Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

 

     I arrived back at the house, my temporary shelter, with the guard stationed at the door. So, I’m not supposed to leave and until Ivernis gets me my learning materials I’m stuck twiddling my thumbs. Great. I take a look around the entire house; it’s spacious though with few rooms. I settle down in the office, find some paper, ink and a quill type thing, and proceed to write a journal. I hadn’t kept journals at all, and every time I’ve tried to in the past had resulted in me forgetting all about it within a couple of days. Right now, it’s the only thing to do. By the time someone enters the room I’ve long finished my journal and have just been day dreaming away with the chair tilted back. The sudden entry startles me and I let out a little yip while the chair slams back down and my elbows bang into the desk. That produces a sharp inhalation of breath promptly followed by “Ouchies!” I wince and look up to see the kindly woman from the… food lounge? Cafeteria? Lodge? Well wherever it was, here now. I stand up and smile at her, and I notice she’s carrying a stack of books, which she sets down on the desk. She hands a note to me, and with a warm smile and a nod, she turns and exits. I take a look at the note.

 

Learn what you can for now. I’ll be by later to help you with pronunciation. We’ll discuss customs later as well. Study hard.

 

     I’m not actually looking forward to studying, but it’ll give me something to do, and I feel like it’s important to integrate into this world. The books are heavy and I flip through each one. The largest of them is a translating dictionary. Another shows how English sentence structure varies from whatever this language is called. It also explains basic English grammar and conventions. The other books are mainly workbooks with advanced lessons on English. It doesn’t look like they’ll be all that helpful for me, and I’ll spend a lot of time just translating the words. I find paper, ink, and a quill and start doing just that. By the time I’ve translated one whole paragraph, I notice that the sentence structure of this language is a lot like French and I don’t find it confusing at all. The time passes by so quickly and before I know it there is a knock at the door. “Come in!” I try to call out in this new language, but am unsure if I pronounced it right. Ivernis steps in, with a grin on his face. “You learn quickly. Come eat and I’ll correct your pronunciation.”

     He walks out. I get up and follow him to the bedroom where several plates are laid out on the table. “Who else is joining us?” “This is all for you. Everyone else has already eaten at the lodge.” “Why is there so much food then? I can’t possibly finish all of this.” “I realized earlier today that I never asked what kind of nourishment you require, so I brought an assortment. I’m not expecting you to eat all of it.” “Well then you should’ve just asked me. I don’t want to waste all this food.” “Just don’t worry about it and eat.” He says this last sentence with great irritation. I shut up and sit down. This meal really is more varied than the last. There are several different kinds of meats and seafood, some of it raw, stews, breads, mushrooms and other veggies, dried fruits and cheeses. I start with some bread and cheese and dip it into one of the darker stews. It’s utterly delicious, but heavy on the meat. I toss in some of the mushrooms and veggies into it and eat the whole thing up. I finish with more cheese and some of the dried fruits.

     “That was heavenly, thank you! There was just too much meat during breakfast.” “My people are predators. We consume meat almost entirely, anything else is just for extra nutrients every once in awhile.” “You mean you’re hunters?” “Yes. For my species, there are two types: prey or predator. This clan is predator. It seems your species doesn’t work this way though. You eat a similar proportion of meats and plants.” I think for a moment before I respond. “So, you’re not… human?” “Is that what your species is called? On this world we are called Animos. Each clan has the characteristics of a specific type of animal. My clan takes after the Innalim, a large predatory feline that lives in the mountains. What is your species like?”

     “Um, before I answer that, besides your diet, how do you have animal characteristics?” “We just do. My clan has great night vision and can see over vast distances, whereas a prey clan would have better peripheral vision. We vary depending on our clan.” “So then, do you hunt these prey people?” I ask, but I’m not sure I want to know. What if they consider me prey? Would they eat me? I’m not sure I like this cannibalistic world anymore. “No we don’t, though it was commonplace a very long time ago. A lot of things changed when we came to this world.” “When you came to this world?” He stares off into the distance with a pained look on his face. He shakes his head, “I’ve answered your questions, answer mine.” “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. Um, well on my world humans are pretty much predators, though we don’t have such huge differences between each other like your species does. Even though we’re predators we’re an omnivorous species, and some people even forsake meat entirely.” “Your kind sounds confusing. How can you be predators but not hunt?” “Well, we don’t hunt really. Some people do it as a sport, but mainly we raise animals and grow crops to eat. I live in a complex society where food is readily available if you can pay for it and everyone is trying to make more and more money. I guess that you could say the people of my world prey on each other, in a way. It’s not a very nice place.”

     “You don’t like your world?” “No, I suppose I don’t. Can we talk about something else? You said you’d teach me how to pronounce your words. What’s your language called by the way?” “We don’t really have a name for it, since everyone on this world speaks it, but you can just call it Animos.” Ivernis gets up and strolls back into the office. I follow him and begin our pronunciation lessons. We don’t talk about species and worlds anymore that night and I try not to think about it too much.

     “That’s enough for tonight. Try to get some sleep.” “Where are you and Fierdna going to sleep?” “Don’t worry about that.” He slams the door and leaves me alone in this room. Now that he’s gone, I can finally process all of this new information. The people on this world are not human, the people that I’m staying with basically have snow leopard-like qualities, and their priestess who absolutely hates me gets to help some council decide what to do with me. I still have a whole myriad of unanswered questions. How do they know I’m not from this world? How do they happen to know a language not from this world? My poor little brain is so confused, and I can’t really go back to my dream theory. No one learns a language the old fashioned way in a dream.

     I decide to turn in for the night and notice a different guard is by the front door. I’m reminded that I’m still a prisoner here and I wonder if I should be trying to find a way back home. As I hop into bed I remember what I told Ivernis. I don’t like my world. Maybe this one isn’t much better, but I’d like to find out for myself. Maybe the people here could send me to a different world if things don’t work out. Satisfied with myself, I fall asleep.