The Quill is Mightier than the Sword: Part I
|| 54th Winter, 495AV || Taloba, the Scattered Bones' clan home ||
|| 54th Winter, 495AV || Taloba, the Scattered Bones' clan home ||
oocIn my head whilst writing this, the Common language was basically English and so it follows the same spelling and grammatical rules. The Myrian language, however, was very different and the two languages didn't share any of the same words (so not like English and French, etc). Please let me know if this is completely inaccurate... I only really realised how much I was assuming half way through writing this!
"You have to have patience, Ayatah." Even the calm voice belonging to Quinneth of the Scattered Bones seemed strained as she watched her great-Granddaughter pout and huff.
The young half-breed glanced guiltily up to her clan matriarch. The sources of her frustration, a quill and a handful of sheet of paper, lay strewn across the dry dirt. Only ticks ago, Aya had slung both of them in a fit of fury. "It's hard, Grandmother." She mumbled, reaching down to pick them back up.
Quinneth smiled, her aged face creasing into a thousand more lines as she did so, "learning is difficult, little Aya. Especially learning a new language." She tapped the paper with a long, crooked finger. "Try again." This time, her words were spoken in Common.
Ayatah's stared in wonderment. Her grandmother's pronunciation would sound clumsy to any fluent speaker, but to Aya - who could barely string together a sentence in Common - it had been perfectly smooth. She tried to repeat the first word Quinneth had said: "Ch-y. Ch-r-ie. Tie-ee." A stern look from the ancient old woman set Ayatah back on her task.
There were two lines of handwriting on the face of the crispy paper, one in Myrian and one in Common. Both were written in the tiny scrawl that belonged to Quinneth; even a complete stranger would have easily guessed that the wobbly little words belonged to the grey-haired Myrian. Aya stared down at the lines of words.
My name is Ayatah of the Scattered Bones.
Whether or not she would ever need to write that specific sentence in Common, Ayatah did not know. But, as Quinneth had told her with ever lasting affection and patience, she needed to start somewhere. Introductions were as good as any place, and it would serve the little Myrian well if she knew at least how to say or write her clan's name in Common.
It had been Aya's idea to learn how to speak, write and read in the other language - but it was a decision she was starting to regret. Though she could speak a few patchy words in Common, it was her reading and writing that was not progressing so well. She rolled her narrow shoulders in their sockets - a habit she was beginning to develop before writing, as if to prepare for a great battle - and dipped her quill into the inkpot. Then, she began to write. Myri, how she loved that scratchy sound that accompanied her scrawls.
Her words were crooked, large and clumsy. They were by far the ugliest thing Aya had ever seen, but she tried to ignore the burning desire to have another tantrum and continued to write.
My.... name.....
"Careful. Your 'a' looks like a 'q'." Quinneth pointed to the second letter of the second word, with its dramatic downwards flick that did indeed made 'name' look more like 'nqme'. She pointed to another piece of paper, with all twenty-six letters of the Common alphabet. "Remember 'Q'? For words like 'quite' and 'quiet'."
Ayatah nodded solemnly. She tried again.
My... name.... is....
"Your 's' is backwards. It's a 'Z'."
The young half-breed sighed, puffing her cheeks out in constrained frustration. How she wanted to scream!
My... name... is... Ayatah... For her name, Aya paused, and simply wrote it in Myrian. She was not about to be scolded for misspelling her own name, for Myri's sake.
Of.... the.... Scattered.... Bones. Finished, she admired her lopsided writing.
"Our clan name looks ugly in Common."
"You have to have patience, Ayatah." Even the calm voice belonging to Quinneth of the Scattered Bones seemed strained as she watched her great-Granddaughter pout and huff.
The young half-breed glanced guiltily up to her clan matriarch. The sources of her frustration, a quill and a handful of sheet of paper, lay strewn across the dry dirt. Only ticks ago, Aya had slung both of them in a fit of fury. "It's hard, Grandmother." She mumbled, reaching down to pick them back up.
Quinneth smiled, her aged face creasing into a thousand more lines as she did so, "learning is difficult, little Aya. Especially learning a new language." She tapped the paper with a long, crooked finger. "Try again." This time, her words were spoken in Common.
Ayatah's stared in wonderment. Her grandmother's pronunciation would sound clumsy to any fluent speaker, but to Aya - who could barely string together a sentence in Common - it had been perfectly smooth. She tried to repeat the first word Quinneth had said: "Ch-y. Ch-r-ie. Tie-ee." A stern look from the ancient old woman set Ayatah back on her task.
There were two lines of handwriting on the face of the crispy paper, one in Myrian and one in Common. Both were written in the tiny scrawl that belonged to Quinneth; even a complete stranger would have easily guessed that the wobbly little words belonged to the grey-haired Myrian. Aya stared down at the lines of words.
My name is Ayatah of the Scattered Bones.
Whether or not she would ever need to write that specific sentence in Common, Ayatah did not know. But, as Quinneth had told her with ever lasting affection and patience, she needed to start somewhere. Introductions were as good as any place, and it would serve the little Myrian well if she knew at least how to say or write her clan's name in Common.
It had been Aya's idea to learn how to speak, write and read in the other language - but it was a decision she was starting to regret. Though she could speak a few patchy words in Common, it was her reading and writing that was not progressing so well. She rolled her narrow shoulders in their sockets - a habit she was beginning to develop before writing, as if to prepare for a great battle - and dipped her quill into the inkpot. Then, she began to write. Myri, how she loved that scratchy sound that accompanied her scrawls.
Her words were crooked, large and clumsy. They were by far the ugliest thing Aya had ever seen, but she tried to ignore the burning desire to have another tantrum and continued to write.
My.... name.....
"Careful. Your 'a' looks like a 'q'." Quinneth pointed to the second letter of the second word, with its dramatic downwards flick that did indeed made 'name' look more like 'nqme'. She pointed to another piece of paper, with all twenty-six letters of the Common alphabet. "Remember 'Q'? For words like 'quite' and 'quiet'."
Ayatah nodded solemnly. She tried again.
My... name.... is....
"Your 's' is backwards. It's a 'Z'."
The young half-breed sighed, puffing her cheeks out in constrained frustration. How she wanted to scream!
My... name... is... Ayatah... For her name, Aya paused, and simply wrote it in Myrian. She was not about to be scolded for misspelling her own name, for Myri's sake.
Of.... the.... Scattered.... Bones. Finished, she admired her lopsided writing.
"Our clan name looks ugly in Common."
