[Public Library] Tangled words

[Kyreen]

When Ari'sora's stomach also rumbled, Ky felt some of the tension ease out of shoulders and muscles that she hadn't even realised were tense. At least she wasn't the only hungry one of them! She slid the book she had been reading at first back into its place on the shelf and smiled back, as much out of relief as anything else.

As she led the way back out into the snow and the cold, she wrapped her coat close around her against the chill, grateful that the Scholar's Nook wasn't far. "It isn't far," she said aloud indicating the landmarks she used to guide her as they went. "Scholars from the university go there, I think." Snow crunched softly under her boots and she kept one eye on the smaller woman, matching her pace to hers, so that her own longer legs didn't absently stride away from her.

Light gleamed through the windows of the Nook, suggesting that the weak sunlight was supplemented with lamps for better reading. Inside it was much warmer, and Ky tipped her head back to read the list of drinks on the slate on the wall. Assorted teas... Coffee... And yes, hot chocolate. "My treat," she offered, digging in her pocket for enough coins to pay for both of them. "I would like hot chocolate. What would you like?"

When they had both chosen and found a table, Ky would consider the preserved cherries studding her slice of cake. "One," she would count in Scalveen and Common, pointing to the first cherry, and then on to others. "Two. Three..." and look up with raised eyebrows, trying to encourage Ari'sora to pick up the lesson where they had stopped.

[Rei'sari]

Ari'sora paid close attention to where they were going as Kyreen led her to the Scholar's Nook. She wanted to be able to come back here whenever she wanted to, and for that, she would need to know where it was. But when the younger woman mentioned the university, her mind shifted tracks immediately, and her eyes brightened with interest.

"The University?"

The word was the same in both languages, and Ari'sora told Kyreen that it was. Rynata had mentioned the University when she had welcomed her to Beacon last Ymiden. It sounded like a fascinating place, but at the time she hadn't really considered the possibility of her going there to learn. There were so many things that she had needed to learn...and still needed to learn before she could fit in with a bunch of people who had devoted their lives to learning. And while she didn't care much about what people thought of her, she was starting to learn that being seen as "normal" was a good thing; whatever "normal" was. People didn't stare at people who were normal. Ari'sora hated being stared at. After living with Ren'zar, and her mother, she really didn't like being the center of attention at all. Drawing too much attention made you a target, and Ari'sora had had enough of that for a lifetime. But even with all of that, the prospect of attending the University drew her like a moth to a flame. She hoped that she would be able to do so some trial.

"Do you go there? What it...no, what is it like?" she asked eagerly.

When they reached their destination, the heat was a welcome relief. The sweet smells were enticing, but Ari'sora quickly realized that she hadn't brought any money with her. She hadn't needed it at the library, after all, and she really hadn't planned on going anywhere else. But before she could tell Kyreen that she didn't need anything after all, the other woman offered to pay for hers as well. Ari'sora beamed at her, and thanked her happily.

"Next time, my treat." she offered in exchange.

As Ari'sora looked at the menu, everything looked wonderful. But it didn't take long for her to decide what she wanted. Before long, she had a hot mug of mint chocolate, and a good sized piece of lemon cake iced with lemon frosting, and liberally decorated with blueberries, and strawberries.

When they got to their table, Ari'sora was happy to continue the lesson. Using her strawberries and blueberries as well as Kyreen's cherries, she got all the way to twenty. From there, she did her best to demonstrate thirty, forty, fifty, and so on, all the way to one hundred. After that, she named her mug, plate, cake, fork, cherries, blueberries, and strawberries. When she named the latter two, she made sure to specify one strawberry, and two strawberries, making a point to show Kyreen the difference between the singular and the plural forms of the words. If Kyreen were to offer the Common version of each of the words, Ari'sora would repeat them back in an attempt to memorize them, and get the right pronouncement down. Once she was done, she looked around for something else to name.

[Kyreen]

The corners of Ky's mouth lifted in a smile when Ari'sora revealed that she was interested in the University. "I have a lot to learn if I am going to," she paused, seeking the easiest way to express Liam's job - the job she was expected to take over once she knew enough - because she doubted that 'geneologist' was a word that Ari'sora knew, and at last settled for, "keep the records and teach the children in my home town. Sometimes I sit in the back of a lecture - a lesson where the teacher does all the talking - and listen. I would like to do more but it costs money."

She accepted the offer to be treated next time, which indeed implied that there would be a next time, with a wider smile. Ari'sora's beaming face was infectious, she thought wryly, bending her mind once more to the lesson as the cake took the edges off her hunger. She echoed and repeated the numbers and new words in both Common and Scalveen. The numbers would be more useful in the bakery than most of the words, she thought, and she could practise them to herself as she measured things out.

When the other woman paused in her turn and looked around for more things to name, Ky considered a few useful verbs. "Cake," she repeated, prodding what was left on her plate. Then, "I eat the cake," and suited action to words as a demonstration. In the same way she named the hot chocolate and added, "I drink the hot chocolate," and "I hold the fork." Other options she saw were opening a book, reading a book, and closing a book. Sitting on a chair. Lifting a cup.

[Rei'sari]

It took Ari'sora several bits to puzzle out Kyreen's explanation, but when she did, she grinned.

"Records...history? History is good. Fun. History is stories. History important."

"Is important." she corrected herself.

She hesitated for a few trills, trying to sort out the words she needed.

"You teach. I...help children. Care for children."

Ari'sora frowned in frustration as she struggled to think of the word she needed.

"Luna's Dream." she said at last, hoping the name of the orphanage would be enough of an explanation.

When the younger woman moved on to basic sentences, Ari'sora grinned again. It was easy enough to get the gist of what she meant by the actions that demonstrated her words. Ari'sora dutifully repeated each sentence back in Scalveen. The sentence "reading a book" prompted Ari'sora to open a book, and point at one of the words written on the page.

"Word." she said clearly.

"One word."

She pointed at two words at once.

"Words. Two words."

Then she pointed at the page itself.

"Paper. The book is made of paper."

She hesitated before speaking again.

"Page."

She turned the book on its side, and closed it before pointing at the edges of the book's pages.

"Pages. The book has pages."

Would her meaning be clear? Or was that too difficult for this lesson? She turned the book again, and pointed at its cover.

"Cover. The book has a cover."

Since verbs had been introduced, she had an idea for one.

"Writing." she said as she mimicked writing.

"I..."

That gave her another idea. Ari'sora pointed to herself.

"I." she said clearly.

She pointed at Kyreen.

"You."

She looked around until she found a man and a woman standing next to each other.

"He." she said as she pointed at the man.

"She." was added as she pointed at the woman.

Then she pointed at both together, and said "they." Finally, she pointed at the table, and said "It." Going back to her choice of verb, she mimicked writing once more, and said:

"I am writing.

Then she pointed at Kyreen.

"You are writing."

This was followed by "he is writing," "she is writing," and "they are writing." With each, she pointed at the person or people she was using in her example. When she was finished, she looked at Kyreen to see if she had understood what she was trying to do.

[Kyreen]

"Records like history," Ky said slowly, trying to find the right words. "But history of family. Who parent. Who child. Who child of child." She listened to he other young woman trying to explain that she - looked after children? "Caretaker?" she offered tentatively as she tried to make sense of it. "The orphanage?"

Then they were back to simpler things and Ky repeated the words and phrases back, briefly wondering what people like her teacher Liam used, because Liam didn't use he OR she. In common Liam used they as a singular pronoun... "I, you, he, she, they..." She pointed back and forth at Ari'sora and herself. "We. I read books. You read books. We read books." She would ask Liam about it next time she saw them, she decided.

Unsure where to take the lesson next, or whether to wind it up, she bought time for herself by eating the last bit of her cake and mopping up the crumbs with a finger. "I want to make cakes like this some day," she murmured wistfully. Baking and learning were the left and right hands of her desired future, but sometimes it felt as if she had to choose one or the other. "I like cake. He likes cake. She likes cake. Do you like cake?" Her smile crooked up at the corners, now that the hunger was easing. "Maybe I write history of cake. Learn all the history. Learn everything I can." She looked over at Ari'sora, and wondered if she was getting into things that were too complicated again, or if the other girl understood.

[Rei'sari]

"History of...family?" Ari'sora questioned to see if she was saying it right.

"Sounds interesting. Like stories of families. I like stories."

When Kyreen suggested "caretaker" as the name for what Ari'sora was trying to say as she described what she did at Luna's Dream, she nodded.

"Caretaker. And orphanage. Luna's Dream." she agreed.

Ari'sora paid close attention as Ky ran through the Common words for I, you, and so on. She repeated each one carefully to make sure that she had the pronunciation down. Then the younger woman told her that she wanted to make cakes like the one they were eating. It took Ari'sora a few bits to figure out what she was saying, then she grinned.

"Good cake." she agreed while finishing the last of her own piece.

Kyreen took it one step further, saying that she liked cake. This was followed by each of the other pronouns. And as she had before, Ari'sora paid close attention to what was being said. She didn't want to forget a thing. When Ky asked her if she liked cake, Ari'sora grinned as she nodded.

"I like, like, like cake. More than like. Love."

She loved all sweets. After having been denied them for so long, she had gone overboard in trying every kind of sweet tasting food that she could. And while she found that she preferred fruit flavors, she had yet to find one that she didn't like. Kyreen mentioned learning the history of cake so she could write it, and Ari'sora giggled.

"Yes. You write story of cake, and I read it." she said with a grin.

"So this is where you've gotten to!"

Ari'sora jumped as a loud, angry voice accosted her in Scalveen.

It was her sister...and Mi'zuri wasn't happy.

"You told me that you were going to the library. You're lucky that someone saw you leave, and told me that he overheard you saying you were coming here. If I hadn't, I would have had to leave the little rugrat home when I left."

Ari'sora's eyes flew wide open as she saw her daughter bundled in her sister's arms. Would Mi'zuri really have left her home all alone? Why?

"Look. Don't look at me like that. I don't mind watching my niece, but something came up. Some of my friends invited me to a party, and I can't take her with me. So here. She's your daughter, you take her."

Mi'zuri shoved the baby at her, and left. Ari'sora held Rin'saia close to her chest, trying to soothe her. But Rin'saia was not impressed by her current circumstances, and she definitely did not like being shoved about like that. And she was not above making sure that everyone around her knew of her displeasure by wailing at the top of her lungs. It took Ari'sora several bits to calm her daughter down, and she could feel angry eyes staring at her.

"Sorry. I...sorry." Ari'sora said softly when Rin'saia had calmed enough that she could look at Ky again.

"This is Rin'saia. My child. That was Mi'zuri, my sister."

How to explain what happened with the limited amount of Common words she knew when she didn't understand how Mi'zuri could even think of leaving her daughter at home by herself? She tried a few times, then fell silent, and frowned in frustration.

"I should take Rin'saia home. She's too little to be here." she explained in a mixture of Common and Scalveen.

"Can we meet more?" she asked hopefully.

Rin'saia started fussing again, so as soon as she heard Ky's answer, she would apologize once more before rushing off to get her daughter home.

[Kyreen]

It wasn't exactly stories that Liam recorded - that Ky would record - but she didn't have the words to explain further, so she let it slide. The discussion shifted over to cake, and how much they liked it, which was as much a language lesson as learning each other. Ari'sora was clearly very fond of cake, which made Ky glad that she had suggested coming to the Scholar's Nook. She rather suspected that Ari'sora might be coming back here a lot. For cake. And for reading, of course.

Her musings were interrupted by an angry woman's voice speaking Scalveen faster than Ky could follow. All she could do was pick up an odd word here or there, and watch the body language. The woman's face seemed faintly familiar from when Ky had had to deliver a message,but she couldn't put a name to it. The woman was angry at Ari'sora for some reason, and Ari'sora was shocked and startled - judging by the suddenly wide eyes in her face. Something about a party? That was a word Ky had heard often when people gave large or complicated orders ahead of time for baked goods.

The angry woman shoved a bundle at Ari'sora and left. The 'bundle' began to cry. It was the wail of an unhappy baby, but to Ky the whole interaction reminded her of unhappy days from her own childhood when no one wanted her around and her heart went out to the pair. She had been sent here and there to get her out from underfoot until she wound up under Liam's eye again. She buried her nose in her cup, drinking the last of her no-longer-hot chocolate until she could get her own face under control. Ari'sora didn't need her old unhappiness piled on when she was trying to soothe the baby, nor in response to stumbled apologies and attempts to explain. Ky reached out her own large hand, cupping it over the baby's back where she could rub a soothing thumb gently across shoulders and neck.

When the other woman looked at her and asked if they could meet again, Ky nodded almost before she thought, "Next season, I make cake. Come help me eat it?" Impulsively, she added, "Bring baby - Rin'saia? - if want. House warm and dry, not mind crying. Much. I have sisters too."

When Ari'sora left, Ky would leave too, plodding slowly through the cold to her own home.

[Aegis]

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Thread Review

This was quite instructional to me as a reader and I really enjoyed the back and forth on the detail. Educational and fun!

Word Count: 6,887
Review Request Link: viewtopic.php?f=242&t=16103&p=112257#p112280

Ari'sora

• Skill Points - 15
• Renown - Ari'sora
• Skill Knowledges
  1. Agriculture: farmers sell their surplus goods, or trade them in exchange for things they need
  2. Linguistics: Syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a given language; specifically word order and punctuation.
  3. Linguistics: Every language has rules of syntax. They are the rules which underpin the life of the language, and as such, are extremely slow to change.
  4. Linguistics: Phonetics is the study of the human ability to make and hear sounds which use the vocal organs of speech, especially for producing oral language.
  5. Linguistics: A phoneme is the smallest unit in the sound system of a language.
  6. Linguistics: Someone who studies phonetics is called a phonetician.
  7. Linguistics: Phonology is the study of how languages treat the sounds that are produced as language
  8. Linguistics: Semantics is the study of relationships between words and how we construct meaning. Essentially it is the meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and sentence structure.
  9. Linguistics: a linguist is a person who studies linguistics
  10. Linguistics: a polyglot is a person who knows several languages
  11. Linguistics: a polyglot can also be a linguist, but that isn't always the case
  12. Linguistics: there can be many reasons for studying linguistics; teachers need an understanding of the subject if they are to teach it to their students, people who love languages often study the subject to be better able to understand the languages that they love, etc.
  13. Linguistics: an understanding of linguistics makes it easier to learn new languages
• Non-Skill Knowledges
  1. Ari'sora: has plenty of experience ignoring hunger, pain, and exhaustion when necessary
  2. Ari'sora: the hunger for knowledge outweighs the hunger for food
  3. Kyreen: likes cake
  4. Location: Scalvoris University
  5. Location: Scholar's Nook
  6. Scholar's Nook: is in Scalvoris Town
  7. Scholar's Nook: Scholars from the university
  8. Scholar's Nook: is better than the library because it has books and cake
  9. Common: personal pronouns
  10. Common: names for body parts
  11. Common: simple phrases
  12. Common: "What is this?"
• Items and Other Rewards

Kyreen

• Skill Points - 15
• Renown - 0
• Skill Knowledges
  1. Detection: spotting changes in a place
  2. Detection: listening carefully
  3. Teaching: agreeing a method
  4. Teaching: repetition helps memory
  5. Teaching: making verbal corrections
  6. Endurance: the discomfort of hunger
  7. Mathematics: essential to baking
  8. Mathematics: getting proportions right
  9. Mathematics: scaling a recipe
  10. Discipline: acknowledging physical limits
  11. Discipline: acknowledging mental limits
  12. Psychology: the body language of anger
  13. Psychology: the body language of startlement
  14. Caregiving: soothing a cranky baby
• Non-Skill Knowledges
  1. Biology: the structure of horses' legs and hooves
  2. Biology: one stomach vs multiple stomachs
  3. Biology: ways creatures have adapted to move
  4. Biology: human tailbones
  5. Biology: spines vary less than other bones
  6. Biology: basic structures are shaped by use
  7. Scalveen: personal pronouns
  8. Scalveen: names for body parts
  9. Scalveen: numbers
  10. Scalveen: simple phrases
  11. Scalveen: common nouns
  12. NPC: Rin'saia: Ari'sora's child
  13. PC: Ari'sora: likes cake a lot
  14. Location: Scholar's Nook
• Items and Other Rewards

Final Notes

If you have any questions, please PM me.

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