When he asked Adalsteinn about the raccoons and wanted to know if they were friends, the other man shook his head, Doran observed, and pointed out that that they were something called “verkamenn”. He looked at Adalsteinn questioningly for a moment before he inclined his head and smiled in order to let him know that he had understood what he meant. In the picture book, the pulley system had been called “trissu”. “Verka” reminded him of the Common word “work” and “menn” sounded a lot like “men”.
“I think Adalsteinn just told us that the raccoons are workers that operate the pulley system”, he explained to Faith and Varlum and furrowed his brow very lightly before he continued, “From what I have been able to observe so far, there are a few similarities between Aldasteinn’s language and ours – which could be a sign that there is a common parent language or that the two languages used to be in contact once upon a time”, he added and asked in a curious tone of voice, “Do you know where Adalsteinn’s people come from? Did they always live here, separately from our humans?”
By studying a people’s language, you could learn a lot about them, their origin as well as their culture, Doran had come to realize over the course of his engaging in matters of linguistics. Sometimes, you could even learn things that they weren’t aware of, or only tangentially aware of, at most. Of course, there was also the matter of false cognates, for example (which was why he had emphasized the word could). He decided not to go into detail about the theory behind languages at the moment though – this was not the right time.
Those similarities were something that was definitely worth pointing out to him; talking to Frosvinndur and sharing that most concerning news with him was most important right now though.
What exactly Adalsteinn said next in regard to the raccoons obviously constituted some sort of warning, although Doran didn’t understand the meaning of the words themselves. He had no interest in trying to touch the raccoons anyway though. Touching unfamiliar creatures in an unfamiliar land was foolish and pretty much an invitation for disaster in his opinion, and he planned on staying in one piece, thank you very much.
Varlum’s statement about hoping that he, Doran, hadn’t proposed by mistake on the other hand caused him to smirk slightly. It constituted a moment of greatly appreciated lightheartedness in a situation that was quite serious, in spite of how utterly fascinating this new land was – there seemed to be nearly unlimited opportunities for research to him.
When Faith complimented him on his good work – he assumed that he meant his trying to explain things to the woman in the uniform – he smiled and inclined his head. “Thank you”, he said before he turned back to the woman. He did, again, not understand what exactly she was saying, but considering the nature of his request, he assumed that she had either said that they would be taken to Frosvinndur or that Frosvinndur would be here soon which was why he thanked her again, with the limited means that were available to him.
A moment later, the bear appeared. Doran was used to bipedal, talking animals – cadouri had become a common occurrence over the course of the past couple of seasons – but the bipedal animals that he knew were small mammals, hamsters, mice or cats, for example. He didn’t think that he had ever seen a bear cadouri before – unless panda bears counted – which made him wonder what exactly that bear was. He was fascinated, he had to admit.
It fascinated him that the lands on both sides of the barrier had bipedal animals. Here, they seemed to have developed without Saoire’s influence though. There were so many things that were similar, but at the same time, there were great differences, and what more, these lands seemed to have undergone great changes since Faith and Varlum had last visited (Or maybe, the raccoons and the bipedal bears had just been somewhere else back then?).
He was just trying to list the similarities and differences he had noticed so far, in the hope that doing so would allow him to arrive at some sort of conclusion, when the bear approached them and started to speak. When the bear told them to follow him, he inclined his head once more. “Takk”, he said politely, thanking him for leading them to Frosvinndur – he was excited at the prospect of meeting a dragon, he had to admit, and his heart began to beat a little faster – before he began to walk after him, to the square with the fountain.
The bench there was big enough for beings such as the bear – or Varlum – to sit comfortably which made him wonder if bipedal, talking bears regularly gathered in the square.
He just wanted to take a seat next to Varlum when he suddenly heard the beating of massive wings. He instinctively raised his head, and his eyes abruptly widened. He was utterly in awe – and grateful for the fact that he had been given the opportunity to meet such a great being. Frosvinndur was older than the Immortals – and probably older than the Originals. For a moment, as he thought about the things that the dragon must have seen and the wisdom that he must possess, he was nearly breathless. Did Frosvinndur know more about the Great Song and those that had first sung it? Did he know of the world before?
He had been wondering what meeting a dragon would be like since the decision that he would be joining the others on their trip behind the barrier had been made, but it was different from everything that he had imagined. It was an utterly fascinating experience.
He did not move.
When Frosvinndur greeted them – it surprised him that the dragon seemed to know their language - Doran told him in a friendly, polite and utterly respectful tone of voice, “It’s an honor to meet you, Frosvinndur. I am Doran, an alchemist and a scholar of history, and I have joined Faith, Padraig and Varlum on this journey in order to help them”, he added when the dragon remarked that he was a new face around here and inclined his head deeply. Unlike Faith, he was not particularly worried about Adalsteinn’s and Padraig’s delay. They had done something very reasonable and decided to wait until the wind was over. With any luck, they would be joining them all before long.
“Thank you”, he said when Frosvinndur explained that the bear would be getting them something to drink before he briefly turned to Faith, waiting for her to answer Frosvinndur’s questions. When she talked about the ether-replenishing potion that they had created and asked the dragon to have a look, he remarked in a calm tone of voice, as it might be relevant, and he had nothing to hide, “I am the same as Padraig and Varlum – mortalborn.” Having said that, he waited for Frosvinndur’s examination.
He was not overly worried for the time being. If the effect of the potion turned out to only be temporary, they might be able to simple take more – or even brew more potions.
Besides, his wondering about the fact that that they might be operating on a limited timeframe soon took a back stance when Faith informed Frosvinndur about the return of his kind. He waited until she had finished speaking – he furrowed his brow very lightly when she showed Frosvinndur the corpse of the Lethe – before he addressed the dragon in the same calm and respectful tone of voice as before,
“There are indeed reports of sightings of dragons in other parts of the world. There are reports of a dragon in the Rynmere Labyrinth – Rynmere is or was a kingdom on our side of the barrier – that sent thoughts into people’s minds, for example. A hive-mind was mentioned in that regard”, he added and gave Frosvinndur a few moments to consider that that before he continued, “Another dragon was reported to be in the far south, near Desnind and the caverns of Augiery. His name is Kuvarakh, if I remember correctly. The return of the dragons happened around or at the same time as a conflict between a few of those that we call Immortals, around a device called the Ascension. Several of them perished in the process”, he finished repeating what he had heard during the Council Meeting.
He wondered what Frosvinndur would make of it.
The circumstances surrounding the return of the dragons might be almost as important as the return of the dragons itself, so he considered it prudent to mention them.
He wanted his report to be as complete as possible.
“Faith, Varlum, Padraig and I are not the only ones who came here this time”, he continued after a moment of silence. “An entity called Brother Chuckles accompanied us. He helped me and my companions that have remained behind the barrier save the world. He is thousands of arcs old and knows of the Great Song, the world before the Immortals, and, I believe, even the Induk of Idalos. I asked him to accompany us in order to advise us – and because some of the things he knows might be of interest to you as well. He might be able to shed more light on what happened since the barriers were erected – as well as certain events that took place before”, he spoke before he paused again, very briefly, and glanced at Varlum and Faith.
“Brother Chuckles is a flame entity, but as my companions can confirm, he is helpful and never caused any harm”, he continued, calmly. “I hope that his presence here does not constitute a gesture of offense or disrespect – it is not my intention to offend or disrespect, but only to help and facilitate an exchange of knowledge. There are certain aspects of the relationship between spirits and similar entities and the other beings that inhabit this world that are still unknown to me. Brother Chuckles currently takes the form of a rock which seems to be his preferred form of travel, but if you are interested in talking to him, all I need is a flame in order to bring him here properly”, he spoke and waited for the dragon’s reaction.
Provided that Frosvinndur agreed, he would do what was necessary in that regard.
