The woman said something in an apologetic tone but didn’t stop the process.
“Fuck, that hurts!”
“Hush,” she replied, moving with fast, practiced hands.
Margot was shocked. “Wait, you speak English?”
“No. But first, basic rune makes for understand. Please, no act up. This part done soon.”
“Uh…” Margot found herself at a loss for words. This woman’s little tattoo, incomplete as it was, hadactuallydone what Alida had said it would. She could understand.
She sat there, quietly marveling at the implications of this marvelous technology while the woman did her work. Only a few short minutes later she announced her completion, and in full sentences, no less.
“There. That should do it. I must admit, I’m rather shocked a grown woman does not have the Dotharian runes. What world are you from?”
“I’m from Earth. And hang on. What are Dotharian runes?”
The woman’s eyes widened. “You are unfamiliar with the Dotharian Conglomerate?”
“The whatchama-what, now?”
“Dotharian. Dotharian Conglomerate. The governing oversight body that controls thousands of worlds across countless systems.”
“Uh, not mine. Never heard of them. But then, my people haven’t even been past our own moon, so we’re not really a big space-faring race.”
“Then how did you wind up here?”
“Some big green assholes abducted me. Me and a bunch of other people.”
That clearly rang a bell, judging by the look of distaste it elicited. “Raxxians.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard them called.”
“But you are not with them. You are here. They donotlet people go free.”
“Their ship crashed, and I wound up here, on my own and wandering around in the woods. I did see some of them, though, but your buddies out there fought them and bought me time to run away. They saved me.”
The woman let out a bitter laugh. “Mybuddies? You think they saved you? From the Raxxians, perhaps, but don’t have any false hopes. These men are terrible people.”
“But you’re living with them,” Margot noted, confused.
“Living? We’re prisoners, girl. There were bounties placed on all our heads, and Gromm and his men have been hunting us down ever since.”
“Bounties? But why? What did you do?”
She sighed. “Most of us weren’t doinganything. But there was a coup, and everyone, even those merely going about their lives, doing their daily duties, wound up with a price on our heads simply for holding positions in the deposed government, regardless of our actions. And Gromm found us, so now we’re all prisoners here, ready to be served up for the bounty.”
“But I’m not from here.”
“Clearly. You don’t have your runes. Runes I’ve been directed to give you, by the way.”
“I’m sorry, but what do you mean?”
The woman sighed, realizing she would have to explain as if to a child. “I am what is known as a Skrizzit. A master in the application of the living pigments that adorn all Dotharian citizens. The runes are placed on us at a young age, providing varying degrees of strength and other skills depending on the individual as well as the power of the pigment they receive.”
“Magical ink?”
“No. Living, symbiotic pigment, refined from many species of plants selected for their ability to absorb the natural power flowing throughout the galaxy. It is that pigment, in combination with the specific runes, that will give you more strength, stronger senses, and, of course, the ability to understand foreign tongues. And there is the Infala, naturally.”
