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Two girls are moving their hands through the air and speaking together in perfect parallel.
Two girls are looking expectantly at a circle of red chalk on their floor.
Two girls have done something exceptionally stupid.
Nick in Elcenia
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The waitress can take his credit stamp, although she's confused about why he's so puzzled.
"I have no idea how most things work here. I've been in Esmaar for a grand total of less than twenty-three hours."
"Well," she says, "welcome!" And she scans his stamp and goes off.
He smiles and grabs his laundry basket and starts trying to find his way back to the same street he entered the city with.
If he sticks to the gridded commercial areas and can distinguish the cardinal directions he should be all right.
He attempts to use his compass. This does not work. He watches the sun instead - it's afternoon, so that direction is west. Off he goes, back to the edge of the city, back to the school, drop his basket off in his room, take a shower and change clothes, then once again to the library.
The library continues to librar.
Nick attempts to find a book about how to learn Leraal.
This library is geared exclusively to students who already speak it, so it's kind of lacking in that area. It does have dictionaries and grammars, neither of which will work well for their intended purposes while he's under a translation spell.
And none of the dictionaries are in Anglish, of course.
Hm. It's not like he has anything against mind-magic as a category of things. Just things-done-to-him-without-permission.
<Keo?>
Hm. It's not like he has anything against mind-magic as a category of things. Just things-done-to-him-without-permission.
<Keo?>
<Yes?>
<Can you make me know Leraal? The limitations of this translation spell are becoming inconvenient.>
<It'd take me a few angles, but it's technically within my abilities, yes. What do you need to know Leraal for?>
<Angles, not hours or minutes? I suppose it would be stranger if you did use hours. I mostly just don't like relying on an ongoing effect like the translation spell, I'd feel more comfortable without needing it. It's apparently not trivial though, so if you have better things to do, how can I learn Leraal myself?>
<You could hire a tutor - I'm afraid there won't be any books on it written in your native language, but a dragon tutor will be able to speak it, that's one of the things dragons can do.>
<If we're taking about tutors then we're back to the problem that I don't know how to earn money here. Oh well, I'll stick with the spell for now.>
<I could ask my cousin for a favor, since she teaches languages, but it'd take even more of her time than it would of mine so if it were that necessary I'd probably just do it directly.>
<It's not that necessary. This world has so many very convenient things that I wanted to ask, that's all.>
He'll go get some paper and work out a new design for the glider, instead.
With this new kind of wood, he has to think about stress a lot differently. He scribbles and sketches randomly on the paper, putting the wispy and tenuous musings from the morning's wandering thought down in something more concrete.
Olive was nice and light and bendy but not good for any long segments, since too much torque would just snap it. This new wood is much stiffer. It should be able to support longer, wider wings with without untenable amounts of strain. It'll be heavier, but it'll be that much closer to actually flying instead of just falling with style.
Folding will be a problem with longer straight pieces though, but if he changes the pattern so it's less of a square and more like a triangle... But what about the control mechanisms? With larger wind area, the strain on the flaps might snap the control line. Better add a second one.
He does some math. He makes some sketches. He carves a little cup to get a feel for this new kind of wood. Then he takes his supplies back to the library workrooms and gets to work.
He'll go get some paper and work out a new design for the glider, instead.
With this new kind of wood, he has to think about stress a lot differently. He scribbles and sketches randomly on the paper, putting the wispy and tenuous musings from the morning's wandering thought down in something more concrete.
Olive was nice and light and bendy but not good for any long segments, since too much torque would just snap it. This new wood is much stiffer. It should be able to support longer, wider wings with without untenable amounts of strain. It'll be heavier, but it'll be that much closer to actually flying instead of just falling with style.
Folding will be a problem with longer straight pieces though, but if he changes the pattern so it's less of a square and more like a triangle... But what about the control mechanisms? With larger wind area, the strain on the flaps might snap the control line. Better add a second one.
He does some math. He makes some sketches. He carves a little cup to get a feel for this new kind of wood. Then he takes his supplies back to the library workrooms and gets to work.
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