Closed How the Other Half Live

[Ayatah]

Ayatah listened to the other woman, her head tilted in interest. She was, after all, a student of anthropology, so how other races lived certainly fascinated her. And from the Konti’s words, half her home sounded like a usual city - whereas the other seemed like anything but. The only other people that Ayatah knew lived in submerged cities was the Charodae, who she knew little about other than the hostility her people felt towards them.

She considered a map of the lands in her mind, or at least her own skewed vision of it. If the White Isle was in a north-easterly direction… ”Yes,” she said eventually, a wry smile on her lips, ”but it sounds like your home is opposite to mine in more ways than one.” It was impossible for Ayatah to imagine what it was like to live underwater - and many questions fluttered about in her mind like pesky moths.

”It must be --“ she searched for a suitable word, ”--interesting to spend your half your life under water and half your life above.” Of course, Ayatah realised, something was decidedly less interesting when someone was so familiar with a given situation, ”It sounds entirely different to my jungle home, at least.”

Then again, our people are incredibly different. It only serves our homes are as well...

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Eleret]

Eleret smiled as Ayatah spoke, an amiable expression. If interesting seemed an odd and rather inadequate turn of phrase for the differences between their homes, the Konti thought nothing of it. "I think it must be," she replied. "Very different. I remember coming here," she continued with a sudden grin, "and being confused. I went to the fish market, and thought, why is there no water?" The Konti shook her head slightly. "Mura, the market is in the lake. So the fish are very fresh." Propping her elbows on the desk, Eleret spread her fingers, looking at the webbing and the way the scales glinted in the light. Both hands, with the lily mark on the left consequently and unthinkingly turned towards Ayatah. "It is strange for me, interesting, to live where there is not always water." The sea was always nearby in Zeltiva, of course, no more than a short walk away, but... that just wasn't the same. "The jungle..." she echoed. "There is much water -- much rain," Eleret realized she needed to distinguish between groundwater and water which fell from the sky. "And plants, yes? But I think jungle is not like the forests here, or on Mura. Could you tell me more about it?" After all, the book on horses wasn't going anywhere. The Myrian eventually would, so Eleret should learn what she could while she could.

[Ayatah]

The Myrian chuckled as Eleret described her confusion. ”And to think I was confused with the amount of water and lack of trees.” To say they came from different places, and different lives, would have been a dramatic understatement. And yet there the two women stood, chaiting away about their relative lives and homes. The world is full of different people and races, the half-Eypharian mused, and to think Taloba is so homogeneous….

Her dark eyes glanced to the Konti’s hands, widening slightly at the webbing between the individual fingers. She had seen Charodae hands before, but never had she seen such aquatic qualities in a woman that (in the face, at least) appeared to be so at home on the land. ”Yes, there is a huge amount of water in the jungle,” Ayatah began, pausing to compare the humid atmosphere of her homeland to the cold winds of Zeltiva, ”and it is -- sticky, so hot. There’s no wind either, just trees, and rain, and heat. There are rivers, and the Kandukta Basin which is the largest lake in the jungle.” She shrugged, thinking back to Eleret’s discrimination between water and rain. ”So yes. There is a lot of rain, and the earth is always moist. But there is no… sea, or ocean for miles around.”

And of course, there were the animals that inhabited the jungle. Birds and Tskanna, and of course the tigers. And the Dhani, let us not forget them…

”Is there much flora and fauna on Mura? You said the fight was very fresh, which I can imagine it is... But are there others?” Ayatah doubted very much there was the vast variety of creatures and plants on the Konti Isle that existed in Falyndar, and yet it would not be the first time her assumptions had been wrong.
[/b]

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Eleret]

Eleret listened intently as Ayatah went on to describe the jungle, contrasting the Myrian's descriptions with her memories of her own home. "It is sometimes... sticky, on Mura. The air off the sea, more so in the summer. But there is often wind, at least a breeze. It is not so hot; I stayed on the mainland for one summer, and it was more hot here. I thought it was hot enough!" Eleret glanced towards the northeast, though any number of bookshelves and the library's own walls lay between her and the outdoors; not to mention the vast span of distance between Zeltiva and Mura. She could not see it, but she thought of it, letting recollections spill through her mind like a string of bright beads. "There is the lake. Silver Lake, Avalis' lake, and the Silverwood around it. There are many animals in the forest, and others that prefer the shore. I know some of the same live on the mainland -- fox, otter, deer, many birds, and others. Some do not," she added, thinking of the Calivari in particular, "but even Konti see those rarely." So for fauna; next for flora. "There are many trees, and... and bushes, and all kinds of flowers. Many of those, I think, do not grow anywhere else," she continued. "The trees, they are mostly the kinds which stay green, with needles instead of leaves. Though there are some which are always white -- and in Winter, when the Watchtower changes, all the trees go white. It is why we call it the Silverwood, why some call our island the White Isle." Eleret looked across at Ayatah, and her lips tugged sideways in a wry smile as she held up a hand in demonstration. "That, and because much there is pale always." Including the native race.

[Ayatah]

Ayatah nodded along with Eleret’s words, trying to build up a mental image of the lands she described. As she said, creatures such as deer and birds could even be found in Taloba. But aside from sharing the odd one or two creatures, and also a sometimes-sticky atmosphere, the two places shared little in common. Seasons, in particular, were constant in Taloba, varying only in terms of the amount of rainfall. It tended to vary only between being hot, and being hot and wet.

She let out chuckle as the Konti held up her hand and explained the origins of her home’s nickname. ”That explains a lot,” she said, trying - and failing - to imagine trees that changed colour with the seasons, which in themselves were hard thing to imagine.

”I don’t think Taloba is known as anything else other than simply… Taloba.” Her brow furrowed at the thought. Her own people called their home the Sacred City, but she was almost certain that no outsiders would refer to it as such. In fact… It’s more likely to be known as the Savage city. The reputation that her people upheld was far from pleasant, though it would be a lie to say certain aspects, such as the cannibalism, was not true. She eventually shrugged her shoulders, now wearing her own crooked smirk, ”if it does… It’s probably not a nickname I want to know about.”
[/b]

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Eleret]

Eleret smiled across the desk at Ayatah, and raised her hands in a graceful shrug. "I do not know it either, if there is one. But now I know more of Taloba than I did." A great deal more, and she had a face to go with her impressions of the Myrians -- even if it wasn't a perfect example of the race's type. "Thank you." Lowering her hands, she laid one across the face of her book. "It is good to talk, but I do not have much more time, and I would read some of this. You do not mind, if I leave you to your study for a while?" she asked politely. Given that Ayatah didn't so mind, Eleret offered a further smile to her companion of the moment, then checked her position in her book and readied her quill with fresh ink. Her thoughts were still filled with the ideas of jungle and forest, a place inundated with water but whose inhabitants were as land-dwelling as humans. Horses, however important, suddenly seemed far less interesting.[/b]"

[Ayatah]

Ayatah nodded and smiled to the Konti, ”Of course!” She stood up and tapped her dextrous fingers on the table beneath her, ”thank you for telling me about your home and people. I appreciate it - after all, I am a student of anthropology!”

She returned to her own desk, finding her book open on the same page she had left it on. An image of a fierce looking Eypharian glared back at her, all four arms adorned in gold and black jewellery. On the opposite page was a smaller image of the desert, yellow sand contrasting against a blue sky.

Not much water there she thought with a wry smile, and returned to her work.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Paragon]

Eleret

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Research	2
Socialisation	2
Writing	1
Rhetoric	2
Investigation	1
Interrogation	1

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Ayatah of the Scattered Skulls
•	Taloba: Heat and Foliage
•	Falyndar Location: Kandukta Basin
•	Alien Concepts to the Konti

Legend Becomes Reality

Ayatah, I am waiting on you to deduct living expenses to give you your grade. PM me when you have. Good thread though. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can work from there.