xp_logs | Trinity: Welcome To The Yurt

After their first night in the nomads' camp, Wanda finds herself, as the only women in the group, being fussed over by a very determined group of women. Nathan shows up to 'rescue' her, and as they go for a walk, tells her a secret about the year he spent here when he was nineteen.

"~Everyone decent?~" Nathan called in Kazakh, pausing outside the yurt, and smiled as a chorus of giggles was the first response. An older voice called out an affirmative, and Nathan stepped in, his smile growing as he saw Wanda at the center of a group of women, newly decked out in a heavily embroided kamzol. "I see you're being made over," he teased lightly, in English.

Wanda gave him a wry smile. "And I have had no say in the matter," she said, laughing as an older woman fussed over the shortness of her hair. "I have been most pampered the last hour or so, even if they do keep giggling at me." She lifted an arm and sighed at the garment. "They are gorgeous."

One of the much older women paused on her way out to harangue Nathan briefly. He answered, calmly and contritely, in Kazakh, and then grinned at Wanda. "I just got told off for not bringing my wife with me as well. Word's already gotten around the camp about Moira and Rachel." His smile turned a little reflective and sad. When he'd been here before, he hadn't even met Aliya. In fact, it had been during his stay here that... Nathan realized that Wanda was giving him a curious look, and colored briefly. "Lost in memories for a minute," he said.

"Pleasant ones, I hope?" She stood, carefully dislodging a few children that had gathered around her, poking and prodding in the way that curious children do. "You seem to like it here. Maybe more than like it." Wanda gave him a look and grinned. "Perhaps you should bring Moira and Rachel, once things have settled down."

She laughed. "Let Moira be the center of attention."

Although he smiled in response to her words, his tone was very serious as he answered her. "I love it here. I love these people. I owe them a debt I can never repay, not to be melodramatic." A few of the kids apparently decided on a spontaneous game of tag, chasing each other out of the yurt. Nathan caught a flash of steppe and clear blue sky as the flap was flung briefly open, and he smiled again. "And yeah," he conceded easily, "I will have to talk to Moira about a trip. Another time."

"It reminds me of home, in a way. Different traditions, different culture..." Wanda waved a hand around her. "Different climate. But it feels like home. I miss it more than I thought I did, it has been a long time since my last visit." Ducking her head, she followed the children but at a more sedate pace. "If nothing else, this trip has prompted my next vacation home."

"Small fringe benefits, huh?" Nathan asked, following her. The cold air was like an oddly pleasant slap in the face. Invigorating. He would be sorry when they had to travel back into the city tomorrow to check out the school. "I don't think Haroun's enjoying himself. Particularly when it comes to the cuisine. You had no idea how much effort I had to put into explaining to him that being served the sheep's head at dinner last night was actually an honor."

She laughed at that, earning herself some bright, if startled, smiles from those around them. "Did he actually eat it? I cannot remember. I found it quite tasty, myself. But then again I am very accustomed to eating very odd things. Heads included." Wanda didn't bat an eyelash at the slight choking noise Nathan made. "This place is gorgeous, I almost don't want to leave."

"I think he resorted to some of the MREs," Nathan said, trying not to shake his head at her. Her sense of humor was... ribald, at times. The damned thing was that he suspected the clan's women would appreciate it. All too much, actually. "It is beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, staring out at the snow-covered steppes. "If I thought Moira would appreciate life in a yurt... well. Wishful thinking."

The look she gave him was comical. "Can you imagine her in a yurt? By the end of the week, you'd have a second yurt set up just to hold her lab." Her lips twitched slightly. "You might be able to convince her to set up a yurt on Muir Island, though, if you asked very nicely."

"Where do you think my thing for tents came from? Wait... you weren't at the mansion the summer before last. You don't know my thing for tents," Nathan said with a chuckle, then gave her a contemplative sideways look. "Want to hear a secret?"

Wanda eyed him. "As long as it does not involve tents..." she teased, tilting her head at him.

"There's a woman by the name of Meruert, whose family's yurt is over that way," Nathan said, gesturing towards the west side of the camp. "These days, she's married and has five children. Twenty years ago..." A strange, wistful little smile flickered across his face. "Well, twenty years ago she was very decidedly unmarried, and took pity on this strange foreign boy who came to live with her people."

"Meruert..." Wanda rolled it around her tongue for a second and then decided she liked the sound of it. She was growing attached to their language. "Patience of a saint?" she asked, teasingly.

"Patience," Nathan said after a moment, "kindness, gentleness, a very wicked sense of humor... she was an only child, so she was a little more independent-minded even than usual, for a nomad girl." The odd little smile was lingering. "I'm not sure what she saw in me. But when I had to leave, she was one of the major reasons I wanted to stay." He shrugged a little. "But I went back. A few years later, I met Aliya."

Tucking her arms behind her, she took in the beauty of their surroundings as they wandered. "Meruert is a character," she mused. "A very wonderful character."

"A character?" Nathan inquired lightly. He felt so relaxed, strangely enough. Oh, he missed Moira and Rachel terribly, and would have done anything to have them here with him, but even so...

"Oh most definately. That woman's middle name has got to be 'trouble'. If she was Catholic, I would place even money on her confirmed name being 'mischievous'. In other words, I adore her completely."

Nathan chuckled softly. "You can meet her, if you like. I have to confess I've been keeping my distance, just for discretion's sake. We both have our own lives and families now. Reminiscing about teenaged escapades is best done within the privacy of our own heads, I think."

There was a snort and Wanda poked him in the shoulder. "This coming from a telepath."

"She may have giggled at me once or twice from across the camp already," Nathan said with an innocent look.