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Prophet Destiny
Awkward Phonics
The sun shone brightly on peaceful Sithro village. On this cloudless afternoon, two girls were relaxing themselves at the local field, each with a book at their side.
One of them had long, wavy, pale blonde hair and bright, concerned eyes that shone like prisms. Her she wore short-sleeved, flowing white dress.
The other had long red hair that curved off to the side, and anxious aquamarine eyes. She wore a loose-fitting, long-sleeved indigo robe.
“Yula, I’m sorry, but I’m still having some trouble reading all of this!” the red-head girl cried in unique tongue.
The curious blonde named Yula gently laid down her book and shifted her eyes towards her companion’s pages.
“Really? All the sentences look alike, and they have a few of the same words.” she replied in the same language. “Just try and relax, Arienne. You’re probably just scared of learning something new.”
“But that’s exactly it! Those words! I don’t get why they’re there in the first place! I loose my place easier thanks to them!” the red-head argued.
“Then you can just ignore them. Here, place your fingers on the words you don’t get, and look at all the others.” Yula explained while covering a few words on Arienne’s book as an example. “See how much easier that makes it? Now, which words are really getting to you?”
Arienne’s face turned a deep red upon being asked.
“Um… this one…. And… this one, too… and…. this one…”
“Eh, Arienne… that only leaves two words per sentence. Isn’t that a little… um…“
“Well, at least I finally know what “is” is! And the second word is usually a thing, unless there’s another really strange word before it!” Arienne exclaimed.
“I think those kinds of strange words are the “describing words” of Commontounge.” Yula suggested.
The anxious red-head sighed.
“No wonder… I’m having a hard time with those kinds of words in this language! And all of this is just plain hard!” Arienne complained. “Yula…. Please help me!”
Suddenly, Yula winced.
“These are supposed to be basic sentences, though. Arienne, I’m not trying to be mean, but you were picking up our own language pretty quickly. You probably know the most, if not the biggest words out of all us, too. I’m just… surprised.” She confessed.
“Yeah, but Soulspeak is different! We don’t have these crazy words just thrown in there to make a bigger sentence! Commontongue is weird! Why do they even call it that if it’s not something we can just pick up on?” Arienne asked.
“Well, at least you know what “common” means.” Yula quipped uneasily.
“Yula, please… help!” Arienne pleaded.
Her close friend lowered her head in regret.
“Arienne, I’m sorry. I can tell you what each word is, but I’m still a little shaky of what they mean. That’s what you really need to know, right?”
Arienne nodded slowly with a sadened expression of her own.
For awhile, the two girls pondered about their predicament, unil an idea came to Yula.
“Ah, wait! My friend Gades should be pretty fluent in Commontongue by now! He’s been learning language for awhile, and I even hear he’s learning some Elvish on the side! He should be able to help you!” Yula explained.
“But… he’s only your friend, and he doesn’t want to be near me. I don’t think he likes me.” Arienne sighed.
Yula’s body shook a little.
“H-huh? No! It’s not like that at all! He’s just very shy and has a hard time meeting new people! Really! I don’t think he hates you at all!” Yula explained.
“Then why does he always try to stay away from me? Every time I try to meet him, he always moves away when he’d just ignore everyone else. Even when I simply look at him, he tries to hide! It’s like something’s wrong me…”
“Come on, don’t think like that! You’re just fine right now, and you’re one of my best friends, so nothing’s wrong with you!” Yula cheered. “Look, how about I try asking him myself? Maybe I can get him to change his mind and help you. It’s worth a shot.”
“I don’t know…” Arienne doubted, “Of course he’ll talk to you. You’re his friend. But him being with me? He won’t want to do it no matter what you tell him. I can tell.”
Suddenly, Yula picked herself right off the ground and stood errect and determined.
“Like I said, it’s worth a try.” Yula said in a boast of confidence.
Arienne nearly fell back in shock from witnessing her friend’s sudden resolve.
“A-are you serious?” Arienee asked shakily.
Yula replied with a simple nod before heading off to meet up the boy called Gades.
“Wait! Are you sure? We can just try and find out what they mean on our own!” Arienne called out.
Quickly, Yula made a brief about-face and winked at Arienne.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure this will all work out.” She grinned.
She then took off, leaving behind Arienne alone with the books.
Without any company to watch over her, the little red-head decided to offer that service to the books; though with very annoyed eyes.
“Stupid Commontongue…” she muttered.
Eventually, Yula found the boy in his usual retreat underneath a shady tree.
Gades had short, raven-black hair and wistful ruby red eyes. He wore a loose, long-sleved maroon robe with pants of matching color.
Immediatley, Yula explained her friend’s plight to him.
“Arienne? The girl with the red hair?” Gades answered uneasily.
Yula nodded.
Immediatley, Gades ‘s body began to shake and squirm.
“B-b-but… that girl is scary!” he cried.
“Not really. And I’d know, because she’s my friend. She won’t hurt you.” Yula insisted.
“But something’s not good about her! She keeps staring at me and coming up to me with strange questions and bothering me that me! She even tripped on me before, and I’m sure it was on purpose! I think she might even be a “stalker”!” Gades rambled on as he trembled.
Yula made a peculiar face upon hearing the tripping incident.
“Actually, that last one happened because she’s a little careless…” she thought to herself.
She then cleared her throat and nearly regained her composure.
“Ah, er, that’s--- she’s just curious about you, Gades. You’re the only kid in this village she hasn’t talked to, so it’s only natural she’d be drawn to you. And… now that we’re friends, she just wants to know who I’ve been hanging around with lately, so he has quite a few reasons to want to know you.” Yula explained. “Besides, I noticed… you were also once scared of me, too.”
The lecturing maiden smiled softly, yet her eyes showed a hint of melancholy.
“That was different!” Gades protested. “Y-you---”
The ruby-eyed boy halted himself, then took a long, strained breath before continuing.
“You actually knew how to approach me! You knew how I was feeling…” he finished.
Yula nodded in agreement.
“And I’m really glad you gave me that chance, but please let Arienne have the same chance.” she suggested., “Besides, I’m just asking you to teach her. It’s not like I’m trying to get you two married.”
The panicked boy shook his head.
“But I’ll still have to be with her! And… I’m not a teacher, Yula! I can learn this stuff well enough, but I haven’t taught anyone before!” he protested.
“Then you can learn to be a teacher!” Yula chimed. “You’ve helped me out with Commontuge from time to time. Just do the same with Arienne, but explain more things. It should be easier than you think!”
“If she’s your friend, why can’t you do it, instead? You seem to be getting the hang of it, even though I’m helping you.” Gades asked.
“Ah, that’s why I’m asking. I don’t know that much yet, and I’m still way behind you in learning the language.” Yula confessed with a nervous laugh.
“Oh. Well, still… I can’t do it. You can just let her know what you’ve learned for now. I can’t near her, okay?” Gades fussed.
A dejected Yula let out a long sigh.
“Alright, you don’t have if you don’t want to. I was just asking. I guess you can be happy thinking that we all might not be together like this. Just know that once that does happen, and we all have to move out of the village, my best friend Arienne will end up by herself in the big world out there. And what if she gets lost without her parents? If she didn’t learn the proper language in time, she won’t have a way to talk to anyone because no one will be able to understand her. That thought worries me a lot, but oh well. I’ll have to see what I can do.” She said aloud.
She then took a step back and a slight turn, but not before facing her ruby-eyed friend once more.
“Thanks for hearing me out, at least.” Yula said with a faint smile.
She then turned around completely, and started her way back to the field where Arienne waited.
“…I’ll do it.” Gades uttered grudgingly.
In a flash, Yula took the reluctant boy by the hand and smiled with much enthusiasm.
“Oh goodness! Thank you!” she squealed.
This time, Gades was trembling red face.
“I… can’t… guarantee anything, though!” he struggled to get out.
“But you’re your best bet on this! I think you’ll do great!” Yula encouraged. “Come on, I’ll take you to her right away!”
With that said, she helped Gades up and escorted him so he could begin his tutorship.
“I’m really sorry, but I think this is for the best for you guys. Arienne’s really wanted to meet you for a really long time, and… I also think you could start making new friends…”
Once the pair reached Arienne, Yula was immediately called upon by her parents, thus leaving the anxious boy and discouraged girl by themselves. After a period of shaky silence, Gades introduced himself, then offered a brief historical overview of the Commontongue language before delving in. Suffice to say, the tutoring session quickly ran into a pothole.
“…”the”? Is that the word really giving all this trouble? But… how… and why?” Gades asked dubiously.
The read-head quickly pointed out how many times the word appears in her textbook. “See? It appears almost just as much as “is”, but in even more places sometimes! I don’t understand! Does it have a bunch of meanings? Is it just there because you have to say it in this language? “The! The” The!” It’s even weird to say!”
As Arienne inched closer to show him the contents of her book, Gades instinctively scooted way while trying to remain a fair distance.
“…Ah, yeah, I know. It’s a strange word made by the humans who came up with the language, but it’s there because they’re sure their speech sounds better somehow. It makes sense, though. It’s like the language of Kaffei’s “le”, and the Nation of Zaigon’s “el”. It’s an added rule of language that’s not in our’s…” Gades stated.
“So? What does that all mean?” Arienne asked.
The girl made another subtle advance on the estranged boy to get a better listen while he made an equally-subtle motion of retreat.
“Ah, right… well, “the”, I guess, is just how you normally address people and things. Like here: “the dog is brown”. It’s just saying that an animal is this kind of color without sounding sloppy to people who usually speak it. Simply saying “Dog is brown” would sound weird to them.” Gades explained.
“Oh! So then… if I wanted to tell someone my name in Commontongue, I would say, “My name is the Arienne?”?” she asked.
Gades shook his head.
“No, that’s different. You don’t usually put a “the” in front of your name.” Gades correct.
Arienne started back blankly for a moment.
“Oh. Then… would it be, “I am a Arienne?”, or it’s “I am an Arienne?” because of the vowel-thingy, right?” she guessed.
Gades stared back in slight disbelief.
“No, but… I’m surprised you know that much about the grammar. Okay, just remember that nothing like that comes before your name. “I am Arienne” is good.”
“Oh… wow. The right answer was actually simpler that time! That’s kinda neat!” Arienne cheered.
“Right. If you were to use those words, it would be when you’re not calling yourself by name. So, you could say “I am a girl.”, or “ I am a Mitalin”. You’d use “the” in that case if you’re using a title or association. In my case, “I am the son of Mother and Father.”
“”The son of…” Are you saying you’re related to the two things you said at the end?” Arienne asked.
Gades nodded.
“Yes, that’s good. I just said that I’m my Mother and Father’s boy. For you, it’s “daughter” instead of “son”, got it?”
Arienne nodded back.
“Alright. Well, since we got through that, learning should be easier for you now. But I guess… by what Yula told me, I still have more to help you out with, huh?” Gades replied.
“Actually… it’s their describing words. I know they added pictures in to make it as easy possible, but they don’t help too much. What is “big”? What is “small”? And I know a few of them are supposed to be colors, but with the kinds of things they’re using to describe, I can’t get a good idea of what it looks like since they use animals that could be a whole bunch of colors.” Arienne frowned.
“I see…” Gades uttered in a thoughtful posture. “At least you know the nouns, so you’re getting some of it. Alright, I guess I could show you by example.”
The ruby-eyed boy reluctantly closed the distance between himself and the girl.
“Take this field we’re resting on. Notice how it seems to go on a long way? Well, you can say this field is “big”.” Gades started.
Arienne tilted her head to the side with a puzzled expression.
“I still don’t get it…” she admitted nervously.
“Ah, right, right…” Gades babbled. “Then…”
He immediately snatched up a blade of grass.
“Take this bit of grass. Then compare it to the field. “Big” and “Small” are words of size… the field is “big”, when compared to the piece of grass, which is “small”.” He explained.
Arienne let out a sudden cry, then got even closer to a shaky Gades.
“So, THIS is “small”?” Arienne said while pointing to the grass.
Gades nodded quickly.
“And THIS is “big”?” she cried while extending her arms in attempt to encompass the size of the field.
Again, Gades nodded.
“So then… it’s like how all the trees around here “big”, and the flowers are “small”?
The young tutor nodded a third time.
“Ah, neat! I got it now!” Arienne cheered.
“I guess I could use the same idea for the colors. Just keep in mind that’s what we’re working with now…” Gades suggested.
Arienne nodded slowly.
“Colors now, got it.” She said to herself.
“Back to the trees. See the trunks? You can say that is “brown”.” Gades stated while directing her towards a group of nearby trees.
Arienne then squinted carefully at the trunk to carefully observe the color.
“Brown…?” she repeated.
Gades nodded, then scooped up some dirt and showed it to Arienne.
“This dirt is “brown” as well. Got it?”
Arienne observed the richer, somewhat brighter shade and nodded to herself.
“So “brown” is an earthly color, then?” she asked.
“Right. That sounds like a good way to remember. Just remember to leave grass and leaves out of it. Those things are “green”.” He added.
“Oh, wow! Another easy thing to remember! “Green” is the color of plants, so anything else that matches that color is also “green”!” she cheered.
“And what about the color of Yula’s dress? It’s like the fluffy clouds in the sky; they’re such a pretty color, and I really want to know what it is in Commontongue so badly so I could get something of that color once we go to the outside world!”
“Ah, that color….” Gades said with a soft smile. “They call it “white”. It seems to be an important color in the outside world, too. Some see it like how we describe it: the “pure color”.”
“It even sounds nice in this language. I like it.” Arienne grinned.
“By the way, the color of your robe is “blue”, kind of like the sky, in case you like that color as well.” Gades added.
“Thanks. And what about your robe? It looks kinda like brown”, but a little different.” Arienne asked.
Gades grabbed a hold of his robe of his robe and looked at it for a moment.
“I’m… not sure. It looks mixed between two colors, actually. I’m not even sure if we have a definite word in our language. But… if I had to guess, I’d say it would be “red”.
“red?” Arienne repeated.
“It’s the Commontongue word for my favorite color… though you don’t know what that is, do you” he answered. “I think I have a better example of that color, though. Look right here.”
Gades then pointed right at his face, which prompted Arienne’s cheeks to become pink.
“Um…. Where?” Arienne said shakily.
“Right here, at my eyes. Mother keeps telling me that my eyes match my favorite color.” He said while directing Arienne towards his ruby pupils.
“Really?” Arienne uttered.
The red-haired girl squinted to focus upon her tutor’s eyes, and then decided to lean forward to get a closer like.
“Hey… His eyes are a pretty color, too…” Arienne thought to herself.
As she leaned in closer, her knees managed to trip on something, causing her to fall nearly head first into Gades’ face until he reacted swiftly to hold her back. The frightened Gades’ face turned deep red as his trembling body struggled to keep Arienne at bay, while she herself stared back with mixed feelings and a reddened face of her own.
“S-s-s-s-stay back!!!” the panicked boy shouted.
The confused maiden retained her curious gaze as she became momentarily lost in thought.
“I think he’s trying to keep me away, but… he has a pretty gentle hold… it’s almost like a hug…” she thought to herself.
Suddenly, Gades’ shakiness somehow infected Arienne as she became caught in her own trembling fit.
“I knew… he’s still scared of me… and now I know just how much… wow, this is bad… but… we’re finally talking now. Maybe…. just maybe…. Ah! His fear is just too much for me!”
Both parties repelled each other in an instant. Gades was left breathing hard, labored breaths while Arienne looked on with guilt.
After awhile, the raven-haired boy barely managed to regain is breath.
“Okay… h-how about we go around the village for a bit so we can find examples for the rest of the colors?” he suggested.
Arienne’s face lit up upon hearing this.
“Okay!” she agreed wholeheartedly.
“Maybe… we can be friends, after all.” she thought with so much hope.
Later that day, after Arienne finished her lessons with Gades, the young language tutor had to return to his family while the red-haired girl was able to meet up with a recently released Yula.
“So, how’d the whole thing go?” Yula asked.
“Oh, you were right! He really did know it al very well! And was really good in teaching me that stuff! I even know the colors, now!” Arienne cried.
Yula reacted with a pleased smile.
“I see! Very nice!” she cheered. “So… are you two starting to get along, now?”
“Actually, he’s still too scared of me… I felt it.” Arienne confessed. “But he actually talked to me, and he was being nice to me, so it’s better than from before.”
Yula nodded.
“It would be great if he finally felt okay around you. I can’t be his only friend.” She relied.
“Oh! If that could happen, then all three of us can be friends and play together all the time! That would be really great!” Arienne exclaimed.
“That would be nice…” Yula agreed with a sigh.
“By the way… I don’t mean to be pushy, but, how did you get Gades to teach me when he was so scared of me, anyway? I know you’re his friend and everything, but…”
“Right…” Yula interjected.
She then recalled the possible scenario she shared to persuade Gades into aiding Arienne’s lessons, and realized just how frightening it could be should it ever become a reality.
“I think…. You’re better off not knowing.” Yula uttered uncomfortably.
“…okay.” Arienne agreed while feeling a hint of her friend’s discomfort.
 Chicken Yuki · Wed Feb 06, 2008 @ 10:07pm · 0 Comments |
