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Post by Tabula Rasa on Jun 12, 2008 17:37:14 GMT -8
Even a rafeiro boy with a split lip and a torn shirt had some honor. With a small and scoffing sound, the lad pushed sharply to his feet and held out a hand to help Aleda up, instead. It was only then that he slipped an arm carefully around her shoulders, sucking in a terse little breath as aching muscles were obliged to move. He turned his head to whisper in her ear, "Nothing's broken."
Quietly, he allowed the lovely young woman to lead him to her caravan. With her mentor sitting by the bonfire only yards away, it wasn't the most ideal of circumstances. But, Therane was very good at making the best of what he was given.
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Post by Alsivor on Jun 12, 2008 18:00:31 GMT -8
There was a charming grin from Aleda as she set her hand in his though she clucked her tongue lowly. "Not much at cover stories, are you?" she teased him gently, but her arm was slipping around his waist as they walked back to Giana's wagon. "But I'm glad to hear that /nothing/ is broken." Unsubtle flirtation at its finest as the sabedoria-in-training led the way.
It wasn't far, but neither was it all that close to the center of activity and Aleda made much of chatting about his 'poor sore ribs' and 'poor uncertain ankle' as they climbed up inside. She kicked the door closed expertly behind her and leaned back against it. The kit she let hang by its carrying strap to the hook by the door, reached hands around behind her to loosen the apron and hang it likewise, eyes on her 'patient' the entire time.
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Post by Tabula Rasa on Jun 13, 2008 3:58:12 GMT -8
Therane was obligingly demure, at least as they made their way past the fire and away from prying eyes. Once the door closed and privacy was assured, he straightened from the hunch he'd affected, crossing his arms over his chest and watching as the bag fell away. Then, the apron.
He reached out to tug Aleda close, hands finally getting the chance to feel the texture of her gown and the nip of her waist beneath them. "Careful," he teased softly, "I'm told my mouth tastes bitter." And then, regardless, kissed her anyhow.
Fade out
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Post by Alsivor on Jun 13, 2008 5:12:18 GMT -8
(Post-Fade Out)
She hadn't really meant to let things go so far. But once they'd gotten started, it had just been so very hard to stop. Her head turned one way, found the bright pool of her gown on the floor. He'd said she was too young to wear it. Maybe she had been. Except she didn't really feel that way. Especially not now. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth and she rolled over on the narrow, built-in cot to look at him.
"I go herb-picking for Giana almost every day," Aleda announced blithely, though she was a little surprised by the rasp in it and lifted a hand to her throat. She'd have to be quieter. It was highly likely the only reason no one had heard was because of the music, the drumbeats thudding through the walls of the caravan even here on the edge of things.
"I could tell you where I go and you could come find me." She swallowed hard as her good humor was briefly carried away by the sober realization that if someone /had/ heard and her father found out about this, he'd beat her senseless no matter how much he loved her and that it would only be worse for 'Teimo'. Far worse than a bunch of other kids beating him up. She didn't think about all the draughts she'd only just learned to mix up in the past few months that she'd need to take either. Not yet.
More quietly and almost apologetic: "It'll be safer that way. For both of us."
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Post by Tabula Rasa on Jun 13, 2008 14:11:01 GMT -8
It was hard work, catching one's breath when one didn't want anybody to see they were out of breath in the first place. Therane lay on his back, one hand behind his head and the other curled loosely around Aleda. He'd kept waiting for a moment of realization, of protest, where she'd come to her senses and turn him out. But, it hadn't happened.
Split lip or no, Therane closed his eyes and smiled at the memory of what had. His body ached now more than it had before he'd been brought to the sabedoria's caravan for 'mending', but the boy couldn't say he regretted any of those new sore muscles.
One eye cracked open as the girl spoke, though the rough sound of her voice had him grinning again and wincing as the gesture made his lip throb. "Do you?" he asked her quietly, reaching over to touch her hair. "Tell me, and I will."
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Post by Alsivor on Jun 13, 2008 14:29:31 GMT -8
A little smirk crossed Aleda's face as she saw Therane struggling to catch his breath, the wince or two and she leaned over to drop a kiss onto that poor split lip. One finger slowly traced down the planes of his chest and her smile widened, grew warmer.
"Mmhm. Picking the wild stuff. What we don't trade for at holds, or grow in the pots hanging around the wagon. Some of it is pretty hard to find. I have to walk /far/ for it." She leaned her head into the touch of his hand then dropped her cheek onto his chest, listening for his heartbeat. He might have gotten badly beaten up today, but that heart beat strongly enough.
"I have to figure out where I'm going this turn, but before, I've gone out playing beyond the second hill, where there's trees. I'll probably go beyond there to find what Giana needs. I'll leave before the sun's all the way at the top of the sky and be out until dinner tomorrow." She turned her head a little to press a kiss lightly against his ribs.
"Meet me in the shade of the big rock that looks like a wherry, Teimo. I'll wait for you."
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Post by Tabula Rasa on Jun 13, 2008 17:59:12 GMT -8
Settling his other arm around Aleda as she rested her head on his chest, Therane nodded slowly. "Wild things," was the rafeiro's soft agreement, "are rare." The woman was given a small squeeze.
"A rock that looks like a wherry," he said, half to make sure he remembered and half to point out the absurdity of such a strange formation of stone. "All right. I'll remember." It wasn't quite the same as promising he'd arrive promptly or at all, but considering the circumstances, it was the best he could manage without the risk of breaking his word.
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Post by Alsivor on Jun 13, 2008 20:02:16 GMT -8
Smiling, Aleda cuddled into that loose embrace as Therane brought his arms down around her.
"Mmhm. A wherry flapping its wings," she described further and very seriously. Clearly, this was plain as the nose on his face for her.
Satisfied by his response, Aleda snuggled up against him before indulging in trying to make him sore again. By then, it was getting late and she knew she needed to put in an appearance at the Gather. Catch up with her friends, make her excuses, greet her parents properly. She only hoped she could pull the wool over Giana's eyes, though the old woman had an uncanny way of figuring her out. "We should go ..." she told him, with her fingers still playing through that fascinatingly pale hair.
She sighed softly as she bid him farewell at the door before opening and murmured again those directions for finding her tomorrow. Then it was all business and instructions about arnica for his bruises, twice daily and so on and so forth before she headed off into the Gather night.
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Post by Tabula Rasa on Jun 14, 2008 3:42:02 GMT -8
There was no protest and quite eager anticipation when Aleda helped to tire Therane out a little more. Afterwards, he eased himself carefully upright to gather his clothes and tug them back into place. He permitted himself another long look at the lovely, young sabedoria before he followed her out of the caravan.
It took less pretending, this time, for the boy to look as if he was sore and bruised. Eyes down, he nodded to the information, accepted the herbs and slipped away. But, beneath the shadows and the shag of blond hair, Therane was smiling.
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Post by Alsivor on Jun 14, 2008 7:40:37 GMT -8
For as long as the Gather lasted, for as long as Aleda could come up with reasons to be out of the caravan for a portion of the day, she met Therane by the wherry rock and they explored further and further into the woods that clustered over those hills.
She didn't miss a day very often. Sometimes she snuck out at night when Giana was well asleep. What she didn't know then, was that the old sabedoria was well aware of what her apprentice was up to and she deliberately went to bed a little earlier to give the girl leeway to sneak out. Giana never let on that she knew and never told anyone else, either in her own family or Aleda's. It went without saying that she didn't really speak to Therane's family, though she would treat them if they came to her injured or ill. Giana understood, as Aleda's father might never come to understand, that that spark in his daughter was too wild for easy curbing. Best to let her work it out a little now, while she was still young and relatively free. She would not have such options when she got a little older.
When the wagons broke circle to go their separate ways at the end of the Gather, Aleda made 'Teimo' a youthful promise to see him next turn, or on the road if their caravans passed each other out there.
And so it went for the next two turns, until Therane was Searched and he didn't come to the Caminar Gather anymore.
[End Scene?]
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