PM to join Midwinter Blues (Taylani)

[Darius Twoseas]

22 day of Winter in the year 513 AV Darius awoke from his sleep chilly from the outside air. While it wasn't life-threateningly ill insulated, his tent also wasn't exactly the warmest structure in the world either. Still wrapped in his bedroll and blanket, he sat on the floor of the structure, his legs crossed in front of him. The chill inhibited him a bit, but after a short while, he found the Web and let himself wander it, getting acquainted with the layout of the city as of today. There he caught up on the most recent news and was forced to admit to himself that there would be little need for him to go on the upcoming hunt. Joy. More time alone in his tent. Sinking out of the web, he stood up, his joints stiff and his body considerably colder than when he had left it. Petch, he hadn't even though about how the cold might affect his unattended body. He sneezed. Today was going to be just great. He stumbled out of his tent, sniffing loudly as he walked aimlessly through the city. Really, what he needed was to stretch his legs before winter really set in over the Sea of Grass. Then he knew he'd be cooped up possibly for weeks. If he wanted to survive and/or stay sane during the inevitable snowstorms, he was sure he'd need to take shelter inside one of the larger pavilions. His little tent just wouldn't do. It was earlier in the morning than Darius had intended to wake up, and there were still only a few other Drykas awake. After a little while wandering the camp, Darius gave up on finding some sort of diversion and began heading back into his tent. If there were any sort of benefit to this season, at least it gave him an opportunity to practice his magic. Still, there was something to be said when even he internally groaned at the though of practice. The opportunities would be far too plentiful anyway. With these thoughts, he made his slow way back through the camp to return to his tent, sniffling the whole way.

[Taylani]

The weather was infinitely better then when she wintered in Syliras, the city in the north that never moved. At least Endrykas hugged the Cyphrus region to such a degree that things didn't get brutally cold. Cold enough for the occasional snow storm, and definitely cold enough to wear cloaks, coats, and or other heavier clothing but certainly not cold enough for someone born and raised in a city that went through a deep chill every winter to be much effected by it.

Taylani moved through the city, watching as some picked up stakes to move while others opted to move on the morrow. Her green linen pants hugging her body a little tighter across the stomach, her blouse just a bit more snug across the breast then when she had purchased it. Nothing that most people who did not know the former dancer to notice that there was just a little more of her. Her cloak tied tightly around her neck, but her hands do not hold it together, instead it fluttered around her shoulders easily. Her hands, instead, were pressed lightly against her belly for that was the reason she was wandering aimlessly rather then helping the Fallan pack up his tent and load up her belongings as well.

His family had moved back up the run, for the Windchaser's herds were much more suited toward the Syrila border apparently. Taylani couldn't be said that she was sad to see them go, not because she disliked them -except Skylar who still chilled her- but because living in a pavilion with so many people had unnerved her. It didn't help that she had been Fallan's captive, bought for breeding, though Fallan claimed that he bought her because he knew he would love her.

That was too confusing to dwell on so she continued to walk. Her hands trying to massage the light cramp of sickness that threatened to force her to lose her breakfast. Fortunately her morning sickness had been very light, unfortunately she had made the mistake of trying to add onion to the breakfast menu and the smell triggered the nausea.

So involved with her thoughts the red-head did not watch where she was going, which was quite unusual for someone trained to be extra careful with her movements. She managed to move directly into a Drykas male, one that was sniffling as if he had a cold. "Oh! I am sorry" She says in common hastily, having recovered her balance after a moment of stumbling. She remembered where she was and added in her very poor Pavi "I sorry." Her hands gestures slow and jerky as she tried to remember them as well as the words.

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius stumbled back across the city, watching the early movers start to pull up their tents. He would have to move sometime this afternoon, he decided, a task he didn't particularly mind as it gave him time to ride l, an activity which he, like nearly all Drykas, enjoyed. The cold was less than pleasant, but bearable, and he knew the time with Alaxel would be with it. He felt he hadn't been spending enough time with his Strider and felt slightly guilty. He was thinking guiltily about his Strider when a redheaded outsider ran right into him. She seemed flustered when she ran into him, and apologized first in common and then in hesitant Pavi, her hand gestures unsure. Darius was slightly amused by how apologetic she was, but was also grateful for the distraction a conversation would provide. He turn to her and smiled graciously. "It's fine," he said in Pavi, his hand signs far more confident than hers, though still not particularly fluent. He switched to Common, "Don't worry about it. I've been stuck in my own thoughts too long anyway. I'm Darius, who're you?"

[Taylani]

Taylani pulled her cloak more closely around her not to protect her from the cold but to simply give her added security. She may have decided to stay among these people when Fallan had offered her her freedom, but she still had a long ways to go to trusting them. It was something that preoccupied her mind more then other things. She grappled with the idea of beginning to care for the man who would have her bear him children without choice, coming to know him and accept his choices. Yet at the same time distrusting the people as a whole for what they had done to her and to many other women.

"My name is Taylani." She said simply, her red brows rose at his fluency in Common. Many Drykas knew it well enough to communicate with her but they almost all had a certain cadence that said it was not their native tongue. "You speak common." It was said as a statement and not a question. Perhaps the markings on his arm were simply tattoos and not windmarks? Was he Drykas or a guest...or one of those men who voluntarily came to become one of the Drykas?

She looked around her, giving herself time to firmly take control of her stomach that suddenly tried to rise. "I hope I haven't kept you from your business." She spoke once more, quietly but neutrally. She did not know if he was in the middle of something, moving his pavilion maybe or running an errand. "Sometimes a walk helps to settle the stomach."

[Darius Twoseas]

The woman introduced herself, then commented on his use of Common. It was the result of having his upbringing split between to nomadic peoples, he supposed, as it would have been quite uncomfortable to not be able to speak well to one or the other of his parents. Within his family, Common had been the accepted language. Darius caught the redhead's glance at his windmarks, and he smiled proudly a little bit. He had earned them only a season or so ago, and still felt proud to be truly accepted by his mother's people. After a moment, though, he remembered that the woman was most likely one of the captives the other Drykas had taken, and her feelings about the Drykas may not have been the greatest. He felt awkward for a moment. She said something else, and Darius wasn't sure if it were meant to be taken as a farewell. Her next comment after that made Darius feel a little bad for her. He sniffed and rubbed his nose. "No, you aren't keeping me from anything. I'm just stretching my legs. Otherwise I'm sure to just sit in my tent for a few hours and not do anything before I move down the run. Are you not feeling well?" he enquired. He hoped that she didn't intend to leave. Darius was sure to have a dull day today if he didn't find someone to talk to, and he hadn't been particularly successful otherwise. He knew staying around out in the cold could make his sniffles worse, but he wasn't particularly worried about it. His time in Endrykas had been rather dull so far, and with no excuse to go on the hunt, he couldn't foresee it getting much more interesting.

[Taylani]

The red head nodded woman tilted her head to observe the other with an open face. Not so long ago she probably would not have stopped to a male Drykas, she would have kept walking and if they wanted to speak to her they would have had to follow her. Female Drykas were different to an extent that she would hold conversations with them, but considering they all thought she was selfish for not embracing her captivity it was ..strained.

However, things had changed for Taylani at the end of the Fall, just a few weeks ago really. When Fallan had, in front of his family, renounced his claim on her and broke the last chain -figuratively for no chains had ever touched her skin..only a club to her head to 'convince' her to come. Now she was having to slowly learn to live among these, willingly. Trying to learn to put the past behind her and not hold the grudge of her rape against these people...and Fallan. So she stayed, perhaps she could learn more about the culture, perhaps it will help erode the callouses that had developed on her soul so that the wound may heal.

His question brought a faint smile on her face, and her hand moved once more to the ever so small swell of her belly. In another life her announcement to his question would have...should have...filled her with joy and expectation. Instead, thanks to the circumstances all mingling both good and bad, her feelings were muted, neither happy but thankfully no longer terrified or sad. "Not feeling unwell, my ague of the stomach is very light compared to some of the women who find themselves pregnant. This is my own fault for trying to cook with onion. The smell of onion always sets it off."

She shrugged and her small smile turned a bit rueful at her own mistake, and gave him a sheepish shrug. "In your tent all day? Is there no work for you to be doing?" She asked in pure curiosity, there was no coloring of judgement that their might have been from someone who was Drykas. She only had Fallan, his brothers Haydar and Skylar and his father Surdar to judge anything but they were always doing something. Even during the storms..when Fallan wasn't out rescuing ..or recapturing depending on hwo you looked at it, her they were busy. With their horses, with their prospective jobs that they did to earn the pavilion a little coin.

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius was watched her hesitation. She seemed at first uncertain about what he had just said. He hoped that she hadn't retained any hard feelings about being a captive. While Darius himself disliked the concept of slavery, the Drykas concept of captivity was far from the roving slavers' ideas across the continent. He was still uncomfortable with it, but managed to reconcile it with his pride in his race. Captives in Endrykas were only potential clansmen, and given considerable freedom of the city. Then she responded and was Darius was considerably thrown off. He had known, of course, that the women captured were meant to increase the population, but he had never really had reason to think about it. Now that it truly came to his attention, it really was more troubling to him. While it was true these women would be eventually brought into clan, in the meantime, they were here essentially as breeding stock, an encroachment of their freedoms that Darius had trouble admitting to his conscious. He had little time to dwell on it, as she followed it up with a question about why he was free. While she didn't seem to be accusing him, he felt mildly ashamed of it himself. He looked away a bit. "No...frankly I have few skills that are useful here. I'm too novice at magic to be helpful with anything, and I never learned to hunt, or tie knots, or raise animals or anything. You see, I've been away since I was ten. I've really only just returned to the city...the skills I learn in the Suvan Sea aren't really transferable. Well, except for knot tying, but I've always been terrible at that. So honestly, I'm rather useless here." He sighed. "I'm still attempting to find work, but until then...I'm kind of useless here..."

[Taylani]

It was an odd thing for Taylani, she was the one used to being useless out here. She had spent her life perfecting Dance and song, two skills that was utterly worthless out in the dangerous climate of the sea of grass. However in just a short season she had learned some cooking skills, and some foraging skills. She had even managed to make a few pieces of jewelry for people, and to give to Fallan for his trading trips.

"You might think they are useless but surely they aren't too bad. You grew up here until, what ten years old? I am sure that you are just selling yourself short. If you would like I could perhaps show you a few things?" She couldn't show him too much, of course being a girl raised within a walled fortress ...ok city but still. She could teach him how to prepare a meal, how was he feeding himself? "I know how to cook some ...very small things but its a little? I can show you how to launder your clothing..I would show you some foraging..but this cool weather I am not sure we would find anything. It would still maybe help you?"

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius was surprised at her response. At first he was mildly offended that she would think him unable to do simple chores. He was about to say something i his defense when he remembered exactly what he had told her. Now that he thought about it, it did kind of seem like he had been saying he knew how to do nothing. When he had spoken, he hadn't really taken into account simple, life supporting chores--jobs that he had taken for granted when he grew up here and even more aboard his family's ship. The sudden release of his defensiveness made him laugh a little. "Oh, no, that's not what I meant. I'm quite capable of doing my laundry, and foraging, and setting up my tent, and taking care of Alaxel--my strider. But as I am currently living alone, there's really little call for most of those activities very often. I only have myself to look after." He frowned a little, the memories of losing his pod and his pavilion coming back to him. "I guess I'm just used to there being a lot of work to be done to support my family. But now it's just me to support, and I feel a little useless not doing something to help somebody else. I am looking for work, but most pavilions do the tasks I know how to do themselves. And I don't really have any skills I can use for the betterment of the city. I was hoping there would be some excuse to go on the hunt I've heard they're organizing, but really, I'd be little more than a burden there." Then he spent a moment considering her offer. While he had said he knew how to do most of what she had suggested, he was lacking in one area. And he couldn't just sit around practicing all day anyway, he would overgive and then his entire quest would be delayed as he recovered. And he had come here to learn important skills for the journey he anticipated would be necessary. Still, he hesitated before he said anything. "...although now that you mention it, I never did learn to cook...that could be quite a valuable skill...if you're willing to teach me it some, I would be glad to learn."

[Taylani]

When he spoke again, relief washed through Taylani and a little guilt that she had automatically assumed that he didn't have any skills in that regard. She tilted her head, so that her red mass of hair fell over one side, blue eyes watching him carefully. She doubted she would ever really be able to trust any one with windmarks, even Fallan -who she trusted more then anyone else out here in the sea of grass- was watched with quiet anticipation. Waiting for the moment that he would return to being her Master rather then her lover. That moment has not come yet, not since he had renounced his claim to her in hopes that it would allow her to open her heart to him. Yet she always was half afraid that it would.

Now, with another male, that trust was even more threadbare but she did allow a smile to lift the corners of her lips. "I do not have any problem with teaching you something. I could show you how to make a good stew? As long as we can cook, outside..and not inside your pavilion."

The last was said simply, with no malice or hidden meaning. Said to let him know that she did not wish to be alone with him inside his pavilion. "Where is your family? Do they reside outside of Endrykas?" With a curious glance, Taylani shifts so that she could stand with one leg extended for balance, her weight resting on the opposite leg comfortably though with a little tension that she keeps all the time with her.