Who

Willimina, Tallel

What

Backscened! Directly following his meeting with Ethelinda, Tallel makes good on his promise to speak to Willimina.

Some sexual themes

When

It is morning on the fourteenth day of the first month of the third Turn of the 12th Pass.

Where

Tallel's Yurt, Caravan Grounds; Igen Weyr

OOC Date

 

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Tallel's Yurt

Unlike the outside of Tallel's dwelling, the inside of this round tent puts the bolder, more flamboyant side of his Zingari roots on display. While simple in layout, there is nothing simple at all about the intricate weave of the rugs he has 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 sleeps. It's under there…somewhere. A few braziers for incense and candles, as well as some round glowbaskets fashioned of woven reeds, hang about the ceiling, which tapers up to a vent that can be shut against the weather bit is wide enough to give a nice view of the night sky in the evenings.


Willimina had woken expecting to roll over and snuggle into Tallel's warmth. Instead, she'd found empty space. She'd tried to go back to sleep, but wakefulness had won the battle. So, she'd gotten up, slipped on one of Tallel's tunics, and gone rummaging through her bag. She lounges now on Tallel's bed with the spoils of her raid. Laying on her belly, legs lazily kicking behind her, hair in a bun and fly aways in her face, she reads the reports from their absence, and the account records. Hides, paper and books are scattered in front of her, she's been at this for a little while it seems.

Tallel is quick to slip back inside the warmth of his yurt…well. As quick as he can manage without spilling his burden, that is. He's quick to set down the two mugs in his hand, practiced fingers quickly trying his door shut and then undoing the toggles on his jacket, allowing him to shrug it off. His brow is furrowed when he turns back around, though from concentration or thought is difficult to discern. In spite of what he's just dealt with, his gaze when it falls on Willimina can't help but turn heated, the sight of her in his tunic with flyaways falling into her eyes despite her bun sending an instant shot of embers through his blood. "Sorry," he says, picking up the mugs and coming to the bed. He kicks off his boots before sitting down beside her and leaning over to kiss her, passing her one of the mugs thereafter. "I meant to come straight back, but Ethelinda saw me and…wanted to talk." He sips at his klah a bit and then sets it aside, fixing his eyes on the beautiful woman in his bed for a long moment before opening his mouth to speak again. It doesn't work though, and he finds himself letting out a long breath, steadying himself. He tries again. "Willa, I…need to ask you something." Well, it's a start.

Willimina flicks her gaze upward when Tallel comes back in the yurt, chocolate eyes lingering upon him for a moment before returning to the reports. There's a slight smile to her lips now though, where there had been stern concentration before. She feels it, the instant Tallel's gaze falls on her form, and a shiver creeps down her spine. She fights to keep her attention on her reports, and she wins, until Tallel sits on the bed next to her. She turns her happy chocolate eyes to greet him, accepting her klah with a hum of pleasure and his kiss with a soft sigh, a pinking of her cheeks and the racing of her heart. This is where she wants to be. "I was sad I was unable to give you a proper good morning." She chuckles and sips at her klah, looking back up at him and listening as he talks. She figures Ethelinda's business had something to do with day to day…until her handsome lover goes speechless. Willimina Sets her klah aside and sits up on her knees, hand going to Tallel's cheek. Gone is the carefree, laughing lover of last night, and this perplexed, silent man in front of her has her worried. His words have her going still, chocolate eyes filling with worry. "What is it, Tallel?" she says softly, a pit forming in her gut.

Tallel turns his head a bit into Willimina's hand, covering it with hers and letting out another steadying breath as he gazes back at her. He smiles a little to try dispelling some of her worry. "Ah, saikhan," he says quietly, shifting closer to her. "I love you, more than I have words for; you know this, aye?" He brings her hand to his lips, kissing her palm before just keeping it in his. "Ethelinda…she approves of us…but she wants to know what we intend, and she wants to know soon. By the end of the seven, she said. The elders are coming here soon, and she said they'll want to know what's going on… Willa." His gaze is earnest. "I know this…it'll feel rushed, addressing it now, but I'd been thinking of when to ask you anyway… Will you marry me, Willimina?" He watches her anxiously, knowing full well that just asking may not garner a simple answer from her right now. There are worries hovering in the air still.

Willimina melts for a moment into the gaze Tallel aims her way and the softness of his voice. "Of course I do. I love you more with every breath I take…" she begins, and for a moment she thinks that he's leaving her, forced by Ethel and the elders to end their relationship. Her heart stops, breath coming in a sharp gasp as a lump begins to form in her throat. And Tallel is still speaking, still explaining. The world narrows, her vision tunneling as his words become echoed and far away. And then there's silence for a second, and he's asking her to wed him. The whole world stops, takes a breath and waits in palpable silence. Willa desperately wants to wipe his anxiety away, wants desperately to scream yes from the mountain tops, but she goes even more still than before, her lips popping into a silent 'o' of surprise. She looks shell shocked. And while joy and love spring into her warm chocolate eyes, so do caution and fear. "Are…" She swallows. "Are you sure this is what you would want, my beloved? That you are asking out of love and not out of duty?" She does want to say yes, just not for the wrong reasons. Anxiety creeps in to her own face; she doesn't want Tallel thinking she's rejecting him. She bites at her lower lip, very much the proverbial deer in the headlights.

At Willimina's obvious shock, Tallel is quick to bring a hand of his own up to stroke her cheek, and he nods emphatically. "It is what I want, and I do ask out of love, saikhan. Duty only makes me ask you sooner rather than later. I wanted to be…" He stops, huffs out a bit of breath, and gives a bit of a snort, chuckling lightly. "I wanted to be more romantic about it. Though…here isn't a bad spot, I suppose." Going quiet for a moment, he takes her hand again, bringing it against his chest and holding her palm flat against his heart. "This belongs to you," he tells her quietly, "and I can't imagine living without you. It will not be easy at first; maybe Auntie Mel will not understand that I'm serious, and there will be a lot I have to learn more quickly…but it will all be worthwhile, to have you by my side for the rest of my days, Willa."

So very many thoughts run through Willimina's mind, racing like runners across the steppes to wheel wildly round, never clear. Her heart starts to race and a flush comes to her cheeks. All the same, she leans into the stroke on her cheek, eyes going doe-like and soft. When Tallel lifts her hand to his heart, she curls the tips of her fingers against the fabric of his shirt, feeling the solid beat below her palm. Oh Faranth, Melusine is going to kill her and leave her for the wild canines to eat. For aching moments she is silent, still, only her eyes belying the turmoil of her thoughts. Was she ready to marry again?? They had danced around the topic so much is was almost taboo between them. Not that she hasn't thought about it. She'd daydreamed of marrying Tallel and having tawny-eyed little clones running around. But she also had a crippling fear of her curse - of those she loves dying. And Willimina loves Tallel, with all her heart and soul. He mended the rift left by Ephraim and taught her to laugh again. She couldn't imagine life without him either. What if he wed her and changed his mind later? What if Willimina doesn't marry Tallel, then the Elders force them apart and choose someone for her? Round and round her thoughts go.

And it is one CLEAR defining moment that makes the decision for her, makes it rock solid after those achingly long moments of silence. Willimina's mind takes a truly focused look at how she would feel if Tallel were truly absent from her life, heart and bed, and the ache that begins to build is so close to that she felt when Ephraim died that she nearly sobs. Her head begins nodding up and down before the answer even falls from her lips, her hands beginning to tremble. She continues to nod as she raises them to hiss cheeks and presses brief kisses to his lips. "Yes…" She kisses him again. "Yes." She wraps her arms around his neck, bringing herself to sit in his lap, kissing him again. "Yes." Melusine is going to murder her, chop her into little pieces and scatter her to the wind….

Melusine might murder them both, in Tallel's estimation. While he knows she really wouldn't, her reaction to the news might earn a rebuke that cuts him to his very core… Yet while it would cause him no end of pain, such a reaction is something he is willing to endure because this truly is what he wants, without question. Perhaps the full weight of what they've decided will hit him later, but it won't change his mind. He is not being impulsive. This is something he knows is right in every fiber of his being. He is certain he understands Willimina's silence…but it doesn't prevent him from watching her anxiously until she nods. When she answers, his heart leaps almost painfully, and his grin is nearly blinding before her hands meet his cheeks and she kisses him. Her arms come up around his neck and she shifts into his lap, and he meets her with an ardent embrace. And after her last reiteration of her answer, he counters with a deeply possessive kiss of his own, threading his fingers far into her hair as he all but crushes her against him. He draws it out as long as he can, and she can probably feel the tremble that such a storm of emotion has infused his body with - fear, elation, nervousness, joy, all crashing together and crystallizing into something that has no proper word. "And you are sure?" he breathes pulling back just enough to lock eyes with her.

To hell with the weight of what they've decided; that one second of despair she'd felt at the thought of losing Tallel had been enough to let Willa know for sure that this is right. His blinding grin seals the deal. His possessive kiss is just that - possessive, like a binding contract. Who needs a handfasting when a kiss binds the soul so concretely? Her breath is trembling by the time he breaks away and his question earns another avid nod. She pulls his hand over her own heart, a mimicry of his earlier actions. "My heart beats only for you, Tallel, and the thought of losing you is so painful that I hope to never have to feel that loss." She smiles softly at him. "Yes, this is what I want. We have plenty of time for romance." And while Willa seems sort of calm on the outside, her mind still races with questions. Where will they live? In the wagon? In the yurt? Will they have children? What will the clan think of their union? Damn Ethelinda for springing this on Tallel. Why hadn't the old bat spoken with her instead?

"You will never lose me, min khair," Tallel asserts quietly, his free arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her even more snugly against him while still leaving space between them for his hand to rest against Willimina's chest. He grins again at her last words. "We certainly haven't had any problems on that count so far," he says of romance, brushing his lips to hers briefly once more before studying her eyes again. He can see the tempest of questions swirling there behind her gaze, fit to match those that continue to carom around inside his own head. "Willa," he whispers, resting his forehead against hers, "we have an answer to give Ethelinda. That's all that matters right now. The rest…" The hand at her chest slips slightly upward, and he lets his fingers brush along the edge of the neck of that tunic of his that she wears, grazing slowly over the skin there. "The rest, we can deal with as it comes. For now…" His touch skims up to her neck, drifting languidly up and then back down. "…Let's just hold to this moment." A point to anchor at.

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