Namaari was trembling.
The air in the Palace of Heart was warm, and thick with humidity, but Namaari was still trembling as she stood in front of the princess' door with her head meekly bowed.
She took a deep sigh, still unsure about any of this. She didn't want this, but she needed it, needed it since the day the Dragon Gem was restored and Kumandra was finally made whole again.
No one else agreed with her, but Namaari knew.
She reached forward and knocked on the princess' door.
"Who is it?" came Raya's voice from the other side. Namaari trembled again, unsure of whether or not to answer. Finally, she did, with some trepidation.
"It's Namaari," she replied quietly.
"Come in," replied Raya, an upbeat tone in her voice. She sounded excited to be seeing Namaari again, which made the princess of Fang all the more unsure about whether or not she should be doing this.
Finally, she opened the unlocked door and made her way inside Raya's room. It was fairly sparsely decorated, but the decorations that were present were quite bright and cheerful, representing the different colors that represented the former five realms of Kumandra, no longer separate, but united as one people. Only the weapons and relics mounted on the walls gave any indication of the great warrior Raya had become in the six years since the... incident.
"How's it been?" asked Raya, walking over to Namaari. Namaari tried to offer up a smile.
"I've been fine," she replied, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"You look nervous... are you still feeling guilty about being in here? Namaari, it's okay... Kumandra is united now. Everyone's forgiven what happened. I've forgiven what happened."
"That's.. actually what I came to talk about."
The week since the reunification of Kumandra and the return of the dragons had brought celebration to the land... but also many challenges, challenges that the chiefs of the five realms were all working together in harmony to hash out. Raya's father was leading the way, but serving as a first among equals, giving all the realms a chance to speak and to air out their grievances and convey their desires. Raya and Namaari, as princesses of their realms, were participating as well, but not to the same extent as the elder chiefs.
The subject of punishment for Namaari had been brought up exactly once... and had been immediately dismissed. All the people of the realms had agreed to pardon, exonerate, and forgive all crimes committed before the reunification, Namaari's included. Raya was the first to give Namaari the news, and she responded happily... but now she was feeling guilty again, unable to shake the feeling of responsibility and guilt for what she'd done.
"Raya, I deserve to be punished. I'm the one who started the war. I betrayed your trust, I broke the Dragon Gem, I unleashed the Druun!"
"You perpetuated a 500-year cycle of war and distrust that countless people before you participated in," said Raya, reaching out and placing a hand on Namaari's shoulder. "Everyone did. No one's hands are clean."
"But I caused so much pain..."
"Everyone who was turned to stone came back."
"But I caused six years of suffering, so much heartbreak... especially for you."
"And I've forgiven you. Everyone's forgiven you."
"I should be punished, Raya! Even if the dragons came back and undid what the Druun caused, they can't undo everything else that happened. I... I can't accept it, Raya."
Namaari looked like she was almost on the verge of tears, and Raya knew her fellow princess was serious about this. The two had already talked a great deal in the past week, and though they'd been able to pick up their friendship right where it was left off before Namaari's betrayal, Raya could still feel the lingering feelings of resentment and guilt between both of them. The things they'd said, the things they'd done... the dragons had undone the physical damage, but there were many wounds that hadn't yet healed, and Raya could see the pain in her new friend's eyes.
"Namaari, do you want to be punished?" Raya asked, looking into Namaari's guilty eyes.
Namaari shook her head, then bowed it again.
"No, but... I deserve to be," she said quietly. "And I don't know if I'll find peace until I am."
Namaari looked back up at Raya, who tightened her grip slightly on her shoulder... then lowered her hand and turned away. She paced for a moment, thinking intensely... then she looked back at Namaari.
"All right, Namaari. As princess of Heart, I will carry out your punishment."
"You... will?"
"That's what I said. Namaari, kneel."
Namaari raised her eyebrow, but a stern look from the princess of Heart pushed her into compliance.
"Cross your wrists behind your back."
I am to be bound? thought Namaari, blinking quizzically but obeying this second command as well. Of course... but what is she planning?
After Namaari did as she was told, Raya fetched two coils of rope from a chest nearby. She then walked over to Namaari, taking the first coil of rope and using it to bind Namaari's wrists tightly behind her back. She'd had practice at this, having bound more than a few guards and attempted assassins during her six years on the run, and though Namaari had also had plenty of practice escaping from rope bondage, Raya's skills were ever so slightly greater than hers, and she wouldn't be able to free herself anytime soon. Namaari winced slightly as the rope was tightened and knotted, though even if it had been tied too tightly, she wouldn't have complained.
Whatever she does, I deserve, thought Namaari, who then watched as Raya took the other coil of rope and bound her ankles together, but not before removing the boots from her feet, leaving them bare. "What next?"
Raya was silent as she finished Namaari's bindings. She went back to the chest, as Namaari instinctively tested the ropes. As she did, she continued to think about why Raya had chosen to bind her, and then recalled some old Fang punishments administered to criminals and prisoners.
Of course... she's going to cane me, thought Namaari, closing her eyes and remembering stories of prisoners struck with thick bamboo canes, leaving them with painful welts and gashes all over their body. It will be painful, but it will be short-lived, and nothing compared to the pain I've caused so many people in Kumandra. I deserve worse... but the sting of the cane will hopefully bring some absolution for my sins. I just wish it wasn't Raya having to deliver it... I hope it doesn't damage our friendship. I hope she doesn't mind hurting me...
As Namaari started to feel renewed guilt for pushing this solemn duty onto her new friend, on whom she'd already inflicted so much pain, she could see Raya standing behind her again.
"What are you planning to do with me?" asked Namaari, looking up at Raya as beads of sweat started to roll down her face. "Raya, listen, if you don't want to-"
"Silence, prisoner," said Raya, as she pulled a thick, knotted cloth between Namaari's lips from behind. "No more talking out of you!"
"Hmmnngh!" grunted Namaari, both from the sudden feeling of the thick gag entering her mouth and the foul taste of the fabric. Why are you gagging me?!
"Sorry, I don't think that rag's been washed but it's the only one I had and I really need you to be quiet for this," said Raya, smiling sweetly and brushing her hair back from her face.
You gagged me with a dirty rag?! Namaari protested, biting fiercely into the knot in the cloth. Her eyes were narrowed fiercely, though it was more a look of indignant annoyance than a look of actual anger.
"Hey, beggars can't be choosers! So, are you ready for your punishment?"
Namaari groaned, bowing her head and nodding.
"Good... then here it comes!"
Namaari closed her eyes, expecting the lash of a cane or some other painful instrument to be brought down on her. Instead, she got a much different feeling.
A sudden fluttering against the soles of her bare feet... sending waves of sensations up her body, and triggering an immediate shrieking laugh.
The fluttering stopped, and Namaari whipped her head back... Raya was behind her, her hands hovering over Namaari's feet. She was smiling... Namaari wasn't.
"Yrrr tmmmkmmng mmh?"
"Yep!" said Raya, before resuming the tickles, even harder this time. Namaari shrieked loudly and yanked her feet away.
"Nhhh tmmmckllmng!"
"Hey, this is supposed to be a punishment, so take it!"
Before Namaari could protest even further, Raya began tickling her again. Namaari tried to move her feet away, but Raya's hands were faster, and she even moved her legs to pin Namaari's feet down so she couldn't pull them back again. Her fingers moved rapidly up and down Namaari's soles, forcing several more squeals and screams from the Fang princess, who thrashed and squirmed wildly, trying to pull her hands free of their bonds to no avail.
What in the world does she think she's doing?! This isn't a joke, I deserve to be punished, not tickled! I can't believe she's doing this to me... it's a nightmare!
Try as Namaari might, she couldn't escape Raya's tickles. Raya kept at it, intensifying the tickling and moving her hands with even more vigor. Whenever she slowed down, it was only to probe what areas of Namaari's feet were the most ticklish, and when she found the sensitive spots, she focused on those areas and went at them with extreme speed and surprising skill.
"Just remember, Namaari, you deserve this!"
"STMMMPH TMMMCKLNG MMMMNHHH! RMMMYAAMMMPH!"
Namaari bit down hard into the knot to stifle her laughter, but as Raya kept at it, leaving no spot on Namaari's soles untouched by her fingers, even the tight gag couldn't keep her screams from echoing through the room. She was able to roll away from Raya a couple of times, using her dextrous legs to kick at Raya and try to keep her away, but Raya quickly pounced, easily subduing the bound Namaari and getting her legs pinned yet again, sitting on her knees while capturing her ankles between the crook of one arm as she used the other to work her soles some more, holding Namaari's feet right up to her face.
"Whew, you should air these out a bit more often," said Raya, her nose twitching as Namaari's toes wiggled next to her cheek. "I dunno if it's the heat, the humidity, or both, but these feet could really use a wash!"
Namaari screamed a loud curse through her gag at Raya, before degenerating into another ferocious wave of laughter as Raya's fingers did their magic.
"Guess I've smelled worse," said Raya, eyes rolling back as she pretended to think for a moment. "There's Tong's feet, and... that's about it, actually."
By now, Namaari was fuming. She glared fiercely at Raya, who would spend a couple of seconds scraping one of her fingernails into Namaari's foot, and then, after another shriek of laughter had been generated, she backed off just long enough to give Namaari a chance to breathe before going at it again, using a different finger this time.
"Oooohhhhmmmphh...! RMMMYA!"
Namaari twisted fiercely as Raya kept at it with even more tickles, but after a few minutes of nearly relentless tickling, she stopped again. Namaari lay there on the floor, chest rising and falling as she struggled to breathe, and she watched Raya walk back over to her chest to fetch something else out of it.
"Lmmme ghhh!" Namaari shouted.
"No, this is your punishment. This is what you wanted, remember?"
"Thmms mmmsn't fmmmnnnhhh!"
Raya ignored Namaari this time, and the Fang princess began crawling for the door, struggling to extricate her hands from the ropes that were binding them. Failing that, she began to wiggle to her feet, managing to get herself up to a standing position.
Time to get out of here... Raya's not taking this seriously, and this is humiliating! I'll need to find a way to free myself, but that shouldn't be too difficult... I can't believe she'd do this! Tickling me when I asked for a punishment, honestly...! I never should have trusted her with this.
But just as Namaari made a second hop toward the door, she was suddenly tackled back to the ground by Raya! Landing with a hard grunt, she was powerless to stop the princess of Heart from sitting on her ankles, pinning her feet once more. Her soles were turned upward, pointed at the ceiling, and after Namaari was once again subdued, Raya reached for a quill and a bottle of ink that she'd placed on the floor nearby.
"Trying to escape your punishment? We can't have that," said Raya, smiling at Namaari and wetting the quill with ink. Namaari continued to struggle, her arms and shoulders twisting mightily. She glared up at Raya without a word, hoping her stare would intimidate her into ceasing this foolish endeavor. "Now hold still... it's not like you have a choice."
Smiling and humming to herself, Raya lowered the quill to Namaari's feet... and once again, Namaari shrieked as the thin tip of the pen was slowly moved across her soft, tender soles. She squealed, trying to cross her feet over one another, but Raya anticipated this and kept her writing hand steady, ensuring that Namaari couldn't do much to stop her from penning all the words she needed to on her squirming canvas. As the pen traced across her feet, Namaari was sent into near-hysterics, tears starting to come down her face as she laughed and screamed, unable to move her feet away from the pen as Raya's full body weight kept them pinned down.
"Whhuh rrr yrrrhh wrrhhtnng?!" Namaari managed to muffle through waves of laughter.
"See for yourself," said Raya, ceasing with a flourish and scooting back off of Namaari's ankles to allow her to see what had been written on her feet.
When Namaari saw it, her eyes widened, and she screamed again.
Binturi?! Namaari muffled, recognizing the familiar insult and glaring at Raya again. Raya smirked and shrugged her shoulders, as Namaari tried rubbing her feet together to get the ink off of them to no avail.
"Quick dry ink... you'll actually have to wash your feet to get that off."
Namaari squirmed to her knees and growled at Raya, who knelt down in front of her and looked into her eyes before reaching up to her face and pulling down the gag. Namaari spat the foul taste of the rag out onto the ground before giving Raya a harsh look and some stern words.
"That was embarrassing... it was humiliating! It was-"
"A punishment? Yeah, it was," Raya said, stroking her hand across Namaari's cheek. "Come on, Namaari... I wasn't going to hurt you."
Namaari blinked, and looked down at herself... wrists tied, feet defaced with a childish insult... and though she was feeling a lot of emotions... anger, frustration, humiliation... the guilt she'd been feeling when she entered the room wasn't one of them.
"...my chest kinda hurts," Namaari breathed, slowly catching her breath from all the tickling.
"Sorry about that," replied Raya. "I didn't know your feet were that ticklish. It's good to know."
Raya smirked again... and Namaari returned it with a smirk of her own.
"This... did feel like a punishment," said Namaari, her cheeks starting to turn red as Raya went around behind her to free her from her bonds.
"I'd like to think of it as a new beginning," Raya replied, loosening the ropes around Namaari's wrists and ankles and slipping them off of her. The two stood up, Namaari rubbing her wrists as Raya helped to undo the rag from around Namaari's neck. "We both did things we regret... but when I was kicking myself for them a few days ago, Sisu told me that it's silly to worry about it now. That it's best to move forward and start fresh, no matter what we did before."
"Sisu said that?"
"Yep."
"...Sisu would say that," said Namaari, smiling while slowly shaking her head. She turned back to Raya. "Thank you. I guess... I guess I needed that to remind me how silly I was being."
"Hey, it's not silly to feel bad about what you did... it's just silly to let it keep you from being better in the future."
Raya smiled and placed her hand on Namaari's shoulder. Namaari reached up, placing her hand on Raya's... then she lifted her foot again to look at the writing that Raya had scribbled on it.
"I can't believe my feet are that ticklish," said Namaari, wincing slightly. "I mean, just one of your fingers moving across them was enough to drive me almost crazy."
"I know, right? Imagine, the great warrior princess Namaari brought down by tickling! Who'd have thought, huh?"
"So..." said Namaari, her lips curving once again into a smirk. "What are your ticklish spots, princess?"
"I'll never tell," replied Raya, crossing her arms over her chest. Namaari began advancing toward Raya, who backed off with a nervous laugh. "Not even if you torture me!"
"We'll see," said Namaari, suddenly digging her fingers into Raya's ribs. Raya gave a quick shriek, but didn't squirm all that much. "I don't think it's there..."
And as the two began to chase each other around the room, Namaari's guilt had faded all the way to the back of her mind, and wouldn't surface again for quite some time. Whatever she had done was in the past... and the one she'd hurt the most was now her closest friend.
"Your tummy, huh?"
"NAMAARIIII-HEE-HEE!"
Namaari knew she'd never hurt Raya again.
But tickle torture wasn't entirely out of the question.