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They've left him alone in his cell.
He can't really be said to be lucid but he has very acute instincts for when there's someone and when he's alone - it's the last of his senses to depart him - and he's alone.
And then suddenly he isn't.
kobold and post-Angband Maedhros
lurkingkobold
The next few days go well enough; the kobolds spend them at the wood shop or walk around the city to take care of whatever casting needs to be done. They go to the magic workshop once, and while it's not a disaster, keeping a close enough eye on Tirinquo to make sure they don't interfere with anything delicate is hard enough that they don't go again.
She keeps Maitimo updated - Tirinquo is doing well, and getting steadily more comfortable with not knowing where she is; they should still have someone keeping an eye on them but soon it won't need to be her. He also suggests that she take a name as well; at his recommendation she starts going by Rána, wanderer.
One day, they head to the library; Rána has been asked to add some light spells there. When she comes out of her casting trance, Tirinquo is standing in front of her with a book, and chirps curiously at her; she explains by pretending to read it aloud, gently tapping each word with her finger as she speaks, and Tirinquo's eyes light up.
"Well, you'd have to learn the language first," she muses, "but I suppose there's no reason not to try." She starts going through a modified version of the exercise used to check prospective Speakers: if she claims that a particular written word is spoken like so, and asks them to repeat it back when the word is pointed at a few seconds later, can they do that?
lurkingkobold
Excellent. And that night she tells Maitimo about it. I don't know if they'll actually be able to learn to speak or write, or if they'll want to. But they might be able to learn to read without doing either of those.
lurkingkobold
Yeah. Do you have anyone with time to teach them? Or I can ask the other host, they'd probably be willing.
And this person is working very long hours because of the war but can take a break to teach reading.
lurkingkobold
Rána has better penmanship, but Tirinquo is the more enthusiastic learner; they learn most of the alphabet.
lurkingkobold
They do that; the bit where neither of them knows spoken Quenya (yes Rána is a Speaker but she's been busy, okay) isn't a significant hurdle yet. Rána writes some Animalperson words; Tirinquo tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to read the books at the library. They're back in a few days for the rest of the alphabet.
lurkingkobold
Excellent.
Now the hard part: actually learning Quenya. For this they really should go to the Ñolofinwëan camp; they're also busy, but not as busy, finding off-duty Quendi to sit and watch and listen to will be much easier there. Rána drops Tirinquo off at the wood shop and goes to ask about it.
lurkingkobold
This is going to take a while; even kobolds who're good with language aren't very good.
lurkingkobold
Okay. Hug. I'll go see if they want to come now.
They don't, as it turns out, but the following day they're willing. One of Rána's friends is among the off-duty elves; she snuggles up next to them, with Tirinquo on her other side.