Thandi is lustful.

She is lustful and she is damn proud of it.

Oh, for years she had been stifled and shielded from sexuality due in part to Vitani’s machinations and in part of her mother’s near-fanatical control of her beforehand. Thandi hadn’t had a clue what desire felt like, going through puberty and seemingly skipping what many considered a rite of passage. Why, the thought of sex had made her nervous and even a touch frightened.

“It will hurt at first,” her mother always said. “But you let your man finish and you get on with your day. It is an essential part of ensuring your husband is happy.”

Thandi had never thought to ask, but what about me?

Not until something trickled through when she met Charlie. He, too, kept a distance from sexuality— but he knew so much. He had lent her books that featured passionate, romantic scenes that would make a working girl blush, and he spoke with the same coarse language a peasant prided himself on. And somehow, the two inexperienced people came to wonder, mutually, what it might be like to kiss.

Granted, the blood was unexpected, but what struck Thandi was the feeling behind it. The incredible adoration that Charlie developed that made her warm in a way she never knew. Her curse kept their lips from touching, kept them from exploring, but it didn’t keep her from nestling into his arms and holding such an intimate gesture close.

And when she reunited with him, they swallowed each other whole with pent up need.

There was not a single painful moment in her experience. There was only the worship of her body, the birth of light and burst of foliage that made them laugh between hasty kisses and plentiful declarations.

Thandi is not ashamed to enjoy her lover. She isn’t ashamed to have her body loved thoroughly by him. She isn’t ashamed to fall into the depths of the lovemaking they do, slip into the mindspace of her old self to relive her liberation over and over and over.

She hungers for the physical expression of her love, the union of their bodies, the passionate closeness that he has brought into her life.

And really… it brings more satisfaction to her than pleasing Vitani ever did.

Sefu observes his three and a half companions on the road, silently gaining an understanding of each.

Savon is the half, small in stature and making up for it by their boisterous personality. They move quickly, always quickly, and weave their way seamlessly through both conversation and life. A pickpocket and a thief, Sefu has an eye for their talents. They’re someone who would have been both an asset and a liability on the seas. They’ve always got a quip or a jab and seem to have a hobby for getting under people’s skin. This seems to work best on the only one worse than them: Charlie.

Charlie is an East Istrian noble, and that usually says enough about a man, but this one is more than smooth insults and underhanded means. This one is petty and angry and contentious, eager to separate from them and make his way back into what was likely the lap of luxury. He does pay mind to the woman who brought them together, though, as her persistent nature has managed to drill through his thick skull.

Her name is Thandi and she is poisonously cheerful. This is the sort of person he and Fadir would never allow on a ship— her personality and optimism extends into the ridiculous. Her strangeness also makes it infinitely more difficult to understand her motives. Sefu accepted his role, yes, in the interest of the power it could afford him. He let himself get whisked away after telling Fadir to take care of the ship.

He sighs as he pulls out his pipe. A small fire sparks to life, hovering over the finger of a young teen Outsider girl. Hinata. Sefu leans forward to accept the light, puffing a touch as his pipe tobacco begins to glow red. “Mister Sefu sir,” she says, “Are you hungry?”

“Hmmm.” He takes a long draw on his pipe, a gift from Fadir. He does miss the man at times, and this would be one. “I could eat.”

Hinata smiles at him and bobs slightly, politely, before moving to Thandi’s side to get a bowl of soup for him. She is a good girl from the frozen part of Hokuto, off edgewise of the Disc. Her family taught her well, though she’s prone to being a teenager at times, she has a good head on her shoulders. She returns to give him a bowl and he nods his thanks. 

Hinata bows once more before returning for her share. Sefu takes another long pull. Savon is eating heartily. Charlie is refusing to touch the dish. And Thandi seems to have forgotten to count herself among those needing food. He watches Savon laugh and Hinata offers to split hers, until Charlie butts in to simply give her his bowl.

Hmm. It will take more time to understand.

The soup, at least, is good.