Solo Paying Attention to the Details

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Timestamp: 47th Day of Winter, 514 AV


Seirei greeted her friends happily as they entered the tent. Winter was a busy time for their family. The weather was cold and dreary, encouraging people to stay within the relative warmth of their tents unless they had pressing reason to venture out. But that just meant that it was the perfect time to work on a variety of crafts so they would have something to sell when spring came. As members of a pavilion of the Ruby Clan, Teisaia and Rytira were doing their best to help their family through the winter.

"Thank you for taking the time to come here." Seirei said gratefully.

Teisaia smiled, and made a quick gesture of dismissal.

"We were happy to come. Giving you another lesson in pavi gives us a welcome respite this afternoon."

"Do you know where you want to start?" Rytira asked after she took a seat on the tent floor.

Seirei shook her head. She had a good grasp on the basics now, thanks to the help of her friends. But she really wanted to master the language of the people she lived among. Partly because she never knew when overhearing something said by a stranger might help her in her plans to escape. But more importantly, she wanted to master pavi, because it was part of her own heritage. Part of who she was. In some ways, it felt as though mastering the language would give her some control over her life once more. It wouldn't, of course. But it still felt like it would, and even a fragile illusion of control would be welcome.

"I have a few ideas, if you don't mind."

Seirei turned to Teisaia, and met her gaze with a great deal of interest.

"You've improved a lot. You can make yourself understood rather well now. But some of the words you use...aren't quite right."

Seirei frowned, wondering what her friend meant. Teisaia looked around for a few chimes, before pointing at the bedroll.

"What is this?"

"A bed." Seirei said.

Teisaia shook her head.

"Well, it is, I guess...but it isn't. Not really. It's a bedroll."

Seirei frowned, hearing the difference in the two words. They were similar, but not quite the same. As Seirei watched, Teisaia demonstrated the signs for both words, telling Seirei which was which.

"You sleep on both, but a bed is something made out of wood. Outsiders use them. A bedroll is...well, this. It's easy to roll up and pack when it's time to move on."

Seirei nodded thoughtfully.

"There are other things you don't get quite right, either. Like that." Teisaia said, pointing at the wall of Lian's tent.

"The tent?"

"It's a pavilion, not a tent."

"Actually...that's not quite right, Teisaia. This is a tent. A pavilion is much bigger. A lot of people can live inside a pavilion comfortably, and there is even room for a family's striders to shelter in when the weather gets bad enough." Rytira corrected.

"But there is a definite difference, and I've heard you call our pavilion a tent before, Seirei." she added after a few ticks.

Seirei looked startled. She hesitated before speaking.

"Isn't a pavilion just a large tent?" she asked curiously.

Teisaia and Rytira exchanged glances. Then they shook their heads.

"No...it's not the same thing at all." Teisaia said slowly.

"Pavilions are far more than mere tents. They are...part of the family in a very real way. Part of a family's history." Rytira explained.

Teisaia nodded.

"Pavilions are passed down from ankal to heir, from father to son...forever. For as long as they exist. Your pavilion is your family. For example, Rytira and I are from the Sunweaver Pavilion. It's who we are. How we identify ourselves to those around us. It's..."

Words failed Teisaia as she struggled to explain the concept to her friend.

"I think I understand." Seirei said softly.

She promised herself that she would never make the mistake of calling a pavilion a large tent again.

"I hope that I didn't insult you by mistake. If so, I really didn't mean to..."

"You didn't...but only because you're our friend, and we understand why you might think that a pavilion was simply a large tent. But if you ever called anyone else's pavilion a tent, then yes. It could be taken as a terrible insult." Rytira cautioned.

"I won't." Seirei promised earnestly.

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[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

After a few ticks, the conversation moved on to another topic.

"The next thing we were hoping to teach you are some of the more descriptive words and signs. For example, take grass. You know the word for grass, but only the most basic one from what I can see. There are many different kinds of grass to be found out in the Sea of Grass. And each and every one of them has its own name."

Seirei gave her friends an incredulous look. They had to be playing a joke on her...didn't they? Grass was grass, wasn't it? But her friends weren't grinning at her playfully the way they would if they were trying to pull one over on her. Instead, they looked completely serious. Then Teisaia and Rytira began teaching her the names for quite a few different types of grass. When they taught her the words, they made the signs for each one slowly and clearly so Seirei could see it and practice it herself. Seirei could recognize the base word for grass in each word and sign. But there were additional aspects to each that were unfamiliar to Seirei. So she did her best to memorize each one. To help her with this, she practiced pronouncing each word, and making each sign she was taught several times until it started to become familiar to her.

"You know, I think this might be a lot easier if we can take you out to the edge of the city so we can show you some of what we're talking about. What do you say?" Teisaia asked excitedly.

"Would Lian mind if you go?" Rytira asked cautiously.

She had no desire to get in trouble for doing something she shouldn't with the man's captive. Even if she was a friend.

"Lian won't mind, and I think it would be a great idea."

Teisaia bounced to her feet, and pulled her friend up while Rytira stood more gracefully. Then the three friends made their way to the edge of the city. The two cousins kept their pace slow so their heavily pregnant friend wouldn't have to struggle to keep up with them. When they were standing a few feet past the last of the camps within the city, Teisaia pointed at a good sized clump of grass.

"See? That's what I mean when I say tall grass."

Seirei stared at the clump of grass thoughtfully. It certainly was considerably taller than the rest of the grass surrounding it. By more than a foot in some cases. So she nodded, and said as much.

"Exactly. Now, look over here. Do you see that clump of grass that is a light, golden brown color?"

Seirei nodded.

"We call that dried grass. That patch over there is called withered grass. Can you tell the difference between the two?"

Seirei examined the two types closely. Then she nodded. The first was a pleasant golden brown color. It looked almost like hay. But the other patch was drooping, and sickly looking. It was more of a greenish, greyish, brown. Her friends continued to point out different types of grass to Seirei for another couple of bells. With each new type that they showed her, they made sure to tell her the word for it, and demonstrate the proper hand sign. Then they gave her the time she needed to practice both.

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[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

The two cousins took turns showing Seirei more types of grass, and explaining the differences between them to her. After a while, they ran out of different types of grass to show Seirei. Rytira suggested that they go back, but Teisaia found a good sized puddle that she pointed out to Seirei. A thin layer of ice spread across the surface, but Seirei could see that it was deep enough that it hadn't frozen completely yet.

"What would you call that?"

Seirei gave her friend a strange look.

"Water." she said at last.

"Yes, but what kind of water?"

Seirei glanced at the puddle briefly, then turned back to her friend.

"A puddle?"

"Well, yes...but that's not what I'm asking."

"What kind of water is it, then?" Seirei asked curiously.

"It's stagnant water. It's been sitting there for who knows how long, and there's no current going through it like there would be in a river, or even a stream. So there's probably all kinds of stuff in that water. Dirt, and debris, bits of grass, maybe even animal feces or urine. There's really no way to be sure what's in there. And for that reason, it's best not to drink it if you have a better option available. It's a far better choice to drink from a source of running water - like a stream, or a river."

Seirei considered what her friend said. Then she nodded.

"I think I understand. There are different kinds of grass, and each one has its own name. But this is a little different. Water is always water...but it comes in different forms, and there are different words to describe those forms. Stagnant water, running water, cold water, boiling water...things like that, right?"

"Yes, for the most part. But like with most things, there are exceptions. Ice and snow are really forms of frozen water, and rain is water that falls from the sky. All three are in essence water, but they have different names entirely. That's because they are so different than normal water that they are almost something completely different. Just like cattails and willows are both plants, and wolves and deer are both animals, but they are very different things."

"We really do need to get Seirei back home, now." Rytira said quietly.

"I don't think it's good for her to be out for this long, and besides...Lian might not mind if we do stuff like this with her as long as she's home when he gets there. But that will probably change in a hurry if he ever has to come looking for her."

Seirei nodded reluctantly.

"She's right." she said softly.

The three girls headed back to Lian's tent. On the way back, Seirei found a few teeth that looked as though they had belonged to a predator once. They weren't in great shape, but none of them were broken. Seirei thought they might be good to practice carving with later, so she paused to pick them up. When they got back to the tent, Seirei invited them both inside, hoping that they would continue their lesson. Teisaia accepted the invitation readily, but Rytira told them that she had some errands she had promised to do before it got dark.

"So how many different descriptive words are there?" Seirei asked after Rytira left.

"Too many to count. You already know a lot of the more common ones. Things like the names for the different colors, words to describe the size or age of something, words to describe the shape of something...things of that nature."

Teisaia spent the rest of the afternoon teaching Seirei more descriptive words, like tattered, shredded, minced, diced, ancient, tarnished, and several others. With each new word she taught her friend, she explained the difference between the new word, and similar words that Seirei already knew. She also made certain to demonstrate the hand sign for each word, and give Seirei the time she needed to practice both the pronunciation, and the hand sign.

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[Tribal]

G R A D I N G

Seirei

Experience

• Socialisation: 3
• Rhetoric: 1
• Observation: 1
• Logic: 1

Lore

• Teisaia: A lesson in Pavi
• Pavi: Names of survival equipment
• The first son of an Ankal inherits his pavilion
• Using adjectives in Pavi

Notes

I don't know if she is quite fluent yet, but she is working towards it! Enjoy.