"...And you just let them?  ...No, Void take it, you were probably right to, Marcus, but who would do that?  Did they tell you anything?"

Esmerelda Dawnchaser, Knight-Hospitaller, turns from receiving a quiet 'They said she doesn't understand language', to the five-year-old human child in her infirmary.

"...Hey there," she crouches down and waves.  "I'm Esme," she taps herself.  "I heard your name is Desta," she makes a similar gesture towards the child, but doesn't touch her.  Once bitten, twice shy, and all.  "Esme," she repeats the gesture, "Desta," and once more points to the child.  "Did I get that right?"

"Desa," she nods, after a moment.

Esme nods back.  "It's nice to meet you, Desta."

'"Doesn't understand language" my foot.  If there's a problem it's something else.'

"I'm a healer, Desta.  Do you know what that means?  ...You can just nod or shake your head if you want."

It again takes her a moment to respond, and the look on her face is more confusion with a hint of wariness than incomprehension per se.

'Definitely not a problem of not understanding me.  She knows what I'm saying.  But that - delayed reaction - is odd...  I'll have to see if we know anything about that.'

"...You don't?  Or you aren't sure?  Okay.  I'm a healer.  It means I can do magic that makes people who are sick or hurt feel better.  I'd like to make sure you're not sick or hurt.  ...Is there anywhere that hurts, right now?  You can just nod, if something does hurt, or shake your head, if nothing does, or you can point at what's hurting."  (If Desta continues to communicate, Esme will continue down her list of things to ask, such as 'are you bleeding', 'do you have a cough or a fever', and so on.)

She doesn't particularly respond to this, except for a glance at the door her mother left through that may or may not be related.

'...Oh, shhhhsugar biscuits.  This is going to be one of those conversations.'

"...You're busy thinking about something else right now, huh?  That's alright."

If she could, she would absolutely be interrogating Marcus for all he's worth about what this kid overheard, but she can't.  Especially not in front of the kid!

"...Is what you're thinking about something I could help with?"  She pauses, giving enough room and a little bit more for an answer.  "Something Marcus could help with?"  She points at the somewhat skittish man with a clipboard.  "Or do you just want to think about it on your own?"

She follows the gesture to look at Marcus - without a delay this time - and takes a few steps in that direction, then looks back to see if that's what's wanted of her.

Oh.

...This is horribly outside her remit.  But she's still going to do her best.

She shakes her head, and beckons the kid back over.

'Now how to communicate this...'

She points at Desta, taps her ear, and shakes her head no.  She points at Desta, taps her mouth, and shakes her head again.  She - grabs the clipboard from Marcus, flips the paperwork over so it's blank, and writes 'Can you read?', before offering it to Desta.

It's obvious that the answer to that is yes even before she nods.

'That's good.  Can you write?'

This time she gives Desta the clipboard and the pen.

She'll demonstrate that she doesn't have the dexterity to hold the pen.

She requests the pen and clipboard back.  'Okay.  We'll figure something out.  I want to make sure you can tell people things when you want to.  If I write the alphabet, could you point to it to spell words?'

"Yeh."

'That's good.'

"Marcus, can you go get us a blank sheet of paper and a spare clipboard?  We can give yours back after, but Desta does actually have problems hearing and speaking."

"I - ah - yes, of course -"  Marcus zooms off.

'He'll be back in a minute; he's getting us some paper and another clipboard so we don't keep needing his stuff.'

She nods at this and glances at the door again.

And here comes Marcus again!  He looks rather flustered.  "Here, this should work?"  (He's brought several pieces of paper, in fact.)

"It should, I hope."

She fills out the alphabet, but - noticing that there is still space left on the paper - continues on with a few words and phrases.  "Yes, no, I don't know, ?/Question, I/me, You, They, Need, Want, Food, Water, Bathroom, Help, Hurt, Sick" - and she leaves some of the spaces she could fill, empty.  She's going to ask the kid what she should put there.

...She should probably demonstrate.  Desta's a clever kid, but clearly nobody's been trying to work with her before, instead of around her.  (...If nothing else, it will help Esme learn how to read this contraption.)  'D-O-E-S T-H-I-S L-O-O-K G-O-O-D Question'.

"Yeh."

'M-A-M-A Question Question'

...Fuck.  It is this conversation.

She's going to write this down, on a different sheet of paper.  Spelling it out would be - positively torturous.

'...I wish I could tell you I think she will come back for you.  If I did, though, I fear I would be lying.  She brought you to an orphanage - where kids who don't have parents, or whose parents can't take care of them at all, go.  If you want us to try and find your parents, we can try that.  But I don't know if they'd let us put you in their care again - or if we should do that, because leaving you here like that isn't a good sign about your mama's ability to be a good parent.'

"Mm," noncommittally.