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What is Forbidden (for butterfly0408)

She was still recovering from the second blow and his harsh words cutting at her heart when he doubled over. She rose her eyes up to dare look upon him. Indeed, things about the sudden attack over his body stirred a memory within her. Without thinking of the backlash she would likely suffer for it, Kaisa surged forward and but her hands upon him, trying to steady him. But as he hand touched the tattoo upon his chest, she had to pull her hand back for it felt as it her hand had just been burnt. In fact, as she looked down at her hand, the tip of her finger that had just grazed the red tattoo was red.

Lowering her head back down again, she started to open her mouth to talk but closed it again. He didn't care about the trials she had been forced to go through over the years and so changed her reply before even allowing the words to surface. "I have been through the training of a healer in the temple. I started to late to become a full priestess, but I have been considered a novice one for the last 3 years."
 
He didn't shove her away when she touched him. Mostly because he didn't get the chance before she pulled back in pain. He held a hand over the markings on his chest, the red seeming darker than before (or was it the lighting?) and more defined. He only half-listened to her as she explained what she had been doing for the past few years, his thoughts turning back to the young girl who had so often visited his chambers but never disrupted him. One of the few who not only listened to his warnings of the objects therein but understood them. He could see her becoming a healer.

"Good. Then you will not be useless." That was all he said on the matter. Tugging on her binding he bade her forward, bringing her out of the palace and into the streets.

No one stopped them or dared speak to them. The guards had already been informed of the events and like a ripple it moved out through the tribe. People gawked and stared a both of them, him for being the boogeyman that parents had spoken of to their children and her for her disgraced state.

The temple was no better though at least some of her fellow healers had the decency to look away with sadness in their eyes. Most did not however, several of the women sporting an evil smirk of satisfaction on their face from seeing her brought down so far. Only the head priest dared approach Tarlok, not even sparing her a glance.

"I..." he stuttered. "...we, have been informed of your return. Is there anything you require?"

"Not from you," Tarlok cut the old man off, looking around the shrines of the gods. "First things first. I need...a bath." Tugging on her robe he forced Kaisa forward, moving her in front of him. "Slave. Guide me to one of the private bath chambers so that you may prepare it." It was a luxury he had not been able to afford for five long years but there was little doubt he remembered where those rooms were. He wanted to watch her as she led him through the temple, see her spirit broken as she was forced to reveal her status before those she had lived with all this time. He would feel no guilt over this, he knew. He deserved ever part of it.
 
Kaisa wanted to hold her head high and show people she did not care what they now thought of her, but it was not her place to do such a thing. Not anymore. And so she left her head to hang in her shame. It didn't really sink in how his hurt until they entered into the temple. The people here had become like a second family to her over the last few years and now they turned their backs on her just as swiftly as the rest of the tribe had. Kaisa came to a very sudden and very hard realization. No one had cared for her, had they? No one that cared could turn away for easily from one they cared for. They all took to it so very easily now. The only one that had ever cared in her whole life had been Tarok, but now...?

She was silent as he ordered her lead the way. With only a nod she started to move forward. Tarok likely got a great view of how they would pass and everyone in the temple would look away. The walk to the bath was long and winding for he was able to enjoy every moment of her disgrace.

As she walked in from of him, there was even things different about her from behind. It seemed like such a small thing but Kaisa's hair was long now. Much longer now then it had been when he had known her. It covered her entire back and reached down over her ass even. She left it unbound to be wild. And odd thing for a healer who was likely burdened by the mass of hair all the time.
 
He watched her carefully as she lead him to the pool, taking in the subtle lowering of her face as those she had called friend turned their backs on her. Now she would know what it was like. The betrayal. The pain. But it would not be enough for him. It would never be enough. The one thing other than her suffering that caught his eye was her hair. Long and free, much unlike that of the other healers. He knew what was needed in their profession. Long hair was anything if not a hazard and a nuisance. He questioned it briefly before his ind returned with the obvious, selfish answer: she was a woman. Vain creature as she was she obviously took t much pride in her hair to cut it. The thought of her caring for her appearance while he struggled in the jungle for years made him tighten his grip on his staff. He would teach her real humility before he was through with her.

But the sight gave him a new perspective as well. Following her hair he saw down to her ass, seeing her backside as if for the first time. He could remember watching her sometimes in his youth, thinking on her beauty but never imagining anything would come of it. But...that was then. She was his slave now...

He shook the thought from his mind. He would not let himself be distracted.

The bath in question was a well-cared for room reserved for the priests and, in the past, Tarlock. It looked the same as it had years ago. Blue stone walls and floor, the bath finely carved and decorated with images of friendly spirits. Large enough for several people, at the moment it was only ankle deep at the moment. Beside it stood a simple pump made from stone and wood, connected to a hot spring that had been tapped years ago.

Grabbing her by the wrists he untied her hands and gestured to the pump. "Well? What are you waiting for? Prepare it for me!"
 
He was wrong about her vanity. Oh so very wrong. But that was an issue for another time. It would come up sooner or later though. She wondered deep in the back of her mind if the truth would change anything at all about how he looked at her now.

As she moved around the room, towards the pump, she casually rubbed her wrists. They had a bad case of rope burn upon them that just needed to be soothed with a few minutes of rubbing the blood and feeling back into them. She said nothing, only nodded her understanding of his order to her. She moved to start pumping and made the task look rather easy really. It didn't seem like much of a chore at all for her as she filled the tub up to a more appropriated level for someone to take a bath in. As she got the water to a waist level, she paused and with her face still down, she asked in a soft voice, "Do you wish for bath oils?"
 
As she wordlessly went to her task Tarok watched her with growing anger. She was just...accepting this! He had expected her to be angry with him, to cry at her loss of freedom. Not this...meek servitude. Was she mocking him? Did she think that if she cooperated it would spare her future pain? The longer the silence persisted the more he was convinced she had some ulterior goal in mind, trying to throw him off balance. He would not let her best him.

As the bath was readied he placed his staff against the wall. The skull that topped it stared back at them from its corner, the empty sockets seemingly following them around the room as he approached the bath. He shook his head at her question, he had never been one for the scented oils the priests preferred. Too flowery. Too extravagant.

Standing in front of the bath he removed his loincloth, setting it down at the base of the bath before stepping into the water. His knife remained in his hands however. He was not ready to part with it yet and not just because she was nearby. She was given a generous view of his backside before it became hidden in the steamy waters. It would have been a first for her, though she had rarely seen him in much other than a headdress and loincloth it had never been less than that either. She could make out several new, strange scars going down his spine and shoulder-blades.

He let out a sigh as the hot water soothed his muscles. Fives years away had turned this into a small slice of heaven. Turning back to look at her he gave his next order. "Leave, I..." he almost finished that order when he got a good look at her, the light reflecting off the water and onto her. She was still as beautiful as she had been in their youth, more so even.

He knew how he would force her hand now. Humiliate her. "Undress," he commanded. He did not take his eyes off of her though. "You will bath me."
 
Kaisa is just starting to move to turn and leave with the word 'undress' hits her ears. Her whole body seemed to tense as she looked towards him, an odd fear in her eyes. It was not fear in the sense of being scared fear but as if she was about to be found out. Found out how? She seemed to hesitate doing as he said but after a long pause she took a breath as if finding the courage to move. And move she did. She walked to the edge of the bath and closed her eyes, not wanting him to watch his face as she removed her clothes for the reaction was not something she wanted to see.

As her clothing came off, the same marks that were on her face near to the corner of her eye were on other parts of her body as well. Parts that the cloth had covered until now. The designs seemed of start right around the sides of her breasts and her hips and lead around to the back of her body. Back where her he long hair hung. She started to move towards the bath to get herself into the water before he could make question of it.
 
Once again his eyes caught the marking on her body, so reminiscence of marks he had made on himself once but not permanent. Though not his domain he understood the meaning behind the swirls, the careful crafting of the marks on her skin, the pain that would entail from such a procedure...how far did the priests go in their efforts to cleanse her? She avoided his gaze for some reason other than her nudity and he found he could not hold his curiosity in check. The morbid desire ran through him like a knife and he turned to face her, grabbing her by her left wrist and holding it up.

He held her arm away so he could better look at the markings. He wasn't looking at her like a man would see a woman, though he could appreciate the sight. His eyes traveled the markings as the flowed over her body, his other hand reaching out to the side of her breast and following it back. Without a word he twisted her around and pulled back her hair, eyes widening at what he found.
 
Kaisa held her breath as he took her wrist and held out her arm. She kept her eyes directed upward so she did not have to see the look on his face as he looked at the marks. "Tarok wait!" she said as he spun her but the moment she felt her hair pulled away from her skin she knew it was too late and a groan slipped from her lips. It was not as if she could hid them forever but she thought at least for a little while, he didn't have to know the shame she cared at all times. Everyone that had seen the marks on her back looked at her differently from that moment on. As if once they new what she carried upon her back, looking her in the eyes it was all they saw in her after that. It was why she grew out her hair to keep them hidden.

Every inch of Kaisa's back was covered in the same detailed makings that were at the corner of her eye. The pattern from the front sides of her only found there way into the pattern upon her back. And what a pattern it was. Markings of the gods all craved into her skin. Their meaning a mystery to most of their exact language. Some areas the scars appeared to go deeper then others and there were few scars under the main design showed of areas where carvings had been started but a violet movement ruined them so they were only redo with finer, deeper detail. There was no an inch of her from the base of her back to the base of her neck that had not been left unmarked.

Kaisa sat there. Waiting and torn as to what she was waiting for. She had wanted to hide these from him all this time so he did not need to see what a friendship with him had done to her. But now, after their hurtful reunion, she had a new fear. The fear that he would only laugh and take joy in the pain he had a hand in causing her. He might not have carved the marks into her back with his own hand, but he was the cause of it never the less. It was going to kill her and truly break her if he found joy in her pain. He really would be a stranger to her then.
 
This...what was this?

The disciplines of a temple priest and a witchdoctor were very, very different. At least, Tarok had thought so. Though much more complicated they could be thought of in two ways: the priests made offered prayers and communed with the gods, using their little magics to heal and otherwise drive out spirits, while a witchdoctor was more...proactive. Where the priests could only hope for a sigh from above Tarok dealt with spirits personally: making deals, threatening, and sacrificing in the names of those he needed. Black magic, they called it. The priests had always been quick to remind Tarok that their ways were those of gods: just and pure, never delving into the sinfulness that was his domain.

But the carvings on her backside were far more than Tarok had ever done when he had been in the temple. When he bleed his slaves the cuts had always been quick, if painful, and only as deep as needed. The markings she bore...they fascinated him, oddly enough.

His finger traced along her left shoulder blade. Ithiru, goddess of rainfall and architecture. Now he was over her right hip and moving upwards. Zaku, god of warfare, crops, and sacrifice. His thumb move slowly down her spin, water droplets moving with the scars of her body as he discovered the markings of higher and lesser spirits. All the way down to the small of her back. He cupped her ass, moving her up to better look. Kalana, goddess of purity, devotion, and penitence.

He couldn't help himself as he touched the goddess on her skin. His mouth curved upward, a chucked escaping him before he could stop it. It soon became a deep, belly laugh and he let her go. Sitting back in the water he buried his face in one hand, his laughter echoing over the walls and around them. But it was far from a laugh of joy.
 
Kaisa could feel it. From this day forward she would always remember it. Down to the very second. She would always known it and always recall the very second she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. It was in that moment she heard his laughter turn from that chuckle of a light amusement to plain uproarious laughter. He found this funny? He actually found what has been done to her funny?

He found being told you were a sin to human laughable? Found it funny that they had tied her down by force and craved each little line out of her skin over the span of 6 long months? Every day adding more to her pain. Rubbing oils that stun her insides and made her cry out for the mercy of death before they craved another design into her. Her pleas falling upon deaf ears. 'It's for the best,' they said over and over and over again. Rambling on while she had been so delusional that nothing that told her made full sense. All she knew was bits and pieces but the markings were more then just cravings. They were spell cast into her very body so that they stood as a protection again and demons or evil that tried to wrap it's cold hands around her soul.

And HE found this to be funny?

She could not take it. It was a last straw. Deal with her father or no, she would not take this. Not when dealing with him had lead to such pain before and could very well lead to it again. The moment his hands left her, she sprang from the tub, never turning her face towards him as she dashed for her clothing before spinning and heading at full speed towards the door, wiping the tears of heartache and despair from the corners as she moved with great speed.
 
He swore loudly as she made her escape, commanding her to stop as dripping wet body disappeared behind the corner. He was out of the bath quickly, grabbing his knife and staff before he ran out into the hall. His wet feet slapped against the rocky floor as he chased her echoing through the halls. Though she had lived her for the past five years his memory of the place still served him well, the memories from happier time aiding him in capturing her now. The wet trail she left behind made it impossible for her to hide from him regardless and she would never have been able to outrun him. He had spent far to much time running these past few years to be outran now.

He caught her as she was turning one corner, his naked body crashing into hers and pushing her to the floor. Before them two slave girls stood, mouths agape at the sight and wondering what they should be doing. Tarok only shot them a glare and the two bid a hasty retreat, leaving the two of them alone in one of the darker corridors.

"You don't get to run!" he hissed at her, hands holding her shoulders to the floor. "Tears? You think you deserve the privilege of crying?!" He looked at her with such disdain, the symbol of everything that had wronged him in this tribe. "How long did it take them?" he asked, grabbing the side of her chest and pushing down on the marking. "Weeks? Months? And you think that makes you a victim? I was trapped in that jungle for FIVE YEARS!"
 
Kaisa's eyes were overflowing with tears by the time that he had her pinned down to the floor. Everything around her was wrong. Her whole world was wrong. She no longer knew up from down and she no longer knew who the man she once called her best friend was.

"Who ARE you!" she screamed out, wiggling under him, struggling to escape him as their naked wet bodies clashed. There was no kind of building sexual desire from the act, only rage between them. "You are not the man I knew! The man I knew would never have done this to me! He never would have- would have laughed at my pain! Months? A year. It was a year that I was locked in that ritual room and tied down so tight I could not move. Movement might ruin the pattern." Her rambling started to turn near to crazed as she seemed to be repeating thing she had heard so many times that they were locking in her brain, "The pattern must be perfect if my body is to be reclaimed in the name of the gods and goddesses. The pattern must be deep and unable to ever be removed if the light is to protect me. One my not scream or it will nullify the verses spoken over the carvings. One must be silent to wipe the sins from they darkened vial soul!"

Her struggling turned to violent thrashing under him, "I did nothing wrong! All I did was be your friend and I was punished for that. I stayed silent to save your life and the Gods punished me for that! If I has known the man you would become, I would have spoken that day! I-I would have spoken and let them kill you!"
 
When he cried out that she would have let them kill him something snapped. "THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!" he screamed at her. His eyes were half-crazed, almost those of a madman as he forced her back to the floor. "You scream of the tortures inflicted upon you?! The carvings of priests who allowed you to live afterwards? Would I have been so lucky!"

Whatever he had found in the jungle hadn't just tainted his own soul. It had tainted his memories of her and their friendship, twisted it into a horrible, ugly thing. It became a lie while he was out there, and though one would be hopeful this was all the product of a demon's trickery it was not. It was all his own reaction, a human reaction, which made it all the more painful.

"You're damn intrusions are the cause of all of this! If you had just left me alone, never come to me as a child, none of this would have happened! I curse the day you're damn curiosity brought you to me!" Something was welling at his eye, it looked like tears. "Do you have any idea what was done to me in that jungle? The things I saw..." his voice suddenly became very low, his grip loosening as he seemed to drift off for a moment. Now it was clear that he the drop at his eye wasn't a tear. It was blood. "The things I had to do..."

He wiped his eye, keeping one hand on her as his took control of his temper. This wasn't what he wanted. He was supposed to be in control. "You will obey me." It was a statement, not a question.
 
Kaisa froze as she lay still, looking up at him, her struggling and her wildness stopping all together as she looks up into his eyes, watching the blood red teardrop form at the very corner of his eye. She had heard of such things and the meaning of it. "What kind of monster have you become?" her question no more then a soft whisper of sound as she watched in a new stand fear upon him. "You cry tears of blood. What demons have taken a hold of you? You are not the boy I once knew. The boy that held a piece of my heart." She shook her head as the terrible truth sunk in. The man she once knew was gone. Lost in the jungles somewhere along with that piece of her heart he took with him.

Her face suddenly drained of all emotion and she become a picture of stone cold ice to look upon. "I will obey..." she said as she resigned herself to the truth. Everything she knew was gone. Everything she loved was gone. A new life faced her now. One of darkness and torment. "I will do as you wish of me."
 
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