It had started as any other night, quiet. She had joined Ba'atar at the fires and they had the company of one of the prospects. A woman by the name of Seveya, that was an artisan. She envied people that had an artistic bent, and their talents. But before this night was over, she was not all that sure, and it truly had nothing to do with the poor young woman.
Ba'atar was questioning her about her clan, and to whether or not she painted, or did pottery, the usual thing. He seemed to perk up at the fact that the young woman did paint. Suddenly, out of the blue, he asked her if she could paint something on his woman's butt. Ahh, what?
She tried to go along with it with her usual good nature, but something bothered her about her mate wanting her to bare her behind to someone that she barely knew, and allow her to paint something on it. Was this normal, or was it just him teasing? At first she thought he simply teased, then the conversation turned to something that caught her attention very quickly.
What was it with him and this desire to see one of their daughters painted or dyed blue? Maybe he had not gotten the answers he wanted when he spoke to Silken and Kaeli about the safety of it. Now he seemed compelled to get another opinion from and artisan, no less.
Well, yes she did have paints that she thought were safe, and they weren't exactly permanent, she thought they wore off in time. In time? They would wear off in time? What kind of answer was that? She explained to the young woman that their daughters were only a few moons old, and was she sure they were safe? She hated to put the woman on the spot, but she did. What was it with these people? Did they fear telling him......No, this is not really a good idea, to paint a baby. Was she the only one that saw this?
A light actually came to his eyes as he spoke of her painting something on the cheeks of his daughters. What? She could feel the anxiety begin to churn in her stomach and the anger at the absolute folly of it all rising to the surface. Taking a deep breath she quickly was searching for something that might deter him from this.
I mean, she did not wish to cast any shadow on the young woman and her work, but that was the first thing that came to mind. How did they even know she could draw a straight line, much less paint a design, and he wanted to turn her loose on the flesh of their daughters with dyes and paints that she thought were safe, and that would probably wear off in time. Was this rational thinking?
Then he came up with the idea that she could just put a dot of it on their hands to see if it was safe. Their hands, did he not notice that the first place their hands went was into their mouths? Well that did it. She looked at him and offered that they might put a spot on Two's hand to test its' safety. She knew that he would never let that happen, he would never think to endanger one of his sons that way.
Wrong thing to say. Suddenly she was........irrational. Irrational? And painting or dying one of their babies was rational. The next thing out of his mouth was to order her to get up and get him some food. Ah yes, the slave thing. That worked, now didn't it? With all of the dignity that she could muster, she lifted to her feet, fetched him a bowl of stew and a bota of water, served it to him with a smile, then excused herself for the evening, with the excuse of needing to check on the children.
With her head lifted she walked off to her wagons and climbed into the one with the girls and curled around them as if she could protect them with her presence. She knew better. If Ba'atar wanted something, he had this way of getting it, unfortunately. Hopefully the move would take is mind off of it, hopefully.
Suddenly, having her behind painted seemed much better than the alternative, if it would deter him from is obsession with dying or painting their daughters.
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