"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."
"If you are plagued by a woke shadow it is more likely to hide in your ear than under your bed."
"It isn't, but perhaps it will make ordinary shadows seem less threatening."
"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."
"It would be very useful if we could simply lie-detect people who might have been manufacturing them," Kaja nods.
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?"
"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."
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.
"Thank you. For an increasing number of things, now."
A little while later, a teenage boy knocks on the door. "Um," he says, "you're - learning - Cirth?"
"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?"
"I think we should start with basic conversational things. Like, things one might say going to the store."
This probably continues for a while.