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Splintered Light Chapter 5.1: The Jiuyani Confusion

Calus Len had been an early riser ever since he could remember. Then again, the Salamander was also the kind of individual who found no reason to stay up late, so waking up early came easy to him. He was up earlier than usual that morning, however, and decided to put his time to best use getting breakfast out of the way. It wasn't that the Translator didn't like interacting with the crew... he simply didn't like interacting with the vast majority of the rank and file sailors.

The Wave Rider had several shift changes throughout the day and, on most days, Calus was leaving his apartment two bells in the morning watch or, in layman's terms, about five o clock. Since the crew in the morning weren't big on activity he was able to take his time and was usually able to get up on deck about ten minutes until six... at six o clock the ship's cook was actively serving breakfast to those with a dog watch.

The Translator smirked at the term; he had no idea what a dog watch was when he first joined the Wave Rider and had mistakenly assumed it had something to do with the canines aboard the ship. Once he learned that Alistair considered meal times to be important the abbreviated two hour shift made much more sense. Considering that day it was barely five in the morning when he was making his way to the galley, Calus didn't expect anyone to be there aside from the cook, and that meant he would be able to keep company with the thoughts in his head.

As the Salamander made his way toward the eating area he was surprised to encounter the ship's armorer, Mr. Chen. The Cat was heading toward him, which suggested that he was coming from the galley since there was little beyond it in the hall. Calus took a few steps forward so he could easily fit himself into the doorway of a side passage, allowing the Cat to walk by. Mr. Chen paused only long enough to nod appreciatively for the right-of-way and offer up a simple "I thank you."

The formality of the statement was a very Jiuyani style way of speaking. Calus himself had spent several years trying to pick up the nuances of the language but, unfortunately, despite being a linguist, the strange tongue was a very difficult one. What he did understand was that formality was very important to the island people and that something like thanks and other mannerly exchanges always required two subjects to formally acknowledge that the speaker was specifically addressing the listener. In return, Calus attempted to use what little Jiuyani he knew to best effect. "I welcome you."

The words were still strange to his tongue but he was confident that he got them all out correctly. Mr. Chen paused and turned around, providing very direct, very simple correction in Mehnzilian. "You would say: 'I accept thanks from you.'. What you said with 'welcome' is used when inviting someone into your home."

The Salamander accepted the correction in good stride; the prideful never learned anything. He tried again, addressing Mr. Len in Jiuyani. "I accept thanks from you."

The House Cat nodded and about-faced once more, continuing off down the hall without another word. Despite all of his idiosyncrasies, the ship's armorer was a perfectly reasonable individual who, in Calus' opinion, was straight forward and logical, much like himself. Needless to say, the Salamander found him agreeable and didn't mind having the occasional reason for interaction... especially since Mr. Chen rarely had an issue with providing Calus direction and education in the hard-to-learn tongue.

The Juiyani language had become something of an obsession for Calus. Rarely had he encountered a language that was so difficult to learn. In the case of other tongues it wasn't usually so impossible to find a teacher-- the Tribal language (which was also quite troubling to pick up) took Calus almost a year to crack, but with that at least he'd been able to find teachers and instructors during his stay in Lehsunia. The secretive island nation almost always preferred to learn languages of its visitors, which meant that few outside the kingdom of the isles were able to learn the tongue.

If given the opportunity Calus would have liked to have established a regular training session with the Cat. Even though they only met occasionally every time the Translator got together with the Armorer he felt as though his grasp of Jiuyani was improving. The Salamander knew nine languages fluently but still felt like a tongue-tied hatchling that had to pick through every word even after studying everything he could about the Jiuyani spoken language... and when it came to their written words? No... he was all but illiterate... and that infuriated him to no end... even when Mr. Chen explained that few if any commoners in his homeland had that skill it did little to assuage the shame of the Translator's lack of understanding.

It wasn't a failure, per se, but to Calus the lack of success was just as frustrating. He had to set all of that aside as he finished his trip down the hall; the Salamander wanted to spend some time going over contact plans in his mind before he brought them up to Captain Jacksoni. There was a chance that the islands they were heading out to had natives and, no matter how slim that chance was, Calus planned to prove his worth to his employer. In order to do that, however, the Translator needed to have a plan of action to put into place when it came to landfall and interaction with any encountered savages.

Moving his mind into a more positive outlook, Calus pushed the hinged door open and walked into the empty galley that, upon entry, turned out to be not as empty as anticipated. Although the vast majority of tables were indeed devoid of patrons, one had a single occupant and a number of dishes. Lee Sento, the ship's cabin boy sat at the table in the far corner of the galley situated simultaneously as far away from the entrance and from the ship's cook as possible. The Raccoon Dog was wholly focused on the dish in front of him which, at a distance, looked like it had some kind of tan colored gruel.

Rather than interrupt the cabin boy, Calus moved over to where Uben Veektur was combined some dehydrated something with a collection of whatever-that-was. The Salamander went straight into a discussion using the Cook's native Doelichian tongue. "Doing special requests for the cabin boy now, are you, Ben?"

The Water Buffalo was the genial sort who knew how to take a well positioned ribbing and Uben's reply reflected that. "Not my fault if he wants to gorge himself on all of yesterday's leftovers... easier than trying to find a use for it today."

Calus glanced over at the Raccoon Dog and the numerous bowls stacked up beside him and started making an inventory of the servings. "How much did you have exactly? Are you sure he's not going to pop?"

The Cook went back to segmenting and dicing onions. "Lee only eats once a day and as far as I can tell he probably has another stomach hidden somewhere. 'Sides... the Captain already said it's fine."

The Salamander finished counting. "Fourteen bowls? How could ANYONE finish fourteen bowls in one sitting? They weren't full, were they?"

Uben shrugged. "Mr. Chen joins him every morning... the Cat had three."

Consciencous of appearances, Calus always made it a point to watch his food intake. As a Salamader he didn't eat as much as most of the mammals on board but to consider anyone having even eleven servings of food... "Hmm... well that explains his girth. And Mr. Chen had three you say? I would have expected that he starved himself."

While the comment was a bit of an exaggeration, the Armorer's surprisingly thin build was not lost to Calus; most blacksmiths and the like the Salamander had met tended to be on the broader, more muscled side but Mr. Chen had a build more akin to the Translator, and Calus had no misconceptions about how he'd do as a metal worker... even the thought of picking up one of those huge mallets gave him a shiver.

After finishing off the careful and clean mincing of some garlic the Water Buffalo opposite Calus shrugged. "He only eats once a day too."

That sounded a lot more reasonable; Calus had times in the past when he'd only had time to eat once during the day and, as he recalled, he made it a point to stuff himself. Then again, the way a Cat's body handled food and the way a Salamander's did was probably not the same but the Translator didn't want to dwell on specifics; he wasn't a doctor. Calus slowly turned his attention back to the cook and the discussion returned to Mehnzilian. "Is there any warm tea, Mr. Veektur?"

The Water Buffalo set his knife aside and wiped his paws off using his apron then, ducking down to avoid having his horns hit one of the beams overhead, shuffled off into the galley proper only to return a moment later with a ceramic tea pot. Unlike Calus, Uben continued speaking in Doelichian. "Been steeping almost ten minutes, Mr. Len. You're earlier than normal today and I didn't expect you just yet."

Calus nodded, accepting the pot over the counter with one hand as he slid the cook a few talons with the other. Copper Talons weren't particularly hard to come by or all that valuable, but the Salamander always made it a point to let people know in a tangible way that they were appreciated. Without saying a word the Cook slid them into the pocket of his apron and provided thanks with a nod. Nothing more to be said to Uben, Calus zeroed in on the cabin boy and made his way over to the young Raccoon Dog's table.

When seeing his approach the young mammal immediately began to gather up his dishes and make ready to evacuate the table. The Salamander quickly interjected, trying an introduction in Jiuyani. "Hello, Master Lee. May I join you?"

It took a moment for the Salamander to realize, based on the quizzical expression on the cabin boy's muzzle that whatever he'd said wasn't quite right. Sighing in frustration at his own ineptitude, Calus set his tea pot down and tried again in Mehzilian. "You do not need to go. Can we sit together?"

Sadly, Lee's grasp of the common tongue appears to be just as lacking. "You want I go?"

The next several minutes were spent with the Salamander trying to convey the thought of sitting together. Ultimately, between lots of gestures, a combination of words in both Mehnzilian and Jiuyani, and more than a few over exaggerated expressions Calus managed to get the Raccoon Dog to sit back down with him at the table. The Translator continued letting the tea brew as he contemplated the best way to work on communicating. "Do you like tea, Master Lee?"

His breakfast companion had been licking a bowl clean when the question was asked and it took the cabin boy a moment to set it down and regard the Salamander before asking a question in Jiuyani. "Nani?"

To accentuate his question Calus pointed at the tea and mimed a drinking motion with his free hand. "Tea. Do you like to drink tea?"

Lee glanced between Calus and the tea pot then paused, reaching up to rub one of his ears in thought before responding. "Yes. I tea."

The Salamander smiled, taking two cups from where they rested upside down at the end of the table and righted them, setting one down before himself and one in front of Lee. "You drink tea?"

The Raccoon Dog nodded, accepting the cup and the correction. "I drink tea."

Although it was a very minor victory it heartened Calus to realize that he had a rare opportunity in the form of a source of information he hadn't previously considered. Pouring a cup for himself and for Lee, the Salamander motioned to the drink and then to the Raccoon Dog. "What do you call this in your language? How do you say 'tea'?"

Lee looked at him for a moment before his eyes slowly migrated down to the drink in front of him. "Tea?"

Calus nodded patiently. "Yes. In Menhzilian this drink is tea. How do you say tea in Jiuyani?"

The Raccoon Dog's response was a single word. "Ocha."

The Salamander smiled in victory. "Tea is 'ocha'? Ocha is 'tea'?"

Lee nodded. "Yes. 'Ocha'. I drink tea-- 'ocha'."

The discussion continued from there with the Translator and Cabin Boy switching between their own native tongue and making forays into the other's language of choice. Calus had never before had unbridled access to a native Jiuyani speaker and he resolved to make the most of it. Sadly, their discussion became harder when the morning advanced and crewmen came into the mess hall in anticipation of breakfast. It had been a bright moment in his day but, alas, the Salamander realized that it had come to an end. Downing the last of his tea, Calus decided to bring the conversation to a close with "We should do this again sometime."

Lee cocked his head to the side and said something in Jiuyani that gave Calus the impression that he didn't understand precisely what the Salamander meant. After a moment's pause, Lee tried again, speaking in Mehnzilian. "You come here all days?"

The Translator rested a hand on the table. "I come here at--" he paused and pulled out his pocket watch, holding it out at the end of its chain to the Raccoon Dog as he motioned to five, and then to the six. "Five thirty. Do you know how to read time? I am usually here at five thirty."

Lee looked at the watch and examined it for a moment then nodded. "Yes. I know time. Big arm five, small arm six."

Calus nodded. "Yes. Very good. If you would like to talk more so would I."

The Raccoon Dog nodded. "I talk. You talk. You teach Menzilin, I teach Jiuyani."

The Salamander smirked as he offered the correction. "Mehnzilian, right. Menzilin sounds like some kind of University medicine."

The Translator's flippant comment was lost to the Cabin Boy who just stared at him blankly. After a moment Lee let it slide and pressed on. "You teach me letters?"

Calus took the opportunity to pause. "Letters?"

Lee nodded, and grabbed a discarded napkin and dipped his finger into some of the remnants of whatever he'd been eating. Slowly and intricately he began to write an A and a D on the paper. "Letters. You teach me letters?"

The Salamander was quite pleased with the prospect. "You want me to teach you to read? Well, I would certainly say that's quite a proposal since Mr. Chen tells me that very few people in... your... nation..."

The words slowly ceased coming as he watched Lee use the same method he had with the A and the D to scribe down some strange Jiuyani symbols on the same napkin. The Cabin Boy looked up after a moment. "I teach you letters."

Calus continued to stare at the strange marks that were most certainly Jiuyani in origin, but he was so wrapped up in them that he didn't realize that they had been joined at the table. Mr. Chen offered a deep bow, and began speaking to Lee in their language so fast that the Translator had no chance to follow even if he had known enough of the words to decipher them.

Lee responded calmly, motioning first to Calus and then to the napkin. Mr. Chen reached out and grabbed the napkin, crumpling it up in a paw before turning to The Salamander and declaring with no small amount of ire "Do not bother him. Kare wa heiminde wa arimasen."

Calus didn't quite manage to follow the transition from Mehnzilian to Jiuyani but the Cat took hold of the Raccoon Dog's paw and led him away; nothing more was said.