Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (22 page)

     Her touch, like always, was not threatening or demanding. It soothed Talliea. "Your wounds are beginning to heal. The color red is no longer as angry across your back and the bruising is not as severe." Talliea, eyes closed and head resting on her hands, only hummed her acknowledgment. When Arizira had completely washed her back, she sighed and turned her head to look over her shoulder. Their eyes met and they smiled softly at one another.

     "Now for your hair, Tah-li." Talliea paused, her previous anxiety flaring to life once more. Arizira seemed to pick up on her caution, her hesitance in exposing anymore of her body, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Turn around slowly, Tah-li. My eyes shall remain on yours. Try to keep your body beneath the veil of the water."

     Doing as she had been instructed, Talliea turned around until she was facing Arizira. The other woman brought her left hand up to the underside of her chin while the other rested at the base of her head and neck. "I shall dip your head back into the water. Do not be afraid, Tah-li. Our eyes shall remain on the other and I will not let you slip."

     Talliea smiled and nodded as best she could in her position. Arizira guided her head back until she felt the warmth of the water engulf her hair. The hand that had been on her neck moved and smoothed over the top of her head, ensuring all of her hair was wet. All the while, Arizira kept her eyes on hers and never wavered. The feeling of Arizira's fingers gliding through her hair was an intoxicating sensation to Talliea.

     Finally, her hair was fully wet and Arizira easily brought her head back up. Water slid down her back and hung to her earlobes. "Good, Tah-li," Arizira said smiling.

     Grabbing the soap, the Arniran woman went about lathering it into Talliea's dark and thick hair. Once she felt that she had adequately applied the soap, she began to easily scrub Talliea's scalp and work the soap into a thicker lather. She trailed her fingers lightly through dark hair and smiled when she saw that the other woman enjoying her touch.

     As she was lathering more of the soap into Talliea's hair, the Esu woman suddenly spoke up. "Ari?"

     "Hm?"

     "When do we begin my training?" Arizira paused in her task before replying "We have already begun." Talliea wrinkled her brow in confusion. "We are bathing. When do you teach me your skills?"

     Looking into brown eyes, Arizira scrubbed Talliea's hair vigorously and smirked. "I am teaching you my skills, Tah-li. There is more for you to learn than how to grasp a bow." Talliea sighed and asked sarcastically, "Like washing hair?"

     "Yes, like washing hair. You must learn to see the forest as I do, Tah-li. The Esu think of themselves as separate from the world. They make themselves the masters of all by self appointment. This is not our way." As before, Arizira placed her hands on Talliea's neck and the back of her head and slowly began to rinse her hair.

     "You must first learn what it means to be as one with everything around you. The forest, the animals, the plants and the insects are not here for your benefit alone. They are not your lessers, Tah-li. They are your sisters, your equals. What you take, you must also be willing to return."

     Once Talliea's hair was rinsed and free of soap, Arizira went about washing her neck and her shoulders. "I will teach you my customs, Tah-li. It is important to know when to loose an arrow and when not to. Before I can begin to teach you how to wield weapons, I must first teach you how to track and how to survive. You will learn how to find shelter and how to secure food."

     Talliea frowned as Arizira asked her to raise her arms so she could clean them as well. She had not thought learning to use a weapon would be such a long and involved process. Granted, everything Arizira was saying would likely be useful information to have, but she had been under the impression she would learn how to defend herself before anything else.

     The thought of Lao'dahn trying to hurt her again sent icy panic pumping through her veins. Knowing how to track and find shelter would do her little good if the man came upon her. Arizira was hoping to teach her a different set of values and beliefs and though she was grateful for those things, she was also slightly impatient to learn how to defend herself.

     Arizira cupped water into her hands and rinsed the soap from her body. Her gifted and agile hands continued to set Talliea's body aflame. "We must find a more suitable shelter before all else, Tah-li."

     "Why can we not remain where we are? You said you had stayed there in the rain and snow before." Smiling, Arizira placed the soap on the stone behind her and slowly began swimming around the spring. "In light snows and gentle rains, yes. The first snow of the season shall be heavy and without remorse. Our shelter would be filled with a white death should we remain."

     Talliea let the news of their imminent departure settle in her mind. She was going to be moving even farther away from her people? A part of her rejoiced at the idea of greater distance being between herself and Lao'dahn, while the other part of her felt grief stricken. Her whole life had been defined by her clan. Not all of the people back in her camp were ill-hearted. Several of them were honest people seeking a place in the world and a stable environment to raise their children. They had traveled from the Southlands all the way to the Northlands.

     Her mother, though she rarely saw eye to eye with the woman, had ever been her sense of home. Wherever the woman was, so too was Talliea. She had clung to her mother out of desperation. As long as she did the woman's chores and bidding, she was safe from having to join with Markahn and do his. That arrangement would not have lasted forever, she knew, but it proved her value to the clan and marked her temporary place within it.

     What did it matter now? In a few months time not even her misplaced loyalty to her mother would save her from having to join with Markahn. No longer could she hide behind her parents. She'd be forced to either join with Markahn and keep his house, or be banished from the clan and learn to fend for herself.

     She shuddered. Once banished, what was to stop Lao'dahn from finding her and forcing himself upon her? The memory of his erection and the way he had moved it so close to her face made her stomach fill with a sickening dread.

     Exhaling slowly, she tried to bring herself back to the present. Those thoughts were unimportant. She was with Arizira now. The Arniran woman was taking her away from her troubles and her sorrows. She was looking after her and was going to teach her about the world. Lao'dahn and her mother did not matter anymore. She could grieve for the loss of everything she'd known or she could embrace the chance Arizira was providing.

     She chose Arizira.

     "Okay, so shelter first. Have you some place in mind?" she asked, attempting to move her mind away from the chaotic thoughts within. Arizira studied her but chose not to question her behavior or the look of panic that had crossed over her eyes. It was obvious to her Talliea had just been deep in her thoughts.

     "A few, Tah-li, but I would appreciate your input as well. This is where your lessons begin. Once we have taken a secure location, we will look to gathering enough food stores for the winter. I also would like you to have more suitable clothing."

     Talliea watched Arizira swimming easily in the water around her and followed her movements with her eyes. The sun was ever climbing in the sky and she knew the day had not yet begun for them. "I have not any other clothing, Ahmanae, nor am I in possession of any suitable materials to make any other."

     Arizira smiled at her before circling back around and grabbing the soap from the stone it set upon. Talliea watched her swim to the far side of the spring where a second leather pack was lying on another stone. "We shall look for shelter today, Tah-li, be it permanent or otherwise. After we have eaten, we shall set out to amend your attire. I have brought with me a few hides that can line your blouse and shoes. Pants would suit you far better than your skirts, but for them we shall have to hunt an animal of your choice," Arizira said as she placed the soap into a carved wooden box.

     "Pants are for men," Talliea called to her.

     "So say the Esu."

     Sighing, Talliea could not help but smile to herself. She wanted desperately to shed herself of her people's influence, but she was finding that harder to do than she had first anticipated. Certain reactions came forth without her meaning them to, as also learned phrases spilled from her lips with little effort. She felt like a hypocrite.

     Here Arizira was trying to show her the world as she viewed it and she could do little else but question her methods and spout Esu rules, laws, and beliefs. She watched Arizira put the box of soap into the pack and tie the end. The Arniran woman gracefully pulled herself from the water and onto the shore. Water fell down her naked body and Talliea found her eyes traveling over long and toned legs before she could stop herself.

     "Remain here and finish bathing if that is your wish, Tah-li," Arizira said before wrapping her cloak around her body and bending down to pick up her clothing. "I am returning to the camp to dry off among the rocks. Seek me when you are ready to depart. I would still hear of how you fared and spent your time while I was away."

     With that, Arizira set out swiftly among the trees and was gone. Talliea shook her head and realized her mouth was agape. She could not figure out whether that was because she had just seen Arizira's very naked and pleasing backside or if it was due to the fact that she had been left alone. Perhaps Arizira was attempting to respect her privacy? Or maybe she was testing Talliea's ability to return to their camp unaided?

     Talliea was not sure. She decided she would finish her bath and return once enough time had passed to allow Arizira to completely dry. When she looked around at the stones above the surface of the water she realized belatedly that Arizira had taken the soap with her.

     Understanding fell upon her quickly and she could not help but laugh at her gullibility. There was no great underlying meaning to Arizira's departure. Just like before when they'd met at the spring and Talliea had realized her clothing was missing, Arizira was once again only playing with her. Instead of taking her belongings, the other woman had taken the soap and left her alone. Arizira's playful nature was showing more and more and Talliea found it endearing and refreshing.

     "Ari?" she yelled. Silence. "You impish little trickster!" she yelled out again as she threw her head back in hearty laughter. Perhaps this was her punishment for her difficulty in shedding herself of the Esu's lies.

                                                                      * * * * * *

     Taetylona sat huddled in her dugout around a smoldering fire pit. A simple flap in the ceiling above allowed the smoke to be released in a steady huff while she chanted to herself and watched the dying embers dance before her. To many, she was viewed as an outcast. A heretic. Were it not for her healing arts and gift of sight, she long ago would have been cast from the light of the clan. Though such gifts were looked upon as a blasphemy to Esuval, her usefulness had ever been proven and the
Lat'sa'val
had seen fit to keep her among them. They justified their decision by playing upon the people's fears.

     One such as she could not move freely. What would stop her from taking up the cause of their enemies? No, better it was to keep her among them where they could maintain a watchful eye on her and use her skills and abilities to their advantage. Taetylona was different from the other women of the Esu in the fact that she had never joined. When her twenty-third birth year had come before her, she had been banished while the clan had still lived in the Southlands.

     Several years she had wandered the near barren and harsh plains thrust before her. In that time, when she had felt the most afraid and death had loomed over her, she had been given a second chance at life. None of the Esu knew from whence her abilities came. Upon the arrival of her thirty-fourth year, having spent eleven long years alone and by her wits, Taetylona had returned to the clan that had banished her and asked for their pardon. They had been reluctant at first, claiming that she had shamed them by her refusal to join with a man, but she had proven her worth in other ways and the leaders, the
Lat'sa'val,
had been set with a decision before them: allow Taetylona back into the clan where she could use her extraordinary gifts for them and Esuval, or send her back onto the plains where another clan could come upon her and turn her skills against them.

     Being wise as they were the
Lat'sa'val
had pardoned Taetylona and given her a unique place among the tribe. She was not free as they were, but she was allowed more leeway than the other women. Over the years, many of the Esu children flocked to her. They listened to her grand tales of long lost lore and delighted in her talents of cooking and healing. She was wise to them and they loved her in their youth.

     Many years passed and the Esu soon did not speak of her by her name, instead choosing to name her the Sage woman. Children that had adored her came to fear her in their adulthood as they learned of her past and her refusal to join with a man. Many of them walked around her with a cautious step and few ever returned to seek her counsel or wisdom. She was among her people, but they paid her little heed unless their heart's desired something of her.