Chapter 20: 1-20: Tongues

"What the fuck, you dicks!" I swore jolting up from my very peaceful nap. Above me were the two assholes, Vern and Fredericka grinning like the jerks they were.

"She's arisen, the lady of the pool. The loser of the arch."

I flipped Fredericka off before putting back on my boots, but not my socks which were now sopping wet. I slapped those on Vern's bareback to his annoyance.

"I'm assuming you're all done." 

"As of a few minutes ago, yes."

"Did it work." I ask leaning on the arch to prevent myself from falling over due to vertigo.

"Not sure how we'd test it."

"Isn't the sisters’ hometown in a Latvisch speaking area."

"They can't speak it."

"Ophelia is an arcane seer and she can't speak a language designed to cast magic in?"

"I may have just assumed."

Vern led us back down the slope. The sun had started to fall from the sky.

The other busied themselves testing the magic's effect. I assumed it worked as soon they were all busy speaking in a language I couldn't even begin to parse. I sighed and returned to the hill to collect the socks Vern had tossed aside. While up I glanced at the arch from the other side and read a script on the bottom of the arch. "The water here is not below, bless the soul with truth untold, speak the words of harmony, the deities true sight."

Okay, that was completely unhelpful and vague. 

"Hey Terr-terr." Hayli said approaching me. Her eyes looked blood shot and she immediately grabbed my arm and leaned on me. "I need a place to rest on. Your brother and the others made me exhaust myself just saving their asses from drowing."

"Fine. Don't expect me to carry you. I think my muscles have started to get weaker."

"You'd refuse to carry a beautiful lady such as myself? Rude."

"No, lazy. Rude would be if I told you to walk by yourself."

"Perhaps in your eyes, but mayhap in mine it's the same."

I looked at her teal green swimsuit. It was a one piece with a golden ring around her belly button and frills around her hips. I'd have said more on its looks, but I was too embarrassed to look at her and commit to memory how she looked. 

"Oh, and you think it's fine for me to carry you. Might get the others to separate us again."

"I no longer care, Lady Terra."

"You look cute, by the way."

"I know. You'd look cute as well."

"Only one in my size is Fredericka. And you've seen her swimsuits."

She laughed, "Yeah, very utilitarian. Now, let's go, the others are ready to go."

"Fine." I smile and we return down the hill to the others.

They switched from whatever language they were using to common tongue with such seamless ease that even changing midsentence wasn't an issue, despite the fact that there had to be differences in the structure of how the sentences were built and the grammar of the language in general that should prevent such switching at all. (I know the language is Latvisch now but to avoid embarrassing myself I'm not going to transcribe it at all.)

I was going to be a ninth wheel soon if this kept up. 

Hayli giggled as she went and chatted with Amber, the former still leaning on me for support, my arm now tingling and clearly falling asleep. We began to walk back, myself having to slow my pace to help the two chatters keep a conversation going that I could never hope to understand. I did hear my name every so often, which meant the magic at least recognized it as a Name and not like the word.

This had gone too quickly. The ruin exploration would likely be quick as well, and we'd be back to being bored for at least two months. We really should be planning for the ruins. Tomorrow, of course. We needed to rest for the rest of today.

My arm tingled as suddenly Hayli yanked my zoned-out ass from walking us into another beehive. I think she scolded me, but she was still speaking Latvisch and honestly that always sounded so angry to me. She might have been asking me what breed of dog I liked or reciting some awful poetry for all I knew. Apparently the choice to switch was a conscious one and not automatic. That would be an issue later, I was pretty certain.

Soon enough we got back to the mansion as the sun began its final setting, just an edge poking out above the horizon. Food was cooked and served in short order. Rice again, rice as always. Then everyone returned to their regular evening routines.

Soon everyone else was busy still conversing in Latvisch and reading the weirdly high amount of foreign language literature we had available. (It was mostly old boring novels from before they invented the concept of a plot.)

I grabbed a thick tome that had "Advanced Guides to Demons" on the spine and began to read to pass the time flipping to a random page.

"Section 2.8 Demons, Sex and Gender

Demons are a single gender and sex, the way it is expressed depends on the demon or species of demon. This allows demonkind to produce both asexually and sexually. [See Section 4.9]"

Okay this was outdated. Demons had genders, multiple at that. It was definitely pre the last big war. Even the books at my school growing up were more in date than this. I flipped some more.

"Section 5.3 Hierarchy in the Demon Lands

Below the Mystical Demon Patriarch, are the Monarchs, rulers of each kingdom, those who have been chosen to rule a kingdom of demons. The Lord is a conceptual leader that unites them- usually in war against humanity. Historically the Lord has always been male- even if the candidates can be of any gender. Any Female Lord is a false one. A true lord is a he.

The list of Kingdom Leaders and heirs are found in page XXVI"

Okay this was even worse than I thought. I quickly check the list and find it missing three whole kingdoms, multiple heirs that were known even when the book was written, and most of the names were misspelled. 

"Section 18.A Questions for Gifted Learners

See if you can translate this passage from the Demon Tongue using the concepts learned in Section 12.3.

Hello, my name is Luvia, and I am going to eat this sandwich."

That was already translated. In fact, the book lacked anything written in the demon tongue at all. Either they forgot to print it, or the point was to translate it into demon tongue, and they had missed the mistaken instructions.

I shelved the book, now feeling smarter than a published textbook author and terribly sorry for anyone who had to use the book in school back in the day.

Vern and Layla had my old 'bed' taken so I just laid face down in the middle of the floor and relaxed. I guess I was more tired from walking than I had thought because soon the sounds of unintelligible chatter in a language I didn't understand lulled me into a deep sleep.

I awoke sometime after the others had all retired to bed. After a minute of trying to return to sleep on the couch I realized that wasn't a real possibility and gave up. I also didn't want to disturb Hayli by barging into our room late at night. Seemed unsafe.

I stretched, absentmindedly twirling my hair around my finger as I did. Perhaps if I didn't try to do anything, I'd bore myself back to sleep.

Two and a half months, huh. Seriously, that was a while to wait. Seriously who design and set a spell that took that long to activate? Why even have us here that early? A torture expert no doubt. I could see the headlines: Heroes Found Dead on Island! Likeliest Cause? Boredom.

(I eventually either fell asleep or zoned out. I'm seriously not sure but the next day eventually came.)

We meet in the morning in the dining hall to plan and discuss the ruin part of the letter.

"Why do we need to explore some boring old dirty ruins?" Complained Fredericka.

"Check for traps. Like the letter said. Freddie did you not pay attention?" A concerned looking Layla asked a bored looking Fredericka.

"Well, at least we know where the ruins are, unlike the lake." Remarked Ophelia as she read through a book bound in what I hoped wasn't human flesh but certainly looked like flesh of some kind. I was too afraid to ask what it was actually bound in.

"Yeah, but it didn't seem to be a priority." Vern said.

"Agreed, but they mentioned it and we read it so by some laws not doing it might be treason." Zeke replied.

"Maybe we lie and say we cleared it?" I suggest.

"Terra. The death of those innocent researchers would be on all of our consciousnesses then." Retorted Sairah

"I mean we could have Ophelia blow it up. Lie and say an ancient demon was trapped inside and we had to fight and went a bit overboard." Amber suggested, chugging down a cup of 'coffee'.

"Okay, what are doing?" Fredericka asked.

"I think we should be safe with only sending a small party to check it out." I suggest, chewing on some bacon.

The others nodded.

Vern coughed, "I think a team of four is good enough."

"Okay but how are we going to get anyone to form a team? Or choose one." Zeke motioned to all of us with an overdramatic wave of his hands.

"I suppose the old-fashioned way. A vote!" Vern announced.

"A silent vote." Added Sairah.

"Right. No need to get anyone mad at anyone else."

The plan was decided quickly. We'd fill out a ballot and write our main choices in order. First place was ten points, second was six, third three points and fourth a single point. Four highest total point winners were the unlucky saps. When done we were to place it in a basket. I cut and passed out the paper to be used as the ballots and everyone went to write down their choices. Mine was... Vern, Fredericka, Sairah, and Lailah. A strong party. Perfect for not dying to traps. Plus it would get Vern out of my hair, and Fredericka clearly didn't want to go and I knew she put me top of her ballot.

Amber and Layla were the official vote counters, doing it in one of the many empty rooms we were using as training spaces when the mood struck us. They used an old chalkboard that had only been used to write insults and for games of hangman, both of which were courtesy of Vern. After around an hour of counts and recounts and arguments between them if misspellings counted and removal of extra ballots a certain pair of chefs had added, the count was finished. 

The Final Four wre:

1. Sairah with 4 1st Place Votes
2. Hayli with 3 1st Place Votes
3. Terra with 2 1st Place Votes
4. Zeke with 1 1st Place Votes

I grumbled under my breath and glared at Vern and Fredericka who were acting the guiltiest anyone had ever looked in the history of guilt. Sairah and Hayli were talking together while Zeke was dragging a terrified Amber into the kitchen to berate her for him winning fourth place. I meanwhile tricked Vern upstairs to 'help' me pack and locked his ponytailed ass in a closet. Or I would have but Fredericka followed us and stopped me. So, I resigned myself to defeat and sulked in the big comfy chair. in our weird living room entrance way.

"I think we failed to avoid causing people to get mad at each other." Zeke complained sitting in the chair next to me. His hair was white with salt and his eyes red.

"Um... Zeke? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Amber did this all the time back at the academy when she got to heated during our arguments."

"Doesn't it hurt though?"

"Like a motherfucker." He laughed then winched in pain.

"So, when do we want to start off?" I asked as the duo that finished our exploration party entered the room.

Sairah replied while Hayli jumped on me, slapping my face with her tail, "Two days' time."

"Two days from today or in two days with today counted as a day?"

"Two days from today."

"Sounds great to me." Zeke said still winching.

"Great. I'll leave you to suffer and Hayli and her chair and go pack some clothes since it's going to be at least a few days to reach the ruins."

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"Can you do ours too?" I ask trying to ignore Hayli nuzzling her head into my bosom.

"You'll have plenty of time to do that yourself as long as you don't waste time in the bedroom with anything else." Sairah replied walking away. 

"What have you guys even done?"

"Nothing. Hayli did try to lick me clean one night after trying that bottle of stuff we found."

"I told you that's just how my species cleans their mates."

"I was in the bath."

"Clearly you weren't getting clean enough."

Zeke chuckled and then they both decided to run upstairs to pack, leaving me the lazy bum who would never dare pack early alone in the very comfy chair. I busied myself painting my nails while writing more in the book. 

Eventually an angry looking Hayli returned, still mad I mentioned the licking incident and draped herself across me like a cat trying to trick you into petting its fuzzy little tummy just to attack you.

"I'm glad you got voted with me."

"I mean it's better than only one of us getting voted."

"Aw." She bopped my nose. "Want to share a sleeping bag?"

"Hayli, it's humid and hot even at night here."

"I'm cool to the touch, Terr-terr."

"Fine, if you insist." I reply blowing on my nails. 

Hayli pulled me down to her, "We can also do more than just sleep."

"Not much with two others around us."

"Plus, Sairah might kill us if we wake her up... doing... that stuff."

"That would be a famous story. Hero killed by own Shield."

"Priestess kills apprentice is a good one as well."

"Killed alongside her beloved. They'd love to add that." She pulled me down and suddenly kissed me. She tasted salty and warm. Her tongue quickly darted in to touch mine like it was just exploring. We pulled apart and quickly looked away from each other. We were both as red as apples, cheeks burning.

Hayli giggled happily, her scales reflecting light that made her blushes stand out even more. I hated her so much. A first kiss needed build up and here she was just doing it randomly and with no warn-

She leaned up and pecked me on the lips again. 

I was a completely red-faced person at this point, and I was pretty sure I was uncontrollably babbling.

At some point Sairah had carried us upstairs and tossed us into bed. The morning next came and I woke by rolling onto the hardwood floor.

Hayli had gotten up earlier than me and for some reason left behind a wet spot on her pillow that I hoped was water and not brain juice. I got dressed, skirt and a silk shirt and slid down the stairs on my butt.

Sairah nodded, "Morning."

Vern nodded also, "Up late once again, sis."

I ignored them.

"Does she go down like that often?"

"Only when she gets bored. She used to jump off the balcony until she broke a leg."

"Why did she jump off in the first place?"

"Copying a friend of ours."

"That doesn't explain anything Vern."

I wandered past them. Ophelia mentioned that there was some stew on the stove. I thanked her and shuffled into kitchen pouring out the stew and then picking out the carrots.

I sat down at the table to enjoy my breakfast. Vern wandered in to join me as I took my first bite.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you."

Vern whistled, "I have no idea what you're implying here, Terra, but I don't appreciate the insinuation."

"I'm insinuating that you and Ricka put me top of their ballots."

"Wow, I am hurt." Vern laugh. "Be careful. You and ruins have bad history."

"Says the guy with just as bad ruin history." 

"I'm not the one going in them."

Vern left and I finished eating and went upstairs to prepare my clothes for the excursion. Hayli had a very lumpy bag in the corner, already done with her own packing, I shrugged and began to fill my own sack until just as lumpy as hers. I casually grabbed her bag when finished and tossed both on the bed. After taking a minute to sweep the floor- it was filthy- I went back downstairs.

The others were busy with the daily chores. Zeke and Amber were clearing more out from the guest house, while Ophelia and Hayli worked the garden that we had planted outside of it. Sairah and the two idiots were out hunting some of the deer because Amber decide she wanted to try her hand at cooking some venison and Zeke was interested if the ones with grass tasted any different. Layla was also in the forest gathering medical herbs and fruits for healing potions and ointments. I went over to the table and looked at the notes that were written down. My name was near the bottom, in large yet neat handwriting. "Clean out pantry".

I nodded to myself. I had dropped a fresh tomato onto the floor in it a bit ago, so I guess it was only fair I clean it. I found some cleaning supplies in a nearby closet and got to work.

First, I emptied the pantry, stacking them on the counter and then went in to clean. The highest shelves were dusty, the walls and floors stained with food. Dried bug shells crunched beneath my feet. I could see a dead mouse on a shelf above my head.

"This can't be safe for us." I say aloud to myself trying not to gag. I took my time, starting from the bottom- sweeping, scrubbing, polishing, drying for each and every shelf and wall. The top shelves had some old graffiti on them from before they were nailed together and were just school desks. I scared a few live mice out from them and into a makeshift trap that I took and opened outside. I returned in and finished by restocking the shelves, tossing a few spoiled items away. I grabbed some crackers and went to check if anyone else was done. 

No one else was, so I did the most reasonable thing and went back to my room to write some more. It was a breeze, condensing the last few weeks to the parts I cared enough about to note down. I also went and read the notes the three jokers who had access to it as well had written. After ten pages of writing and removing some notes that I didn't feel were important. As I was reading one from Hayli that was more of a complaint about how I removed most of her asides, I heard the sound of people downstairs and went to see. They were conversing in another language again, only nodding at the sight of me. I was slightly upset at that response and retired to a dark corner by the bookshelf. I was beginning to feel depressed at the whole ninth wheel thing. I really wished I could just spend time alone with Hayli. Oh twins, I was losing it. One of the good things about before I was me, was the lack of strong emotional response. Or bad thing. I hadn't decided.

I pulled out a copy of Martin Martini's "Those Who Came Before", a fictionalized account of the original settlers of the continent. I had reead it a few times, the words engulfing me like an old friend as I read. From Marcus Vilaf founding Aldenstown to the Treason of Waterbern caused by the elopement of Princess Aragonia and Princess Castille. It was all too familiar to me. Hell, I even preferred it to the real history we were taught in school. It took until sunset for me to finish. The others who were going to the woods with me weren't in the sitting room. I decided that was a good idea. Hayli was face down on the bed in a very tattered looking nightie that I was certain Sairah had yelled at her to toss. I could hear her cute little snore and I went into the bath and very quickly took a bath. I dressed in the oversized shirt having stuffed my only other clean nightdresses into the bag.

Hayli was awake now, greeting me groggilly as I crawled into bed

"Hey... I missed you."

"I was literally in the house all day."

"I know. I'm sorry." She squirmed under the covers. "It's just everyone wants to test out the translator magic."

"No, no. I get it." I pouted a little. 

"Someone's jealous."

"Why would I be jealous?"

"I'm spending time with other women."

"I might be, but you haven't kissed any of them. Speaking of that, was that seriously how you wanted a first kiss to be? Shouldn't it be more dramatic?"

She giggled, "Were you always like this or did the potion make you this way?"

I scoffed, "Oh, would you rather I not care about any of our firsts?"

"It's cute." She flashed her teeth in a smile. 

"So how is the translation magic?"

"Great. Doesn't translate Demon Tongue. None of them could read any of them in that 'Advance Guides to Demons' book."

"None of them?"

"Yeah, I can read Demon Tongue." She was so good at understanding what I meant now. 

"Hayli that book was all in the Common Tongue."

"Terra, did you read the wrong book?"

"No, it was that same book."

Hayli blinked at me. She seemed to think for a minute. Then spoke, "What am I saying now?"

"Hayli, I can speak the common Demon Tongue- we learned it in school, I just can't read it."

"That was Royal Demon Tongue, Terra."

"Huh." I blinked. "That's... not something I know."

Hayli seemed to think. "Did... you touch anything?"

"I soaked my toes in that pool while you guys were diving."

"You are sure you can't speak Royal?"

"Positive. Why can you?"

"Huh? Oh... um, you know. I felt like learning it."

"We can figure out why later, Hayli. We need to get up early tomorrow."

Hayli nodded, and pulled me closer to her. "Yep. Night Terr-Terr." 

I smiled trying to ignore how she bent herself down to place her head nearer my now modest chest and the way her hair smelled like the ocean and the way her scales felt as they rubbed against me. Even her tail grip was rough. She was lucky she was cute. (And beautiful. - Hayli) (And modest.)

I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable violent shaking waking from Sairah when I inevitably overslept.

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