Miscommunication [Alia]

[Atoll Northwind]

13th of Summer, 514AV What did land-dwellers do all day without a ship to man? Atoll knew they did things but he was bored and becoming grumpy. The heat was doing nothing to help. It battered down from the sky and wafted up from the ground. Atoll grumbled and tried to take in the sights. But nothing caught his eye until he seen another of the almost natives. They seemed outnumbered in his opinion but the fair-haired woman were by fair the finest thing in the city. He’d approached one earlier and been shot down before he’d been able to finish asking her out. That’s exactly what he needed to kill some time. A lady. Not that his last encounter had been fruitful, even his toes buried themselves in the sand to hide from shame. And that took away the sting, literal and physical. With his feet buried Atoll wormed his way closer to the familiar sound of the waves. The closer he got to the water the more at ease he felt. Not that it quelled the boredom, “Good days rest.” He told himself, remembering that when he was busy there were times he couldn’t wait for a break. But he was losing sight of his real goal here. Women. A woman to be exact. He’d just have to find one. Atoll turned back to face the expanse of the beach, it was a nice beach. With lots of sand, and shells, and it was a beach. Atoll scratched his head. He was trying to take the pods advice and see what the land had to offer, as he had been since he’d been abandoned, but there just wasn’t much to see. A city was a city was a city. He guessed some would argue the same about sea, course they’d be wrong. Atoll made himself continue on his stroll, encouraging himself once more with the illusive prospect of pretty company. The men here were shiny but they couldn’t be considered pretty and he liked his companions pretty. He wound his fingers behind his head and continued his scoping. Another white-haired beauty, another blue man, yet another blue man still. He should probably asked what they’re called sometime. He kicked up a bit of sand and watched a crab scuttle out from under it. Bright red against the sand. Just like the young woman not too far away from where he stood. Even from where he was he could tell she was cute with her long red hair, pale skin, and dainty figure. The closer he ambled the move he was proven right, and even from here he could see her beautiful blues. What more can a Svefra ask for? ”Oi, blue eyes. How bout a walk?” Atoll held his hand out to the lady, ”Ya don’t look much like them natives here? You a Svefra?” He knew she wasn’t. From the way she held herself, to even little things in her appearance, even to her current expression told him no but it was meant as a compliment.

[Alia Beaudouin]

13th of Summer, 514 AV

Summer. Alia’a favourite season.
Even with the boiling heat, she felt light and airy with the shiny sun, and most recently, the splashing waves. It seemed like a lot of Alia’s time was spent at the beach now a days, she had even earned herself a minor sunburn on her shoulders for that. Luckily, her face hadn’t been burned due to the fact that she had taken to wearing a sunhat. Unfortunately, for that day she had left it at home.

Alia had brought her mandolin with her, the instrument being strapped securely to her back whilst she strolled along the beach. She wasn’t even sure if she would play it today, but just the presence of her prized possession made her feel more confident. She hadn’t brought her inspiration notebook out of fear of losing it, but she had memorized most of the songs in it anyways.

As she continued down the beach, Alia curled her bare toes into the sand, she hadn’t bothered with shoes today, as with the combination of hot air and sand would just bother her feet. The sand felt soft, though once or twice she nearly stepped on a rock. Sometimes, there was even some form of life poking up through the sand. A shell, maybe, or even a crab.

Speaking of which, a small, bright red crustacean scuttled by her feet just as she thought about it. It seemed rather scared, the crab, and it still seemed to be covered in sand. Watching it run past, Alia wondered what could have spooked it. Looking up, she saw what, most likely, had terrified the poor beast. A man was heading from the direction the crab had come from straight towards Alia was standing. Did he want something?

Seconds after noticing him, Alia realized the man was speaking some sort of rapid-fire syllable throwing language. It was a language Alia had never heard before, nevermind understand. He seemed to be using a lot of hand motions in his speech though, was he just exaggerating or was that actually part of the language? If so, it was an interesting language indeed.

When the man seemed to stop talking, Alia realized he was holding his hand out. Taking it as an invitation to shake hands, she awkwardly reached out and took his hand. Wondering if he would actually be able to understand her if she spoke, Alia began to talk to him, though she drew out her words in case he didn’t understand.

”I- Uh… Do you… Can you understand me?”

[Atoll Northwind]

Atoll didn’t understand her confusion or the way her eyes followed his hands but without comprehension. He laughed when he realized he’d forgotten to speak Common. He pecked her hand then dropped it to twist his hands behind his head again. “Sorry, forgot Common words. How ‘bout walk? Fine day needs company.” Even when he spoke in Common his hands moved to the beat of the Svefra’s true language. Then he remembered her question and gave a sharp nod, a bit of annoyance flaring. The woman had spoken like he was a kid. “I’m not…” the indignation whooshed out as he realized he didn’t know the word. “I know some.” Atoll said finally. “I know how say ya got blue eyes. Pretty eyes.” Atoll felt every bit the idiot when he finished. It hadn’t come out as smooth as he’d intended. He scratched his head, blasted thing had been itching like crazy lately, and looked down. Then imitated a stone while he tried to get himself in gear. He’d never had this much problem communicating before but he’d talked to none save his own for a long time. Whadda we need it for, I said. Ha! “Ya not lookin’ same. Ya from…” Atoll nodded out to the wide expanse of sea. He didn’t want to stand still forever though. “We walk to talk, aye?” The Svefra assumed he’d be joined, and set a slow pace along the beach. The water was close enough to lap over his feet and cool them now that he’d remembered the heat. A warm breeze passed, brining Atolls attention back to the woman where he found an instrument strapped to her back. A mandolin. Some of his cousins played it badly during the large pod parties. Most nights it’d given him a headache he almost felt just seeing the thing. It made him stop and point. “Waddya sing?” Curious the Svefra mimed playing the mandola. He gave a hop and a jump and crashed on his ass in the sand. Reminded again of parties at home he tried to sing a song. Atoll even tried to translate it into Common. “Who dwells in sea Rides on waves? Svefra pod Northwind! Not baths and rowdy is we Svefra pod Northwind! If ya like good times ya like Svefra pod Northwind! Then swim on ship Svefra pod Northwind! Party! Svefra pod Northwind! Svefra pod Northwind! Svefra poooooood Northwwwiiiind!” It translated badly but the thought was there, “Your turn.” OOCSing it in broken English to the Spongebob tune. Cause that’s what it is

[Alia Beaudouin]

This was by far one of the most ridiculous conversations Alia had ever taken part in.
It seemed she was speaking to someone who spoke nearly no common whatsoever, but still managed to have a sense of humour. Or at least she hoped it was humour, otherwise he was trying very hard to be smooth, though he was failing very badly. Then again, one of the best ways to win over someone was with humour, so on that plane, he was doing quite well.

After beginning to speak in his attempt at common, the man appeared to ask Alia if she wanted to go for a walk. Now smiling softly over his humours attempt at the language she knew so well, Alia nodded. In any light, the man was trying, and he seemed nice enough, if not fluent in her native language. As he continued, Alia tried to find the words he meant to say, but seemingly couldn’t find. He seemed annoyed at her attempt to speak in a more understanding manner, so this time she spoke normally, though ready to repeat what she said if needed.
“Fluent. The word you’re looking for is fluent. Smiling, Alia went on. ”I’d assume common isn’t your mother language.”

As the man spoke again, Alia could barely understand what he meant. He had quite a heavy accent, which weighed down the words he did know the meaning of, while on the other hand, with the words he didn’t know the meaning of… Well, Alia tried to help. As he began walking away, she tried to answer his jumbled attempt at a question as best she could.
Mimicking what he said, she tried to understand what he meant.

”’Not looking same..?’” Did he mean she didn’t look like what he usually saw? It was a safe assumption, so Alia decided to roll with it. ”Do you mean I don’t look like I’m from here? Because.. Well, in that sense, you’re right.” Deciding not to explain further, Alia instead focused on matching his walking pace. For an average-sized man he had very strides. As he began talking again, Alia realized he was referring to the mandolin strapped to her back.

Happy that he had noticed, she slipped the instrument off her back to demonstrate before realizing that the man was already bouncing around with an imaginary mandolin in his clutches. What started out as a soft giggle quickly became a fit of laughter in Alia when the man began singing. His broken common only made the scene that much funnier, and even long after he had stopped Alia found herself chuckling over the incident. Returning the mandolin to her back, she extended her arm towards the man, who was now sitting on his rump in the sand, looking up at her.

Surprisingly, before he even took her hand, the man began speaking. After his marvelous performance, he seemed to want Alia to sing. Putting off the act for a little bit, she first decided to introduce herself. Hopefully he understood what she was saying, after all, it was simply an introduction.

”That was a beautiful performance you put on there…” Stifling a laugh as she remember the show the man had created, Alia continued. ”But really, I think we forgot to introduce ourselves. My names’ Alia, what’s yours?”

[Atoll Northwind]

She was a quick girl. Atoll noted the way she spoke evenly now, giving him new words. It was strange, when she said them they sounded foreign, meaningless as any new did but he also knew that was the word he’d been looking for. He repeated it in his head, and wondered what language his thoughts spoke in. Atoll knew he wouldn’t forget the word. Some of what she said went over his head yet he nodded as if he understood every word. “Aye, that’s the one. Don’t speak it…” Atoll racked his brain for a word, “much. I speakin’ my own, Fratava. We don’t need Common on sea.” But the more she spoke the more there were words jumping in that he didn’t understand. He knew what she meant though but it made for strange listening. His brain automatically replacing what he couldn’t understand with what he knew in Fratava. Atoll didn’t dwell on these thoughts for long, for her laughter was contagious and she was now introducing herself to him. Atoll was going to stay where he was for his own introduction but the sand was beginning to burn his sensitive bits. He had took her offered hands and jumped up to continue their walk. “It were a good song, aye? Alia. Do it mean anythin’?” Atoll asked, curious when another thought struck him. He turned himself to face her then walked backwards. He stumbled every few steps. But it made it easier to face her while he spoke. “I’m Atoll of the Northwind pod and ya aren’t from here but ya speak Common?” Songs forgotten in his curious confusion Atoll tried to place her. She could be from a city that spoke just Common, plenty of cities did. But when she asked if it was his mother language Atoll had assumed it was because she had her own mother language. He wondered how she so easily could say the words he couldn’t pronounce even when he knew them. His gaze flickered to the sea, he’d probably forget all the words once he was safely away from land. The Svefra hadn’t lied when he said there was no use for it with them. Then again, if he wanted to continue the conversations with pretty ladies, this lady even, he’d need to speak if better. Well ain’t that a fine idea.” Atoll smiled to himself, “How ‘bout ya teach me? Then we can sing a....together? I’ll trade ya for it. Ya teach me and I’ll teach ya…something.” To emphasize his idea the Svefra hummed his previous ballad poorly. His fingers even twitched playing the phantom mandolin. At this rate he could get her to play at his next party.

[Alia Beaudouin]

"Alia. Do it mean anythin’?”

Pondering his question for a moment, Alia suddenly remembered something her father had said to her right before she had left Wind Reach. ’I always knew you would live up to your name. Alia. Immigrant to a new home.
Smiling as she remembered her father, Alia drew her mind back to answering Atoll’s questions.
”Yes, if memory serves me, Alia means ‘Immigrant to a new home.’” She paused for several ticks as they walked on, but soon continued the explanation. ”I’m not sure what language it means that in, though.”

Several ticks of silence followed the end of Alia’s short answer until Atoll started walking backwards and posed a new question. He certainly was a strange man, but Alia liked it. As she listened to his question in his broken common accent, Alia watched another bright red crab scuttle by. Bemused, she watched as the crustacean danced beneath Atoll’s feet, seemingly without him noticing. It was quite the entertaining show, but Alia drew her eyes from it in order to answer the man’s barely understandable question.

”Yes, I’m not from around here, and yes, I speak common…” Not that she was supposed to. ”I moved here several seasons ago, for many reasons.” Alia momentarily paused, wondering if she should go on. She often tried to explain these things, but whenever she started telling a story like this, one thing would lead to another and Alia would always end up telling her life’s story to a near stranger. Then again, Atoll seemed genuinely interested.

”I come from Wind Reach, a city far away, northeast of Riverfall. They don’t speak common there, but my father taught me common, that’s why I know it better than Nari, Wind Reach’s offical language.”
When Atoll was listening, Alia nearly forgot he didn’t understand common well. He nodded as if he understood, but she had a feeling it was just an act. ”If you don’t understand, I could rephrase it for you. You can ask me if you’re confused.”

Another awkward silence fell, and once again Atoll broke it, this time with an interesting concept. Alia teaching Atoll common, or at least some words of it. She was no teacher, but she was open to helping him learn. Spotting a small group of trees a bit farther from the water, Alia grabbed the Svefra’s hand and pulled him towards it gently, smiling. ”I’d love to teach you, but I don’t think it would go over well if we just walk and talk. How about sitting in the shade, and I can draw out some words, teach you what they mean and how to pronounce them?”

The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Again, she wasn’t a teacher, but she still liked the idea of helping Atoll learn something new, and it couldn’t be that hard to tell him the meaning of some words, could it?

Agreeing with herself, Alia thought about what Atoll could teach her. Sure, he could try teaching her some Fratava, but unless they were there for hours it probably wouldn’t go over too well. Alia had never been a star student, and though she wasn’t stupid, she didn’t take to new languages well. She had been in Riverfall for many seasons already, yet her Tukant was still patchy and broken, she barely knew any words of the language, even though she now lived in it’s mother city.

”I’d love the idea of a duet, but we’ll first have to find a song to sing. Anyways, one thing at a time. How about you draw the word you want to learn in the sand, and I’ll tell you what it is in common?” Pausing, Alia wondered how she would go about this. It wasn’t as if she could single-handedly teach him every word in the common language, so she would have to go about this systematically.

”Like… The ocean, for example.” As they reached the small patch of shade, Alia sat down and drew some lines in the sand, roughly resembling a wave. Her teaching method was far from perfect, but in her mind, it worked. She just needed to figure out what words Atoll knew, and what words he didn’t. Contradicting her earlier doubts about learning Fratava, Alia asked him to teach her anyways,
”Maybe you could teach me what some words mean in your language? Not the entire thing, just some random words. Like… Ocean.” Pointing to the waves crashing on the beach, Alia tried to clarify her question.

”How do you say ‘Ocean’ in Fratava?”

[Atoll Northwind]

Atoll contemplated her answer for a moment. Svefra tended to theme their offspring, his own pod preferred signs from birth or conception. He thought his name bound his to the sea even of, Laviku forbid, wasn’t Svefra. Reefs had to be in the sea. They were a part of it. She’ll not be wanting to go home then, most likely. “Ya planning on living all your days here? Seven seasons is lots.” When he finished he flinched because he had finally noted the crab under his feet. It had thought to give him a pinch to make sure it wasn’t crushed under his big feet. But he didn’t stop, just limped until the sting of it faded. Be eatin’ crab for dinner some time. He thought vengefully to the crab, he shot it a glare for good measure but focused solely on Alia. She was right. He was having some trouble keeping up with her speech and there were no visual cues for him. Fratava had signals that could, to an extent, be exchanged to words. Common had no such thing. That was not to say people didn’t talk with their so much as the gestures could be anything. They could wave their hands just because. Or they could be trying to describe something. The unknowing part made it just look funny. “I know what ya mean but words aren’t…they’re just noise. If ya…rephrase, that’s the one, aye? I ain’t learnin’ much, needs to know all of ‘em. So ya can talk…regular?” The more he spoke in Common and listened to himself the more difficult the task seemed. So many words could be exchanged with others, same as any language but it was hard not to say them in Fratava to make things simple. Atoll scratched his head again. It’d be a hard one but he could do it. “Like kids in the sand, aye?” He shook his head and laughed. It wasn’t to disagree but because his new teacher was so enthused. It was contagious. So he squatted down beside her and watched her like a bird watched fish just beneath the surface. Slightly unsure but determined. Atoll watched her draw then guffawed. “I getcha, Alia but I knowed that one since I was birthed.” “How ‘bout…this…” The Svefra reached into the sand, grateful for the shade because even this sand was warm to the touch. He imagined their fingers would be red raw in the light. But he drew the picture without incident. It was crude but would maybe get his idea across. It had four legs and a flat surface. “I ain’t never remembered that.” He wondered if she knew what it was, looking at it Atoll wasn’t even sure he knew what it was and he had drawn the damned thing. Never said I was an artist. “’Course I’ll teach ya. Might be hard. Lots of movin’ in it. But tradin’ I know so we trade. I can give ya something else too. And we…not all words are…drawed or drawn? So might needin’ more lessons.” Then he sat on his hunches and thought about how to show her. Strange. Atoll knew the language, spoke it every day. Yet, trying to actually think about what he was doing and be damned if he knew. So he said the word once without explanation, just to see what it was he did. He did it twice more before he gave a little nod. “Alright. Ocean in mine is…Ocean.” Atoll hands curved making the hand motion for water then sounding out the word quickly. They were at odds with each other. One slow, one swift and he’d forgotten to tell her about the eyebrows. “Ya gotta…copy me like—“ He cut himself off then reached forward to grab her arms and physically show her the movements, still saying the word. “And the face. Ya gotta make the face.” He told her when he pulled back. Looking at all he’d done to teach her one word he though maybe Common was could actually be easier. It was a new thought for him, he’d always thought it was complicated but this one word was just a lot. “Takes lots of…” He racked his brain then shrugged. Alia was good at filling in the blanks.

[Alia Beaudouin]

Seven seasons? Had it really been that long?
Doing the math in her head, Alia soon replied. ”No.. I don’t think it’s been quite that long…” No, if she had come in the summer of 513, and it was now summer of 514, then this was her fifth season here. It hadn’t been that long since she had seen Wind Reach. It couldn’t have been, she still had the mountains, the cliffs, the view, all fresh in her mind.

”I haven’t been here for seven seasons, only five. But… Yes, I think I do plan to spend the rest of my time here.”
She would have to give this more time. What did she plan to do with the rest of her life? She wanted to stay in Riverfall, but yet she wanted to see her parents again. Sure, she could visit, but when? When would she be brave enough, and have enough funds, to return?
This topic required more thought, but now was not the time. Instead, she drew her mind back to Atoll, and his neverending stream of questions.

Soon, the man had caught on to Alia’s strange teaching method. He drew a strange figure in the sand, a line with four lines below it. Staring at it for what seemed like forever, Alia felt stupid for not knowing what it was. An animal, maybe? Then again, it couldn’t be, no animal she knew of had a flat body such as what he had drawn. Suddenly, an idea came to her.
”Oh! A table? Do you mean a table? You know, like the furniture you put food on?”

Atoll was no artist, that was for certain, but then again neither was Alia. They would just have to get along with what they did have, and make up the rest. After they got past the whole we’re-both-failures-at-drawing-and-we-know-it realization, Atoll decided it was his turn to teach Alia something. He mentioned that Fratava involved a lot of… Moving? Wondering at what he meant, Alia followed his instructions. She still wondered, though, how did a language involve movements? Did he mean hand movements?
If he did, this was going to be a lot harder than she had thought.

After several moments of thought, Atoll continued, finally explaining how to say ocean in Fratava. Unfortunately, it seemed that Fratava did include hand symbols. This was going to be hard. At first, Alia tried only saying the word, and though her pronunciation was slightly off, it sounded roughly like what Atoll had said.
”Ocean… Did I say it right?”

Though she obviously knew she had mispronounced it, her mistakes seemed to have gone further, and the language was much more complex than she had first though. Hand movements, eyebrow movements, strange pronunciations. There was no way she was ever going to learn this. As Atoll took her arms in his hands to show her the moves, Alia tried to copy him as well as she could. Eventually, after at least a chime of attempting, she had gotten the hang of it.
Slightly frustrated at her pace, Alia sighed.
One word down, only about a billion to go.

[Atoll Northwind]

To Atoll her words were crazy talk. Sure, he always had lived in the same seas but the seas were never the same. They changed, things moved, things grew. Cities dotted the coast if he felt the need to go in. And soon as he had the right ship he’d be following Laviku straight to his oceans. The idea of staying in one place for so long then choosing to stay longer appalled him. Atoll couldn’t understand how someone could pick something like that and it showed on his face. Slack with confusion he spoke in a astonished whisper, “Alia, lass, ya mean you’ll stay here always? I couldn’t do it. Ya got…somethin’.” He left it at that, now wasn’t the time to debate who knew more about how to live. If Alia wanted to stayed in Riverfall till she was old and gray that was her choice. Still, he looked at her, young as he was and doing things so different. He almost pitied her. But to each their own, at least he’d know someone if he every had the inkling to come back to Riverfall for awhile. Refocusing on the task at hand Atoll watched Alia try and figure out his drawing, he’d thought she wouldn’t figure it out at first but then she said the word. It rang familiar but indefinable in his ears, which meant it was correct. Then she explained herself and he smiled wide. “Table. I don’t use tables.” He laughed at his own sentence. It was true, he didn’t have a need for them. Couldn’t even figure out where someone would put them on a ship. Even bolted down he could just imagine the space they’d take up and how often his pod would curse ever bringing it on board. Maybe I’ll get ‘em a table. Zulphyia would love that! After showing Alia how to say Ocean Atoll expected her to give up. Lots of people did, they weren’t cut out for Svefra tongue but he’d give the girl an A for effort. Again and again she tried it. He face sometimes expressing more frustration than ocean but she had the idea down. When she was close enough that none would mistake it for any other word Atoll clapped her on the back. “Ya got it, Alia!” He was proud of her. And himself. He’d taught someone something and there was a feeling of enjoyment it brought. Especially when it was something pertaining to his culture. It made him feel like land-dwellers weren’t a hopeless case after all. “You’re gonna do fine and how ‘bout….this…” The Svefra trailed off as he began to trace the sand becoming more and more excited with their shared learning. The picture was as bad as the first but more intricate. It still small and still had four legs but the legs had little feet. It had a long tail, triangle ears and a happy face where the head was. “…dunno what it is but I see ‘em. Big, small, they make noise like—meow.” “Aye! And this one.” Atoll drew a long shape, again with four legs, “Ya sit on it.” He informed Alia as he drew, glancing at her from time to time to make sure she understood what he was asking. When he finished, he was practically face first in the sand so he eased off and wiped some sweat from his brow. Even the shade was growing warm but there was a breeze, even if that too was warm. He sat on his rump in the sand and dug up down until he found the cooler sand beneath. Then Atoll began to scoop it up onto his legs, some across his shoulders and back, with a handful of sand in his hands he turned to Alia. “Want some? It’s for the heat. And what words ya wanna know now?”

[Alia Beaudouin]

Stay here always?
It was a thought Alia had never begun to think about. Would she stay here forever? Could she even begin to imagine doing so? Thinking so far into the future almost gave her a headache. She had trouble planning out even a season, how could she plan out her entire life? She would definitely have to give this more thought, maybe once they took a break from learning. They had been doing this for a while.

It had been nearly fifteen chimes since she had met Atoll, and already he felt like an old friend. Albeit, one she barely understood, but still an old friend. Her mind wandered for a bit, but she answered Atoll’s questions smoothly. After trying Fratava, teaching common seemed like childs play. After several moments of thinking, Alia returned to attempting the word ocean, only to be rewarded by a clap on the back. Caught slightly offgaurd, Alia nearly fell forward into the sand, catching herself only at the last moment and immediately laughing softly at her failure to take even the slightest hit.

After Atoll congratulated her, she smiled at him and wondered if she would be able to go on with learning his language. Even though they were barely one word in, she didn’t want to stop now. The frustration only added to the excitement of success.
”I suppose Fratava is harder than it seems. I’d like to continue, though, if you can think of any more words.” Alia supposed she had phrased that badly. Of course he could think of more words, it was just the question of the right word. It seemed almost special, learning things in a new language. Since it took so long to learn each word, she had to make each word count. Maybe a name, or something like that. Then again, the name Alia or Atoll might be the same in Fratava. There wasn’t any use asking.

As Atoll turned the topic back to learning common, Alia guessed his drawings with ease.
”The first one is a cat. It’s an animal, and it certainly says meow.” Pausing to get a better look at Atoll’s scrambled drawing, Alia once again easily guessed it. ”If you sit on it, that’s another piece of furniture. A chair. You put it next to the table, sit on it, and do things at the table. Like eat, I guess.”

Smiling almost proudly at how easily she had guessed Atoll’s words, Alia felt more encouraged towards her ability to learn, and teach, languages, no matter how hard. Setting down her mandolin in the sand beside her, Alia let her thoughts wander as she joined Atoll in his search for cooler sand. She leaned back farther towards the tree that provided the pair with such needed shade, nearly laying down now. Atoll was right, the cooler sand below the top layer of earth certainly helped with the heat. Staring up at the sky and letting her thoughts swallow her, Alia began thinking about what Atoll had said earlier. Did she really want to stay in Riverfall forever?

She had never given it much thought before, there had never been need to. She had just been living life day by day, season by season. She had even gotten into a rhythm now that summer had come. Wake up, go to work, come back home, practice, go out for a walk, then come back and come to sleep. Sometimes, on her days off she would explore Riverfall, much like she had today. It was so strange thinking that her life could be any other way, but Atoll’s disbelief at her response had surprised her. Alia had only lived in two places her entire life, and even though the two cities were vastly different, she hadn’t even begun to discover the rest of the world. What was out there?

She obviously didn’t have the time to fully think about it now, but at least she could run over her ideas a bit in the moment of silence. Suddenly, from her thoughts, an idea emerged.
”Hey… Atoll, how do you say ‘Home’ in Fratava?”