[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

[ravkanwitch]

"Trying," Nina says, modestly. "Mostly so I don't get too rusty. Just in case." They both know what the just in case means; just in case they return.

[lightbearinglord]

Indeed, Lan Wangji nods again, with a slightly grimmer understanding this time. He sets his brush down so that it leans against his inkstone and flips through another few pages of the book Nina showed him, intrigued by the prospect of someone else here learning to speak his language. Perhaps it wouldn't matter, though. "Whatever it is that translates for us is a gift," he says, abruptly contemplative. "Without it, I could speak to very few others here." Two of those others would presumably be Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan, which is a dispiriting thought.

[ravkanwitch]

"If we didn't have any translation I'm sure I'd be able to pick up the basics quickly... but at the start, I wouldn't have been able speak with anyone," Nina replies. "Well, there's one." She makes a small face.

[lightbearinglord]

Politely, Lan Wangji turns a mildly curious expression toward her. He is realizing that he knows very little about her home, but he isn't certain whether this is something she wants to share.

[ravkanwitch]

"Someone from my past... and I'm someone from his future, it seems," she says, as light as she can. It's easier than the first few times she tried to explain the complexity of the situation. "We're both from Ravka. It's a country that's recovering from a civil war but most likely about to enter another war so there's a lot of... disagreement. And trauma."

[lightbearinglord]

How Lan Wangji hates politics. He gives her a solemn little nod of continued understanding, and remembers to be grateful that the war that shaped him and his world remains in the past. "Every war casts a long shadow."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina nods. "I didn't think it would cast one here... but stranger things have happened."

She pauses for a second, looking down the desk at the empty chair and table space where someone else could presumably also read or do some light studying. "Care to join me? The translation system is broken down in this room, so if you have any interest in language at all..." She trails off a little; apology accepted, she means. Better to have this as a happy little memory than what happened at the talent show.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji understands her meaning, and he accepts it with silent gratitude. He gathers up his calligraphy supplies so that he can move to the space she has indicated. He has no pressing work, but he can transcribe the remainder of the poem he began, and enjoy the company as they work together.