69 Ashan 717
There was something about the University in Viden that the campus in Andaris couldn't capture. Perhaps it was because the Eidisi prided themselves on their vast stores of knowledge, or because the Immortal of Knowledge had a personal stake in Viden's prosperity, but the works in the University of Viden were far more common and helpful. Aeodan had found information on all ranges of topics, from archaeological descriptions of the Videnese extinct species to the culinary experiments of an Eidisi scholar-chef.
But for Aeodan, there was only one topic in the library of the University into which looking was worth. In Andaris, he'd been introduced to the Jourkadri cuts by his former researcher, Neville de Bougervile. The cuts, discovered on a skeleton uncovered in Oakleigh in the Eastern Settlements, told the story of the man whose skeleton they were found carved into. Just thinking about it gave Aeodan goosebumps. There was something morbid about carving a man's history on his skeleton, and the macabre practice always drew a shiver of apprehension from the young boy. Despite that, his curiosity to decipher the language overtook his good sense.
He pulled from his pack the black-covered journal, eyes scanning the cover for blemishes. Such was his thirst for knowledge that he did not allow his tools to fall into disrepair. Instead, the cover was smooth and free of wrinkles. He gently pulled the journal open and settled it on the page where the copied Jourkadri cuts looked back at him. Their harsh and bold lines covered the page, with their appropriate counterparts in Common next to them, linked by an '=' sign. With a smile, Aeodan admired the organization of the page. Edalene had a very particular compulsion for order in her research, and Aeodan modeled this copied primer after her own research. It was a clever ploy, and one that kept his sister close to him, even in her absence.
Sitting at a desk, Aeodan began to study the strange cuneiform, beginning to commit the sigils to memory. The first, the equivalent to the Common 'A', was a diagonal gash, wider in the middle than the ends. He ran his hand over the black ink-mark, feeling beneath it the sharp lines of the quill. 'A', and it seemed pretty simple. 'B' was easy as well, a heavy black line, vertical. As he committed that one to memory, he applied an image-substitution device in his memory to help remember the runes. The time passed quickly as he observed them, filtering through each rune as he memorized it. Eda's organization made the task impossibly easy, and the young Xyph drank the sharp runes in as the bits passed.
As he finished the picto-alphabet, Aeodan took a deep breath. He knew that he'd have a tough task in front of him, with the letter packed into his bag showing in the flickering light of the lantern. The letter, from one Neville de Bougervile, showed an exact copy of The Jourkadri Man. Drawn expertly by one of the sketch artists of the Andaris campus, each Jourkadri cut was painstakingly replicated. Aeodan could appreciate the extreme attention to detail, and though it pained him that he could not use the skeleton of the original Jourkadri Man, it was made easier by the masterful drawing in his pack. Giving himself a moment, he rubbed his eyes and prepared to begin deciphering the runes once more.
