At least nobody blamed him over the drake. It had been three days since that incident, since they'd finished the repairs and got under way again, and there weren't any accusing looks. Everyone knew that the Faerie had tricked the drake into going in there and biting him, and Tarrin had reacted only within his own nature. But where he'd come out of it more or less unscathed, Sarraya was another matter. She had been sincerely remorseful about the whole episode, and had delivered a teary apology to him the day after. Tarrin was still pretty angry with her, but the heartfelt feeling behind her words made him accept it immediately and without question. She really did feel sorry for what happened. She had never meant for the drake to bite him, only to go in there and play with him. Camara Tal had saved the drake's life with her healing magic, and now it absolutely would not leave Phandebrass' presence. For those three days, Sarraya had been subdued and quiet, sitting more or less by herself or with Dar, trying to fade into the background.
The storm and the mess with the drake hadn't been good for his nerves. He'd been edgier than usual since then, and had forced himself to keep clear of the performers rather than risk an incident. He'd been sleeping in his cabin through most of the day, coming out only at sunset when all the chores and the practices were done. It was when all the humans were more or less sedentary until bed, sitting together in groups and enjoying singing or the playing of instruments, where he could find a secluded part of the deck and enjoy the outside without risking someone getting hurt.
"Sit down," Camara Tal said cooly, sitting down herself. She looked up at him with that stare, and part of him felt nearly compelled to obey her out of hand. She went back to what she was doing, shaping a piece of wood left over from the storm with a small, very sharp knife. Tarrin had seen that before, because Walten used to do it all the time. She seemed to be quite skilled at it, because already a very basic form had begun to appear in the wood. "We're not here to yell at each other," she continued. "We're here because you don't trust me. We're taking some quiet time to get to know each other a little better. I can teach you much more about me by teaching you my language. It would be nice to hear someone speak something civilized," she muttered.
"Why?"
"That's a stupid question," she said calmly. "Now sit down."
Tarrin stared down at her for a long moment, weighing the consequences of walking away with the curiosity at learning her language. It was more than that. Tarrin liked Camara Tal, but he just didn't trust her. It was the same with Phandebrass. It was a strange feeling to like someone, yet not trust them, but that was how he felt about them. It was why he could speak to them amiably and enjoy their company, he just wouldn't put himself in a position where they could do him harm. Sitting alone with the Amazon near the bow, well away from any of his friends, definitely qualified in his mind as a dangerous situation.
"Our situation requires trust, Tarrin," she said calmly. "I can't protect you if you won't turn your back on me. You'll be so worried about me that you won't see the real threat when it comes at you. I had a long talk with Dolanna about you, and she explained to me what I have to do to win over your trust. So here we are."
"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.
"Here we are, well away from everyone else. All I have is this little knife, and we both know that it really won't do anything to you. If you'll notice, I'm not even wearing my amulet. I'm completely defenseless. If I trust you enough to sit alone with you without protection, you can afford me the courtesy of sitting there and learning something you want to know in the first place."
Tarrin looked her over. She didn't have her swordbelt, and as she claimed, she wasn't wearing her amulet. There was no silver smell anywhere on her, and that proved that she wasn't hiding it. Then again, with as little as she wore, he couldn't fathom where she could possibly conceal anything. She was indeed defenseless. Her little whittling knife wouldn't do much more than make him angry, and without weapons or magic, she was simply no match against him, no matter how well trained she was. Tarrin realized that he had a clear superiority over her, and that she could perpetrate no threat on him. His amicable nature towards her smoothly overwhelmed his suspicions, and he sat back down while assuming a much less hostile body language.
"That's much better," she said calmly, turning the piece of wood over in her hands. She blew at the raven-colored bangs that drifted into her face, the short hair that couldn't reach the tail in which she kept her thick mass of long hair. Her almond colored eyes regarded him calmly, then returned to the piece of wood in her hands. Tarrin looked at her, and he realized that for the first time in a very long time, he saw no incipient danger in a human he didn't already know. Camara Tal seemed to be completely at ease with him, and her act of trust had lodged itself in his mind. He looked at her, and marvelled again at how pretty she was, how strong. She was very intimidating, but seeing her like that removed that oppressive edge that she kept about herself. She was much less dangerous than she seemed. Hers was a subtle strength, owing only a small portion to her height and her physical prowess. Her strength radiated from within her, a power of confidence and faith that gave the sensation that she was invincible to those who gazed upon her.
"Why do Amazons still keep men enslaved?" Tarrin asked impulsively. "Surely you realize it's not necessary."
"Sometimes customs aren't necessary," she replied easily. "And men aren't slaves. They are property. But if you look at the customs of Draconia and Tykarthia, you'll see that the women there are the property of their husbands when they marry. What we do isn't all that much different from what societies up here do. We're just alot more honest about it." She turned the wood over again and started shaving at a corner. "Men are owned by their mothers or their wives if they're noble, or whoever happens to have their paper when they're commoners. They still have rights, though. A woman can't just beat up her man whenever she feels like it. It's not only dishonorable in the eyes of our goddess, it's against the law. And since you've seen Koran Tal, I'm sure you realize that any woman brazen enough to hit a man should be ready to get back what she's giving."
"But he's still property. He can't do what he wants."
"That's the way things are," she shrugged. "I'd probably feel differently if I was born with different equipment, but that's the way we do things. It may be right or it may be wrong, but it works for us. And that's all that really matters."
"Don't the men object?"
"Not really," she replied. "Men aren't slaves, boy. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that. As long as a man's well treated, why buck the system? Women who don't treat men well tend to end up dead. A man is more than capable of killing a woman. You don't think Koran Tal could tan my hide if he was mad enough? He's no weakling."
"Then why don't they revolt and make things equal?"
"Because there are two women for every man," she replied. "About a thousand years ago, a plague killed almost all our men, a plague that the women couldn't contract. It required us to make changes in the way we do things. Well, our population still hasn't equalized yet, mainly because most of us don't like the idea of mothering children from outlanders. They're smaller and weaker than pureblooded Amazon children. Besides, it's been so long since then, the new society is too deeply seated. Nobody wants to change things back to the way they were now. It works, and that's all that really matters in the end."
"I guess."
"Stop worrying over the customs of a land you'll never see," she said. "Now then. Ayuda. Good day."
For the rest of that day, and every day after that for five days, Tarrin and Camara Tal sat near the bow and she taught him the Amazon language. For the first five days, she brought no weapons and wouldn't wear her amulet. Then, on the sixth day, she came wearing her amulet. The repeated enforcement of the idea that Camara Tal wasn't a threat had bolstered him against seeing that silver medallion around her neck. It was then that he realized that she was trying to tame him like a wild animal. She started slowly and gently, and was gradually building him up to the point where special precautions weren't necessary. The idea of that shocked him more than a little bit, but a part of him realized that no other way of going about it would work. He was too wary and nervous. It required someone to completely submit to his power for him to treat them without fear. Just as Triana said, she would have to repeatedly prove to him that she wouldn't hurt him, and she wouldn't betray him.