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The local militia captain rapped on the doorframe, "We've found the suspect, Judge."
"Excellent! Bring me to him. Let's get this headache over with," Theod replied.
A short walk later, the captain gestured to a door. "He's in here."
Theod held himself tall and thought of the ideals that had brought him to The Judge's Order. He hasn't been out in the field long, but even a new judge's rough cloth robe and wooden badge of office can project the presence of the original for long enough to make an imposing entrance.
Stepping through the door to a suddenly hushed room, he asks "Which is the accused?"
He's presented with a slightly bruised man, hands tied with ropes.
"Do you swear to tell me the truth today, as I have sworn to use that knowledge well?"
The man growls "Yes", which Theod knows is true, and then "Much good may it do you!"
There is a feeling of overwhelming light, and cracks in it, spreading through space.
When he can make sense of his surroundings, he is... not there.
fairshot
fairshot
"Monstrous things are not pleasant, but there are a lot of shadows anywhere there are people. If some of them are 'woken'... well, I suspect you have more paranoids than home does."
winterlight
"If you are plagued by a woke shadow it is more likely to hide in your ear than under your bed."
winterlight
"Most people wouldn't make them and many people who would can't, but when someone knows how they can make huge numbers before we track them down at the source."
winterlight
"It would be very useful if we could simply lie-detect people who might have been manufacturing them," Kaja nods.
fairshot
He smiles. "The judge gift is very useful. On a previous topic, was there a library or something where I should find materials for learning the alphabet?"
winterlight
"I was going to just write out the alphabet for you and then have an initiate who could use the practice with their language gift help you with the rest."
winterlight
They arrive at the dorm, where someone finds a spare room for Theod and Kaja gets a piece of paper to write out the Cirth alphabet. It's thirty-eight letters. "I can't use my gift in writing, so I'll just tell you what sounds they make and you can write down whatever will help you remember that -" And then she lists the sounds.
fairshot
Theod looks confused for the first couple letters, then mutters "Oh, just half syllables. Alright, I can work with that," scribbles out most of what he'd written already, and replaces it. A few more sounds feel out of place, but he rounds them to ones he can write and makes nonsense marks to remind him of the difference.
"Thank you. For an increasing number of things, now."
"Thank you. For an increasing number of things, now."
winterlight
Kaja leaves.
A little while later, a teenage boy knocks on the door. "Um," he says, "you're - learning - Cirth?"
A little while later, a teenage boy knocks on the door. "Um," he says, "you're - learning - Cirth?"
fairshot
"I am, yes. I sort of appeared on Kaja while she was fighting zombies. You're going to help translate and teach me some basics?"
fairshot
"I think we should start with basic conversational things. Like, things one might say going to the store."
"Okay." The initiate produces reasonable generic store-related sentences in Cirth, and translates them haltingly, and writes them down.
fairshot
Theod interjects with questions about patterns, when he thinks he's noticed them. And as they go on, more pronunciation attempts for him to check in Cirth.
This probably continues for a while.
This probably continues for a while.
Yup. The initiate has apparently been assigned to him for the next week and is also supposed to escort him to the cafeteria.
The cafeteria certainly contains a lot of people talking in Cirth! The kids between the ages of ten and sixteen can't even use the Winter Light's gift to lapse into Theod's language in a pinch, so there's some nonnegotiable immersion if he wants to talk to children.