Giving Back

Gonyaul raised his hands up to signal for her to wait inside the tent. Tiponi nodded with a curious brow raised.

Gonyaul moved out of the tent. While he was gone Tiponi breathed deep the atmosphere. Gonyaul retrieved his water-skin attached to Amu and returned back to his seated position. Now she was even more puzzled, ‘was he just thirsty?’

Gonyual gently reached down and took her left foot and brought it up into his lap. Tiponi leaned back slightly, allowing it, as she watched silently. Gonyaul carefully removed her footwear and set it off to the side.

He poured a small amount of water into the palm of his left hand and began washing her foot. His dexterous fingers molded and traced along every contour to make sure he didn’t miss a spot.

From there he placed the water skin down and dried her foot with the hem of his Arisha Ikeburer. Then Gonyaul took her foot in both hands and began warming up her foot for a massage.

He rubbed the top of her foot with his thumbs, starting at the tip of the toe and moving slowly up to her ankle. His hands moved back down her foot, starting from her ankle. He applied firm pressure while cupping her foot.

Next he massaged the arches of her foot, applying light pressure right below the ball. One thumb moved clockwise and the other thumb counterclockwise in small circles.

Gonyaul continued onward to rubbing her heel. He moved his hands down her Achilles tendon and reach up and back up to the calf or her lower leg, kneading his hand back to the foot. He released the tension in the ankle by making circular motions with her foot from the joint while elongating the massage directions to produce some simple traction.

His hands worked their way back up to her toes. His fingers squeezed and rotated each toe individually, giving each digit equal attention. Then he stroked each finger up and down the length of the toes before continuing back down to the arch.

He repeated this process again for three passes, each pass growing deeper in pressure. He returned her footwear back to its rightful place and repeated the same thing with her right foot.

Her foot massage started off in silence but she couldn’t resist starting to talk to him. She was going into detail about her family, her goals, and more. She knew he didn’t understand but she imagined that he could.

By the time he was on the second pass on the first foot she was melting into a relaxed state. Her eyes, that had been intently watching him humbly focus his attention on the surface area of her feet, began closing. By the time he was on her next foot, she had leaned back to the point she was laying down.

She had begun singing a whispery song into the tent’s interior to Erewhon as she rested and enjoyed the new pampering experience.