"Nawi little" - another obvious sign - "Yuyaem. Speak Vaayo, speak Yuyaem."

He tries pointing to a couple things around them and saying their names in Yuyaem.

He looks questioningly at her.

"One," she points out, and then teaches Nawi the last of the set he's given her. "Okay."

He tries one more nearby object.

Yep!

They can do quite a few this way - they only take a few seconds each - while Dosk eats.

What if he tries getting up and miming things? Can he teach Nawi to say "walking" and "standing" that way?

Yep! That doesn't seem to be any more complicated than the nouns.

He'll teach Nawi as many words as they have time for.

She does eventually finish her lunch, apart from the chunk of carrot and smidgen of fruit she's saved for the mice. She won't chase him off, though.

If she doesn't mind extending the lesson he'll just keep teaching Nawi for another hour or so. Being able to talk with Dosk is really important.

She has no objection to that at all, and more than a few suggestions for words, once he starts running out of obvious ones; she can teach Nawi almost any concept he can get across.

He eventually has to go get some other things done.

He thinks for a second and decides to invite Dosk to come with him.

Ooh! Yes, she'll do that.

Vaayo introduces her to an old man called Viyem, easily the oldest person she's seen in this village, who's sitting on the shady side of a building and carefully hand-copying the book Vaayo brought back from his trip. Viyem doesn't rise when they're introduced but he doesn't seem to mean that rudely and he has a cane leaning against the wall beside him.

That seems entirely reasonable. She takes a moment to teach Nawi his name, too.

"Automatons can do this," she tells Vaayo, of the copying.

Viyem likes that idea when Vaayo explains it to him.

"She wanted to know what I do and I couldn't figure out how to answer," says Vaayo.

"That's not hard." Viyem points to himself and to Vaayo, then to the book.

"That isn't all of it," says Vaayo.

"It's enough of it."

Vaayo turns to Dosk. "Vaayo work," he signs and points to the book.

That's about as illuminating as a shade. (They're...teachers? Why would that not count as creche work, if the categories are so loose that they only have three? Writers, maybe? Weird that a writer would spend time transcribing, though, that doesn't seem very related. Most likely she is just failing to get it, whatever it is.)

Viyem asks Vaayo to stand somewhere not directly between him and Dosk and tries something else. He points to the building right behind him. He points to the other buildings that he has a good view of from here. He points over in the direction of the ruined city, mimes snapping something, mimes carrying something from that direction. He points to the book.

They're... messengers? Okay, sure, that makes some sense. It explains why Vaayo wanted a scooter, too. She nods.