Two Reluctant Students(Rista, Taln)

[Rista]

She looked up from her writing when she heard Taln speak, eyes following the exchange attentively. In all honesty she had completely forgotten about both the illiteracy of the drudge, and the fact that he had told her about it. Though, even if she had remembered it she wasn't sure that she would have mentioned it to Val. Taln was fully capable of doing that himself, right? He was a grown man, he had a mouth to speak with... Now he actually managed to use it too. A wry grin appeared over the mouth of the half-breed, surprise mixed with approval as she looked at the tall man. "There you go, now I recognize you" she mumbled under breath, hoping that Val wouldn't pick up on it; it was meant for Taln and him alone. As she kept listening, the smirk grew into a smile, a faint flutter of excitement inside growing along with it. Finally. She had no idea what it was that made Taln cower and crawl along the floor like he had, but she definitely preferred this person that made use of his voice and voiced his opinions. This was the person she had gotten to know after all, not the mindless drudge that heeded orders just because they were orders. It made no sense, it went against what she should be expecting from someone of the Dek caste - but it couldn't be denied that she felt much more comfortable now, even with the defeated look on the Gatekeepers face. More at ease, Rista willingly obeyed and shifted her low table over to Taln's, scooting along with a faint grimace as she over-stretched a sore muscle. Glad for the pillows, she listened and nodded to the instructions to show that she had heard them; a faint grimace passed over her face, however, when she was told to draw the pictures. Now that could end up in a mess... "I'll give it a try, but you shouldn't expect miracles" she muttered at Val and grasped the quill once more, starting off with copying the words of her own list onto a new sheath, making the letters larger and more exaggerated than her normal, somewhat messy and spindly writing. When it came to the scribbles, she mentioned out loud what she tried to draw, hoping that Taln would be able to see what it was. Drawing wasn't a strong point of hers, and there was something decidedly optimistic about the scribbles she produced. The food items were somewhat easy at least, but when it came to the adjectives.. How did one draw 'delicious'? Or 'tasty'? 'Roasted' was portrayed by something that was meant to be meat on a spit over a fire, colors like 'orange' received a stylized symbol of the sun, and so on until she couldn't think of more things to portray the words with. Actually, it was quite fun and if she hadn't felt a need to hurry up and get done the girl might have spent a bit more thought on what she was drawing...

[Taln]

Taln lowered his eyes to show no expression when the Elder gave him the usual, 'What are you? Stupid?' look. He listened and nodded when spoken to. In the middle of the nod, he heard Rista's barely audible comment. The man caught her eye for the briefest of chimes and raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. 'Did she just grin?' He kept half an ear out for what Val said, knowing he'd be stuck remembering every word the Elder said--for the rest of life. It wasn't a conscious effort at memory, it was eidetic for anything audible. What he heard, he just remembered, always. No matter if it was trivial, or he was too young or didn't understand it; if he heard anything once, it stayed with him. They sat close by, with Taln occasionally pointing to a scribble to define it better or asking her to repeat a harder sound again. He made sure his voice carried just enough for it to be heard. When he pointed at the fried egg she'd drawn, he barely held back a snicker and suggested a more irregular outside shape, because it looked exactly like a certain body part. Rista was pretty good at the drawing part and he put his head down to hide his smirk from Val. Her caricature of their two faces drooling over a chicken leg, for the word delicious, was just too perfect! He knew the Yasi was smart, but her creative illustrations for adjectives were downright clever. Taln closely scrutinized the letters she made, while listening to both of them saying the words. The simultaneous lesson of hearing and seeing the letters and words at the same time, gave him a huge boost in learning. The letters started becoming words, which in turn became sentences with whole concepts behind them! The more he heard, the more he wanted to learn. He was even hungrier for knowledge than he was for food. Something, a vague concept, slipped into place and the pictures Rista made, were replaced by letters and words. He could think with words now! He allowed himself a small grin of success, but kept his head bowed carefully. If he was caught enjoying himself this much, they might take it away!

[Flicker]

Val didn’t appear to notice the side-interaction of his two pupils as they worked, so engrossed in getting them through the new vocabulary was he. His scrutinizing, thoughtful glances to Taln, however, grew more frequent as they went. Rista’s excruciating attempt to write legibly and large enough for the Dek’s guide, earned her a somewhat hidden smile. The drawings definitely earned stifled chuckles. The ease of tension between them definitely affected the old mad as well. “Good, good,” the gatekeeper intoned, stiffly getting to his feet and coming around toward the big black wall. His additions to Rista’s original list were neatly written out. “Rista, go ahead and copy the Tawna on to the list you just made. Practice reading each word and make changes to the phonetic spellings so that you can say them correctly. Taln, help her.” As they finished up the exercise, Valterrrik busied himself with another list. “Okay. Taln is big and strong. Rista is little and weak,” as he spoke in Tawna, his blue eyes twinkled with mischief and an impish smile surfacing for the briefest of seconds before he hid it. Taln can lift heavy things. Rista can beat up anyone. Taln has red hair. Rista has rare black-red hair. Taln is handsome. Rista is beautiful. Val is old and decrepit. Chef Davoid is stingy. Endal are inconsiderate.” He looked at them expectantly.

[Rista]

While the work wasn't particularly burdening on her mind save the concentration it took to keep up with her work, the task of sitting upright was beginning to feel in her body. She might be able to fool herself into thinking she was healed, but as Rista moved on to the next task and copied the words in Tawna her posture slowly began to slump more and more. The fullness of her belly after the steady meal was adding drowsiness to the the list of pains as well, leaving the girl somewhat muted even now that her mood had improved. It had been a long and rough day, mentally as well as physically with a long run up towards the Bent Arrow, then shooting in the rain, getting chilled and pressured after dealing with a discontent Kovac... A faint sigh slipped from her lips as she shifted, unintentionally trying to move into a position where her muscles wouldn't feel as sore. Somehow the girl still managed to keep her mind focused on what she was doing. She faithfully repeated the words on the list, correcting herself after Taln gave her the right sounds to some of them and changing some of the phonetics to make it easier to understand how it should be pronounced. By the time they finished her mind felt loose and mushy, her jaw aching slightly from using different muscles than normally to speak. Rista leaned back and sighed again, her eyes closing for a moment as she longed for a thick, warm bed or teh chance to return to that deep pile of cushions... Opening her eyes again when Val began to speak, the dark-haired yasi furrowed her brow in concentration as the old man put together words in a rapid sequence. She recognized her name, and she knew the adjectives he was using, but what he actually was saying.. Slowly her mind managed to piece together the words into sentences, and a look of protest took over her features. "Weak?" she protested out loud in Tawna, the tongue slipping before she could keep herself from using it. The word even tasted foul in that foreign language, and even more so when she slipped back to Nari - how good it felt to be able to speak normally again! "How does being small make me weak? Why aren't you pointing out any flaws with Taln?" Oh, she did notice the look of mischief on the Gatekeepers face, and she did realize that the words weren't malicious in any way. Her voice was more complaining than annoyed, the look of insult on her face a little too exaggerated to be serious. The black-eyed girl exchanged a quick glance with Taln, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly at the fitting descriptions of the mentioned people. Indeed, the Elder was beginning to sound slightly decrepit. What was the point in this exercise anyway?

[Taln]

In a quiet voice pitched only for Rista he whispered, "I think he's just testing if we understand him by mixing lies into the sentence to see if we recognize them. He likes you and wants to keep you interested because you're smart." Taln might have emphasized the word 'you' a little extra, but it was more of a subconscious thing than he realized. He turned his attention back to the Elder, but was unsure of how to respond. While a higher caste like a Yasi might have the choice to openly disagree with a joke, drudges weren't given that option. Val's earlier looks of disgust and fury flashed through his memory and the tall man knew that anything he said aloud to the Elder could be his last. The humor, pleasant setting, food and kindness were meant for the Yasi's comfort alone, and he kept it strictly in mind. The Dek's presence was just another tool for the youngster to learn with. He wondered idly if Val noticed the girl had trouble staying awake and that she'd clearly had enough. She didn't appear to have the stamina to continue much longer. The young man shrugged. The Elder's comments were most certainly directed mainly at Rista, but Taln couldn't determine exactly what was expected of him. With a deep breath, he took the risk and answered in what he hoped was clear Tawna. "You tease the Yasi to make humor and mix lies with truth to see if we understand your words, Elder Sir. Truth, lie, four truths, two more lies, two truths and an understatement." He kept his head down while looking at the words Rista wrote for him, and hoped he didn't tick off the Elder again.