Who

Willimina, Tallel

What

Willimina and Tallel Have a Chat

BACKSCENED: Happens after Willa wants the truth!

When

It is late afternoon of the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month of the eleventh turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Igen Caravan Grounds, Willimina and Tallel's Yurt

OOC Date 30 Aug 2017 06:00

 

WillaGif5.gif Tallel16.jpg

“He was set to kill her if she so much as put a toe out of line, when they arrived that night,” he recalls. “Almost as furious as me, as I recall. What she did cleared the way for you to get taken, and I would have ended her myself if you hadn’t been found…”


TalsYurtInt1.jpg

Willimina and Tallel's Yurt

Unlike the outside of this dwelling, the inside of this round tent puts the bolder, more flamboyant side of Tallel's Zingari roots on display, though it's now been augmented by all that the rest of his family brings to it. While simple in layout, there is nothing simple at all about the intricate weave of the rugs thrown down upon the light, portable wooden slat-work spanning collapsible frames. Deep wine red is the most commonly found hue, though gold, green, and silver are found as well in the hangings that drape the tent walls at even intervals. A low, wide table to the left of the hanging door serves as Tallel's primary workspace for grinding herbs and mixing medicines, while another one further off to the right - round, this time - is laden with wood and steel serving ware and makes up a small dining area. Cushions lay around the yurt in abundance for sitting, the largest pile of which obscures the low mattress on which he and Willimina sleep. Nearby, a couple of folding dividers fashioned of woven reeds and silk partition off the beds their children sleep in. A few braziers for incense and candles, as well as some round redd glowbaskets, hang about the ceiling, which tapers up to a vent that can be shut against the weather but is wide enough to give a nice view of the night sky in the evenings.


The day is winding toward its close, which means a night filled with festivities for the Zingari. Practices have been going on all day, with Tallel out among them working on his solo dancing and illusions before the sandstorm came along. He’s to practice with Willa soon, and for the moment is in their yurt, cleaning himself up a bit and changing clothes. He’s also playing with their son a bit, one of the nannies near at hand to take the boy away again once his parents have to be elsewhere.

There’s a game of chase going on around the bed, Tallel taking deliberately smaller steps to make sure he doesn’t catch a gleefully shrieking Taimin too easily and roaring like a feline as he goes. Eventually, he does snatch Taimin up with a laugh and lifts him high in the air, blowing raspberries against his stomach before swinging him around again.

Willa has been on the move all day, things having been delayed by a mid-morning sandstorm. She's finally hit a point where she feels caught up, having accomplished a meeting with Igraine, one of her practices and several errands around the caravan. Now, she feels it time to go home and refresh herself before her evening practice with Tallel. Her first sight when she reaches the yurt opening is that of Tallel scooping Taimin up. Her soft chuckle fills the air once raspberries have been doled out.

“Faranth help me if I ever forget this sight…” She'd missed these, the simple moments with her family. There had been so precious few over the last couple of turns. She walks in arms open to embrace her two favorite men. “Mummy needs a hug, get in here, both of you.”

Tallel is grinning as much as his son when he swings them to a stop to see Willimina, Taimin immediately announcing, “Mama! Mama!” with arms outstretched. Laughing, Tallel brings them both close and lets the boy clamber over to his mother before wrapping his arms around them both. “Needs, hmm?” he echoes, tilting his head to give his wife a kiss. Taimin must follow this up, of course, by giving Willa a noisy smack on the cheek of his own, which prompts Tallel to ruffle his son’s hair. “He’s in a very hugging mood. And so am I, but that’s always.” He reaches up to brush some of Willa’s hair back from her temple. “Is everything alright, saikhan?

Willimina is very apparently happy to have such affection placed on her from son and husband and holds them both close for a moment. She returns Tallel's kiss and sends a soft smile his way when he asks after her. She shrugs. “I wouldn't say anything is wrong…it's just been a very…long and enlightening day.” The emphasis on `enlightening’ is limned with sarcasm as she rubs noses with Taimin and sets him to his feet so that he may continue running track around the bed, and he does, and it makes Willa smile. Such carefree lives children live…

One of Tallel’s brows hikes higher at Willimina’s answer, and he loosens his arms so that it’s easier for her to put their son down. “Oh? This sounds like a story,” he says, taking full note of that subtly sarcastic edge to her penultimate word. “Tai,” he calls to the little boy, who stops with a whump against the foot of the bed and blinks big brown eyes up at his daddy. “Can you go help Tesheah find Tali? She needs food.” Tesheah, the nanny, holds out her arm with an encouraging nod to Taimin, who pushes off the bed with an, “Okay!” and runs up to take the woman’s hand. “Let’s find sister!” He takes his job as big brother quite seriously.

Tallel watches their son go with pride puffing his chest a bit before turning to Willa, taking her hands and encouraging her to come sit with him on the bed. “Something to drink, my love?”

Willimina watches her son leave with the soft adoration only a mother can possess, shaking her head with amusement at his excitement to find his baby sister. “We have wonderful children…” She comments as she's being led to sit down, the offer of a drink is met with a nod and a smile. “Aye, that'd be lovely…” It feels nice to sit down and relax for a moment, and Willa soaks it up, kicking her feet out to stretch in front of her. “I can't wait for it to be spring again…the sandstorms seem more frequent this turn than last…” Small talk, the best conversation starter.

“We do,” Tallel agrees quietly, tawny eyes dancing as he glances over to watch the flap of the yurt fall shut. With a soft kiss to Willimina’s cheek, he moves away to find something for them to drink. There’s cold redfruit juice, which he pours a few glass of…and then tip a finger of whiskey into a glass after studying his wife for a moment. “Yes, but I do want winter first,” he says bringing her both juice and whiskey and settling down beside her with his own. “Some cold would be nice. It makes the Turn feel even.” Or more even; Igen is always warm, save for winter.

“So…” he prompts, eyes intent on her face as he takes a sip from his glass. “What’s made the day so long before it’s even over, saikhan?

Willimina would take summer all turn long if she could, she doesn't mind the cold, but she's not a huge fan of it either. And so, Tallel’s comment on it earns a shrug from Willa. Willa accepts her drink and has a sip before rolling her eyes. “Well, the sharding sandstorm didn't help, it was mostly long because of feeling behind, but I have also had much on my mind.” She looks at Tallel then, a part of her wondering what her life would have looked like without him…it's an unbearable thought and one that makes her opinion on the day's events a bit colored. She takes another drink and sighs, setting the liquid aside. “Have you been hearing the rumors circulating camp as of late?” She asks in a seemingly sudden change of subject.

Tallel chuckles softly at mention of the sandstorm, rolling his eyes a bit. “Yes, it put a bit of a damper on things,” he says, and simply keeps tawny eyes upon Willimina’s face as she alludes to many things being on her mind. When she looks at him, he can’t quite read what’s going on behind her eyes but it makes him smile, and he reaches up to tuck some of her hair back before she speaks again.

“Yes,” he sighs, taking a sip of his juice and sitting it aside in turn. “I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t heard them at this point. I’ve been meaning to go have a drink with Javid sometime….” Which of course translates to sitting down and talking with the man to get a read on him. However… “And I’m going to take a guess that you decided to have a chat with our spymaster?” His gut tells him she might not have brought it up directly after saying there’s so much on her mind otherwise, after all.

Oh, she would have brought it up directly, but since Tallel affords her an opening, Willimina nods. “Aye, I had meant to do it later but he came to give his reports this morning almost directly after I overheard a group gossiping about the rumors right outside my wagon. It seemed a good time to bring things up.” Willimina retrieves her drink and has another sip before abandoning it once more. She looks thoughtful for a moment, as if warring with two sides of herself that have differing opinions, and she is, really. She crosses her legs,one hand fidgets as her arm rests on her thigh. “They're true, the rumors, at least in part.” Willimina still looks as if half of her won't and can't believe it.

Tallel observes that warring expression carefully, some small part of him anticipating just such an answer. It doesn’t stop his brows from shooting upward at the revelation that the rumors are true. Now it’s his turn to look conflicted, his thoughts thrown into a whirl for a long moment before his usual level-headedness takes over. “I see,” he rumbles, tawny eyes pulling away to a vague middle distance as he processes the information further. “Well… Considering Javid has proven himself utterly loyal up to this point, and that he’s been no fool in all the time we’ve known him…” His brows drop again, furling as he thinks. “You said ‘in part.’ Which part is true, that they’ve been sleeping together?” It seems the most likely given all the other wild things he’s heard.

Willimina nods, and wonders if Tallel struggles with the same inner conundrum she does. “I trust Javid, he has a level head on his shoulders…most of the time.” There’s a little sarcasm to that last that suggests that she thinks Javid may not be making the smartest of choices right now. “Aye, that they’ve been sleeping together, question is, How long?” Willa hadn’t gone through the process of interrogating Javid for more specific answers, as leader she’d had a right to, but she hadn’t. “I do not know how to feel about this, at all.” Willimina sighs and takes from her drink. “He was willing to go into exile for her, I know that much.”

Tallel decides he needs to be moving around and stands up, pacing a little bit in front of Willimina. Her last makes him pause in his steps for a moment, frowning subtly as he regards his wife. “Well, that…makes his motivation clear enough, though I’m willing to bet he doesn’t realize it,” Tallel observes, lifting a hand to sift fingers through short, thick locks. “Love is…not smart, saikhan.” He points this out with a fondly tilted smile down at her, memories of certain events during the lead-up to their marriage flickering through his mind as proof of his words. After a moment, though, he goes back to pacing, both hands sinking into his hair now.

“He was set to kill her if she so much as put a toe out of line, when they arrived that night,” he recalls. “Almost as furious as me, as I recall. What she did cleared the way for you to get taken, and I would have ended her myself if you hadn’t been found…” He grits his teeth at the memory, threading his fingers behind his head as he looks back down at Willa. “So something must have shifted. There must be something redeeming he’s seen in that woman to have let himself fall in love…and I think she must be with him as well. He’s too good a reader of the people around him to fall for any deceit she’d try to pull, I think.”

Willimina's soft laughter fills the yurt when Tallel mentions love not being smart. “I'm well aware, my love…” she sighs. “It's part of what leaves me conflicted over the subject. That he loves her was written all over his face when he admitted everything, but I think you are right… I don't think he knows it yet either.” Tallel's next confessions have Willimina gritting her teeth, some memories still all too fresh, but it's his last that has her shaking her head. “Maybe, maybe not, Aztrexia was under all our noses for almost a turn before she was suspected of anything, and Javid has mentioned that she is an adept of exceptional skill…”

Willimina fidgets, thoughts churning as yet another sigh is expelled from her lips. “I cannot condemn them for falling for each other, if that is what has happened.” Willa's chocolate brown orbs lock on Tallel, brimming with the fire and strength of their bond. “It's part of what we've fought for, letting people choose whom they will… .and I cannot deny the girl has been straight as an arrow as of late… I just…I don't trust her, though I've let Javid keep his place amongst us, and I told him I'm not happy about it, but I won't stop them. What if she is playing our spymaster like a well tuned guitar?”

Tallel heaves a long sigh of his own, coming to roost on the bed again. “The truth will out, saikhan,” he says after a long moment of contemplation. “After all I’ve seen of how the man works, I truly don’t think he would have let himself fall if he suspected she was playing him. At this point, what could she gain by doing it? Would she truly risk getting staked out for treason again after being shown mercy?” He gives a little shake of his head. “I think she would have to be the purest cold to do something like that. Which gives me all the more reason to think something must have shifted.”

Tilting his head slightly as he studies Willa’s eyes, he makes a careful suggestion. “No one is expecting you to trust Aztrexia, me least of all. But you read people well in your own right, my love. You could try talking with her a bit, ask a few questions…see what sort of a feel you get from her despite the tension that will inevitably be there.”

“I suppose you are right.” Willimina sighs lightly, gazing lovingly at Tallel. “I think I just need at adjust to the idea of it. My opinion of the girl is certainly colored…” Willimina is more than willing to admit she's got a very biased opinion on Aztrexia. She shakes her head. “Forgiveness comes hard for me. I'll think on it.” And more than likely Willimina will settle on being practical and will speak with Trexa, even if she'd rather run a hundred leagues in the opposite direction. “What tangled webs life weaves…” She comments after, and finishes off her drink. She stands to refill her cup, with juice this time.

“That it does,” Tallel agrees with a chuckle, wetting his throat with the last of his own juice before standing and moving to join Willimina. He’ll wait for her to fill her cup before slipping an arm around her waist, his other hand coming up so that he can catch her chin between thumb and forefinger. “You are very proud, my love,” he tells her with a roguish smile and glint to his eye as he admires his wife’s beauty for the millionth time over. “As you should be. And still you always follow your heart to the best road to follow.” Even if she pinches him or something for pointing out that facet of her, he’s going to tighten his arm about her and kiss her thoroughly, enough to chase after the fire within before parting their lips. He can’t help himself, really.

Willa barely has time to smile at Tallel before he kisses her so thoroughly. When their lips part, Willimina emits a burst of bubbling laughter. “No fair,” she teases, alluding to the fact that he's not allowed to brain-wipe her that way. Not. He totally is, but she isn't going to tell him that. The smile she aims at him next betrays any implied offense she may have taken at having her mind wiped with a kiss. “I think you should still have that drink with Javid, perhaps some guy talk will shed some light on the subject.” He talks to Javid, she talks to Trexa, and perhaps they'll all come out knowing something more…and perhaps a bit more comfortable.

Tallel grins unrepentantly in the wake of Willa’s laughter, keeping her snugly in the curl of his arm. “I will,” he says of catching their spymaster for a drink. “Now…” Holding her close enough for their noses to touch with the slightest waver, he smiles at her in a most anticipatory way, heat in full bloom to brighten the depths of tawny eyes. “Shall we go practice our dancing?” By his tone, a bit of warming up wouldn’t go amiss…though there’s always cooling down, too.

Willa chuckles softly, taking advantage of their closeness to actually rub noses with Tallel. “I think we should…” She'd rather cool down after than warm up now, seeing how dancing always lights the fire between them. She'll remain wrapped in Tal's arm for a moment longer though, soaking in the aura of peace that surrounds her husband most of the time. Then she'll break the embrace with a kiss and lead them on their way, and life goes on.

Add a New Comment