting would hide her embarrassment. She took a tentative sip on the tea that Kechaiya had made to distract herself but found it too hot for her tastes. She blew on it.

"Kechaiya... you do understand that most of this will be up to you, right? I can't follow you around when you're with Noven. There are going to be things that I can't help you with, things you'll have to come up with on the spot, things that I can't help you prepare for. You might have to get... creative depending on the situation." Even to her own ears, the blonde knew that she sounded like she was trying to discourage the doctor from following this course of action. It was also the truth, a fair warning to the foreigner for what could happen. Caela wasn't all that familiar with the cook and so she couldn't know how he'd react to certain seductive techniques. She couldn't adapt for Kechaiya so she could only lay down the foundations and hope that the other could learn from them.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman began to outline some of the points that she thought important for enticing men. "How you look is a big part of it. It's not just about what you wear or what you do with your face or your hair. There are women who wear rags who can still be alluring if they know how." The blonde paused, taking another sip of the tea and finding it at a temperature that was drinkable. She took another sip, cradling the warm cup in her hands as she thought. "How you hold yourself is important. Confidence, it should show. It takes practice. I do it without thinking but I've been doing it for a very long time. One of the few things I have to thank my mother for, I guess." The girl shrugged, expression becoming distant as she took another sip of her drink. The silence continued on her end for a chime before she continued on.

"You have to move like you don't care who's looking. You assume that they will look but you don't look at them. They become beneath your notice. If you think of yourself as the most desirable woman in the place then you'll send out all those signals in the way you stand, in the way you walk. You don't think of anyone else as prettier than you. You look for the faults, the cracks, everyone has them. You shoot everyone else's looks down in your head then what competition are they? No competition, no threat. You do it but you act as if you don't notice or you don't care what effect your having. That's probably the biggest part of it. Add fancy clothes, some cosmetics, do your hair and you should draw stares before you even do anything else."

The dancer went back to sipping her tea, wondering how many of her words made sense to the other. She'd just spoken, disregarding the fact that Common wasn't the other's native language. It was too late to go back now and if Kechaiya didn't understand something then she'd surely ask questions. It'd be fine.

"A dress is always a good thing to have although you can usually do wonders with a corset with anything really. It takes practice to tighten one yourself though but I can show you how it's done if you want. It pulls your waist in, shows off your curves. I'm sure that a man could wear one and seem like he had curves that he didn't have." Another sip and a thoughtful gaze directed at the doctor's lips once more as she continued. "Your eyes are very striking, you know. A little... too much so perhaps. That isn't bad though you just need to draw attention to all of your face. I thought that if some colour could be added to your lips, a deep red maybe but I'm not sure, then it might do it. If not then your lips are a good thing to draw attention to. It might be necessary to bring you to the market to find the right colour. Are you willing to go shopping with me?"
.

[Kechaiya]

Kechaiya nodded at Caela's words. She knew that if she ever ended up in something... intimate, it would be going with her gut. But the thought scared her. The unknown was terrifying, especially in her life that revolved around her work. The idea of coming across an injury or illness that she'd never come across before was exhilarating, at first. But when it came to practice, to applying her skills to something new was frightening. Those patients usually died. Not exactly a good ending. But she always tried to learn from it, and eventually, she could save someone from that. So perhaps the same applied to intimate moments, petch it up in the beginning, but get better with practice.

Caela was right. She needed to learn it on her own, no matter how scary, yet alluring, the idea was. When Caela brought up appearances, again Kechaiya had to agree with her. She never dressed to look like Caela, nor even had the clothing to do so. Her life had been so dedicated to her craft since her arrival in Sunberth, that nothing else had registered as important. Her priorities were changing, she was changing. Was she perhaps finally accepting Sunberth as her final home? Settling in, transitioning from foreigner to native? Because even her dress here would not be considered desirable back in the sands of Eyktol. But Chaktawe culture was all about form and function, and that is what made the women appealing. If she were there, her normal attire would be skirts of fur and feathers and barely there tops. She'd show more skin than Caela did in her dances, at least the ones where her clothes stayed on. And that would be sought after by the men, a woman that could heal, use the medicinal plants of the desert.

She probably wouldn't have these issues back there. But that was life, and she was here, and this was home. She knew she had confidence, somewhere inside of her, or else she would never have kissed him in the first place. The thoughts of finding flaws in others to make herself superior was interesting. She could do that, being a doctor finding physical flaws was something she could pick up with ease. After all, that wouldn't be too different from searching for an injury or illness. Her eyes moved to Caela's form after the suggestion, and she began looking her over, to find Caela's, since despite being a new friend, was the ideal woman, for Sunberth at least, in her eyes.

How could Kechaiya compare to that in a town where pale and curvy was beautiful? But perhaps there was more to it than her body. Her eyes cast upward to the dancers face, taking in the smaller details. Caela's eyes and lips kept drawing her attention, but perhaps there was a reason for that. Scrutinizing the edge of her face, she saw scars near her hairline, probably from a childhood illness. Kechaiya had no such scars on her face, her father kept her people healthy. Working her way down, she couldn't find anything else it seemed. There were probably others, but she suspected that Caela was practiced in hiding them.

So, be confident, find the flaws in others, and try to improve clothing and appearance. She felt like she could do that. Unlike Noven, who seemed to have a propensity for using words she didn't know, Caela didn't. She did talk a little fast, but Kech was able to get most of it. Kech had never considered switching from dresses to skirts, the latter preferred out out of convenience. Dresses always looked heavy and stuffy to her. And she wasn't really sure what a corset was.

"What is corset?"

When Caela mentioned drawing attention away from her eyes, Kechaiya paid especially close attention. Her eyes were really the one thing that caused her to stand out most, in a negative light. Caela suggested red, but Kechaiya thought back to her childhood, of the flowers she used to pick and wear in her hair. They were always purple. Red in the desert was more of a staple color rather than something that stuck out. "I like purple, like flowers."

Kechaiya mulled over the last question, mainly looking at it from a coinpurse point of view. She could afford to go shopping, but she already plans tomorrow. Several of her herbal supplies were severely depleted and she needed to gather more. But perhaps two days from now she could. "I want shop, no can tomorrow. Need gather plants, almost have none. Day after after good."

Kechaiya felt as if she had told Caela so much about her, and had learned so much in return. Perhaps Kechaiya could be of help, as a friend, to the dancer. "Is lonely being dancer?" Kechaiya could see it being as such, akin to be a slave, albeit a paid one. Thankfully, the doctor had no boss aside from her hunger. "You have man interest you, not with coin, with eyes?" Perhaps a bit forward, but Kechaiya wanted to know more about her friend. "What do when not dancer?"

[Caela Dorin]

.

"What is corset?"

Oh joy, this was going to go well. She wondered how many explanations she was supposed to give the woman this night, how many more she'd have to give before her little lesson in seduction was over. She let her advice come to an end before addressing the doctor about the lip pomade first. "We'll wait and see, Kechaiya. You'll just have to trust me to find a colour for you when I go shopping. I'll see if I can make it purple but if it can't be purple then you mustn't be disappointed," she told her, feeling for all the world like a mother talking to a child. Another sip of her tea was taken, the young woman briefly wondering when it was supposed to begin its work.

"A corset is an undergarment, something you wear under your clothes. It's tight, hard, not like normal undergarments. You can get different types. You can get one that goes from the top of your stomach to your hips and another that goes from your breasts down to your hips." She gestured to herself as she spoke, using her own body as a model as she indicated where the corsets could cover. "I prefer the fuller corset. Makes your waist smaller, shows off the hips, pushes up the breasts. Looks good, very good. Feels a bit strange but you can get used to that."

The fact that the doctor was willing to go shopping brought a relieved smile to the dancer's face. It'd make things considerably easier for her if she could have the woman with her while she was trying to pick items out. Choosing things based on memories of the foreigner's appearance wouldn't have worked out too well. It wouldn't take place immediately but that was just fine with Caela; she wasn't in a hurry. It made sense that Kechaiya would want to do it as soon as possible. She didn't know when this breakfast with Noven had taken place but it had probably been fairly recently and if that was the case it was best to fully captivate him as soon as possible. He might show interest towards the foreigner now but if he was inclined to go to brothels on a regular basis then it was entirely possible that he would lose interest in her. No, nab his full attention as soon as possible and he'd have no reason to go sniffing around whores' skirts.

The woman's shift in topic unbalanced her, thoughts of teaching seduction displaced by queries about Caela's personal life. "Uh..." Was it lonely being a dancer? Yes, she supposed that it was. Loneliness wasn't something that she tended to dwell on. Kechaiya's next words confused her a little, her phraseology making her uncertain of what the question was exactly. Was she asking if she had someone in her life? Odd way of putting it, a man interested in her with eyes but she supposed that she could see the logic of it, strange though it was. The doctor was certainly a forward one but then she supposed she'd already learned a fair amount about the woman although she hadn't asked. Offering information in return would only be fair. They were supposed to be friends and friends shared things with one another.

A hand was rubbed across the back of her neck as the dancer considered. "I guess that it's kind of lonely. I mean, I see lots of people but I don't know them, don't want to know them a lot of the time. I talk to some of them but I couldn't remember even half of the conversations I've had." She frowned. When she put it like that it truly did sound like she was living a very lonely existence. Brows creased further as she thought about it. "I guess that I don't do much when I'm not dancing. I look at things in the markets, I flirt with guys for drinks, I hang around the tavern, I'd just started to exercise when I hurt my side." A hand went to the side in question, noting for the first time that the twinges of pain were fainter than they had been. The last of the tea was swallowed down then, a hint of the flavouring that Kechaiya had described as the inside of a boot. It tasted the way that that scent smelled. The cup was set down and pushed across the table towards the doctor.

"I've been trying to learn to fight. Noven helped a bit and a woman I met last season did too. I haven't been very good at practising though. I'm not very good I don't think but I... I don't really do anything when I'm not working. That's bad, isn't it?" Her voice betrayed her worry and her self-consciousness. She sounded truly pathetic and the other was probably thinking just that. Caela tried to fill the silence with more speech, beginning to answer the doctor's other question without thinking. "I had a friend once who I grew up with but I haven't seen him in a few years. Could be dead for all I know. He was... he was..." the girl stammered, a hand run through her hair, her expression twisting into one of torment. "It isn't important. We were talking about you and Noven. You don't think that I'm finished with you yet, do you?" she asked, smiling in a way that didn't reach her eyes, where the torment still remained.

She looked down, fingers tracing the grain of the table. When she looked up again her expression was under control, impassive. Another false smile was painted on her face. "You do want me to go on, don't you? I haven't really told you anything yet, only the parts that you need to make everything else work. Think of the clothing and the confidence as what you need to be able to do something else like... needing a medical kit to be able to heal someone. No, maybe that's not a good example. You'll get what I mean. Will I go on?"
.

[Kechaiya]

Kechaiya nodded her understanding over the color, but she already knew that if it wasn't purple, she would be terribly disappointed. The way Tara described the corset, however, it sounded uncomfortable. But if Kechaiya could endure a cracked rib from Noven, a corset couldn't be that bad. Kechaiya felt this little plan, or lesson, or whatever you might call this, was definitely boosting her confidence. After all, while Kechaiya was an expert in fixing people, Caela was an expert in alluring them.

Listening to Caela's answers to the questions Kech had posed was disheartening. Caela had the skills Kech wanted, but she didn't have the happiness Kechaiya was asking for help to achieve. It was odd, the dancer could have anyone, and yet, no one. And for a moment, Kech found herself feeling wholly selfish. But she also had no way of reciprocating. She wanted to do something for her, but what was there that would be worthwhile and possible? She was surprised to hear Noven's name again, apparently teaching her how to fight. The twinges of jealousy from before were no longer popping up. But the lack of doing anything outside of work sounded all too familiar to the doctor. It was why she worked so much. So she wouldn't have nothing to do.

Kechaiya felt her heart reach out as Caela talked about her old friend. Everyone had lost someone close to them, and it seemed the dancer was no exception. But she had quickly changed the subject with a smile, but a slightly different one before. But questions had been asked, and needed answered.

Smiling back, "No, no think finish. Please, go on." The analogy that Caela had tried to use actually worked for the doctor. It was like how her dad used to let her practice her sewing on the goat meat before dinner, so she could learn stitches. He'd given her the tools, then taught her the methods. And apparently she had a few of the intangible tools now, and would be purchasing the tangible ones soon. But she still needed to learn the methods. "Yes, want learn more, please."

[Caela Dorin]

.

It was a relief to hear Kechaiya say that she was done. No more questions, no more prying. She wasn't going to have to spill things that she didn't want to. There were two ways that it could have gone if the doctor had pushed her. Either she would have ended up in tears from being pushed too far or else she would have snapped and said more about her past than she was willing to share. She hadn't had enough to drink to be pliable enough to blab however so the foreigner would have had to put up with a woman who was extremely upset and unwilling to talk about why.

Continuing her lesson gave her something to focus on. She had to admit that she wasn't a very good teacher. Her student was just being talked at, the dancer hardly acknowledging her presence at all and so she'd have to make an effort to interact with her more. She wanted to make sure that what she taught her went in and if she was more involved then it was going to stick in the doctor's mind better than being treated like a wall.

"Okay so you have to know how to talk with your body, not just with your mouth. Just talking to someone doesn't mean that you're interested in them. Have you ever talked to someone who you wish would jump into the sea or something and leave you alone? Have you ever just kept talking to them like you want to be friendly with them? If you have or you've seen it then you know that just talking isn't everything." The young woman leaned a little closer to Kechaiya over the table, sitting her chin upon her hand with her head cocked slightly to the side as she met the woman's eyes. She tried not to think of them as bottomless black pits and kept the contact up as she spoke.

"You have to look like you're interested in everything that they say. Like they have your full attention. You hold the person's gaze as much as possible. You try to be close to them but not in too obvious a way, don't lean straight into their space. You move slowly. It can look like you're doing it on purpose or you can make it look like you don't notice what you're doing. It depends what you think will work best. You already know Noven so you don't have to worry about scaring him off. He's not some stranger that you're trying to pick up in a tavern."

The young woman took a sip of water, continuing to watch the doctor through her eyelashes as she raised the cup to her lip. She put the cup down near to Kechaiya's hand, brushing a finger off her skin as if by accident as she withdrew her own hand. "Small touches that seem accidental are something that you need. Men like to be touched even if it's in the smallest of ways. It helps make them interested in you when you talk so if you want Noven's full attention then there are ways of doing it." She paused to think about it, chewing her lip as she rolled over different scenarios in her head before settling on one.

"I'll give you an example. Say you go to the Orphanage and Noven is in the middle of cooking. So you walk in through the door and you say hello so that he knows that you're there. You use his name when you do it too, it's good for connecting to him. So say he glances around but he goes back to doing what he's doing, say frying something. In other words he's too busy to really pay much notice to you so you make him notice. Now the way I'd do it is I'd walk up to his side and touch off him lightly. Brush your arm off his, maybe bump your leg off his as if by accident but you still keep a little bit of distance. You could probably stay close enough that your arm is still against his." She let that much sink in, offering the doctor a smile.

"Now if you brush off him like that, he'd probably look at you automatically. So you make sure that you catch his eye, you smile like you're glad to see him and then you start talking. Comment on what he's doing, maybe something like how it smells good and that you hope he thought of sticking some on for you. If he gets flustered you can nudge him and let him know that you're only teasing him and go from there." The young woman laughed. "I sound like I'm telling you what to do, don't I? I kind of am but I'm just giving you an idea really of what you could do. You can practice the accidental touching thing if you want and I'll tell you if you're too obvious about it." She stood, beckoning the doctor to follow her to the fireside.

"Okay so we're going to pretend that I'm Noven. Yes, I know that you're going to have to use your imagination a bit," she laughed, gesturing to her body, "but just try, okay? Just do whatever you think works, okay? See what comes naturally." The blonde faced the fire, watching the flames dance and allow herself to become distracted by the sight. Now to see how Kechaiya dealt with a distracted "Noven".
.

[Kechaiya]

"Yes, talk to people all time no like. Yes, I... think phrase, talk with hands? I talk with hands lot." Then she watched as Caela moved in closer, eyes seeking hers out, a look that brought comfort and closeness to the doctor's mind. Was this what she meant about talking with your body? If so, it made a lot more sense now. Kechaiya never used to enjoy meeting people's eye contact when talking to them, but now found herself doing it more in this night than ever before. This was truly interesting to her, and the same was applied, usually, whenever Noven spoke as well. Perhaps it was because neither of them seemed disgusted or disturbed by her eyes. But she remembered that Caela had told her to not care what others thought, and her eyes were no exception. It would take a lot of work, but if she could do it with friends, she could do it with anyone.

Keeping close wouldn't be a problem for her, though being too close could be. She had already seen that tonight, as well as her time spent with Noven, she often had poor impulse control. But if she could think to do it consciously, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Moving slowly should could do, it wasn't too different from doing stitches. Quick suturing meant errors, slowing down meant care went into it. She noticed Caela kept her eyes on her even as she drank her water, as if she was more important than her own refreshment. She had to give it to Caela, the woman certainly knew her trade. There was a small... some sort of feeling as Caela brushed her hand against Kechaiya's. She wasn't sure what it was, but it had felt both like an accident and as if Caela was treating her special. Then she explained what she had just done, and Kech realized that it was part of the lesson. But that special feeling was still there.

Kechaiya wondered if she should tell Caela that it wasn't just men that enjoyed that, but didn't want to interrupt. Kechaiya noticed, since she was paying so close attention, that Caela chewed on her lip when she wasn't speaking. Perhaps a mannerism for when she was thinking hard about something. She made sure to remember this, as she continued to listen to the lesson.

As Caela began the hypothetical scenario, Kechaiya closed her eyes, so as to better focus on visualizing it. She continued to nod as she spoke, adding each element. She saw herself entering the orphanage, Thomas running up to wave at her enthusiastically as he always did before scampering off. She could smell the eggs and bacon and potatoes that he'd made the morning she'd kissed him, as she greeted him by name from the door. It was no stretch to see him focusing on it either, just as she focused on her own work. She could see herself lightly bumping into him, making it seem as if she were looking at what he was making rather trying to get close to him. The thought of the arms together was quite pleasing to Kechaiya, and brought a goofy grin to her face. And Caela was right, Noven would look over, just to confirm that it was her that approached after calling his name, and not one of the children trying to snitch some food. He would get flustered if she complimented his food, because he got flustered by anything nice that was directed at him, sometimes overly so.

When the hypothetical situation was done being drawn for her, Kechaiya opened her eyes at Caela's laughter. "You teach good, like father when teach me healing." Kechaiya stood as Caela moved over to her hearth, watching the woman go. She was asking Kechaiya to practice touching her in a way so as to attract her attention and desire. The thought of it was... a little unusual to Kechaiya, but not wholly so. It was practice after all, pretending she was Noven. Her stomach was growing nervous at this practice, and she wasn't sure why, but she had to pretend to be confident at least. Fake it til you make it and all that. She watched as "Noven" turned away, toward the fire, paying her no mind in the least. Her first thought was how wide and ample Noven's butt had gotten, but she forced herself to focus. To take this seriously as Caela was.

Noven was there by the fire, probably brooding as he liked to do. He was in his dirty, bloodied shirt, which Kechaiya felt he should replace. But it still worked for him, showed off his muscular form, showed that he was more concerned about the protection of those he cared about than how he looked. She moved forward, slowly, quiet, casually. Her plan was to touch his right hand with her left as she joined him at his side. But, she had lifted her eyes so as to not seem to be staring at him on her approach, and bumped into Caela's upper arm with her breast, her thigh brushing against Caela's hand. This brought her out of the pretending it was Noven moment with a raging blush adorning her face. But she wasn't going to let something like that trip her up now. "What you looking at Noven?" She didn't move from her somewhat awkward position, so as to make it seem she didn't notice, as if it were truly an accident.

[Caela Dorin]

.

The young woman was trying not to beam with Kechaiya's compliment. It was very difficult to keep her expression neutral when all she could think was that she was a good teacher. She taught as well as Kechaiya's father had and what she'd seen of the doctor's medical skills so far seemed to make it the highest praise that she could have given. It was nice to actually be appreciated, something that Caela didn't normally get to experience when she danced. Lust wasn't the sort of thing that she found particularly complimentary even though that was something that she elicited everyday.

At least she wasn't laughing though and neither was Kechaiya. They both knew that this was a serious situation. It was a little strange and bound to be more than a little awkward and uncomfortable for both of them but the foreigner had wanted to know and there was no better way than learning by experience. It probably wouldn't be the most pleasant experience for the doctor anyway the first time she tried it with Noven, she'd most likely be a ball of nerves, which would make this exercise fairly true to life. With a bit of imagination on the doctor's part of course.

The woman's eyes on her made her nervous. It wasn't something that she would have expected but then women were an entirely different kettle of fish than men. They tended to look at her more deeply unless they were inclined to bat for their own sex. Kechaiya hadn't shown such interest, she liked Noven after all so Caela felt like she was being scrutinised more deeply than normal. As the other looked at her she wondered what she was thinking and imagining her possible lines of thoughts made her palms start sweating. The blonde resisted the urge to wipe her hands dry on her skirt. She was growing uncomfortably warm but she assumed that it was only the heat from the fire. It wasn't anything that the dancer couldn't wait out.

Light footsteps approaching from behind her signalled Kechaiya's approach, the blonde's body becoming tense as she readied herself for whatever would come next. Something glanced off her hand. Hip? Thigh? She didn't know. Almost simultaneously a soft touch of something was felt against her upper arm. The flesh yielded against her limb, the sensation of it pushing inwards clear through the thin material of her own blouse. Her gaze moved to the other woman automatically. The woman's cheeks had darkened, something that was clear even in the firelight. She was blushing.

The dancer's eyes flickered downwards to about the level on the woman that had made contact with her arm. She had a suspicion, a very strong suspicion but it wasn't until she set out the possibilities that were certain that she thought her suspicion correct. Either Kech's arm had bumped into her or... it'd been her breast. The doctor's arms were not fat and so the flesh on them couldn't yield in quite that way. Oh! Well that was that then. The heat that her body was suffering under seemed to intensify. Her face felt as if it should be in the hearth.

The young woman was a little thrown for a moment by the foreigner's contact, flustered although she wouldn't admit to it if she was asked. Her mouth dropped open a little at the woman's question. All innocence, something that was somewhat undermined by that blush. Same there was no way to control the blush or else Noven would be absolutely clueless that he was being played. Well... maybe not completely clueless. Kechaiya had implied that he knew his way around women judging by the mentions of prostitutes and someone called Mae. Lovers and no doubt lots of them. He'd be familiar with womanly wiles though perhaps there were a few of them that he was still in the dark about.

"I... wasn't looking at anything really. I was just thinking, I guess," the dancer replied, shrugging as she went to turn away from the woman to look back into the fire but she caught Kech's eye. Self control should have made her look away so that the doctor was faced with more of a challenge to reclaim her attention. Her thoughts scattered though as she caught sight of the black pools. They reflected the firelight queerly, flames dancing in her eyes in a way that was fascinating. It was as if her eyes were aflame. She stared, speechless and managed to salvage enough thought to decide that maintaining eye contact would be fine.
.

[Kechaiya]

.

Kechaiya had heard what "Noven" had said, but found herself distracted, captivated even, as it was not Noven's eyes she was looking into now, but Caela's. Where his was rusty brown, hers were, at least by firelight, a dark shade of green. These eyes looked so familiar to the doctor, and not because they belonged to the dancer. Whatever was causing déjà vu though, was not bringing forth good feelings, there was fear, the need to run, and anxiety. Kechaiya was trying to stifle it down, to feel something else, to focus on the awkward task at hand, not realizing her chest was tightening, her breaths growing shorter and more rapid.

And then she completely forgot about the training she was going through, and realized she couldn't breathe, that it was hot and stuffy. She looked down at her own hands, raised in front of her, and while they didn't see any chains on her wrist, that feeling was there. Just as it had been when she'd worn those very chains in Eyktol. Hands were scrambling at her wrists now, just to feel something else, anything else, fully hyperventilating now. Dropping to her knees, she was in a full blown panic, she had to escape, had to run, Sunberth wasn't safe.

Tears were running once more, burning her eyes, dropping to her wooden floorboards. She was clutching her arms now, and a single, foreign name muttered out of her lips, "Khestra". Saying the name though, helped her to focus on the what was happening around her. Khestra was not here. That evil woman was still in Ahnatep capturing people and ripping people apart. Caela was the one that was here, and the realization of such let her breathing slow and relax. The realization that she was here in a heap next to the dancer brought a whole new wave of embarrassment to the doctor. Kechaiya had spent so long running and hiding from her past, she never realized what would happen if it were to be brought forth.

The tears had since stopped, but she looked up at the dancer, "I... sorry. I no do this. I sorry time waste..." her voice dipping down to a mere mutter, "I damage. Always be damage"

Kechaiya now knew this was why she never got close to anyone. Because it was better for them to not know her. "You... no need friend like me. No good." It was much easier to push them away, so that they, and Kechaiya herself, never got hurt. She stayed there on her haunches, wondering if it would sometimes be better if she'd never even escaped her chains. At least then, the only life that would be ruined would be her own.

[Caela Dorin]

.

The doctor's eyes met hers with the same level of captivation... and something else. It was difficult to attach any emotions to those ebony eyes the way she normally could have with a person with ordinary eyes. It wasn't that they were unreadable, the way emotions registered in them was just different. Some things she could pick up on along with facial cues but this... Her eyes scanned Kechaiya's face quickly, shocked at what she was seeing. Fear, panic even, her breathing increasing to match it. Her breathing hadn't just increased, the woman was hyperventilating.

The dancer looked on in shock and horror, wondering why she seemed to be able to bring out the worse emotional reactions in the foreign doctor. What had she done now? Before she'd at least been able to see the reasons behind the reactions like when the other had burst into tears but now she was completely clueless and a little frightened.

The foreigner had dropped to her knees, eyes fixed on the floor while she clutched at herself and muttered something in what Caela assumed was her own language. She had no idea what it meant. Was it a name? Was it some sort of exclamation of panic? Maybe it was something that was meant to calm her down and it did seem to do something, even if it was only a small improvement. This was worse than the crying, this seemed to be something far worse and the dancer had no idea what she was supposed to do. It was unlikely that a simple, awkward hug would remedy this situation but she didn't know why she felt that way. It was a gut feeling, the young woman supposed. It had not been mere panic, there had been something in the other's face for a moment before she dropped to the floor. She'd seen young women with similar expressions before, the sheer horror of not having a way out shown on their faces. She'd seen a rat cornered before as someone prepared to kill it and somehow the animal's eye had had the same manic glint in it as those women. Kechaiya was like an animal that had just found itself cornered but had collapsed under the emotion.

Maybe she had misread the woman, it was entirely possible with those eyes without pupils but her face hadn't been so hard to read. She could just be misinterpreting it but she felt that she wasn't. But if that was the emotion than what was the reason behind it? They were in Kechaiya's own room and Caela hadn't offered any sort of threat to her. It was something deeper, perhaps something that she would never be able to guess at by herself.

The other finally looked up, the tracks of tears glinting on her cheeks in the firelight. Apologising. The blonde knelt down beside her, bringing herself to the doctor's level, shaking her head. There was no need for her to apologise, she had nothing to apologise for. It seemed that Caela should say that she was sorry although she had no idea what she was supposed to be sorry for. How could she when she hadn't a clue what it was that she had actually done? The mutters were caught, the head shaking become more frantic.

"No, Kechaiya. Don't say that. Don't." A tentative hand came out to rest on the woman's shoulder, thumb stroking in a gesture that she hoped was comforting. Even through her blouse she could feel the tension building below the skin. The woman's self pity - for that's what it seemed to be to Caela - was getting a bit irritating. Was she so self absorbed that she could be set off down the path of her own inner misery so easily? So frequently? The other hand found its way onto the other's shoulder, both hands gripping firmly but not enough to hurt.

"You are not 'no good'. You are not damaged. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, do you hear me? You might be a little prone to being over-emotional from what I've seen but there is nothing wrong with you!" The doctor was shaken a little as if to shake the meaning of the dancer's words into her. "You can do anything that you put your mind to. If you were damaged then you could fix yourself the same way that you fix others. You fixed me so I owe you my time, understand? It's the least that I could do so now will you please snap out of this? Don't sob on the floor. If there's something wrong with you then don't just cry over it, petching do something about it!"

Her voice had raised as her temper rose and while she wasn't yelling in the doctor's face, she hadn't been too far off it. Her fingers released their hold on the other and she simply maintained eye contact with the woman for a chime before she rose and held out a hand. "Come on. We'll leave this, we'll sit back down at the table and we'll talk it out, okay? Talking will help. Getting it out is half the battle over so come on." The hand was thrust forward, insistent. The dancer was not taking a refusal. Kechaiya was getting up off the floor if the blonde had to drag her up off it. No was not an answer that she was willing to accept.
.

[Kechaiya]

.

Kechaiya had heard Caela's comforting words, felt her hand on her shoulder, and neither really seemed to do much for the emotionally distressed doctor. For some reason, her own hand moved of its own accord to the one on her left shoulder and held on to it. For if Caela's methods of teaching were reminiscent of her father, the tough loving comfort that was now being used reminded her of her mother. There had been times when the pure bred Chaktawe would tease her, make fun of her, and she'd get into fights, or come home crying, because she wasn't a full blood. It happened everywhere, and one simply had to endure. And her mother had always been there, telling her to grow stronger, to face her attackers, to not show her tears, much like Calyn had when she arrived in Sunberth.

The no nonsense attitude had broken through the muddled muck of Kechaiya's very distracted mind. And she looked up under the woman's commands, and nodded, not hanging her head in shame, still holding on to Caela's hand. The dancer, her mother, Calyn, were right. Crying did nothing of use for anyone except your enemies. And Kechaiya had realized that she had at least one such individual. But she also had an ally, a friend. Kechaiya took her hand and stood up with her help, moving to a chair at her table. Sitting down, she found her hand reaching out for Caela's across the table once more.

Kechaiya's tears stopped and she looked over at the dancer, "You right. Is just... bad memory." She sighed deeply, squeezing the dancer's hand, "Nine year pass, when I become woman from girl, in Eyktol, father, mother, me, capture by slaver. Leader Eypharian woman, name Khestra. Eyes deep green, fiery, dark. Eyes make people do what she say. I slave year and half. Always chain, I force do medicine, good and bad medicine, to other slaves. Sometime, small thing make memory. At hearth, you eyes look Khestra eyes." She now looked at Caela's eyes, and found them to be a much softer green, "No like now. Now eyes pretty."

"I escape. Leave parents behind. Sneak on boat. Year and half, sneak boat to boat, think Khestra find me. Come Sunberth six years pass. Keep head down, do job, no have friend."

Gripping Caela's hand firmly, "You good teacher, good friend. No mean be..." she struggled a bit to use Caela's words, "Over emotion. It just happen. I want do something, no know what can?"