by Orr, Krystal
"You must tell me if I make you uncomfortable, Tah-li."
"I shall."
Arizira was silent for a moment while she mashed and grinded the bark into the mortar. The liquid, the dohethra, mixed with the paste and soon made a very smooth and creamy like creation. It was nearly clear and smelled very sweet.
"Spread your blanket out beneath you, Tah-li." The two women moved around each other to allow Arizira's request to be met. Once situated, Arizira hesitated and looked up at Talliea. The other woman was facing her with an unsteady expression. "What do I need to do?"
Arizira replied, "I need for you to turn around with your back to me." Talliea did as she was asked and glanced back over her shoulder. Her hands held the front of her shirt. She heard Arizira move up behind her and tensed before she could stop herself.
"I will not hurt you, Tah-li."
Releasing a breath, Talliea tried to calm herself. It was not that she thought Arizira was going to hurt her. It was the vulnerability in her position. She could not see Arizira and that set her nerves on fire with apprehension. "I know," she breathed out.
Arizira reached up and slowly brushed her hair away from her shoulders. Once the thick locks fell over Talliea's chest, she said, "I need for you to remove your shirt, Tah-li."
Panic rose into Talliea's chest and she felt her hands tighten their hold on the front of her top. She closed her eyes and attempted to steady her breathing. The request wasn't anything less than what she should have expected. How was Arizira to apply the paste if her shirt was in the way? The rational part of her knew that, but the part of her that had been abused...
Breathing out her panic slowly through her lips, Talliea opened her eyes and began to undo the strings holding the blouse together. Once loose, she let it fall back against her shoulders. Arizira's hands came up, ever so cautiously, and helped her to lower it. Talliea felt the warmth from Arizira's touch and it caused something deep inside of her to react. Her stomach knotted itself, but it was different from the nervous feeling she'd experienced with Lao'dahn. Almost, it seemed as if it were...welcome.
Arizira lowered her hands and her fingers grazed across the dark skin before her. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt herself start to tremble. What she assumed was normally flawless dark skin was, instead, marked with angry scratches and deep scrapes. Bluish-black bruises dotted Talliea's back, some with deep impressions, while red whelps crossed her shoulders.
She wanted to cry.
How someone could have hurt someone as beautiful and kind as Talliea was unfathomable to her. The other woman must have endured horrible pain to be covered as she was in such dark and livid marks. Her fingers lightly traced over a deep purplish bruise by Talliea's shoulder blade and she felt tears form in her eyes. "I am so sorry, Tah-li."
Talliea swallowed and held her breath tight inside her chest. She bit her lip and refused to let herself cry. Arizira's touch was so very different from what she had experienced in her life. It was gentle and tender and was not forced upon her. Arizira's fingers were soft, not rough like Markahn's and Lao'dahn's, even with her weapons' use. Where the others had made her feel ugly, Arizira was bringing to life emotions Talliea could not name.
"Do not be," she replied over her shoulder. "Why was this done to you?" Arizira asked, her fingers continuing to trace every scratch and bruise along Talliea's back. Grabbing the shirt around her waist, Talliea pressed it against her front to cover herself, and nearly gasped when she felt Arizira's fingers dip into the arch of her lower back. "It was a lesson, Ari, to remind me of my place," she ventured, hoping any bit of information would satisfy Arizira's curiosity.
Arizira shook her head and her unshed tears blurred her vision. The longer she studied Talliea's injuries, the more information that was brought to her mind's eye. Unlike before, the emotions were not as powerful or overwhelming. "Rock did this," she said in a far away voice.
"Yes," Talliea said, unsure how Arizira held that information. Her back arched when she felt Arizira's fingers graze the sides of her waist and a tightness formed between her legs. Arizira took the movement as one of discomfort and removed her hands from Talliea's body. "I did not mean to upset you," she said, reaching for the mortar.
She dipped her fingers into the creamy concoction and looked up at Talliea. "Are you prepared?"
"Yes." Talliea, though having said she was prepared, was however not prepared for how good the experience was going to make her feel. The paste, as Arizira had said, was warm against her skin and seemed to seep into her body with a cooling sensation. She heard a sound leave her lips and grasped her shirt in her fist.
Arizira's fingers, slim and delicate, were in fact strong and nimble. She massaged the paste both gently and firmly, into and onto Talliea's back in such a masterful way that Talliea could barely catch her breath. She felt her pain begin to fade the longer Arizira applied the medication. Closing her eyes, she fisted her shirt between her fingers and felt a small moan fall from her mouth.
"Tah-li?" Arizira asked from behind her, her fingers stilling for a moment. Talliea licked her suddenly dry lips and opened her eyes again. "Do not stop," she pleaded. Never before had she been taken care of as she was now. Never before had another brought her such physical joy.
The ministrations continued without another word and Talliea's body was alive with a plethora of emotions and sensations. She could not recall ever feeling something so wonderful. Her body, which had been sore before, was now feeling better than it had her entire life. She wondered how much of that truth owed its existence to the dohethra and how much was purely Arizira's doing.
Arizira smiled to herself as she observed Talliea's reaction. She could practically see the pain and tension in her friend's body melting away the longer she rubbed the mixture into her skin. Her fingers roamed across the expanse of beautiful, dark skin in front of her and she tried to keep herself from leaning into Talliea.
It had been nearly a month since she had stumbled across the confused Esu woman in the glade along her borders, and in that time Arizira had felt her attraction for Talliea grow. At first, she had convinced herself that her feelings were more curiosity than anything else. As she'd learned more about Talliea and began speaking with her, her feelings had proven to her that they were more than an eager interest. They were deeper and more profound.
She was attracted to Talliea and that revelation frightened her.
There was no future for the attraction she felt, and most likely Talliea would never be able to reciprocate her feelings. The other woman belonged to a society that was strict and paranoid and suspicious. She belonged to a people that treated their women no better than the dirt beneath them. Talliea herself had been claimed by a man and was expected to become his mate in the very near future.
No, her feelings for Talliea were without any hope of life. Whatever Arizira felt would have to remain hidden and buried. Talliea needed a friend, not another person who wanted something more from her. Rubbing her fingers into the muscles of Talliea's middle back, Arizira became mesmerized as she watched her fingers' movements. Her coloring was a stark difference to the skin beneath her touch and she could not help but become awed.
Trailing her fingers down Talliea's spine, she smiled to herself feeling the ridges and bumps of the bone. Talliea was beautiful and her body, despite its abuse, was equally so.
"Ari?" Arizira stopped her movements and looked up. "Yes?"
"Have you mated before?" Talliea asked. The question stunned Arizira. She was far from a prude and such talk was openly discussed among her people, but coming from Talliea it somehow made her blush. Perhaps it was the wording that gave her pause. Her people did not 'mate'. They had physical relations, naturally, but the act was viewed by them as more emotional and spiritual. They did not lie together for the sole purpose of procreating.
"Ari?" Talliea questioned and attempted to look over her shoulder. Resuming her massage, Arizira replied, "Yes, Tah-li, I have bonded with two others before."<
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Silence.
"Did it hurt?" Talliea asked and her voice was both small and unsure.
Twitching her head to the side, Arizira was at a loss as to the nature of the question. Pain was not something she had ever associated with such an act. It was beautiful and emotional and left both parties feeling good and alive and aware. It did not bring pain, or it had not for her. How could Talliea think otherwise?
"No, there was no pain, failira, quite the opposite." Another breath of silence as the information was absorbed and then, "Did you love them?"
Arizira's fingers grazed over the top of Talliea's shoulders. "Yes," she replied.
"Then I do not understand."
Arizira paused again and studied Talliea's profile. The other woman's brows were low and her nose was scrunched up slightly. "What do you not understand, Tah-li?"
"You said Arnira believe that love is a once in a lifetime occurrence?"
"Yes."
"Then how could you have loved more than one?"
Sighing, Arizira removed her hands from Talliea's back and waited for her to turn around. When she did so, Arizira smiled at her and her eyes traveled across her face and neck. She noticed that the shirt around Talliea's chest had slipped slightly and was now barely covering her breasts. The bruise along her neck was more vivid and Arizira noticed the imprint of a hand.
A large hand.
"Arnira will love many times, Tah-li," she said trying to distract herself from the mark on Talliea's neck and the amount of skin now visible to her, " but the intensity will vary. True love is a once in a lifetime occurrence and that love presents itself as our Doira'Liim. The women I have laid with were not my one true love. I cared for them and still think highly of them, but that was the extent of our connection."
As she spoke, she dipped her fingers into the mortar and scooped up more of the dohethra mixture. Eying the bruise marring Talliea's neck, she waited for the other woman to give her permission to continue. When a dark head of hair nodded slowly, Arizira raised her hand and gingerly began smoothing the paste across the discoloration.
She looked up at Talliea when she felt the fast paced thumping beneath her fingertips. Talliea's dark eyes held her gaze and refused to look away. She found herself falling into those deep eyes and her breath tried to hitch. Sitting up, she risked getting closer and was rewarded when Talliea did not flinch. The two of them were sharing air as they held each other's eyes. All the while, Arizira's fingers gently applied the willow bark remedy to Talliea's neck in soothing and soft circles. It was as intimate a moment as the two of them had shared.
Arizira's attraction flared inside her vividly. Despite wanting only to help ease Talliea's pain, her body was not allowing her to forget that it felt immense feelings for the person she was touching. Once satisfied that she had adequately applied the dohethra to Talliea's neck, Arizira glanced down between them. Talliea's chest was still covered by her shirt, but her hands had loosened their hold on the material and the tops of her breasts were now open to Arizira's view.
The sudden and amazingly strong sexual tension was not lost on Arizira as her eyes took in the sight. Looking back up into Talliea's face, she realized that it was, however, lost on the Esu woman. Whatever she was feeling, Arizira could not say. Though Talliea's breathing was slightly ragged and her eyes were more than half-lidded, Arizira knew the other woman was most likely confused over matters.
With that thought in her mind, she swallowed and backed away. Talliea did not need her making matters anymore confusing. Someone had assaulted her body and marked her skin. They had taken advantage of her. Arizira would not be like them. She would not risk Talliea's trust by following through with what her body desired so badly. No, she would not.
"You will need to do your front," she said, her voice rough in her ears as she backed away.
As soon as there was a measure of distance between them, both women seemed to come back to themselves and the sounds of the outside world sang outside their shelter. Talliea shook her head, the haze from moments before beginning to lift, and looked down at herself. She noticed her shirt had slipped and quickly pulled it back up to completely cover herself.
Arizira set the mortar next to her and began replacing her weapons. "Have you eaten anything, Tah-li?" Watching Arizira and feeling her heart rate return to normal, Talliea answered, "No, I have not." Arizira crawled out of the long hanging arch of rock and stood up in the mid-morning sun. Talliea looked up at her, hand still holding her shirt.
"Rest, Tah-li. I shall find our meal. You will be safe here." Arizira turned and was about to head off into the forest, partly to hunt and partly to clear her head, when a voice behind her stopped her.
"Ari?"
Looking back, she saw Talliea peaking out from under the overhang of rock. A small smile formed on the Esu woman's lips. Her eyes still held a disconcerted glint, but otherwise her face appeared lighter than from earlier in the day.
"Thank you," she said earnestly, and Arizira smiled before leaving.
Chapter 11: The Path Before Their Feet
An hour later, Talliea found herself still alone with her thoughts. Arizira had yet to return and she was growing worried. She knew Arizira could protect herself. Though she'd never seen the woman in combat, she had been witness to her reflexes, her movements, and the quick way she could string a bow. Her worry was more for herself than anything else. Now that Markahn had given her freedom she realized she was unsure what to actually do with it. Could she stay out in the forest the entire two seasons? She very much desired not to see Lao'dahn again. The man had been upset with Markahn's decision and Talliea worried he would take out his frustrations on her.
Thinking back to earlier that morning, she realized her impulsivity had gotten the better of her once again. She had not packed any provisions or extra clothing. Apart from the shirt and skirts she currently wore all she had for survival was her cloak and the blanket Arizira had given her. Panic tried to take over her insides at the realization that she just might have to return to her clan. Had this been Markahn's plan all along? Was he trying to show her that she could not survive without his help? That she was weak?
If she were like Arizira, she would have no such worries. She would be able to understand the animals and the trees of the forest. She would be proficient in a number of weapons and know how to hunt for her own food. Medicines and clothing and protection would all be available to her.
If she was like Arizira.
Her thoughts lingered on the Arniran woman and as they did, she felt her body begin to react. A pleasant fluttering sensation started in the pit of her stomach and moved up to settle deep inside her chest. She felt it grow with every beat of her heart, and the gentle thump thump sent the phenomenon's electricity flaring down her arms and into her fingertips. An unknown sense of calm and peace came over her as her mind pictured Arizira and, unbeknownst to her, a smile formed on her lips.
Arizira was unlike anyone Talliea had ever encountered. Her passion for life was surpassed only by her kindness and gentle spirit. She was creative and curious and open. She was strong and wise. Her eyes only fell upon Talliea with wonder and fascination. She talked to Talliea, asked her questions, expected answers and thoughts, showed her the world as she knew it and treated her as an equal.
No matter how many times that thought came to Talliea, she could not seem to shake it or make it real. She was a person with feelings. She had likes and dislikes. She had opinions.
She had desires.
Just like Arizira had told her days before. She felt divided and unsure of so many things. Lao'dahn had abused her. He had touched her as if she had no feelings, like his actions had not brought her pain or discomfort. He had spoken to her like he would a beast of burden. She had been terrified and humiliated and he had not blinked an eye or thought ahead on what his actions would bring about for her.
Even Markahn, being more kind to her, still touched her against her will and expected her body to react as h
e desired it. She was not positive how Markahn thought she was supposed to react, but every time he touched her, he made it clear she was holding back from him. That was why he continued to visit her at night. He held the belief that she would eventually give him what he came for.
Expectations were all Talliea knew. Yet, Arizira's touch had shown her a whole other side to what her body could experience. She had not felt dirty or used when Arizira's fingers had glided across her back. She had not anticipated pain or roughness when her hand moved along the side of her neck. Everything about Arizira's touch had only brought about good feelings. It had brought her...pleasure.
Her heart had seemed to beat against her breathing and her body had practically vibrated with some unknown want or need. Even where the dohethra mixture had not touched her, her skin had still felt warm and flush. A tight throbbing had started between her legs and every touch Arizira made had only enhanced that feeling. When the two of them had been face to face and Arizira's eyes had lowered to her chest, Talliea had felt a wetness between her thighs and her fingers had ached to increase their contact.
As she sat just outside their temporary camp, she could not help but wonder what spell kept her so enthralled to Arizira. Perhaps the old tales about the Arnira were true. The feelings Arizira had brought about in her left her feeling as if she weren't in control of her own mind. All rational and free thought had abandoned her and, in its place, a deep and complete desire to listen only to her body had flooded her mind.
When Arizira had backed away from her and moved to give her space, her thoughts had been her own again and the heat in her body had slowly faded away. She'd been saddened by the loss, but thankful for her clear thoughts.
Looking up at the trees above her, she noted that they were different from ones she'd seen along her journey to the north. They were transcendent, almost as if they were guarding the secret of the Arnira from any prying eyes. Her own people along the borders of the massive forest had yet to learn of them and she wondered if Arizira's people were even aware of their new neighbors. Was Arizira the only Arniran who knew of the Esu or had others watched them and relayed their information back to the tribe?