The Storm
‘Well, I should have seen this coming’, Dagna thinks to herself. She’d gotten used to girls from Seanchan who accepted their place, and these other women who were as placid and soft as feather pillows. THIS one….this one was like the torm she used to train. And that reminds her how to handle the situation. Grunting, she drives her fist up into the girls floating ribs even as she pushes with a knee to get herself some space. Tries to wriggle out and stand up, even as Amee coughed, but takes the hit. ‘Damn, she’s strong’, Dagna thinks as Amee snarls and hits her in the face, rocking her head back. That doesn't stop her from moving back, trying to get up. She kicks out, catching her attacker on the foot, and scrambles back. Getting an idea, she reaches out, grabbing the chamber pot, pushing it towards the girl, making it look like a failed attempt to use it as a weapon.
Amee snarls as she sees the pot coming towards her. She scoops it, thinking to throw it’s contents on Dagna, when something happens. Both her hands start cramping, twisting, the pot dropping, thankfully landing upright. “Wha….what the bloody hell?”, she demands, unable to even touch the pot, and tries to kick Dagna again. Dagna had gotten up at this point, and caught her foot, tsiting it, forcing her to hop over to the bed. She does something, Amee isn’t sure, but suddenly she’s behind Amee, one hand holding both of hers behind her, the other in her hair, pulling her hair back. Amee can smell blood from Dagnas bleeding nose, and then she’s forced down onto the bed, a knee pressed into her back.
“Oh, my little damane, there are secrets to the a’dam that you don’t know. In fact, I think it might be fun to watch you discover them all on your own.” Dagna snuffles, but thankfully her nose wasn’t broken, just bleeding. She thinks. “In the meantime, I applaud your effort...but this just proves that you’re too dangerous to be allowed out and about. Perhaps in a few days you’ll be better behaved.” She shoves her hard into the bed, and then releases her, stepping quickly back and out of the room. Curses and angry yells follow her out into the hallway, some of the other women looking up curiously.
The ship keeps reeling back and forth, and she looks as she walks through the kennels. All of the damane that they took on this island are sitting there, at ease in the storm. Unconcerned...but also not trying to get away. Shaking her head and wiping blood from her face, she walks back to teh small galley, lurching back and forth, holding onto a wall for support. Some of her fellow trainers are there, sitting on the benches that don’t move, and they look at her. Herulin gets up, grabbing a wet cloth, and hands it to her, cocking her head curiously. “Dagna, what happened?”
“Oh, nothing major. My Amee tried to kill me and free herself of the a’dam”, she says to their gasps of outrage and shock.
“That...how can you be so calm?”
“She needs to be punished!! Imagine, just the thought of harming a sul’dam must be punished!!”
“We should make an example of her!” The others sound outraged, but their demands met with ringing silence as she slashes her hand in the air.
“Amee is mine to train, as her sul’dam. Do you know what I did before I trained damane? I trained torm. And the best torm that I ever trained, the most faithful and loyal...we started by him trying to claw my insides out. And that’s when I learned. For me, the best challenge, the most rewarding training, is the one that starts like this. The hardest stone can become the most wonderful statue, given effort and time. So calm down. If one of you can get one of your damane to make some ice for me to put on my nose, THAT would be help I’d appreciate.”
One of the other sul’dam nods, and careens off the walls a few times as she walks over to the kennels with a small cup of water. Dagna watches her go, and nods. “Half meals for Amee for two days, and she’s confined to her room. Nobody is to talk to or acknowledge her. After that, we’ll see how she behaves. Oh….and nobody changes her chamber pot except me. She tried to hit me with it”, she says, grinning as everyone around her groans. They all know what happens when a damane tries to use anything as a weapon. The damane won’t be able to even touch it until such time as they would never, ever even consider using it as a weapon again. Literally, they have to banish the thought permanently out of their head.
“But….the smell!!”, one of the other sul’dam moans.
Dagna grinned. “No, we can open the little..what do they call them, portholes? Odd name, but we can open that if we need to, but it would be best if one of the damane can simply block the smell from traveling beyond the door. A day or two stewing in her own filth should help her disposition”, she says, the other women nodding. One of the others said that her damane, Nura,, a well trained girl from Seanchan could do it.
Returning with the ice, Dagna thanks her, then crushes some of it, and puts it in the rag she holds to her nose. She smiles, having a plan, and the simply waits with the other women as the ship lurches from side to side.
Amee is having a FAR different time. As soon as Dagna left, she was up, yelling and spitting curses, looking for something to throw. Seeing the pot, she moved towards it. And that was when something odd happened. Her foot began to cramp, so badly that she had to take a step back. Growling, she tried stooping to pick it up after unwinding the chain a bit. As soon as her hands got anywhere near it, they started cramping, and then her fingers actually started going numb and curling the closer she forced them. “By the Light, what’s going on?”, she asked, and then realized something. Without the ability to touch the...oh flaming fuck. She wasn’t going to be able to touch it to use it, and it was almost half full. Well...she’d figure something out. She always did. The farther away she got from it, the more normal her hands got. She sits down on the bed, shaking her head, and decides that there’s not much she can do, might as well sleep. She lays down on the bed, and lays her head down. Sleep is a long time coming, but eventually it comes.
At some point in the night, the storm abates, letting everyone get some much needed sleep. When they wake, the sun is shining, and the ship is sailing along merrily, her masts none the worse for the wear. Amee wakes up, and immediately heads for the pot...but her hands start cramping and curling up. Amee frowned, thinking. Trying to use her foot, she got the same response. Tingling and numbness as her foot got close to the pot, and then cramping she tries to move it closer. “Hmmmmm”, she reasons to herself. ‘Perhaps if I don’t try to touch it, but just squat and use it, that’s going to be ok”, she thinks to herself. But she finds out that she’s wrong, as she can’t even squat over it. Something is preventing her from using it, and she sighs in frustration. “Ok...ok...I won’t hit Dagna with the chamber pot”, she says out loud, but quietly. Not wanting anyone to know what’s going on. Movement near the door has her squealing and pulling her breeches up, but it’s just Dagna with a small dish of food on some sort of leaf, and a small pitcher.
“Having some trouble, Amee?”, Dagna said with a smile. There was a bruise on her face, a truly impressive shiner, and Amee felt quite glad for that. “Perhaps now would be….no. I’ll let you work it out yourself. It’s going to be a memorable few days for you.” She bends down, putting the tray down, then leaving the leaf and little pitcher. “Now, I normally would take you upstairs for some air and sun, let you walk around on the deck. But because of your behavior, you’re confined to your room until I decide to let you out. And no scrolls or books. Those are for well behaved damane.” She turns and walks out of the room.
Amee watches her leave, and then unwinds enough of the chain to reach the leaf and pitcher. The food is some sort of grain with vegetables on it, maybe enough for three mouthfuls. Amee forced herself to eat slowly, chewing. Enjoying the odd flavors, until the spice in it began to make her mouth burn. “Flaming fuck!!!!”, she choked out, and gulped the water down. That made it worse, and she shivered, feeling her mouth burn.
Dagna stands out in the hallway waiting after she left Amee her food. She smiles, enjoying how her damane reacted, trying to hide the fact that she wasn’t able to use the chamber pot. She keeps waiting, and soon hears Amee cursing. Knowing the girl was unused to Seanchan spices, she’d made sure to give her damane a healthy dose of something fiery...and water to make it worse. Chuckling to herself, she makes her way back to the galley, even as Nura and her sul’dam walk to the doorway, preparing to weave the shield that will prevent any smells from coming from the room. It was the little things, sometimes.
Amee sits in her room, cursing and yelling even as her mouth is on fire, but the burning eventually stops. Nobody comes to the door, even as other women come to collect their charges from the other rooms. She’s left alone to stew. She gets up and paces, snarls and curses Dagna, sul’dam in general, and all of Seanchan. Some of the curses are inventive, and she makes a note to remember them for next time. She keeps pacing, and then takes a nap. She wakes up with a dry mouth, and her bladder is feeling full. Well, she thinks to herself, this is going to be a problem. She can hold it in, she’s done that before, but if this is a long term problem, then she’s not sure what she’s going to do. She lowers her pants, and then thinks for a second. She doesn’t give a damn about any of these devils in dresses; their opinion of her doesn’t matter in the slightest.
The pants come off and Amee tries walking over to the pot without pants or loincloth on. As soon as she gets near it, her feet start cramping again. But worse, she starts feeling nauseous as well. “Ok, Amee”, she tells herself. “There’s a way out of it. Maybe don't think about going to use it. Think about...about going through the door.” She tries that idea next as she’s trying to step close to the pot, and it has the same response. She turns to look at the window, and realizes that not only are the windows far too small, there’s no way to open it from the inside. They seem to open from the outside, which to Amee seems fairly stupid, since they could be knocked open in a storm. But then she peers out on either side and sees what looks like metal clamps that fit into depressions in the hull. The windows are designed to swing open, but then lock quickly with those clamps that can’t be undone except by hand. “Just flaming great”, she grouses, and then hears a clapping behind her. “Well...that didn’t take long, now did it?”, Dagna asks her.
Amee whirls around, face turning red. Her first thought is to grab her clothing, which she does, but she doesn’t put it on. No...she stands there, staring at Dagna. There’s power in not showing how what they’re doing is truly upsetting, and she looks at Dagna, and then smiles. “Impressive shiner”, she says with a grin. “Come a little closer. Unless you’re scared of little me?”, she asked with a grin.
“You hit me well, there’s no doubt about that, Amee. But that a’dam is never coming off of you. And you’ll learn that such behavior won’t be tolerated”, Dagna told her in a soft voice. “As for your...issue….if you ask me nicely and apologize for striking me, I’ll explain how to solve it. Otherwise, it’s going to be a very fragrant journey.” Dagna smiles, looking at Amee who stares impassively back, hiding herself behind her pants. “Suit yourself”, she says, and walks away.
Amee stares at the doorway as Dagna leaves, eyes full of hate. There’s nothing else to throw, except for the pot, and she can’t even reach it. She huffs, and then tries again, with the same results. She can’t even get near it. Grimacing, she pulls the blanket off the bed, and wads it up into a square, and then squats, making her water. Once she’s done, she uses a corner to wipe herself, and then lays down on the bed. Closing her eyes, she takes a nap.
Dagna busies herself with some scrolls, deciding what she wants to give to Amee to read as reward when the girl finally deserves it. Tidying her own belongings, she hardly notices the time go by, until one of the other women tells her it’s time for lunch. Smiling, she goes to the galley. The other sul’dam are there, some of them eating with their damane. The damane sit on the floor at the feet of their trainer, as is appropriate, some of them even being fed by their owner. She sits and eats, enjoying the taste of home, and then collects a small amount of vegetables and rice again, making sure they’re bland this time. With some more water, she walks to the kennels, and to her damane. Looking in, she can see a wet blanket on the floor, and a fully clothed Amee on the bed. Smiling at the inventiveness of her damane, Dagna leaves the food and water on the floor, picking up the old pitcher, and leaves the room.