(Sanctuary) Refocusing (Kavala)

[Hatot]

65th Day of Winter, 510 A.V.

It was one of those snowfalls that seemed like a lucid dream, majestic in a way. Large white snow flakes that seemed to drift so slowly down towards the ground, rather than fall. As well, there was no wind, not even the slightest that could be felt so close to the ocean, and it caused that snowfall to seem all that much more serene. It was almost like the perfect setting as Hatot stood out along the open grounds behind Sanctuary, his arms outstretched, his body moving slowly, fluidly almost as if in a dance of some sort. But it was a dance of a different sort, as moves in the hand to hand techniques he employed were seen in almost a slow motion as a hand slowly pushed forward here, his body twisting there. If not for the number of individuals it’s uses had dropped to the ground when implemented, even others who knew might consider it beautiful.

It was almost nostalgic to Hatot, as the training he was doing was two fold in purpose. His skills had increased so far. So much so that practicing simple katas and facing off against friendly unnamed opponents in the Arena barely held any gain for him these days. It was as if he were growing close to his limits, but at the same time he wanted to push past them. So he decided to mix his meditative practices with his kata, to experiment with clearing his mind, not focusing so much thinking about a battle. He wanted to moves to become practically innate. For his body to move on its own, rather than being told what to do by his mind alone in reaction. So as he practiced, he let his mind drift, focusing it to that cliff side setting where him and Radris would often spar with both words and fists alike, all the while his arms and body moving. His hands gradually slipped between snowflakes as he did so, a fogged breath begin released with each slow, forward thrust. Many of them found his hand moving around the snowflake, feeling the chill of it on his hand and then moving at the last moment to avoid touching the frozen water gingerly dropping towards the ground. Perhaps more majestic to those with the keen eye, was that Hatot’s movements didn’t disturb the air hardly at all, leaving the snowflakes downward path unaltered.

Of course, it hadn’t always worked either, as several snowflake landed along Hatot’s arms, and shoulders. They melted and formed droplets over his bare skin, the heat from his body causing them to evaporate as a steam rose from his arms. Of course practice on both his kata and meditation wasn’t the only reasons Hatot stood along Sanctuary grounds. If it was simple practice, he could have done such back at his school. Right now he awaited Kavala. It had been over a year since they had first met, and while he had failed her once, he still wanted to help her. He felt perhaps today he might find some way to do so. For the time being, he waited for Kavala to finish inspecting one of the animals that had been brought to her for care, knowing he would be wholly unable to help her with that aspect.

[Kavala]

Kavala knew Hatot was dropping by, though she had no idea why. He used to just wander in and spend the nights at her place, calling Sanctuary home as much as anyone who lived there did. But he'd started being gone longer and longer until he no longer showed up at all and then she hadn't seen him for seasons. Truth be told she blamed it on her changing shape and perhaps his fear of being a father. They'd fought about it, in fact, and talked it through. She'd asked him for nothing, and promised herself she'd need nothing from him. His turning away had hurt her but brought her back to the realism of her life. She was a slave, a nakivak, rescued for the pleasure and purpose of repopulating Riverfall and the Akalak in general. Sure, she was treated well, but she did not own herself and for that sadness always filled her. She glanced down at the crystalline bracelet on her wrist made of gold. Once she'd coveted it carefully, dreaming of the day when she wore it and grew closer to the end of her service. She was proud to be Hatot's Nakivak, a person he had trusted to mother his children, but time and reality had changed that.

Kavala was certain he'd never be the type of father that would be home. Not unless she birthed him a son that was born wanting a weapon in his hand or wanting his hands to be weapons. Then, perhaps, Hatot would take an interest. If she birthed a Konti or a boy who was more interested in the arts than in the art of battle, she doubted he'd be around. It wasn't that Kavala didn't love him. She did. Deeply. But she didn't trust him and she didn't trust her heart not to always forgive him whenever he took off and didn't include her. She knew virtually nothing of his last two seasons, where he'd been or what he'd been doing. Truthfully, it was none of her business. He could have had a wife somewhere, or even other Nakivaks. Kavala tried not to think of it. She had too much to do here, and her life was way to full to acutely feel the loss of love and physical comfort. In fact she slept alone, often under the sea, and was more antisocial than ever since she'd been showing her child and then grew heavy with it.

But customers still came. And she still served a vital purpose in the community. The cow she now looked at was a perfect example. She'd had the distinct unluck to birth a calf early which had perished, then she'd gotten caught in a winter storm and held in a barn out of the cold which would have froze her. However, her milk bag had bagged up and with no calf to draw it down and the owner not milking her, the milk left in her bag had soured. The udder souring was called mastitis and it was a serious condition. Kavala knew what was wrong by the lumpy shape of the cow's udder and the painful lowing and mooing the cow was making. She milked it a bit, smelled sour, then sat down to drain the entire udder. She could feel the cow's pain surrounding her udders, so she was certain and started milking. Once that was done, she'd layed her hands on the udder and poured healing gnosis into the udder trying to treat the infection and clean them out. The farmer was at fault because he didn't keep milking her, probably opting to stay inside rather than go into his barn daily during the heavy snowfall and winds to treat the cow.

Kavala fixed the cow up however, took payment, and sent the pair back on their way glad she could ease the animal's horrible pain. The cow would calf again and give milk just fine. But she'd not perhaps be trusted to bag down normally after a calf was weaned. Kavala had explained that to the owner and he'd nodded, understanding.

Then, she washed up, cleaned up after the cow - discarding the soured milk, and waited for Hatot, knowing he'd probably be along soon.

[Hatot]

Hatot’s arms quickly moved through the air in a last series of mock attacks that ranged from low to high, eventually ending in an archer stance with a final strike that was a little too forceful, causing a gust of wind to rush forward and blow falling flakes of snow away from him. A sigh of fogged breath was released, dancing through the air as it climbed high above him.

Hatot’s arm slowly raised, his hand reaching up to brush small piles of snow from his shoulders and hair. A slow turn was taken on the heals as heaving steps waded through ankle deep snow. His hand raised slowly and a couple wraps of his knuckles were left along the door’s frame before he stepped inside, looking around for Kavala. After a few chimes of looking, he found her cleaning up. He took a moment to see how she carried herself. Signs of tension, a hunched frame, he soon took another step forward. “Kavala?” He called out, standing not far behind her. “Thank you for seeing me.”

Hatot then motioned for her to go further into Sanctuary proper, leading towards a more open space. “Since our child will be born soon, and I am told such is quite painful for the mothers, I wanted to work on your meditation a little further. Practicing such will allow you to more easily block out the pain during labor, and hopefully help you have the child with less complication to your health.” Hatot explained, grabbing a few cushions from the nearby sofa, and setting them along the floor. “First, however, I want to help you relax so you can more readily enter your meditative state. So I will be pressing on a few trigger points along your body which will relax the tension in your muscles and cause your brain to release some endorphins.”

Hatot then fell silent, standing in front of her as he looked into her eyes. “Such will involve kneeling behind you while you are sitting though, which I know makes you uncomfortable.” Hatot then said, his hands laying idle at his side. “So I won’t proceed with that unless I have your permission to first.”

[Kavala]

NoteHow does Hatot know about Endorphins? Just curious. Seems a little advanced for Mizahar.

Kavala stood blinking at Hatot for a moment, trying to understand what he was saying. Meditation she comprehended, but pressure points to release her tension? The Konti smiled, which turned into a laugh. She wasn't laughing at him, but rather laughing at the concept that pushing a few places on her body would cause all the things that worried her to go away. "I'm tense because there's a lot to worry about. I'm tense because if I sit down odds are I cannot get back up without at least two people helping, one pulling and one shoving. There's a leak in the roof that I cannot climb up to fix, and all the mares are foaling erratically this year. Last year it was nice since everyone foaled within a ten day, this year though they are tall taking their sweet time and its causing a lot of us to loose sleep. I doubt pressing on my back a few places will solve any of these problems. Tension only ends, Hatot, when that situation which is making you tense resolves itself or gets resolved." Kavala said, looking at him dubiously.

She waddled over anyhow and sat down on the cushions. She knew there was no hope of her ever getting up again, but Raiha had been hovering close so if she was too stuck she could always call for her friend if Hatot left abruptly. "I'll work on meditation with you, Hatot, certainly. But I'd prefer it if you didn't touch me. I'm not... really in a touchy mood lately. Especially to press on me. Everything is pressing on everything these days and the only thing such actions cause is more trips to the midden. A lot more." She added then settled down. If she forced the issue she'd cave in because along with her antisocial mood lately, she'd been incredibly easily bullied by her entire staff. She wasn't even arguing much with them.

The truth was, she'd welcome some touching from Hatot. A hug, a caress, even a bit of reassurance but this clinical side of him was making her indifferent, and if she had more energy she was certain it'd flat out piss her off.

Mellow, almost pensive, Kavala had morphed from strong-willed to willing lately - willing to let things go, willing to put off until tomorrow, willing to forgo seeing something done right in return for additional rest or less stress.