Troubles in Communication [Johanne]

by **Kane** on June 7th, 2013, 9:11 am

Summer 16 513 The Enclave

Kane had to say, when he’d entered the Enclave that morning, he hadn’t been expecting the large numbers of children crowding the place. His eye had twitched. Everyone had been gathered so tightly together in the area, that Kane had been forced to retreat to the side, away from the hustle of bodies.

Making his way through the area, he found several groups of children gathered around older Inarta, all of whom were reading out of the books placed on their laps.

Eventually, he found himself before a young woman. Now, he could say that what had drawn him was the fact that she was another human in Wind Reach, but honestly, it was the sounds leaving her mouth.

Kane had to say, this was one of the few times that he’d ever felt a kind of sympathetic embarrassment for another. He was leaning up against one of the walls of the Enclave, watching her attempting to read the book in Nari.

Attempting being the operative word.

She didn’t seem to have much training in the language. Kane raised a brow as she struggled with chirping out another word. This whole thing was getting to be kind of sad. He was increasingly tempted to walk up there and help her out.

After spending a few more ticks listening, he decided to just go for it. A quick push off the wall and he was headed around the gathering of children and towards the woman. Kane did his best to wave her down in an attempt to get her attention.

After doing so, he leaned close to her and whispered in Common, “Hey, you look like you could use some help here.” Looking back over the small crowd, he felt a shiver enter his spine at all the blank stares he was receiving. “They’re kind of a hard to work with group by the looks of things.”

Turning back, Kane looked her in the eyes. “I know a good amount of Nari, so if you’d like the help...” He trailed off, waiting for her answer. Hopefully he didn’t just make a fool of himself.

by **Johanne** on June 8th, 2013, 8:10 pm

The Enclave had been one of the few places in Wind Reach Johanne had managed to find any solace in. She'd been in the volcanic city for six days now, dumped unceremoniously into a new life without so much as an explanation. The "Valintar", as they called him, had told her to make paper in the name of the city so that she may earn a living, and had allowed her to live within the Commonrooms. Dazed and confused, she had stumbled through six days in a city where the people made love in the corridors and the language sounded like birds chirping.

But the Enclave: she'd discovered it two days ago, and so far had spent every free moment within it. At the end of each day of work, as she had been made to start immediately, she stumbled tired and exhausted into the small stone library, where scrolls were the only thing familiar to her. The library held not a candle to the Bharani Library in Lhavit, neither in architecture nor in catalogue, but it was a little bit of comfort to the bookworm. The Inarta clearly did not stock many books, and even less of those were in Common, but still, Johanne clung to what comfort she could glean from the situation.

After six days of work, Johanne had taken a day off. At first the process of making paper, something she had hardly indulged in since leaving Denval, had been a calming motion amongst the insanity and uproar of the last few days. But eventually, Johanne's arms had become tired, and her mind longed for the habits of old. No tattooing in Wind Reach that she had found just yet, but books would do until she could take hold of ink. That morning, stumbling from the Warrens, Johanne had made a beeline for the quiet Enclave, so usually empty, the Inarta more focused on survival and experience than research.

Quiet, but not for long.

Suddenly, without warning, what seemed like hundreds and thousands of chittering and chirping children descended upon the stone library, filling up every aisle, screaming and running and playing. The Yasi, it seemed, the younglings, had come to be read to. But there were so many, speaking so loud. Johanne looked up from the scroll in front of her, swallowing in dismay as the children stampeded past, filling up corners and sitting at spare tables.

Suddenly, without meaning to, Johanne made eye-contact with a small redheaded child, about eight. Their fiery eyes gleamed, and the little girl grabbed out at Johanne's scarred hand and tugged her up. Without warning, Johanne was tugged along in the stream of Yasi, the little girl chittering away to her happily, Johanne with the long brown hair dumbfounded amongst a sea of red.

Until she was plonked down in a chair in front of a group of about ten Yasi, all wide-eyed and expectant, and the little girl passed her a scroll made with letters she could read, but words she could not.

Silence passed.

"Oh!" Johanne said, realising. "I think you've made some mistake... I'm not here to read to you..." Only silence and blank stares met her words, expectation rife.

"I don't even speak Nari..." The little girl who had grabbed her chittered some more, and then fell silent. With all their expectant stares, Johanne intimidated by even the smallest mouse, sighed. And opened the book.

The sounds that emerged from her mouth were not Common, but nor were they Nari. They weren't part of any language, really. She tried again, sounding out the syllables and letters in front of her, sighing in embarrassment. In front of her, two young boys turned and snickered to each other, causing Johanne's cheeks to flush red. Again and again she tried, the children getting more and more restless, but without a guide, Johanne made no progress on the language.

Suddenly, words she could understand! Turning from the unintelligble scroll, Johanne looked behind her, to see a dark haired, tan man, with kind eyes who warily surveyed the sea of waiting Yasi. "Oh my word, yes, please," Johanne muttered, fervently, plastering a fake smile om her face to the Yasi. "I can't make head or tails of this... can you help, please please?" If the man did choose to help Johanne, she would be forever in her debt. She looked pleadingly as she awaited his undeserved and blessed help.

OOCI got a little carried away with this.

It was fun, though.

x

by **Kane** on June 13th, 2013, 2:16 am

Well, to say he was glad that the woman actually needed help was an understatement. Kane nodded to her before replying in Common. “Alright. Just let me go grab a chair.” Turning, he sent an awkward nod to the Yasi, the little freaks were staring, before grabbing a nearby chair and pulling it next to the woman.

He tilted his head slightly towards her as he sat. “My name’s Kane by the way.” Looking back down at the scroll in her hands, he continued, “I’m assuming I’m just supposed to read from this and we’ll be good?”

Leaning over slightly, Kane studied the words on the page. Alright, it wasn’t too complicated of a story. Good thing too, he knew enough of the language to get by, but not enough for anything too complicated. Clearing his throat, he began to read in Nari.

“There once was a foolish Inarta man. Now this man, he cared only for himself. He gave no thought to others, unless of course, it would end in his favor. He cared so little for those around him, that he even began to plot. Plot a way to leave the city of Wind Reach.”

Wow, so this was one of those stories? They beat this stuff into the kids' heads early on, don’t they? Kane rolled his eyes.

“The man bought a beast called a horse and several supplies off of an outsider and in the dead of night, rode the horse out of the city along the Sanikas Pass and into the Unforgiving.” He would bet all his pinions that something horrible was going to happen to the man in the story. Every single one of them.

“The wild was a harsh place, he barely traveled for two days before the beasts of the Unforgiving swooped in and the man was never seen again.” And he was right. “So let this be a warning to you. Selfishness will never lead to any happiness in your heart.” Oh gag me.

As Kane finished reading the Yasi all began to mutter amongst themselves about the story. He turned his head slightly towards the woman sitting next to him and whispered in Common, “So, how’d you end up reading to these kids when you can’t even speak Nari? I imagine it’s an interesting situation.”

He shot a quick glance at the Yasi who were starting to chirp demands for more stories. “Also we should probably go find something else to read these little brats. Maybe something a bit longer this time.”