Private Tales Many Forms of Thirst

[Kailyn]

"Well. He was very strategic in doing so," she commented idly.

One foot came up to scratch an itch along her ankle, then lowered back to the grass. Brush began stroking the canvas. Colors applied. Her movements were rhythmic. Sure. Lips pursed together and a slight wrinkle burrowed its way into her forehead at moments within her time painting him, when she struggled to get the lighting just right.

The details of those flowers behind him.

After what may have seemed a long time to Gerra, when the sun's bright yellows turned to burnt oranges and the deeper violets, she finally gave him the nod that he could move. Fingers ran down the fabric of her, now paint splotched apron. Brushes set down. Hands gently pulled the canvas from the easel, blowing a gentle breath across the drying paint's surface.

With a hint of shyness mixed with anticipation, she walked it over to the half-giant and held it out to him.

"What do you think?" Brows of mahogany pinched together.

 

[Gerra]

He studied the image for a moment, taking in the lines, the colors. Understanding that this was as she saw him.

Sunset eyes met those of liquid gold.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, “Almost as beautiful as its maker.”

 

[Kailyn]

Even though the sun was beyond the horizon and olden remnants of the fireball filtered up within the growing darkness, she felt a small heat rise to her cheeks. She'd always hated having pale skin in this land. It betrayed her often.

She didn't know how to respond to comments like that. Men far lesser had said things far greater. Of course, they'd always wanted to take the pretty slave to their beds. She frowned as her thoughts dredged up darker memories. Carefully rolling the dried canvas up she handed it to the god-king.

"Here. I said you could trust me."

It was clear her mood had suddenly shifted with no fault of the emperor.

 

[Gerra]

“Keep it,” he gently pressed it back into her hands. Not because he did not want it, but because he hoped that deed would bring truth to word. He could say he had faith in her, but if his actions spoke differently then he would lose... whatever was between them.

Between them. Hmm. Some chilly specter had rested its head. He could sense her wanting to leave. To be alone. To run away. Something in her words spoke of coldness. Something in her frown spoke of sadness.

“I trust you.... Do you trust me?”

 

[Kailyn]

She looked down in surprise as he pushed the canvas back into her paint-splotched fingers. For a moment her fingers remained open, head tilted downward. Slowly, they curled around the canvas, chin lifted.

"I want to," she said quietly and didn't move to step away from the giant of a man. Even sitting on a bench, he was a good head above her. "It takes time with me. I think you can imagine what I've been through."

She wondered if he had the patience for someone like her, especially when he could have any other woman with only a word. Perhaps he didn't. And she wouldn't blame him for it.

 

[Gerra]

The emperor said nothing for a long moment. He seemed to be weighing something in his head, though his stony countenance barely betrayed it.

“I leave to see the lord of Cregsbend Castle in a few days time. Join me, I’ll have need of your counsel on matters of Savannah trade along the way. Tell me, have you ever ridden an elephant?”

 

[Kailyn]

And as the Mistress of Trade for the Empire, Kailyn did join the god-king emperor. She looked up at the covered small hut that they were to ride in together. It seemed a long way up. She wore a burned red dress with laced up sandals.

She held a small satchel with trade documents, scrolls, and the emperor's seals. She'd been working on a new route recently by sea and hoped to secure a boatswain soon. But that would be a conversation with the emperor for another time.

"Lord Gerra," lips pursed, wondering how they would get up there. And she tried to mask any hesitation she had about that height. And about this unknown beast. "Did you know that most slaves are ordered to walk alongside their master's caravans? I've only ever ridden a camel and horse a handful of times. And now you bring me here. To this." Chin lifted upward.

"Will I get a bonus for riding such a beast?" There was a crinkle at the corner of her lips.

 

[Gerra]

“Is the pleasure of riding not reward in itself? He is named Kuju, sired by the late great bull Suul.”

Older than Gerra at 41 years, Kuju ambled along in the middle of the caravan at a ponderous pace. The shifting of his shoulder blades took some getting used to, Gerra wondered how Kailyn would fair. No sooner had he thought it than did Kuju lean suddenly, causing the rider and two passengers to shift.

If Kailyn did not gain her balance, she would careen into the emperor.

 

[Kailyn]

"I'm impressed you take the time to know the names of even beasts of burden within your care," she commented.

She blinked in surprise, body swaying every which way as the beast moved. Back tried to remain straight but she felt as if she were a newborn walking for the first time. Or like she'd felt after four glasses of wine during the impromptu girl's slumber party.

Oh the twin suns, she hoped no one of consequence had seen that.

There was that sudden shift in the elephant's shoulders and she found herself thrown against the large side of the emperor.

"Mmmooof," brown hair whipped forward. Even though it was already warm in the deserts they traveled, she felt the surging tingle of heat being close to him provided.

 

[Gerra]

She bumped into him and he looped an arm around her to steady her lest she fall off the animal. Once there, though, he failed to see a reason to remove it. The warmth of her body against his felt soothing, as hot as it was outside their shaded tent.

A hand reached up and played with a strand of her hair.

“I take the time,” he said simply.

“The sun is oppressive, I sometimes forget. I don’t feel it like you must.” Indeed the emperor hardly seemed to be sweating at all.

“Perhaps you should draw chilled wine?”

His eyes sparked with merriment.

 

[Kailyn]

She tipped very close to the edge and if it wasn't for Gerra's giant of a form and his looped arm to stop her, she would've ended up on the blistering sand below. Perhaps even underfoot some of those elephant feet. Fingers splayed out across his chest. Her other hand was braced around his back.

Eyes she hadn't realized she'd squeezed closed began to open.

She clung to him like he was her anchor and perhaps it wasn't very appropriate. The elephant swayed again and she didn't loosen her grip. Eyes closed again. She almost missed his comment. Honeyed eyes cracked open and her face turned away from where it had been pressing against his arm to look up. To look at those twins of fire and ember.

"Perhaps I should be wearing a safety rope around my waist," she commented dryly then worked to school her features. "I don't think that's how my talent works though I'm sure Gaheris would disagree. I get the feeling he views my...talent for nothing above party tricks and entertainment." She hadn't told Gerra what else she'd discovered about her magic. And perhaps it was just another throw-away trick all the same.

"And wine would be too dangerous for me." She added a bit sheepishly.

 

[Gerra]

“Too dangerous?” Gerra raised an eyebrow as if ignorant, though the memory of a view from a balcony in Ragash sprang to mind immediately.

As for the safety rope, he put it out of his mind. He was quite content to act in its place. Besides, there were ropes just outside the tent that would’ve stopped her from sliding fully off the great beast.

He looked down at her uplifted face, simply enjoying the way she felt against him and the way she looked at him as the elephant ambled along beneath them.

 

[Kailyn]

There was another jolting shift of the beast and she winced, fingers tightening around the half-giant for a moment. A small frown tugged at her lips, not liking how weak she probably looked. Gerra didn't seem to mind. If anything, there was a hint of humor in those smoldering coals.

"Yes," she tried not to get too distracted as his fingers idly played with a strand of her hair.

And while he didn't sweat much, she certainly felt like it was getting a little hot on this elephant ride.

A delicate clear of her throat as she tried not to squirm at her own vices.

"I bet you can imagine that slaves are not granted to drink spirits often - if at all. So when I met the princess Noelani and helped her to princess Nymeasha's rooms and partook in the...festivities along with Medja," voice trailed off. "It was embarrassing Gerra."

Obviously, for her. And Kailyn from Salitra did it to herself.

 

[Gerra]

He did not speak for a moment, a slight frown wrinkling his brow as he looked down at her and stroked her hair.

"I am sorry, Kailyn. The humiliation... it made you feel like you didn't belong, didn't it?"

Gently, he ran a thumb down her cheek.

"You would be wrong. You do belong. You have more nobility in your heart than you would find in those of a hundred nobles. And your abilities extend beyond what Gaheris believes them to be, he simply has yet to realize it yet, or else he is a man of small imagination. You will do great things, Kailyn. Your work on the trade routes will make life better for the people of this land."

A slight smile cracked the corner of his mouth.

"Besides, I rather liked what I saw that night."

Just then, Kuju took a massive shit.

 

[Kailyn]

Had she felt like she didn't belong?

Perhaps a little. But it was by no fault of the other women. Kailyn knew the fault lay within herself and her own insecurities. Perhaps her vastly different life experiences than the other three. Than even Gerra.

The trace of his finger sent a wave of sparks along her skin. His touch electric. It terrified and thrilled her. She just wasn't sure which of the two feelings she leaned more toward.

Eyes widened in surprise as she shifted her weight to get a better look at his face. The hand on his chest fell back to her side but the other using him for stability remained wrapped around that trunk of his waist.

"You...what?"

Nose crinkled as their ride let out its lunch and snacks. Eyes lit with amusement and that hand that fell down to her side went across her nose and mouth, brushing by that finger of his resting along her face.

Perhaps they needed more cinnamon like Gaheris used.

Eyes narrowed on the fire giant, not letting him get away without answering.

"What did you see exactly," voice mildly muffled beneath the palm of her hand.

 

[Gerra]

“Everything.”

The emperor wrinkled his nose at the stench from the beast, fished inside a sleeve, then produced a stick of incense. He lit it with a touch of his finger and soon the smell of frankincense wafted over them both.

“I imagine you are no stranger to pack animals, still...” he shrugged. “Not quite as bad as the sulfurous stench of Molthal. Like... rotten eggs.”

A far off look consumed him and he stared ahead, lost in his memories.

 

[Kailyn]

Everything?!

Well, hell.

At least she didn't remember that night...much.

Gerra rarely talked about his past with her. Kailyn found her attention drawn back to his face. Her hand fell away from her mouth. She waited a moment, giving him the space he needed.

A few breaths longer.

"Your past? You don't talk about it much but I'm here to listen. If you feel comfortable. But please do not feel obligated to."

She hoped her words gave him the freedom to share as well as the freedom not to share.

 

[Gerra]

A flash of fear flitted across the windows of his soul. Memories of what had been done to those he cared for surfaced.

“I... Kailyn.”

Could he tell her? Merely thinking of them seared his heart with an icy ache.

“I wouldn’t know where to start. Everyone I...” He frowned deeply. “Should I tell you of Hamdar, the dwarf who taught me how to smith, roasted alive over a spit by my brothers? Or my own mother, whose name I cannot even bear to speak, hurled from a parapet by my father? Should I talk about the wet sound of her body crunching into the cobblestones replaying over and over in my mind?”

His hands began to shake.

“Or maybe Cester, the captured artist, who taught me a love of sculptures and paintings. Sometimes in my dreams I still see his head spiked over the gate, slack mouth open in a silent scream. He was my friend.”

 

[Kailyn]

The frown on her face deepened. She was no strange to injustice. Suffering. She understood the deepest trenches of Gerra's pain. Both her hands reached forward and clasped his larger, trembling one in her own. She held onto his tightly and gently brought it up to her lips, pressing a tender kiss along his digits. Then another.

She lowered his hand.

She couldn't even offer him an apology because she knew it would sound flat. Instead, she was quiet. Thumb gently stroking over the back of his hand. Like whenever any part of him touched her, it send warm, tingling sensations through her skin.

Sparks of fire.

"Your father, did all this to you?"

 

[Gerra]

He closed his eyes, surprised at how the brush of her lips against his hand could calm him. Perhaps it was simply the knowledge that he was not alone. That someone else wanted to know of the burden he carried. It made the weight less crushing.

"And my brothers," he said after a moment. "We each have our stories."

A finger brushed the trident tattoo on her wrist.

 

[Kailyn]

Forehead knit together. She gnawed lightly on the inside of her cheek. "People say they make you who you are. Your own trials and suffering refine you. I always wondered if that was just something people said to make you feel better."

Eyes drifted down to the tattoo he stroked.

Many things she wanted to forget. Except for one. For a moment, she wondered where Vo was or if he was still alive.

"What happened to your father? Your brothers?"

 

[Gerra]

For a moment, Gerra said nothing as the elephant swayed beneath them, looking out over the dry savanna and seeing nothing but scrub brush and lone-standing, wide topped acacias and thick-trunked baobab trees. He still wondered at the vastness of it, though he had traveled its length before. So many tribes dwelled within that expanse as to dwarf the populations of Annuakat or Vel Anir. What would happen should they all band together?

He opened his mouth, closed it again, frowned, then continued.

"They're on the other side of the world."

As far away as Gerra could run without crossing the sea.

"Suffering does refine us, in a way, though it is hard to see. We know how terrible things can be, so we work that much harder to ensure we never have to be there again. And we treasure the moments that we do have, knowing life is precious."

 

[Kailyn]

The warm air was already cooling. The hottest part of the afternoon was beginning to fade. If she wasn't so close to Gerra, she imagined she'd be able to feel a change in the temperature already. The hot breeze across the desert didn't seem as hot anymore. And the sun was making its long march lower to the horizon.

She looked to the leader of this large nation.

"How did you escape them?"

The question was quiet and thoughtful.

 

[Gerra]

“I... escaped disaster.”

Anguished eyes looked at Kailyn.

“Belgrath was my doing, on orders from my father.”

Had she heard of the slaughter there? He hoped not.

“When my legion was defeated and slain to the last, I ran Kailyn. I ran to the opposite end of the world.”

 

[Kailyn]

She was quiet for the longest time.

Just the swaying of the beast. Luckily it got all its poop out earlier. Quiet breaths to fill mountainous gaps of anguish. Kailyn never released Gerra's hand. She wanted him to know she was here. Listening.

Withholding judgement.

Her mouth went dry.

"What happened at...Belgrath? And are you worried your father will come after you?"