It's Not A Man, Either . . . (Eorar)

[Astrolabe]

Fall 26, 511 A.V. Astrolabe sat patiently, his legs dangling over the edge of the pier. Taking a last bite of the apple that he had brought along, he casually tossed the core into the water, before it occurred to him that perhaps this would be unappreciated by the denizens of the harbor. On the other hand, maybe there was something that would eat it down there. Hmmm . . . he’d have to remember to ask Eorar about that. In the two days since he had so serendipitously run into the Charoda, Astrolabe had thought of a million questions that he wanted to put to his new companion – assuming Eorar had been sincere about meeting again. The thought of hearing all about life under the surface of the waves was bewitching, and Astro was suddenly compelled to go the grand university library to do a little research on such matters. Now that was a rare occurrence indeed. He had spoken at length about the Charoda to Jaron, and to Andy, and both had agreed that they would love to meet this intriguing creature – when he was ready for such introductions, of course. Andy, especially, had smiled so knowingly and patted Astro’s cheek, saying I know what you’re thinking, and if you ask me, you should. Somewhat cryptic – but it seemed at times that Andy knew Astro’s mind better than he did himself. In any event, he had passed the intervening two days speculating on whether Eorar truly would show up again, consistently coming to the conclusion that the creature was sincere and would be at the steps at noon, as planned, if he could. This thought, in turn, always made Astro worry a bit about sharks and whales and fishing nets, and he would hope that Eorar was going to be alright. In the end, he would reassure himself that Charbosi was a very far way away, and if Eorar could make it this far without getting himself killed, hanging out around Zeltiva for forty-eight hours should be no problem at all. So, excited and more than ready to see his strange new friend again, Astrolabe had arrived a good bit early, and settled down to wait. Expectantly, his eyes skimmed the surface of the waves, wondering where Eorar might be at that very moment.

[Warden Thrice]

Eorar hovered near to top of the water as he swam, keeping away from the worst of the filth that was congealed at the bottom. He was more than a little nervous; yesterday's encounter had not left him with much confidence in strangers, at least red ones, and despite appearances he was now wary of the man he had met the day before yesterday. He had seemed nice, but Eorar had decided that he would keep to the water until he had a much better idea. Humans were very, very different from charodae, almost dizzyingly so, and incredibly unpredictable. Eorar neared the pier, but kept to the water. He surfaced slowly directly under the boardwalk and looked up, quickly spotting Astrolabe. He was sitting on the edge and moving his feet about oddly, and appeared quite impatient. How long had he been there. Eorar watched for a few moments more, then glided over to the slippery steps they had met on before. They were easy to slide onto, but once he stood up they were rather treacherous. He put one hand to the wall and leaned, looking at Astrolabe with a tilted head. "I come."

[Astrolabe]

Eorar had moved so silently that Astrolabe almost missed his sudden appearance. As the Charoda slipped onto the bottom step, though, Astrolabe had leapt up excitedly, looking down at his water dwelling acquaintance. He smiled broadly. “Wonderful!” He exclaimed enthusiastically. He was of half a mind to hurry down the steps, but he paused long enough to consider the practicalities of conducting a second encounter hunched on the wet, slippery stairs. “Um . . . shall I come down? Or are you coming up?” Astro wasn’t sure how much more used to walking Eorar would be compared to two days ago. “Do you – do you need a hand?” He asked solicitously. “It’s good to see you again, Eorar,” he added, warmly. “I’m glad you came back.”

[Warden Thrice]

The man jumped to his feet, his face looking like it would brightly illuminate a cavern. Eorar couldn't help but feel his spirits lighten, and started to feel slightly ashamed of doubting him. Astrolabe's childlike bounds were cut short at the top of the staircase, and Eorar couldn't blame him. The charoda grinned back and started up the steps, and when help was offered he gladly took the offered hand. Eorar's grin only widened at the warm greeting. The fact that there was someone, anyone, to greet him so in such an unfamiliar place was heartening. "Good to see... er, it is good to see you, too, A-stro-labe." Eorar turned and walked to the end of the pier and back again, proud of himself. He had been practicing, and though he was still a bit wobbly he was not nearly as prone to falling over. "I walk. I practice. We go anywhere today?"

[Astrolabe]

For a moment, Astrolabe forgot that the extremely toothy near grimace was the Charoda version of a smile. It never occurred to him that his own open mouthed, white teeth flashing, lips drawn back expression might seem equally as alien to Eorar. But when Eorar reached out to accept the hand Astro had extended, the young man’s momentary doubt that the Charoda meant to stay evaporated. As before, with the limited physical contact that Astro had had with Eorar, it was just a bit surprising to note that the watery film on his rubbery skin was cold but the flesh underneath was warm. Grasping the webbed fingers firmly, but quite gently given what Astro's hands were capable of, soon enough, Eorar was up the stairs and strutting his stuff – with Astro looking on happily noting the improvement since the day before. As Eorar made his way back towards him he laughed and brought his hands together in a short round of applause. “Well done! You’ve got it now. The practicing has paid off.” For some odd reason, Astro felt proud of Eorar, as if somehow he had had anything to do with this mastery of ambulation. The Charoda was now abreast of him, and Astro was prepared for his question. “Sure – I would love to show you around! But where we go depends on how far and how long you want to walk.” He turned a bit and nodded at the city behind them, stretching up and back towards the encroaching mountains. “And what you’d like to see. There are shops, the main market, the, er . . . “ Astro paused and looked back at Eorar. He had been going to say the fish market, but he thought the sight of all that ocean life laying gutted and strewn about might somehow be offensive to the Charoda. In his recent research, he had read that the race ate only vegetation, so the market might seem more like an abattoir to his companion. “. . . the university, of course – I know you wanted to go there, eventually. Or, if you have a mind to meet some other residents, I can introduce you to some friends of mine. One is quite close by, as a matter of fact.” He looked at Eorar expectantly. “So . . . what sounds good?”

[Warden Thrice]

Eorar's eyes somehow opened even wider than they naturally were as he listened. "So many! Must be big city!" he tilted his head and looked at Astro from an angle. "University be nice, but... do not know. Where you think to go?" He tilted his head to the other side. "Who friends? Tadpole? Tadpole-mother-father? Astrolabe-friend? Miech tsatsek..." Eorar trailed off in embarrassment. In Charbosi, he had been considered overly eloquent with his words, and after growing use to it being so unfamiliar with this language bothered him. His slip had been accidental, but it still made him feel rather out of place.

[Astrolabe]

Astrolabe, noting Eorar’s abashed look, put it down to a natural shyness on the Charoda’s account. If Eorar had thought to explain his disappointment, and slight embarrassment, over his language skills, Astro would have been quick to point out that Eorar’s Common was far better than Astro’s Char – as, in fact, he knew not a single word of his new acquaintance’s language. But . . . he was wanting to fix that shortcoming. “Mick At-sek? What does that mean?” It was his turn to look a bit shy. “I, um, I was wondering if you might consider teaching me a bit – of your language.” His gaze went to the water, his expression strangely wistful. But then, as if coming back to himself, his head swiveled about, as he looked over his shoulder, towards the warehouses that lined the wharves. “Well . . . if you don’t have a preference . . . “ His eyes returned to Eorar’s dark ones. “I’d love to introduce you to my friend – Andy. He, uh, works not too far from here. Well – he does sometimes. I mean, I know he’s at his office right now. I told him about you – and he was really wanting to meet you.” Andy, aka Anais, certainly did seem quite excited about the prospect of meeting a Charoda – something to do with asking him about females in his world – but it had been a bit cryptic. Astro had said he would bring Eorar along if the Charoda was willing. If not, perhaps another time. “Or, if you want to see more of the town first, we can go look up another friend of mine. Jaron. I’m sure we’d find him in some tavern or another. But it’s a farther walk. What do you feel up to?” “Oh, and, uh . . . the, er, tadpole – his name is Charlie – he’s a bit . . . energetic. You know, wild?” Astro gave a few little hops in mimicry of the four year old’s typical mode of moving. “We should probably wait to meet him. I, um, I don’t want to tire you out.” Charlie, he knew, would be crazily enthusiastic about meeting such a novel creature as Eorar. But Astro was pretty sure that ten minutes with the boy would have his new friend ready to hit the water again. And selfishly, he wanted Eorar to stay a bit longer than that.

[Warden Thrice]

"Mick at-set?" Eorar blinked, taking a few seconds to figure out that Astrolabe had been trying to imitate what the charoda had let slip in Char. It was barely recognizable as the word it was meant to be. He tilted his head, going over it again, when Astro inquired a little further. Hm. Eorar thought about the question, considering it carefully. He would like to teach his new friend, but he wasn't sure if he could. He wasn't a good teacher, and any Char spoken in the air sounded grating and ugly. The true nature of the language could only be expressed underwater, and no human had the ability to stay underwater long enough to learn anything. If only... wait. Yes. Yes! That was it! Eorar broke into a ridiculous grin, almost prancing in delight. He tilted his head again as he looked back at Astro. "Write? Letter? No... glyph! Glyphs! Glyphing!" He touched his gills and pointed to Astro's neck. "I glyph you gills. Learn underwater. Char sound bad in the air. Better underwater." Eorar knew absolutely nothing about glyphing, but if he learned enough of the discipline to use it then he would be able to morph gills onto Astrolabe. It wouldn't last forever, maybe an hour or two at most, but Eorar could show him so much in that time! He wanted to show him everything: the songs, poems, dances, Tenten, the reef he had started to grow. Astro's gaze crept to the water, and his eyes unfocused. Eorar tilted his head the other way this time and watched him curiously. The silence that settled was thin, like a veil, and didn't last long. "An-dee? I like to meet An-dee. Then maybe see Jay-ron." Eorar was completely impartial as he had very little idea who Andy and Jaron were, though he did think it would be better to take things one step at a time. He was much faster on land than in water, but it was... different. And still tiring. He hoped that he would get stronger over time, but he still didn't want to go on an expedition his first time touring.

[Astrolabe]

Something that he had said had very obviously tickled Eorar no end. At first Astrolabe thought it might be the words he had so murdered in Char – maybe they meant something delightful. Or maybe, he thought belatedly, his pronunciation was so bad that Eorar was laughing at him. But the words that finally spilled from the Charoda’s mouth made it clear that he was delighted with his idea – and it was, truly, a magical one. Astro’s mouth dropped open. “Do you think that would work?” He himself would not have thought of the possible use of the two skills. But obviously, Eorar was well ahead of him in the mental acuity realm. His own voice was breathless, excited, and his face was alight with the thought of actually being able to talk underwater. “That – that would be fantastic!” He exclaimed, now sorry that he hadn’t been paying more attention to his magical studies. This seemed to be a time when they might actually have come in useful, in terms of anything that he really wanted for himself. His gaze went once again to the water – and the unknown world stretching out below its surface. The possibilities seemed . . . infinite. Eorar’s tentative words brought Astro back to himself. He smiled broadly. “Excellent! He works just over there.” Astro pointed in the general direction of the miniscule space that Andy rented in order to conduct her book keeping venture. When he had discussed the possibility of bringing the Charoda by for a meet, he had been very careful to ask if he should introduce her as Andy or Anais. Andy had hemmed and hawed. It wasn’t that subterfuge sat so uneasily on her thin shoulders. It was just this opportunity to find out if other races really did treat their female better than the humans here in Zeltiva was one she didn’t want to mess up by her own gender confused scheming. In the end, just to be safe, Andy had decided to take things slowly, and maintain her dockside persona – at least until they learned if Eorar could be trusted with the truth. Astrolabe had been insistent that the Charoda could be looked upon as a friend. But Andy had, of course, pointed out that he really had no logical basis for saying this. When Astro had replied that he could ‘feel it in his gut,’ Andy had merely rolled her huge hazel eyes and tutted – as she was quick to do whenever Astro displayed such gullibility. Astro gave Eorar a close up and down scrutiny, before asking tentatively, “Um . . . do you . . . need a hand? Or an arm?” He stuck his out congenially, oblivious to what an odd spectacle they would make should Eorar take him up on his offer. “It’s not far, if you want to try it on your own.”

[Warden Thrice]

Eorar followed Astrolabe’s excited gesture towards the great line of buildings, not possessing the slightest idea of which one he was pointing to. He gazed at them blankly, then returned to Astrolabe and the offered hand. “Er…” He looked at the appendage with focus. “Actually…” He stepped closer and put one hand on Astro’s shoulder. It gave more stability than an offered arm, and if Eorar really did fall then his companion would probably be able to catch him without much difficulty. “I be fine like this. I need to get better.” Walking would take some getting used to, but he was learning. His balance was lacking, since movement underwater was much different that movement abovewater. One thing that set Eorar off was how little there was in air. He was so much quicker than in water, and it was difficult to control. He looked at Astrolabe as they started walking. “Who is An-dee?” he asked. oocSorry for the short post again. Good to see you back!