Sookie awoke to cold darkness.
Sleep had eventually claimed her, offering respite from her troubled thoughts.
But she'd not had the energy to leave her sleeping mat and bank the fire properly.
Regretting that now, she painfully uncurled her legs from the fetal position her body had instinctually assumed in its bid to stay warm. Her muscles ached from the strain of the position, and her right calf in particular was cramping.
Forcing herself to stand and apply pressure to the leg, she walked it out, completing a half circle of the hut, but very deliberately avoiding the section of the floor where the knife lay.
She wasn't up to another vision; not now, maybe not ever. Not like that.
There was the barest, murky light pouring down from the skylight, from the stars and perhaps a small sliver of moon. It allowed her to see enough to get a second fire started, though this time her efforts with the steel and flint Yakpa gave her were clumsy and slow.
After perhaps twenty minutes of fumbling and two false starts, she finally had a steady blaze. Feeding it increasingly larger pieces of wood, she felt satisfied that it wouldn't go out and banked it with a nice sized log.
Task completed, she turned her gaze to the knife. Up until then she'd been purposefully ignoring it, keeping her back to it. Now she watched the way the intricate knot carving on its handle seemed to move in the flickering firelight.
Turning and rummaging through her scant things, she pulled out a smock made of course material traded from the Whites. It was one of the few clothing articles she owned.
Wrapping it around and around her hand, she bent and picked up the knife. Even through the many layers of fabric, she could feel its icy steel biting at her palm.
Shivering despite the fire, she quickly used her free hand to open the slim drawer, then dropped in the knife and slammed it shut.
Immediately she felt better.
Perhaps there was an enchantment upon the table, some type of blocking spell?
She had questions for Talako. Many questions.
Still, she didn't regret asking him to stay here.
In a way, her vision from the knife was her first success at reading him.
And the energy emanating from the dagger wasn't malevolent feeling; it was just very, very powerful.
As long as she was cautious, she would be okay.
Feeling better settled in her mind, she pushed the kettle closer to the flames, deciding on that cup of tea she'd never been able to enjoy earlier.
Later, cup empty and eyes drooping, Sookie settled back onto her sleeping mat and burrowed deeply under her blanket.
Warm and content, she fell into a heavy sleep… only to be awakened some time later by a warm body pressing into hers.
Jesus Christ, Sheppard of Judea!
Outraged at Talako's sheer presumptiveness, she angrily pushed against him only to encounter a….breast.
Shrieking, she jumped up, taking the blanket with her.
There, in her bed, was a naked woman glaring back up at her.
After that first moment of shocked silence between them, both women erupted in angry tirades.
"Look sweetheart, I know I'm a visitor here and all, and I'm not judging, but I just don't roll that way!"
"Kucha! Kucha!" from the intruder, and then a sadder, "Ak akostinincho" before she burst into tears.
Aghast, Sookie looked down at the sobbing woman, sighed, and let her mental barriers drop.
The woman's, uh, girl's, mind was a mess.
Upon closer inspection, even in the dim light, Sookie could see she was perhaps sixteen at best. And she was beautiful with her creamy brown skin, large dark eyes, and very shapely form.
Disgust lacing her tone, Sookie muttered under her breath, "I guess the term statutory rape hasn't been invented yet."
But soon enough the girl's overwhelmed mind provided enough images for Sookie to regret how quickly she'd judged Talako.
Her name was Masheli and thoughts of Talako consumed her. More than one memory firing through her brain showed Talako pushing her away, spurning her advances. Sookie read her hurt and anger, her stinging pride, but they weren't as strong as the girl's yearning. Masheli had seen the firelight in the hut and thought Talako was back in their village. She had thought if she openly came to him he wouldn't refuse her. Apparently teenagers, regardless of century, were still often guided by impulse and desire.
Seeing the girl's smock laid out across the table, Sookie quickly retrieved it and tossed it down to the girl.
"Okay, well. Talako's not here. Go on home now." She gestured to the door with accompanying hand movements.
Dressing, the glare remained on her visitor's face as she walked out of the hut with stiff pride.
Hells bells.
Dawn pushed at the edges of darkness.
No point in trying to get anymore rest.
She washed up with the last of her water, and used her fingers to comb her hair before arranging it in a single braid down her back. Ignoring the tension headache building in her forehead, she exited the hut munching on a piece of jerky.
Purpose filled her.
Her restless thoughts last night had led her to one conclusion: Talako was a willing source of knowledge regarding her Fey heritage. Part of her admitted she'd been going through the motions with him on their training sessions, because she was stuck here and he'd offered. But she'd been holding back, waiting for something or someone to intervene, for the powers that be to jump in and save her, for that portal to open up in front of her and take her back… to what? To Eric or Bill? In the deepest part of her heart she knew she had no future with either of them, not because of what she was but because of what they were.
But Talako was like her.
Though she still didn't fully grasp his motives, the truth remained there was an entire part of herself she knew nothing about. Because of her own fear and stubbornness, she'd viewed it as a negative. Her telepathy made her a freak, shaped people's perceptions of her, ultimately impacted the relationships she made. She'd spent so much of her time just wishing to be normal. And her sojourn into the Fey realm hadn't helped. Those few perceived hours she'd spent there only enforced the notion that the Fey blood running through her veins was no good, evil.
And last night's vision had been brutal, true. But it had shown her something. The ginger headed man, a breed of Fey and human like her, was experiencing that sharp, piercing pain because of grief. He'd lost a loved one, a partner, and it had shattered him. But think of what must have been between them when they were together…love that strong couldn't be bad, couldn't come from evil.
She needed to know more about her kind.
She'd been approaching it all wrong. She needed to see herself as a person with tools at her disposal. Complex, complicated tools that didn't come with an instruction guide in her case. But now she was being offered an instructor and it was time to be an apt pupil.
But while she waited for Talako's return, she had an entire village at her disposal to practice her newfound healing abilities on.
A/N~ If anything is completely goofy in this chapter, I blame it on cold medicine. As always, a big thank you to you that take the time to read and review :o)