[open post: Kei ryezich Ravkayash?]

[ravkanwitch]

Nina makes friends very easily. This is a known fact. Despite what's going on internally, she's friendly, exuberant, and silly when she's around others. When she moved to the Little Palace from the orphanage, she immediately made a few fast friends with other Grisha who were around the same age. One was a young girl from Fjerda -- rescued from the Drüskelle, who would rather burn their own at stake than admit that Grisha were human -- and they were best friends. Her friend didn't know the Ravkan language that well, so Nina began learning Fjerdan to bridge the gap. Her instructors immediately saw promise and placed her in multiple language courses where she thrived. Fjerdan (the language of the enemy) ironically became what she excelled in, to native fluency. Her Kerch (the language of commerce) is near perfect. Shu and Zemeni were next, potential rivals or partners of Ravka. Kaelish because it was fun. Suli was the most difficult to grasp, a dialect of Ravkan but also entirely different. In any case, she didn't see it as work, she saw it as a way to connect more deeply with others.

Since arriving, Nina has noticed that everyone at the mansion has a different accent, if you can call it that. It's clear that none of them share the same language, but she processes everyone's language the same, somehow. She started experimenting, speaking Fjerdan with Laertes, Shu with Binghe and Lan Wangji, Kerch with some of the other residents like Nightingale and Janet. It's possible it changes her accent to something closer to theirs -- she thinks it does -- but it doesn't seem to change what she's saying. At least it's a way to maintain fluency, just in case...

She has also noticed that there are some areas of the grounds, some little pockets, that don't seem to translate what she's reading or saying as clearly. She first noticed this when she wandered a little too far into the woods and pulled out a book to read in an attempt to be more cultured (before she became swarmed with bugs and had to give up) -- but there was a moment where the language in the book seemed to be entirely different. It's been happening more frequently lately.

In the wake of a successful (?) talent show, Nina has found one of those pockets. She is sitting at a desk strewn with books about languages, deep into studying English, French, and Chinese simultaneously. She would absolutely welcome company, whether to discuss the talent show, languages, or anything else.

Comments

[timebethine]

He studies the letters again. Wanden, that's similar to vand; isen is cognate. "Something about water and ice? If so, the nouns are like Danish nouns, but the verbs are yet locked to me."

[ravkanwitch]

She ponders this. "The water hears and understands. The ice does not forgive. Some similarities with Danish, then. How would you write it in Danish?"

[timebethine]

Laertes takes up the pen and write the saying in his own language. He has a fair, flowing hand, and he writes with comfortable ease. "Canst see, the verbs are very different. Høre--" and he points to the word on the page, the present-tense hører "--is 'to hear,' and I would use forstå for 'to understand,' though some may use other words. Tilgive is 'to forgive.' Nothing alike with Fjerdan."

[ravkanwitch]

"That's fascinating," Nina says. "Especially considering we're from different worlds. It's a surprise we even have the nouns in common. Also, you have great hand-writing. You and Claudius... both of you speak Danish?"

[timebethine]

"Ay, and many others besides--he was a diplomat and I a scholar, and so my classical languages may be a bit better, but he hath better command of the living languages."

[ravkanwitch]

"I was also a diplomat. A spy, in fact," Nina offers, then laughs a little. "Not a great one." She's passable spy, bolstered by her language and acting skills but hampered by her stubbornness.

[timebethine]

The admission sends a chill down Laertes's spine. "My father had many spies," he says, a little distantly. "For the state and for his own use. I cannot think it a goodly profession for thee."

[ravkanwitch]

She considers his reaction. "I don't know if it suits me," she admits. "It's difficult to deal in secrecy. I... saw something terrible happening. My commanders told me to do nothing and continue feeding them information. I couldn't do it. If I ever make it back, I might be in trouble."

[timebethine]

"I'm proud of thee," says Laertes firmly. "To do good, even knowing thou wilt not be rewarded for it, speaks well of thee." Then, softening a bit, he adds, "I'm glad that thou couldst learn so many languages by it, even though the work grieved thee. Thou hast a curious mind, and one I much admire."

[ravkanwitch]

"Ravka has a good ruler... but even the best ruler can't spend his entire time among the people." King Nikolai is fair and charming, despite the swirling rumors about his legitimacy, but Nina has a better understanding of Fjerda than almost anyone in Os Alta. She smiles at him. "And I could say the same thing about you! What's your newest project?"

[timebethine]

"Sagramore and I are at many pursuits," says Laertes. "We've been building a kiln to make cups for Tress. And we're devising our own holiday--is there any food from thy homeland that thou wouldst like us to make for thee? We'll have a feast, and all share the bounty of our worlds."

[ravkanwitch]

"A feast?" Nina brightens. Her first instinct is waffles -- but those are mostly a Ketterdam treat. The dishes that truly remind her of Ravka are cabbage rolls, fish soup, and... well, she immediately knows her answer. "Potato dumplings. With sour cream on the side. I would offer my help but I'm a disaster in the kitchen."

[timebethine]

"Potato dumplings it will be, then," Laertes declares. "A hearty dish to warm our bellies." He finger-spells potato to himself, then remembers suddenly, "Oh! Magnus is teaching me to speak with my hands. He calls it sign-language. See, this is thy name spelled out." He finger-spells Nina. "But we can make names for ourselves of other words; this is the one that Magnus chose for me, from L and make." He signs his own name for her, delighted to have something to bring to her table.

[ravkanwitch]

"That's fantastic," she says, copying his sign for his name and also spelling out Nina as well, picking up quickly. "I use my Grisha abilities using my hands. It's not as-- precise as others, like Janet or maybe Nightingale. It's more innate... but it is still powered through hand movements." She still doesn't feel safe enough to reveal to anyone that binding a Grisha's hands spots them from using their abilities; it cuts a little too close to home since that's how she was captured once.

[timebethine]

"Christ! That's another project; I ought to have shown thee first of all--" and he holds out his hand and threads the spindle of the forma onto it, murmuring, "Lux." There is a moment's sensation of warm late-summer hay, of honey and lilacs, and an very faint flicker of stained glass windows shattering and reforming.

A little sphere of cool white light flickers to life on his palm.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina watches in absolute delight. "Laertes! Where did you learn this? It's incredible."

She crosses her arms, jokingly. "Any other tricks hidden up your sleeve? Are you suddenly able to teleport? Read my mind?"

[timebethine]

"Just this, and Nightingale saith that I might scramble my brains if I practice too often in a day." He closes his fist, dismissing the werelight. "I think he's determined that I should learn no new spells ere the year turns."

[ravkanwitch]

"He seems like a very practical man, so I think it's best to listen to him," Nina nods. "But even just that one spell is impressive... and having more to aspire to as well."

[timebethine]

"Hast thou seen him work his arts? It's like nothing else, Nina--as though the laws of the universe were set down in plainest Latin, and they rhymed." Laertes's eyes shine with admiration and wonder both.

[ravkanwitch]

"He's fantastic. We fought together against the undead," Nina says. Their banter was perhaps the most fun Nina has had in a combat situation in a while. "Oh-- that does remind me that I still need a sword. We were discussing it. I think I need something larger than my bone shards in case... something else ever happens. The blade needs to be bone but he was going to going to help with metalworking for the hilt. Maybe you can help me look at a few designs?"

[timebethine]

"What! We've known each other how many months, and I did not know thou couldst fence--!"

[ravkanwitch]

"Not really," Nina says, slightly abashed. We learned the absolute basics along with the First Army -- but Sagramore said he would teach me more.

[timebethine]

"I'll be happy to aid him in that--Nina, thou wouldst be a terror with a rapier," says Laertes, face alight with excitement.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina flushes a little from the compliment. "I definitely need something on the lighter side. But if it's made bone, I could also have more control over it."

[timebethine]

"Bone might be fragile; thy blade would need to be wickedly sharp, that thou couldst wound thy foes ere thou didst need to block their blows. But perhaps Nightingale knows some spell or charm that might strengthen it."