“Thy language, yf memory serves, hath no wrytten component.”
“We use the common language of wherever we go for writing.Safer for us Rivani to not have such lasting identifiers.”
“Thanne Y would be a moost wyllyng pupyl.”
“Writing would deter you?”
“Y am not buylt for such delycate work.”He unfolded his hands and spread them out, showing off their long knobbed fingers and the unwieldy claws.“And my vysionne hath changed severelie, fer beyond readyng.Y more readylie relie on mine other senses.”
“Could you not ask the Magic for a lens?”
“My request for such hath been denyed on manie occasionnes.”
“Rivanic is not dependent upon the ability to read or write.”She glanced around the room at the linens that still boiled and the jars still awaiting the outcomes of her experiments.She twisted her mouth and pulled the braid out of her hair.“The deer below will likely go off in a few days.Bring it up and eat here while I work.”
“Y fere that such repeleth thee.”
“Baró, your manners are above reproach.”She gazed him down while her hands re-plaited her hair.“I know it may be different with a carcass, but I have been unfair to you about what comes naturally.I have no wish to make you uncomfortable for my sake.I will learn.”
His brow rose but he pried himself from the bench to follow through on her instructions.
“I did not have the opportunity to thank you for the mushroom and the feathers.They were lovely presents.”
“Y am glad they pleased thee.”He cast his eyes down for a moment but smiled.
“They did indeed,”she said.“It would please me more though if, next time, I see you before aught else.”
XII.
Teaching Baró the dialectof the Rivanic tongue that she spoke did not present as much of a challenge as anticipated.Despite whatever disuse affected his memory and impeded his aptitude for linguistics and although halting and unsure at times, he grasped the fundamentals with ease.As they muddled through phrases and commonplace identification of objects, it was not that he had forgotten Rivanic, but that he needed outside stimulation to recall.Without the benefit of company and in the absence of reading materials, Baró’s skills had gone by the wayside.Although he claimed to know Rivanic second-hand, his almost immediate understanding of the language impressed her.She did not tell him of her suspicions, but she believed that he could regain any language he had once known provided that he had the proper tools to inspire it.When he asked about declensions or conjugations, she had no idea what either term meant until he demonstrated them in his tongue.He had the learning of the scholar, not of the self-taught or accidental student, and she did not know how to answer far too many of his specific questions.Still, he did not appear to be put out if she told him that she did not know.
Due to the early onset of her courses, Baró’s departure during her ovulation occurred far too soon after lessons began.However, when he returned, he named all his little gifts to her in Rivanic, demonstrating his dedication to his learning and putting it into practice at every opportunity even if she were not there to inspire it.His ability and memory had also not been affected by her absence and he flawlessly resumed the lessons and his usage of Rivanic.
They fell into a tranquil routine of cohabitation.Every pleasantry and every easy moment of quiet companionship lulled her into contentment.
The first time he applied himself with gusto to the rib bones of a freshly felled deer threw her.Settled in the solar, she had been agreeable to him joining her with his own quarry.Unlike the meals from the platter, he sprawled out before the fire like a hunting dog with coveted table scraps, legs wide behind him, claws grappled into the meat, his teeth making an assortment of sounds as he gnawed bones.Although animalistic in approach and crude in description, he had a level of method, cleanliness, and skill that made her feel like her table manners left much more to be desired than his.She found that she liked watching him eat due to his unrestrained enjoyment of the activity.She had sat beside him and attacked a rib of lamb that had come on her evening platter with a great deal less finesse and grace.
