Flashback A call to Arms

[Ayatah]

--A Call to Arms--

|| 8th day of Summer, 495AV || The Scattered Bones' home, Taloba ||

The first time Ayatah saw an Eypharian, she couldn't quite believe her eyes.

Her mother had most certainly told her about the multiple arms, but Aya had not quite believed Paira whenever the subject came up (which, given Ayatah's obsessive nature and endless questions, was more frequent than Paira would have liked).

Still, as soon as Ayatah turned the front cover of her latest book (From the Sky to the Sand: the history of the Eypharian people, written in Common - which Ayatah could barely speak a sentence of, but whatever... Pictures!) she literally gasped. On the page, staring right at her through his narrowed dark eyes, was the most beautiful, exotic and well-endowed-in-the-arm-department man Ayatah had ever seen.

Six arms! Six!

Whenever she had previously tried to imagine a person with more than two arms, her narrow child's mind had made the poor man or woman appear gross and distorted, like some strange picture of a nightmare. But the man in front of her now was so well... balanced, so well evolved that Ayatah was really quite jealous.

Imagine what I could do with an a couple of extra arms...

She was sitting in her most favourite, secret place: inside the crook of an old worn away rock in the far edges of the Scattered Bones' clan land. The way the huge rock had been worn made a smooth, glossy little pocket which was perfectly Ayatah-sized. She had even bought in a few old cushions from the sleeping lodge to make it all the more luxurious. And, best of all, because of how the rock was facing (away from the clan centre) and how it was concealed (an old tree trunk half-covered the entrance and a pile rotting leaves sitting atop the rock made it look pretty unappealing from the outside), nobody else knew of it. Only Ayatah had paid close enough attention to the area to realise that the rock was party hollow and, once the stinkiest of the leaves had been pushed aside, it was fairly easy for her to slip inside the gap and nestle down.

She had spent many bells inside her rock, mainly reading (or rather, looking at pictures), and trying to trace the Common words with her finger to try and help her reading and pronunciation- which was unsuccessful most of the time.But there were a few words she did know, and now Ayatah was scowling at the pages of the book, trying her best to put together the meaning of the words in front of her.

"Th...The-ee... Eye-frens...? Eypharens--" Her little voice muttered to herself, sounding the words out slowly and clumsily, until their meaning became clear to her. "The Eypharians!" Delighted, she repeated the two words in her mother tongue, wiggling her toes and shoulders in an excited little dance.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Ayatah]

What a great start! Two words down and only a few thousand to go! She might actually be able to read this book!

She scanned the next two words, but her excitement quickly sunk when she only recognised the second of the two: "The Eypharians.... something something a....something, something..." She grunted, and laid the book down on her lap.

Her mood, as it so often did when she was faced with a puzzle or mental challenge too great, had soured quickly. She folded her arms, pouted her lips and frowned grumpily. She could read well -- in Myrian at least -- so why couldn't she read bloody Common?

Of course, the answer came to her in a sensible voice that sounded annoyingly similar to her mother's: Because you can't even speak Common yet, Aya.

Ayatah sighed; a moody, dramatic sigh that only young children are truly capable of. Life was so unfair. All the good books were written in Common, and very few decent books had any pictures (Ayatah vehemently refused to read children's books, with their stupid wide-eyed pictures and stupid-er little jaunty poems). And here she was, absolutely desperate to read, but without the ability to do so.

"For Myri's sake, I just was to read!" She wailed, flinging her arms sulkily. Or rather, trying to fling her arms, for her secret hollow was not the biggest in the world, so it was more of a cheerful-seeming little wave that Ayatah did rather than the dramatic gesture she had intended. The limited room of her secret place only worsened her mood further, and Aya leaned back against the cool rock once again, this time with more gusto to truly emphasise her foul mood.

Unfortunately, Ayatah's theatrical flair resulted in her new leather-bound book to slide right off her knee, thudding into a pile of damp leaves.

She gasped, for the second time that day, at the wet sound. Suddenly her grumpiness seemed stupid and childish, and not at all suitable for a girl-genius-scholar. Even worse, her sulk had resulted in the disrespect of a book; an act Ayatah believed to be almost punishable by death.

Quickly she reached down, her small hands feeling desperately for the book, but the dampness of the leaves and the (now) dampness of the book confused her fingertips. Swearing, and truly annoyed at herself, Ayatah stooped down lower, the right side of her face pushed up against the inside of her rock.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Ayatah]

Got it!

She yanked her arm upwards, slinging the book back on her lap triumphantly. Quickly she began inspecting for any damage; the leather cover looked fine, but the page that been open when the book fell was half-stained with mud, and a small piece of brown leaf (with horror Aya realised it was actually a slug) was stuck to the Eypharian gentleman's navel. When mud, leaf and bug had been wiped, blown or flicked off the pages, Ayatah was relieved that the majority of the words were still fairly legible.

"A lucky escape." She told the book fondly, as if it were an old friend. She closed the book and held it to her chest, half-hugging it in a guilt-filled gesture of affection.

She would need to reign in her temper, she knew. But Ayatah's desire to learn was hindered by nothing else but her lack of skill in reading Common. And this was a change; usually her questions were left unanswered by adults, who simply did not know how to respond. As frustrating as that had been, at least the limits to her learning were not of her own accord (Myrians were not, after all, known for their knowledge or appreciation of the wider world). Now, however, the information she wanted was quite literally staring at her, waiting to be read and appreciated, but Ayatah could not understand it. The frustration she subsequently felt, as evidenced by her most recent tantrum, threw her in a fit of rage.

A few calm breaths, dear...

There was that voice again, clearly belonging to Paira of the Scattered Bones. It seemed that Paira was spending the majority of her time of late trying to calm down her daughter, which was something she was strangely proud of. Ayatah was headstrong, like many of the women in their clan. But whereas the tempers of Aya's mother, aunts and cousins flared quickly during arguments, or in the face of a particularly ignorant market salesman, the source of Ayatah's frustration was wholly different, and (though Paira would never admit it in front of her daughter) terribly un-Myrian. Nevertheless, when Ayatah's eyes glowered in that familiar way common to the women of the Scattered Bones, Paira felt a surge of pride and admiration for her daughter.

Having finally calmed herself after a few calm, slow exhalations, Ayatah reopened the book with a newfound care, turning each page painfully slowly to reveal page after page of text. Every so often, a familiar looking word caught her attention: 'Eypharian', 'the', 'at', and other words that failed to create even half-sentences.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Ayatah]

Finally, a good halfway through the book, Ayatah came across two more pictures. Both were of women; one with four arms, wielding a dagger in each hand, and the other in a gloriously coloured dress standing in a strange, arched pose. Both delighted her, so Ayatah pulled the book up closer to face (the light was not fantastic in her hollowed out rock) to investigate them in more detail.

The woman in the first picture looked fierce - almost Myrian fierce - and Ayatah could not help but feel a surge of excitement. For as long as she could remember, she had assumed that the Eypharian people had little battle prowess, if any at all. No people were as vicious as the Myrians, surely? But this Eypharian woman, with all four arms and all four daggers, looked every bit as terrifying as any Myrian warrior.

Is that a treacherous thought? Ayatah wondered, suddenly quite worried someone would hear the inner workings of her young mind. She knew that she should not take pride in her paternal heritage, and she really, really tried not to. But Ayatah was curious - she had always been. No, she could not read any of her books written in Common... just yet. But the pictures in these books, and her imagination, fulfilled her curiosity for at least a short while. But with every new picture inspected and considered, Ayatah realised just how fondly she admired the Eypharian race. They were so different to her mother's people (her people), but different did not necessarily mean bad, or so she tried to convince herself.

Of course, such thoughts could not be shared with Ayatah's peers. Even her family (save for her mother and their clan matriarch, Quinneth) sometimes appeared to be nervous with the amount of questions Ayatah asked, and more than once she had been well aware of how unwelcome her demands were.

The young half-blood sighed wistfully, and leaned back comfortably once again against her rock. The book lay open, still revealing on the pictures of the two Eypharian women. For quite some time Ayatah sat there, tracing her thin little fingers around the outline of their bodies. Perhaps these women were somehow related to her? It was a peculiar thought, that the other part of her family (because, as much as she tried to deny it, they were her family) lived so far away, with their multiple arms and golden skin. She was absolutely desperate to learn more, but to also fit in amongst the Myrian people, who generally despised her. Sure, her clanmates loved her, but fellow Myrian children did not. A half-breed was an unwelcome face at the best of times, but with her constant thirst for knowledge, and the annoying questions accompanying it, Ayatah did herself no favours by interrupting her teachers with 'stupid' questions that 'were a waste of time' (Aya, of course, retorted that 'you're stupid if you can't answer my question, and the only waste of time in this class is this conversation').

And so, whilst huddled in her secret little place, Ayatah prayed. But it was not Myri, her Goddess-Queen that she prayed to, but a different deity altogether. She slowly closed her eyes and rested one hand on her book, as if taking a solemn vow.

"Eyris," She began, her young voice quiet and self-conscious, "I pray that one day, hopefully soon, you grant me the ability to understand. I want to learn, to know about my--" her voice faltered her so slightly, "--other people. And the world outside, where all the best books are written and the pictures are drawn. But most of all, I want to learn how to read Common. Maybe other languages too, but mainly Common, 'cause most of the good books are written in Common." She was rambling now, but her mind was full, almost exploding, with excitement at the prospect of all those things to learn about. "Please Eyris, I want to know."

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Voodoo]

Your Powers Grow

Ayatah

Experience :

Reading: +4
Observation: +4
Philosophy: +4

Lore :

Eypharians: Well-Endowed-in-the-Arm-Department
Common Word: Eypharian
Crime: Disrespecting a Book
Multiple Arms Means Multiple Weapons
A Prayer to Eyris: Seeking Knowledge

Comments :

This was a great read, to see the inner workings of a fellow clan member. I look forward to seeing more of her younger escapades here in Taloba. Questions, comments, concerns? Please PM me.