Solo Learning Words

[Asterope]

12th of autumn, 521 AV

Aster had tried to insist on paying Atmish for her Shiber lessons, but he had stubbornly refused, citing it as a favour for a friend and stating that he wasn't a professional teacher anyway. Still, Aster felt bad; she wanted to get him something to thank him for his help, but she didn't know what. She had agonized over it all morning before going to meet him for their second lesson at the Reading Room, and she still turned up empty-handed. Perhaps she would just offer to buy them both lunch or dinner after they were done; their last session had been lengthy and surprisingly exhausting, after all.

Atmish greeted her with a warm smile; he was seated at the same desk as the last time, and he had brought papers and a quill with ink again. Aster returned his smile, sitting beside him. "Aster, you look well," he said, as she sat.

"Oh, uhm, thank you. You as well," Aster said, somewhat awkwardly, causing Atmish to chuckle.

"Have you been practicing since we last met?" He asked, and Aster nodded.

"I've gone over the alphabet and numbers a few times since then," she said, somewhat proudly, as she fished out her papers from last time with the alphabet and various words scrawled across them. They were creased and folded, showing signs of wear even just in the few days it had been since their last meeting.

"Very good. That's important to be able to remember things," Atmish nodded, smoothing out the papers, noticing with some amusement the smudges on some of the letters. Aster knew they were from falling asleep on the papers, but she said nothing, too embarrassed to admit such a thing.

"So, let's go over the alphabet once just to make sure you remember everything, shall we? Then I'd like to spend today teaching you some basic words and phrases, and perhaps after that we can find a book for you to practice with." Atmish clasped his hands together, and Aster nodded her assent to his plan; it sounded perfectly reasonable to her.

The two went over the alphabet fairly quickly; Aster stumbled over the occasional letter, but she had been over the paper enough times in the last few days to have the base alphabet memorized. She still struggled somewhat with remembering what sounds were associated with which letters, but Atmish assured her it would become easier to remember when she had syllables and words to attach to the vague sounds.

"Well, you seem to have the alphabet known fairly well. Do you remember the words I taught you last time?" Atmish asked, raising one brow, and Aster paused. Did she? She hadn't spent very much time trying to practice those, too focused on the alphabet.

"Well, I know you taught me hello and goodbye and a swear," the last part of her sentence was said with some amusement. "It meant...spit? I think?" She asked, and Atmish nodded.

"Do you remember them in Shiber, though?" He asked, bemused, and Aster chewed on her lower lip for a moment, wracking her brain.

Word count: 516

[Asterope]

"Hello is...fay...no, falim," Aster said after a moment and Atmish nodded encouragingly. "Goodbye wasn't too different, it's..." there was another pause as Aster considered again. "Malim?"

"Close," Atmish smiled. "It's ma-h-im, with an 'h', not an 'l'." Aster frowned, disappointed that she couldn't remember such a simple word. "You'll get it," Atmish chuckled at her frown.

"Mahim," Aster repeated, and nodded. "And the swear was, uhm..." surely she could remember this, she knew it had been a simple word, only three letters, "...hik." She said, confidently after a moment, and Atmish nodded again.

"There you go, very good. Now, in Benshira culture, family and faith are both very important, so I'll teach you a few of those words. The word faith in Shiber is shir," Atmish said, before repeating the word more slowly. Aster was beginning to realize that most Shiber words were fairly short, which made things at least slightly easier.

"Sheer," Aster said, and Atmish shook his head.

"No, not quite, there's a bit of a different inflection. Shir," he repeated, and Aster said it back to him, struggling to wrap her head (and tongue) around the correct pronunciation. "Much better. Now, how would you spell it?"

"Uhm. 'C'," Aster started, and Atmish shook his head.

"Not quite. S - H - I - R," Atmish spelled it out in Shiber, and wrote it down on one of the fresh pieces of parchment before sliding it across to Asterope for her to copy. As she wrote, Aster noticed something else, putting a few words together in her head; Benshira, Shiber, shir.

"A lot of words use the 'sh' sound in Shiber, it seems," she said, as she copied the word down.

"It is a very common sound," Atmish confirmed. "That letter combination making that specific sound is found in many words and names in Shiber. You will learn to memorize it quickly because it is so common," he smiled, as Aster finished copying the word down. Shir. Faith. It made her think of Yahal. Faith and family...

"How is Lesha?" She asked, abruptly; she hadn't had the opportunity to see the old woman who was...perhaps her niece, in some sort of way, since the first time Atmish had brought them together.

"I haven't seen her in quite some time," Atmish said. "Not long after you last saw her. I don't leave the Outpost often, and Benshira prefer to wander when possible. She was well when I did see her, though. She is still spritely for an old woman," he chuckled.

Aster nodded, slightly disappointed, but there wasn't much to be done. "I hope she's well," Aster sighed, and Atmish looked at her thoughtfully.

"I'm sure she is," he said after a moment, touching Aster's arm lightly. "Now, if you focus and study hard, perhaps you can have a proper conversation with her in Shiber next time you see her," he grinned, and Aster laughed softly.

"Alright, alright. I'll try to focus," Aster said, returning her focus to the sheet of parchment on the desk in front of her.

Word count: 507
Total: 1,023

[Asterope]

They continued going over basic words; Atmish taught her to say family, and then after a moment of thought from Aster and at her request, how to say sun and sky. They took the time to go over each word several times, letting Aster get used to sounding it out and then writing it down. "Abarr is father in Shiber," said Atmish. "Ab-arr."

"Ab-arr," Aster repeated, before putting it together. She was getting better at recognizing which sounds went with which letters as well; she began writing the word. A - B - A - R...she hesitated, then put the quill down. Atmish grinned.

"So very close. It is a tricky word. You are exactly right except there are two 'R's at the end, not only one," he explained, and Aster frowned slightly. Why did languages have to have so many strange rules and exceptions and tricks? With a sigh, she added the extra 'R' at the end of the word.

Between some simple, base words, Atmish also went over the extreme basics, teaching Aster words like 'and', 'of', 'in', 'on', 'is', 'you'...the list went on, and she was beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed. "This isn't even getting into syntax and grammar and sentence structure," chuckled Atmish, and Aster suppressed a groan.

"Honestly, you will learn that best from books. And you are very far from fluent, let alone conversational. You are just learning. If you string the words together, someone who speaks Shiber will probably be able to tell what you are saying. They might even appreciate the attempt rather than make fun of you." The last part was said teasingly, and Aster huffed slightly, but a smile was tugging at her mouth.

Spending time with Atmish, even doing something as tedious and repetitive as trying to learn a language, was...fun. It felt easy and natural, and it was nice. It was nice to have friends again, between Imogen, Jala, and Atmish. Shaking off her wandering thoughts, she focused on the lesson at hand again.

"Now, you've been doing very well with simple, short words, but there are long and more complex words in Shiber as well. Let's try one, shall we? Hmm, let me think..." Atmish paused, rubbing his jaw as he considered, then grinned mischievously. Aster regarded him warily, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.

"Javeya," he said, and grinned as Aster blanched at the word, more complex than the other ones she'd learned up to that point. "Ja-vey-a," he said, patiently.

"Ja-vay-a," Aster said, then frowned; that didn't sound right. She corrected herself before Atmish could. "Ja-vey-a?" She tried again, and Atmish nodded.

"All together, now..." he motioned with one hand.

"Javeya," Aster said, slowly but cohesively rather than breaking it down into syllables.

"Very good," Atmish praised. "I won't make you guess how to spell that one. Here," he wrote it down on the parchment before passing the paper and quill over to Asterope for her to copy the word. "It's a bit longer than the other words we've been over, as well."

"What does it mean?" Aster asked, as she began to write it.

Word count: 517
Total: 1,540

[Asterope]

"Beautiful," Atmish said, with a shameless grin, and Aster felt herself flushing from the tips of her ears all the way down her neck, her already rose-gold skin turning even pinker. Atmish covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't tease. You are lovely, Aster, I've never met any other Ethaefal, but that was perhaps mean of me," Atmish chuckled, lowering his hand, and Aster shook her head slightly, her shoulders hunched slightly around her ears in her embarrassment. "It was a good example of a complex word, though."

Was this flirting? Aster realized abruptly as she looked at Atmish. She...didn't think she'd ever really flirted with anyone before, at least not on purpose. And vain as it sounded, she was used to people admiring her beauty, but she didn't think anyone had ever flirted with her. Romance and sex had never really appealed to her; or at least, she'd never found someone that made them appealing. She couldn't deny Atmish was attractive, but...she hadn't thought of him like that, up until he made her question herself just then.

"I was just being playful, Asterope. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I apologize," Atmish said, gently but sincerely when Asterope sat still for a long moment. She shook herself out of her thoughts, blinking at the Benshira man.

"No, no, it's fine," she said, hastily. "I wasn't upset or...uncomfortable. I just didn't expect it, I suppose." The admission that Atmish was just playing and not being serious with his flirtation, if that is indeed what it was, made her relax. She was more than content to just have Atmish as a friend. Anyone, for that matter. She was lonely, and wanted, needed, friends desperately. But the thought of complicating friendship with love or sex made her nervous. How was she even supposed to know if she found someone that she desired that with? She'd never really considered any of that before now.

She was getting distracted again. Atmish was waiting patiently, looking bemused but also mildly concerned as he watched her. Aster shook herself out of her thoughts and gave him a slight smile. "I'm fine," she assured him, "and you're right, it was a good example." It was true, she couldn't argue with that. Turning her focus back to the parchment on the table, Aster continued copying the word down.

So the lesson went on. Atmish taught her a few more words important to Benshiran culture; maskam, which was a title of respect, usually for a teacher of sorts. "Mas-kam," Asterope sounded the word out. "Should I be calling you that?" She asked, half-teasing, and Atmish rolled his eyes at her. Yah was a shorthand way of referring to Yahal, which was simple and easy to remember, since Aster was already familiar with the name.

Somewhat begrudgingly, Atmish also taught her the word rakva. "It is an insult, really. Used in a derogatory way. It means non-Benshira. It is very rude, but you should know it, as not all Benshira will be so welcoming of you. This way, you can tell who is friendly to you and who is not. Like my sister, when she got annoyed that I was coming to teach you again today."

"Rak-va," Asterope repeated dutifully, then frowned a bit. "Oh. I'm sorry. You didn't have anything to do today, did you?"

"Not at all," Atmish waved his hand. "She is just grumpy, and very closed-off. She feels a stronger connection to our culture than me, I think. She is more protective. She has had to be." Atmish said, then looked like he regretted saying so much. "Ah, but it is not my place to speak of her life. Besides, we have more learning to do. Apologies."

Word count: 626
Total: 2,166

[Asterope]

Aster simply nodded, deciding not to question him further despite her piqued curiosity. Satisfied that Aster had a decent repertoire of words written down and memorized to the best of her ability, Atmish stood. "Now, we find you a book to read. I didn't bring anything to give in return, so we won't be copying anything, but the reading will still be a good exercise for you. Give me a moment to see if I can't find something."

Atmish wasn't gone for overly long before returning, looking triumphant, with two books in his hands. "Here we go," he said, sitting back down, sliding one over to Asterope. It was a thin leather-bound journal, the cover scuffed and worn. "This one is simpler, I think. It is a few songs and poems. Go ahead and try to read them out loud."

Flipping the book open to a random page, Aster stared in trepidation at the scrawl of words in front of her. She could make out individual letters, but piecing them into words seemed overwhelming with so many of them crammed together. Inhaling deeply, she began reading out loud slowly and carefully, mindful to keep her voice quiet.

Atmish listened closely, nodding when she got a word right or shaking his head when one was wrong and correcting her, providing translations for unfamiliar words as they went, but only after Aster had made an attempt to sound them out. It was slow-going, and by the time they finished a page, it felt like bells had passed, and Aster honestly had no idea what the page had actually said cohesively. But she was learning to read slightly more quickly, the words flowing more naturally, and she had already learned a few new words. She was also beginning to get a very vague sense for how words went together, and in what order. A very, very vague sense. But it was a start.

They read through two full pages like that before Atmish interrupted. "I think that's enough for today," he said, leaning back in his chair. "You learned quite a lot, and you need to be able to practice and remember it all, after all. If you try to learn too much in one day you'll start forgetting things."

Aster nodded in agreement, relieved; her voice was getting tired, and she was beginning to feel overwhelmed. The two packed up, Atmish returning the books to their shelves before they left. "I don't know how much more I can help you with after this," he commented. "As I've said, I'm hardly a teacher. The alphabet is easy, as is translating individual words, but I don't know that I could really teach you correct grammar and syntax and such."

"I appreciate all that you've done already," Aster assured him, with a slight smile. "Besides, I think I need to get familiar with what I've already learned before moving on to that. Thank you again. Are you sure I can't buy you lunch to repay you?" Well, a late lunch, in any case.

Atmish waved her off stubbornly. "I've already said you don't need to pay me back, Aster. But I appreciate the thought, it's kind of you. Perhaps some day you can pay for lunch," he agreed after a moment. "But for now I really should be getting back. My sister will already be having a fit since it's so late." He didn't sound particularly bothered, grinning at Aster. "Good luck with your practice. Stay well. Mahim, Aster," he said, with a wave.

"Mahim, Atmish," Aster said in return, watching him leave. More to practice and memorize; the pile of papers she was holding was rather thick at this point. Perhaps she should get some sort of journal to recopy it all into. Folding the papers carefully and tucking them beneath her arm, Aster began walking back to the inn, tired but content and feeling satisfied if overwhelmed with the amount she'd learned.

Word count: 659
Total: 2,825