A Scarf of Green and Yellow, Barbed to Sting [Closed]

[Gitana Chumomisto]

The 5th Divvus in the
Second Moon of Summer

Their kumpanias had met with another and that evening they had camped together, circling the vardos close and going about making their campfires with an uplifting gusto that set a bounce in the young girl's feet as she moved about the camp, arms curled around a pile of kindling wood, hair free and swinging about her slight shoulders. She knew little of the Air'riela in the other kumpania, only that they were primarily Kemenlo, with a Glas and Lamisa tossed in amidst them. They were lively and friendly, but this was not at all surprising, and already the two kumpanias were preparing a great meal and tuning their instruments for an evening of dancing and singing.

"Tana, carrying firewood? Get your bari lavuta! You ka kel torarti!" It was her father, tall and sleek, hair kept back in a queue, white teeth bared in a smile. "Misto, put the wood by the yog first, avrah?" He spun about on his heel, leaving her staring after him for a moment, a frown settled on her mouth. It was not that she did not understand--she did not lack a mind, after all--but that she had grown, quite suddenly, nervous with the prospect of performing in front of everyone.

You are an Air'riela, this should be no trouble! And yet Gitana did not have confidence in her skills as a musician. No matter...she would get better, that was all.

She hurried the wood over to the fire, dropping them in the gathering pile settled there. She was about to turn and run back to the vardo to fetch her viola when movement caught her eye. A woman stood off to the side of the encampment, dark-haired and olive-skinned, back slightly angled towards Gitana. In her hand was a long length of red, orange, and blue cloth, wool perhaps. At its ends gleamed metal bits, the fading suns-light causing them to glitter and glow. Her movements were fluid, but concise and the scarf snapped around the woman, smacking a rock on the ground and sending it skittering off into the woods in front of her.

The woman paused, looked up and caught Gitana watching. Her grin was friendly, open, and she waved briefly at the young gypsy girl. The two stood there, looking at one another, and Gitana willed herself to take a step towards her, but a man was there, talking and laughing, head inclined towards her with a gesture as if to escort her towards a fire that was flaring into life.

Gitana hesitated, hung back, then turned and made her way back to the vardo to fetch her bari lavuta, but her mind was on the swirl of the cloth, the dance that accompanied the weapon that the woman had wielded. The talvia. Her fingers briefly touched the length of cloth wrapped around her own waist, the barbs secured against them. She had been given one a few moons past, but as yet she'd not yet learned to use it. Perhaps...perhaps...

[Gitana Chumomisto]

It was late in the rarti when next she saw the woman. She was alone, one hand cradling a cup of the spiced wine they were drinking and although Gitana herself was a little dizzy with what she had drunk, the woman seemed steady and calm, a hand tapping rhythmically against the skin of her tambourine, resting on her knee, in time with the other instruments singing their songs into the stars above.

Emboldened by the wine and because she would have otherwise seen no harm in it either, Gitana, bari lavuta in hand, strode over to the woman and called out to her in polite greeting. The woman did not turn to look at her, but this was no surprise for Gitana did not know her name. She settled for sitting beside the woman in the empty space on the overturned log. It was then the woman looked at her with bright green eyes and the same friendly smile she'd flashed her way earlier.

"Sastimos, bor! An odjus rarti, avrah?" She stopped her tapping on the tambourine to lift her cup in good health and drank from it. Gitana would have done the same if she'd still had cup, but Haldo had taken it away from her--the blackbird did not need to fly that rarti. "I am Simza. You are the chikni of Nicoleszra and Emiliano, avrah? Gitana?"

Gitana swayed a moment, mostly because of the alcohol that she had consumed, but because she had not expected the woman to know her name. She grinned, perhaps stupidly, and because she did not answer right away the woman laughed.

"I know because I spoke with your dadrus whilst you kel your bari lavuta, not because I read your name with my mind," the woman teased her, pat Gitana's knee in reassurance. "You kel misto, but your dadrus says you do not enjoy it much, avrah?" The woman was older than she, so it looked, by a good two decades, with a shine of silver in her black hair and a hint of wrinkles at the corners of her pleasant eyes. Still, she was pretty and not without some semblance of youth. Perhaps it was her smile.

Gitana frowned, wondering if her failure to embrace the bari lavuta somehow made this woman unhappy. She did not seem so, but the alcohol fuzzed her mind a little, she knew. "Ah, keck, I have no trouble with it, rawnie, but it is not like riding a groi! It seems so much more...restricting."

"I see, a rakli who likes to fly! Then is it Drifting for you, Gitana?" she asked politely.

But Gitana shook her head, black hair slipping about her face. "Keck, rawnie--I trash the feeling unsettles me a bitti," she admitted with a grin and a shrug of dismay. "I was hoping, perhaps, to learn the talvia..." She trailed off, hopeful, wondering if the woman would know that it was her who had been watching the woman earlier.

But she laughed, amused. "I see! You would wish me to teach you, avrah?" she asked.

Gitana sat mute for a moment, then nodded. "If you would, rawnie! My baba made me a talvia some moons ago, only I've not yet had the chance to learn how to use it. Would you teach me?"

"Avrah, Gitana. Avrah! But not this rarti, I think, nor the next divvus, hmm? I think your shera may need rest. But in two divvus, I will teach you. How is that?"

For Gitana, that was enough and she thanked the woman and it was good they had finished this line of thought for soon Caldo was there, winking at Gitana and ushering the pretty, older woman away for a dance, joking and carrying on in a good-natured fashion. And then her dadrus was there, willing her to play her viola and fused with wine though she was, she lifted her bow and played.

[Gitana Chumomisto]

And thus, two divvus later, after the two kumpanias had circled and settled after a long divvus of travel, Gitana stood with the long length of green and yellow scarf held between her fingers, dipping slightly towards the ground in its centers. Some of the barbs had come loose since she'd begun wearing it, but having no idea how to fix it, Gitana had simply let them be and had merely been careful when fixing it about her waist.

Simza, too, wore hers about her waist, but she kept hers wrapped as she greeted Gitana. The pair had not seen much of one another that brightening for Gitana had been busy with her prala and dadrus, occasionally also her pena, tending to various tasks in the vardo or escaping from the rest of the kumpania on the bck of Kizzy. What Simza had been up to Gitana had no idea and knew only that now the woman was there to teach her something she had been wishing to learn these past moons.

"Your eyes do not dik so bright this divvus, Tana. It is misto I call you that, avrah? Your dadrus named you thus when I spoke with him at the yog." The woman set her hands on her hips, just above the barbed scarf that draped there. She had that calm, confidence to her that Gitana envied somewhat. This was a woman content in her life, knowing of who she was and the expectations not only of those around her, but also from herself.

Gitana had the good grace to blush a little at the comment about her eyes. She rubbed her cheeks a little, aware that she had been feeling the tease of spirits the night around the fire. "Much refreshed this divvus, rawnie," Gitana conceded, grinning nonetheless. "And Tana is fine. Most call me such anyway."

"And Blackbird, I hear." Simza grinned, shrugged with a slight gesture of her hands. "I will call you Tana. And you, you may call me Simza, avrah? None of this 'rawnie' nonsense. Now, you are here to learn, avrah? Let us start then."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

"Here, let me see your talvia, Tana. Did you make it yourself?"

Gitana held out the length of green wool. It was elaborated embroidered throughout with brilliant yellow. They were not a color combination she would have chosen for herself, but her baba had insisted. These were the colors she would use and the scarf would stand out--beautiful! You do not want the gaje to think it too plain for one of our own, avrah? her baba had asked her. "My baba Beatrizia made it for me. I'm not so skilled at weaving to make such a piece."

"So then do you know how to fake it, Tana? I see some parts here have come lose from the stands that keep them hidden. How have you managed not to catch yourself?" The woman turned the talvia about in her hands, looking over the tinkling metal bits. Indeed, some of them had come a little loose.

"I've just been careful," Tana responded with a slight gesture of her hand...as if to indicate it was nothing at all.

Simza's expression was amused as she handed the talvia back to her. "I heard you are not so good at being careful. Nonetheless, there is less damage to it than I expected. But let me teach you to first mend the talvia. It is pointless to get started if it is already in a position to be wielded, avrah?" She gestured to Gitana to follow her, led her over to a felled log and there they sat, the woman removing a sewing kit from a pouch hanging at her side. It was small, but large enough for a spool of thread and a needle. Gitana had learned that Simza was a silversmith and wondered if she had made it herself. "Here you are. Thread the needle now and show me how you would fix these back into place."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Gitana took the needle from Simza and bent over the talvia as she sat down alongside the woman. She lay the fabric across her legs, barbs exposed to her. Most of them were safely tucked into hiding, secured by a single, loose strand. Three were loosened and Gitana reached out, a finger rocking one back and forth as she considered the issue. But the thread was proffered to her and she unraveled a small section, slipping it through the eyehole of the needle and snapping the thread free from the spool after she'd measured the correct length.

Bent over the talvia, she poked the needle through the green fabric to the other side and looped it around the metal piece. Once, twice, she did this without a word from Simza, who leaned towards her a little, observing. She then tied off a knot and snipped the thread free. "Like so?" she asked, voice tentative.

"Mmm...that should do. It is misto to keep it tight, avrah? Easier to snap that something hanging loose. Very misto, Tana." And then Simza reached out and ripped a barb, one of the loose barbs, free from the talvia.

Gitana made a noise of protest, eyes widening as she stared at the woman. "Simza! Why? I..." she trailed off as the woman simply grinned at her and handed her the metal piece.

"You need to learn to mend the talvia, Gitana. Now you will need to sew the area where it has ripped and also to sew the barb back onto the talvia. Here, let me fetch you some green thread to match yours, eh?" She gestured for Gitana to stay put and stood herself, skirts sweeping about her legs as she went off to find what she required. She returned moments later with the green thread, pushed it into Gitana's hand, and sat down again. "There. Now sew it all back together."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Gitana was no master with the needle. She was indeed a poor hand at it, but she had spent many a candle seated alongside her baba and her daj, watching them sew and squinting down at her own pieces as she struggled to do their own work justice. She rethreaded the needle with the green thread and began the laborious task of sewing the talvia together again.

She would not have been able to do it without the guidance of Simza, who corrected her sewing with a gentle voice and reassuring correction here and there. Gradually the threads all came together, green with green, barb with the fabric as she tugged and tucked it into place with loops of threading. She used the green thread to tuck the last barb into place before Simza finally declared her done, objective completed, and took the talvia from her to admire Gitana's handiwork.

"Misto, Tana! Well done. Now I suppose we shall move onto something you really wish to learn, avrah?" She grinned, stood, and motioned Gitana after her. They moved to stand in an area mostly open with few obstacles to disturb their footwork. "Let me see how you wrap it around your waist. Go ahead. I shall wait."

Gitana did as instructed, but when she was about to knot the talvia into place, Simza cried for her to stop. "Atch! That is not how it is done, Tana. You will be a sitting duck if you must try and unknot your talvia as some gaje comes bearing down on you with weapon in hand. Tsk! It is done in a loose half-knot, bor. You fold the talvia like so about your waist and fold this end under this one, pull just a bitti, and leave it like so. It will be much easier to pull free, trust me."

Gitana did as Simza instructed, wrapping the talvia about her waist, tucking one end there, the other under the rest of the talvia, giving it light tug so that it hung snug but loose about her waist. "Like so, Simza?"

"Avrah, well done, Tana," the woman commended her. "But I wager you are eager to see how to wield it, avrah? All right, Tana. You will need to learn how to become quick at unraveling your talvia from about your waist, but first let me show you what is called a stance, or a positioning of our body, when we use the talvia."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

"There are dui stances of the talvia, I will teach you both of these." Simza adjusted her stance, no longer standing at a restful, easy position, but rather shifting her legs so that one was slightly ahead of the other, her legs shoulder-width apart. "You see how I am standing? This is the basic stance. My right foot here is slightly forward, while my left is back and a bit outward. You see?" She gestured to her lower body, then unraveled her talvia from about her waist, holding it with both hands to show how it was held. "This stance leaves your body centered so that when you lash out with the talvia you will not fall one way or another."

Simza relaxed again and motioned towards Gitana. "You try it now, Tana. Come on."

Gitana was eager enough to have a try at it and did her best to mimic the position which Simza had told her. She shifted one foot forward, inched the other one back, a little outwards. She wavered, teetered left, right, arms not quite flailing. "I do not feel centered, Simza!" Gitana protested, brows furrowing as she frowned.

Simza laughed. "Your foot is out too far in front! Ease back a little. There, like that. And the other too far to the left, Tana. Back in a little, that is it. Avrah, avrah. Very good, Tana. That is the basic stance, as I told you. The other I will teach you a bit later, I think. First we practice the different moves from this one for it is easier to learn from this one." She folded her arms over her chest, having replaced her talvia about her hips. "But first, Tana. You must understand that I teach you these not so that you may run into the face of danger. Kek, it is best that you run! A scarf is but a scarf, after all, and a sword a sword. You risk much if you run into danger rather than away from it. So do not be brave with these, I beg you. They are a manner of defense, should you need it, avrah?"

[Gitana Chumomisto]

"I know that, Simza," she responded, not quite able to hide a trace of confusion that crept into her voice. How could she not know that? The talvia was popular amidst the women and she'd heard the philosophy of the weapon spouted often enough, particularly when one of them thought to show off. That did not mean she understood it completely. "But why? Why must we flee and turn our backs on the gaje? They will think us cowards, kek? I would keck have the gaje think us trashd!"

Simza nodded. The look upon her face suggested she understand, but the words that came from her mouth were inevitable, it seemed. "Perhaps, Tana. But it's far better for them to think us trashd of them than for us to search for your body if you have been muller'd, avrah? Your scarf it is keck much in comparison to the weapons the gaje would yield against you. Learn this and you will stand some chance, but perhaps keck enough. If you wish to have chingary with the gaje, then it is the churara you should learn, but you are better off with this. Leave those cumbersome, ugly things to the manuses. Now, come. I shall teach you how to unfurl the barbs."

She thought to argue further, but as Simza removed her talvia and gestured for Gitana to stand back, away from her, Gitana fell silent and complied. Jehan, she knew, would not have gone silent. He would have argued, would have demanded that it was not for them to show their backs to the gaje, as if the Air'riela were somehow too cowardly to fight. But not Gitana. She fell silent and watched, listening attentively, fingers curling in the fabric of her talvia.

"You will want to unfurl the barbs before your attacker is upon you, Tana, else you risk the barbs remaining fastened and nothing happening at all! What you will want to do is hold the talvia in one hand--and, mind, it will unfurl the barbs on the opposite end only--lash the talvia away from you like so." She demonstrated, her hand moving only slightly, a deft twist of the wrist and jerk of the arm, the talvia snapping out but a few steps away from her before recoiling back to her side. "You see? A short, choppy movement. Too far and you risk the slack of the talvia doing little at all for your barbs. You keep your hand close to the center of the talvia to the side you wish the barbs to come away from the seam. You can repeat that movement with the other side to open the barbs, too. But only do so much as time allows you."

"Avrah, to run," Gitana murmured, gesturing. "Might I try it?"

Simza grinned and merely motioned for her to give it a go.

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Simza had relaxed herself, fingers absently smoothing over the wrinkles of the talvia in her hands--a thankless task as the wrinkles slid back into place, making themselves again known and visible when as her touch went over them again and again. This did not help Gitana, who looked almost woefully upon the woman, wishing she was still standing, still moving--showing her how this was to be done. Ah, but she could do this alone, she could. Of this she had little doubts, it merely took a movement, a sharp snap of the wrist. What had Simza told her? To keep her hand closer to the center, towards the side she wished to unfurl the barbs.

She bit her lip as she adjusted her hold on the green and yellow scarf, taking a fistful of it and snapping it out into the air. It lashed out, snapped back and the barbs had unsnarled--she knew because they rebounded on her, one snagging her skin and biting into her without care that she yelped, startled, and quickly plucked it from her hand. She looked towards Simza as the woman laughed, shook her head. "What did I do wrong, Simza?" she asked, shocked. The barbs had unfurled, was that not what she wanted to accomplish?

"I am sorry - everyone does that the first time," she apologized, but she grinned and seemed wholy unapologetic. "It was my fault not to warn you." She stepped forward a little, but did not adjust her talvia to demonstrate. She simply stood, hands lowering to settle at her hips a little. "When you snap out with your wrist, you must be carefully not to simply let your wrist sit there or it will recoil on you and grab hold. You must mind your hands, your movements, for the slightest turn of the wrist can redirect the talvia. Remember that when you cast it out, make sure you snap it to the side a little so that it does not rebound on you, avrah?'

Gitana nodded slightly, rubbing the place where the barb had dug in. It made sense, she supposed, but ah she wished Simza had given her some instruction on this.

"Now try again, Gitana, with the other side, this time making sure to redirect the talvia as it rebounds."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Gitana tried it again, getting back into position and lashing the scarf out and away from her in one quick movement. It missed her hand, but the newly exposed barbs sunk themselves into the fabric of her skirts and Gitana frowned, cursed, tugged irritably at the pieces now stuck amidst her skirts. That Simza was, again, laughing at her merely caused her face to redden, but at least she stopped pulling at the weapon. It seemed only as if it got further tangled at any rate!

"Atch, Tana, atch," the woman insisted, even though Gitana had already ceased what she'd been doing. "You will get it, I promise. Give it time and practice! Let me me show you how to untangle yourself, avrah? You will have to repatch your skirts if you keep at that."

Simza came over to her and took the talvia from Gitana's fingers. "It is harder to unlatch yourself, I know. Let me show you what you would do if you were stuck on someone else, eh?" To Simza, perhaps, it was easy--just a matter of a flick of the wrist and that was all. She de-tangled Gitana easy enough, snapping the talvia one way, the skirt going the other. Easy. The talvia hung unattached in Simza's fingers and the woman proffered the weapon to Gitana.

"You make it look like it is nothing. How is it you did that?" Gitana asked, fingering the green cloth in her fingers, waiting.

"Just another technique, Tana. Simple. One I shall teach you. Now, avrah? It is the one we use to unsnag the talvia on most things--flesh, metal, cloth. People do it differently, but the easiest way to unsnare the talvia from something you have wrapped around, is to pull the barbs in the opposite direction than which they latch. See, the barbs were latched, with the hook facing this way, avrah?" She lifted the edge of Gitana's talvia to show her. "You would pull it away from where the hook is sunk. But...that can be dangerous, especially if your attacker is nearly on you, avrah? So...what I suggest is to adjust the tension on the talvia, that is to give it a little slack and twist your wrist to loosen the talvia's grip."

The woman stood a moment, frowned, then picked up the end of Gitana's talvia, asked her to release the other end, and deliberately snared her skirts with the barbs. "For practice. See if you can do this without my demonstrating to you slowly."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Once Simza had given Gitana back the other end of the talvia, Gitana set about the task of unsnaring the barbs of the talvia from the skirt. It was awkward, uncomfortable, and her first handful of attempts resulted in little more than adding a few snags and tears in the woman's skirt--for which Tana apologized profusely. But Simza was able to laugh it off, a wide grin on her face as her hands gestured, mimicking the necessary movements as she gently and slowly explained again and again what Gitana must do.

Drawing in a deep breath, the young girl reorganized her thinking and fixed her grip on the talvia. Adjust the tension, twist the wrist. She nodded a little to herself and followed the instructions, giving some slack, shifting the tension in a new direction, twisting her wrist. The barbs sang free, dragged on the ground and Simza clapped, congratulating her.

"Misto, Tana. Misto! Let me see it again and then we will see if you've learned all you need to with that and we can move on, huh?" She reset the barbs into her skirts and allowed Gitana to try it again until the woman was certain that it was not just a fluke. "Now I will teach you something else, huh? A defensive movement that will let you turn aside your attackers forward progress, huh?"

Gitana frowned a little, wondering when they got on to the more interesting things, but Simza simply gestured her forward, taking the talvia from her grasp without giving the girl time to protest. "With what I will show you, you will turn out your attacker's arms. Harder to do if they have a weapon, but easy enough if they've got nothing more than bare fists, huh? You don't need a talvia for this--any scarf will do--but you will learn it here with me now."

Simza proceeded to show her how to do it and it did seem simple enough as she watched Simza slowly demonstrate, using Gitana herself as the attacker. "You will hold it with both hands, Tana, one at either end of the scarf. Now, push your hand towards my face. Avrah." Simza twisted the talvia and Gitana winced a little as her hand was forced up and away. It wasn't that it hurt, not really, just that it jerked her arm hard in the socket. "You see what I did? As the hand comes at you, you hold the scarf taunt and push from your shoulders to get the arm away from you. I suggest just pushing the arm away from you--downward, to the side, but never up--up, they have too much of a chance to swing back down into your face."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

Simza extended the talvia towards her, motioning for Gitana to take it, instructing her that she would now give it a try. Gitana settled back into the stance, talvia settled with hands grasping either end of it.

What she might have expected from Simza, she wasn't certain, but suddenly a fist was flying towards her face and Gitana yelped, ducking out of the way, hands flying up to protect her. The woman chuckled, shook her head, told her to stand up and straighten herself. "You will not have some inept idiot coming at you, Tana. They will aim to hurt you. Best you get accustomed to standing firm and defending yourself rather than getting a black eye. Again, now don't you do that again."

Again they tried it, but this time as Simza's hand came flying towards her face, she sucked in a deep breath, braced herself, and held the scarf taunt, pushing upwards.

It had the desired effect for Simza's hand was deterred, but she got scolded nonetheless. "Not up, Tana, not up! Now, again, but push my arm to the side or down."

So again they tried it, again and again it seemed until Tana was no longer pushing the arm skyward--she learned her lesson after Simza brought the side of her hand against Tana's shoulder. That had hurt. Several times they tried it, with Simza being deflected left, right, downward in both directions, to the side in both directions.

"Good. Now, that'll be it for the divvus, hmm? Tomorrow we will see each other and I will have a fun surprise for you." And that was it. Simza parted with a grin and Gitana scurried off to attend to the various duties her father was instantly on her about.

[Gitana Chumomisto]

The following divvus Simza was waiting for her alongside some trees, bent beside a spread-eagle dummy that looked rather worn for way, its burlap body battered and torn, straw poking out in more places than not. Both arms were spread and tied to branches, just as the legs were separated and tied down to the ground with rope and stakes. "We can't practice on real people and there's few ways to make a blunt talvia that's got the same weight as one with barbs. We will use this. I call him Renaldo." She flashed an amused grin at her student as she finished tying one leg down.

Once the dummy was properly set, Simza had Gitana run through the things they'd learned the divvus before, retangling her skirt and untangling the talvia, turning out Simza's hands as they flocked towards Gitana's face. By now Gitana more or less had the stance down correctly and things moved quickly enough along until, finally, she felt that she was going to learn something that might do a bit of damage.

"The one I am going to teach you now, it's not well-liked by men. You see them watching there? They will leave soon, after I show you this." She then waved over to a group of young men lounging not far off, flirting a little with the shift of her body, winks, a few ribald words. She had their full attention as she turned back to Gitana and asked to see her talvia.

"What I want you to do is done like so." The movement was quick, a slash of direction lashing out at the dummy, back and under...until it landed onto its crotch.

The resulting noises were a bunch of groans and protests from those men who had been watching. They laughed good-naturedly, jested with them, but make no mistake...they did vacate the area.

Simza winked at Gitana. "Let me tell you how it is done and then you will do it until you've got it right."

[Gitana Chumomisto]

"See, you hold it here, like so." Her hand was about a third of the way up from one end of the talvia. "Then you will swing it in a backward, circular motion. Your hand will be about level with your shoulder. About right here, see?" She did not swing the talvia, but she demonstrated where the hand would lay in relation to her shoulder. "As the talvia comes down, you then want to swing it up and forward so it lands right in the crotch. Don't worry, if it is a man you swing out, you'll hurt him no matter if the barbs sink in. Not a pleasant feeling, so I hear."

She gave the talvia back into Gitana's hands and told her to give it a try. She did and it took her several times before she figured out how not to tangle it in her own skirts and how to land it where she wanted on the target. That, too, took time. First she caught a leg. Then the stomach. Then, finally, landed the talvia between the legs. Only it bounced off first, leaving Gitana a little frustrated. But Simza kept urging her to do it again and again and finally, finally, she had it.

"Let me see it once more, Gitana. To make sure it was not an accident, huh?"

Gitana sighed, bit back a retort, and gave it another try. She held the talvia in place a little ways down its length and swung backwards, forwards as it came close to the downward position. Outward it flied and it latched on, holding tight. Simza insisted she use the de-tangling technique to retrieve the barbs and with a few jerks and a twist of her wrist, it was free again, dangling at her side.

"Good, good! Time to learn something more, I think."