* * *
The moment Vi knocked on the doors and stepped inside Sehra’s throne room, she heard an immediate, “You’re late.”
“I’m sorry.” Vi tried to avoid making excuses. “I slept late, so my lessons started late and I’ve been behind ever since.”
“Do make an effort to start on time, princess, because we have much ground to cover.” Sehra stood from her wood-and-leaf throne, starting over to the secret door that led to the study. “Come, we’ll work in here.”
“I slept late because I was up late reading your book.” Vi held up the small tome as she sat down in the same chair she’d been in yesterday.
“Were you?” Sehra sat as well. “Then perhaps you can give me a short summary on the magic of Yargen.”
“It is a magic the rest of the world has, that also extends beyond the elements. It’s somehow…all elements at once. The magic of Yargen is invoked with words of power.”
“A good, concise summary.” Sehra held out her hand and Vi passed her the book. “We’ll begin with the word I learned first.”
Sehra opened the book, holding it between them. To Vi’s immense relief, the page was notnarro. She had no interest in confronting her mysterious friend in front of Sehra.
“Durroe,” Vi read aloud, eyes on the page.
“What?” Sehra looked up at her quickly. “What did you say?”
“Durroe?” she repeated, the word less certain. “I’m sure my pronunciation is off…”
“I’ve never heard it said that way. I pronounced it the way my mother did, and she pronounced it the way her mother did as well.”
“How do you pronounce it?” Vi was forced to ask.
“Darol.” Vi watched as Sehra’s mouth formed the word, making sure that she was hearing exactly what the woman was saying. It was an odd disconnect, because everything she saw in the woman’s moving lips was nothing like what was written on the page.
“Darol,” Vi tried to repeat it, but the word felt clumsy, awkward even. There was no magic hum to it.
“What made you saydurroe?” Sehra asked, somewhat cautiously. Much like how Vi felt when she tried to mimic Sehra’s pronunciation, the Chieftain looked strange recreating hers—and slightly missed the mark to Vi’s ears.
“That’s what’s written.” Vi motioned to the page.
“You can read these symbols?”
“Yes…” Vi said cautiously. Sehra leaned back in her chair. The Chieftain’s eyes ran over her, cool and calculating. Vi shifted in her seat, crossing her leg and folding her hands. She waited as long as she could, but at a point was forced to ask, “Can’t you read it?”
“No.” The answer rung in Vi’s ears.
“But… how do you know what it says? Surely you must be able to read it?” Vi looked back to the book. Sure enough,durroewas still quite clearly written on the page to Vi’s eyes. She didn’t see how the symbols could be read as anything else.
“I told you, I learned from my mother, and she from hers. But what I did not tell you was that none of us could read these strange glyphs.”
“You do see the circles and lines, then?” Vi asked cautiously.
“I do.” Sehra thought a moment. “How did you come up with the word?”
“I don’t know,” Vi confessed, hoping Sehra believed that she wasn’t attempting to dodge the question—which, for once, she wasn’t. “I see it and I… I hear sounds? I see words? No, not quite… it’s as though the shape moves before my eyes and by the time it’s finished, it looks nothing like what I saw at first but somewhere in its shifting I see the meaning and know how it should be said.”
Sehra tapped the armrest of her chair, thrumming her fingers along its edge in quick succession. “I have no such sensation,” she said finally.
“I’m not lying,” Vi said hastily.
“I know you’re not.”
“How?”
