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VI

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My New Home

(Day 1 on Tashoo)

(Evening)

After we left the, for want of a better word, palace of the leader of these felines, we again walked through the village. Once again, we were occasionally accosted by the residents of the village and, once again, my captor answered any and all questions that were asked of him about me. However, if any of the villagers got a little too rough with me, and several did try to cuff me, he would step between me and them and, as I learned later, he would inform them that I was under his care and protection. He also told them that this order came directly from the leader of the village.

We retraced our original steps from earlier. However, about two-thirds of the way to the garden, we took a right turn and headed toward the edge of the village. During this walk, I took a little time to study the village. I noticed that over the doors in the trees there were signs. But, these signs weren't like anything you would imagine. The best description of these signs would be to call them shields similar to Terran street addresses. The shields were of many different shapes: circles, squares, ovals, diamonds, rhomboids, even the classical shield shape. These door shields were either bisected into equal halves or quadrated. When bisected, the line could be vertical, horizontal or from corner to corner. A quadrated shield could be either four triangles or four squares/rectangles. There were always two colors on the shields. They also had two different symbols on them. The color of the symbols always matched the color of the section it was not in. For example, on a diamond shield quadrated with a seven pointed star and a single claw as the symbols and colors of red and blue, the upper left and lower right quadrants might be red with a blue star and the upper right and lower left would be blue with a red claw. I was told later that the home owner decided on the shield shape, colors and symbols. The only obligation the home owner had was that the shield could not exactly match anyone else in their neighborhood.

Finally, after walking for about fifteen minutes, we arrived at a door that had a diamond shield quadrated into four smaller diamonds with purple in the upper and lower diamonds and golden-yellow in the right and left diamonds. It had golden-yellow crowns and purple claws. My captor scratched on the door and I heard what sounded like a contralto voice call out from inside. "Gueoo cha tha, Rora?" ("Rora,is that you?") The feminine voice called out.

My captor answered, "Zo, Norotha." ("Yes, Mother.")

Once again, I heard the feminine voice speak. I noted what sounded like mild curiosity in her voice. "Syvala uykashy azo gueoo." ("You are home early.")

"Zo, Norotha. Syvala uykashy tua vegoomo Ka'yno ke. Gueoo se varoo noo choosha lenedoy vite' uakoo too." ("Yes, Mother. The Ka'yno sent me home early. I have something important to show and tell you.")

My captor was speaking as he ushered me inside. As we entered the door, I saw a female I assumed was the one we had heard outside. She was wearing what looked like a two piece leather dress, front and back, held together at the top by a three centimeter wide leather strip. The sides were held together by leather strips that form fitted the dress to her figure. When we entered, the female had her back to the door. After my captor closed the door, she turned around. Upon noticing me, her demeanor changed noticeably. Her fur stood on end; she laid her ears back and snarled revealing her impressive canines. To all but the most dull witted, it was obvious that she was not happy. Why she wasn't happy I couldn't fathom. After all, she knew my captor was the one scratching on her door. She glared at me for a second before addressing the warrior.

"Rora! Syvala se atuany Uany huyvoto thy azo gueoo oathe?" ("_Rora! Why are you bringing this human to our home?"_)

My captor spoke with an apologetic voice. "Vihuoo kyuzoo uakoomo too, Norotha. Vo' zicharoo ke tuzyeme nooto' va ke churoto kinoo ui'mo too. Kinoo se huyva Ka'yno se ke uakoomo too veiry too. Uany voo noo rothoo ky voo cha tha kina voraootu ymymo rokoo no ke miutoamo ysate zote kina gachoothymo Ka'yno ke, jamothy thy'too no e'kana kotana voo lemo enatooto. Uuhuekoo Roo'za Va tuany govy'mo too, thoo. Mazothua koo'vy loonoo eathy gueoo veiry too, vothodo cho toonoshy ke hachy voo va zatato miutoamo Uany voo kye'jytha zaroou kyisatamo too, zytu." ("Mother, I had no choice. I found him hiding near the edge of the garden. I knew I had to take him to the Ka'yno_. After obtaining an audience on such short notice, the_ Ka'yno decided he should be killed based solely on the fact that he is a human and not a child. So, I invoked my 'Right of Capture'. I know how you feel about slavery, but I could not see a defenseless human killed for making the mistake of being an adult.")

From her tone of voice, I knew the female was speaking sadly. "Mazotho zyeky voo eo vegato se azo oatha atua, Rora? Chanycha nazashoo se zoona atua tennana eo uakoo gueoo? Atuanyche' se zoona zona vana yatotu uakoo atua. Ka'yno ke se ooynyko kinoo miutoa ykata zotemo myzyamo uakoo oy, tagera." ("_Rora, _what are we going to do with a slave? How do you expect us to feed another mouth? We barely have enough food to feed ourselves. Perhaps it would have been better to let the Ka'yno kill him.")

My captor spoke deferentially toward the female, but with a mild about of forcefulness as well._ _ "Tha ykata iy gueoo veiry too, Norotha. Tua ytakomo myzyamo uakoo kyeva gueoo, kinoo ooynykomo miutoamo se zote zyy uakoomo too."_ ("Mother,_ I know you better than that. If I had allowed him to be killed, you would have never forgiven me.")

The female gave an exasperated sigh, smiled wanly and said, "Sooma azo gueoo, Rora. Zoona se atua uozoo va takoo zote kyisa oy etamoo too, zytu isa mily too." ("You are right, Rora_. I guess it will not be easy to feed all of us, but I will try."_)

"Shovytu kygichomo too, aoo. Tochushoo atuany chooshoo kyna'eo kina." ("Oh, I almost forgot. He does not speak our language.")

With surprise in her voice, the female said, "Zacho oatha eo gueoo, 'Tochushoo atuany chooshoo kyna'eo kina.'? Tochushoo ke zyoo'uto na'chooshoo Tashoo no auozyta." ("What do you mean, 'He does not speak our language.'? Everyone on Earth speaks the same language.")

"Atua vitachoo zyeuy se kyiomo kina, kinoo se chooshoomo atua oathoo, choovo, Norotha." ("Well, mother, when we spoke to him, he did not seem to understand us.")

"Err-r-r-r-r." (This was a sound, not a word. It is similar in usage to the Terran Hmmm.) "Oy hichoya kyeo too." ("I do not believe it.")_ _ Turning to me, she said, "Uany." When I didn't reply and just looked at her, she turned back to the male and, with even more surprise, said, "Joonyta cha thy. Tochushoo atuany vitachoo kyna'eo tha Uany e Mory vota zeroohymo va uakoo kyeva too." ("This is strange. I have never heard of any human or Mory that do not understand our language.")

"Tochushoo atuany kinoo se vaora tua, atua, zyy'hui'uamo Ka'yno ke noo Ishoo'se Aka'ny limo ke kinoo se huyvo za too, azoone eu' tithe'. Ku'ra' se zote ooynykomo ysate, zyy kina se gachoothy kinoo myzya chity auozyta. Miutoamo kinoo myzya uakoo Ka'yno ke, na'kytazy zyy kina. Miloo thy na'chaynoo kina votho tulu yoo'vy' atua, Norotha. Te Ke se zote kinoo hichoya too." ("The Ka'yno charged me, us, to teach him our language and, in three months, I am to bring him before the Ishoo'se Aka'ny_. They will test him to determine if he should be allowed to live. If he fails, the_ Ka'yno will have him killed. Mother, we must make certain he passes this trial. I believe him to be The One_."_)

The female spoke with mild amusement in her voice. "Shezoo Myzya Te Ke Oatho? Tha mashy hichoya gueoo veiry eathy kyeo too, Rora. Na'horozoo ke Ka'ynony se louivoo eo shote atuany myzya atua, zytu. Mashy eo atua cha uozoo tha. Mazotho voo ga kinoo zoozyoo kyisa atua, uihy. Ymooty zyshy'mo ga voo isa zote zoozyoomo kina, aymooty uakoo oathoo atua, manoo, va ekoty. Vega noo shana enate gueoo va ke thua, ly. Shana zote latu myzya zoneta ke kyve'y, cha oya e'kana ga." ("_The One Who will Unify? I do not know how you can believe that,_ Rora_. But, we will do our best. That is all we can do. However, we will not treat him as a slave. He will be treated as an honored guest, except, of course, when we have guests. Now, the two of you go and get ready. The nakymoty, such as it is, will be ready shortly."_)

As my captor and the female talked, I took the time to look around the room. I could see that I was not in the presence of wealth. As a matter of fact, almost every article of furniture in the room was old before the female was born. The few that weren't that old were in pretty bad shape and in need of some kind of repair. I saw several doors besides the one that my captor and I entered indicating several rooms. In a corner to my right, I saw what looked like a weaving loom; but, it had a partially worked on tapestry of some kind. There were two windows on the wall in which was the door that I had only recently entered and they were covered by curtains that had been repaired innumerable times. The walls were unpainted and the floors were uncarpeted. There wasn't even a throw rug to be seen.

After several minutes of the aforementioned discussion, my captor touched my shoulder, indicated that I should follow him, led me to what resembled a bathroom, complete with a bathtub/shower, commode and sink, and showed me that he wanted me to wash my hands with what looked like and bubbled up like soap. However, it didn't seem to be overly caustic despite its primitive look. I followed my captor's example and then we walked back to the table where three places had been set. By observing the place settings, I saw further evidence that I was in the presence of a relatively poor family. No two settings were exactly the same.

As the female placed the food on the table, I saw different types of vegetables than I had seen in the garden, but there was no meat. I sat and waited, not knowing exactly what would be expected of me. Finally, the female handed me a long handled spoon-like implement. I figured that she wanted me to dip out some of the vegetables and eat dinner. I saw that there wasn't very much food, so I just dipped myself one spoonful, but each spoonful was about 80 ml in volume, of each of the vegetables and handed the spoon back to the female. She looked at me strangely, but seemed to accept that I had gotten all I wanted. After dipping herself some of the vegetables, she handed the spoon to the male.

We had started eating in silence when I heard the female again say, "Uany." I looked at her in silence for a second and she pointed at me and said, "Uany."

So, I see that I am to be taught their language. This didn't sound like a question. What I mean is it didn't seem she was asking my name, so I figured she was telling me what her people called humans. I decided to let her know what my species is called in Terran. Therefore, I pointed to myself and said, "Human."

The two of them looked at each other and I heard the low rumbling growl I had heard when my captor had spoken with the other young warrior at the home of the leader of these people coming from their throats. Then the female looked at me and, fighting a laugh, said, "Uany, ky. Hooman gueoo azo ky. Uany gueoo azo." ("No, human. You are not a Hooman. You are Uany.") (I learned later that Hooman is their name for a small bipedal carnivorous reptilian creature similar in size to the extinct Compsognathus of Terra.)

I pointed to myself and replied, "Human." But before she could respond, I said, "Uany."

She looked at the warrior questioningly and he said, "Uany oatha na'vasho kina gueoo cha chooshato kina hichoya too, Norotha." ("Mother, I believe he is telling you what he calls humans.")

"Sooma azo gueoo tagera, Rora. Oya se chity kate mimoo te cha uluro." ("Perhaps you are right, Rora_. There is only one way to test it."_) She looked at me and, pointing to herself, said, "My-Ara."

Well, that could be her name or her species. Since she had told me what her people called humans, perhaps she was telling me her species. There was only one way to find out for certain. I pointed at her and said, "My-Ara?"

A look of satisfaction came across her face and she said, "Zo, Uany."

_ _

I seemed to have made a point. But, I still wasn't certain what My-Ara meant. Therefore, I pointed to the warrior and said, "My-Ara?"

Once again I heard the low rumbling growl that I later learned is their laughter. She said, "Ky, Uany."_ _ She pointed to the warrior and said, "My-Rora."

So, their names are My-Ara and My-Rora. I pointed to myself again and said, "Bill Watson."

My-Ara, looking at me curiously, said, "Mvilu Uatusun?"

I thought of correcting her until I realized that feline mouths don't work exactly like human mouths and certain sounds we humans take for granted may be difficult, if not impossible, for them to make. So, I imitated her and said, "Zo, My-Ara." Once again I heard the low rumbling growl.

My-Ara looked at My-Rora and, laughing lightly, said, "Vaoiry se tochushoo atuany cha goonato shymosha tha kina myzyamo zyeuy oy." ("It would seem that he is already starting to learn our language.") My-Rora, laughing along with her, nodded his head in agreement with what she had said.

As we ate, I pointed to myself and said, "Uany." Then, I pointed to Ara and looked at her questioningly.

After a few seconds, she understood. She pointed to herself and said, "Mory. Mory-Talo-Vy."

I repeated what she said. "Mory-Mory-Talo-Vy?"

She smiled that menacing, yet friendly looking, smile I had seen the door guard smile at My-Rora earlier, and said, "Ky, Uatusun. Mory. Talo-Vy azuala Mory va ke zacho Mory-Talo-Vy." (No, Watson_. Mory. Mory-Talo-Vy means Mory of the village Talo-Vy.)_

I know I looked my confusion. I thought, "Why did she call me by my family name? Is that traditional here?" I thought that I should figure out some way to let her know my given name. But, how to do that, I didn't know at the time. However, I once again pointed at her and said, "Mory?"

"Uatusun, zo."

The lessons continued throughout dinner. My-Ara picked up a blue glass and said, "Tyka."

I picked up my glass, which was also blue, and said, "Tyka?"

Once again, My-Ara looked satisfied and said, "Zo, Uatusun."

I looked at My-Rora's glass, which was white, pointed at it and said, "Tyka?"

Again, My-Ara said, "Zo, Uatusun." Obviously, Tyka did not mean blue.

Still not absolutely certain what tyka meant, I touched the liquid inside the glass and said, "Tyka?"

My-Ara said, "Ky, Uatusun." Since I had figured out that Zo meant yes, I knew that ky had to mean no.

The final test would be the action of drinking, so I took a sip of the liquid, which tasted a bit like weak tea with cinnamon flavoring, and said, "Tyka?"

Again, My-Ara said, "Ky, Uatusun."

My-Rora looked at My-Ara and said, "Cha eoto oatha kina eo onykoo gueoo, Norotha? Ajashoo hy loorotheto atyjesu zyeky tochushoo atuany cha vaoryto kina." ("Mother, do you realize what he is doing? He is learning our language by associating words with objects.")

Smiling, My-Ara said, "Sooma azo tagera gueoo, Rora." ("Perhaps you are right, Rora_.") _ There was a short pause before she continued._ _ "Kinoo vaorato tochushoo atuany huuko va tuany thy'i'hueto ujety ga oomu ga myzya ikata too. Tychushoo se uakoo voo kinoo zyukoo myzyamo amamy too. Uany voo zy manto se zote na'zyeuy kina." ("I will spend as much of my waking time as possible teaching him our language. I would love to have a conversation with him. He seems to be a very intelligent human.")

By the time we finished eating dinner, I had learned several more of their words, for example, zathoo (plate), shyny (bowl), zyety (fork), shuvo (knife), and se'te (spoon).

After dinner the lessons continued. I took pleasure in finding things, pointing at them, calling them their Terran names, and hearing what either My-Ara or My-Rora would call them. I believe they took as much pleasure in these lessons as I did. Besides objects, I also started learning colors, for example, lynyta (white), kylynyta (black), nyma (blue), jasshoo (yellow), and yncha (red). I also learned that the Mory don't use hues of colors very often so much as the closest plant or animal to that hue as the descriptive of it. For example, instead of saying orange, the Mory would say sunrise yellow or they might say red-yellow.

After a couple of hours, I started feeling the effects of my busy day. I turned to My-Ara, placed my hands together, touched them to the side of my face and closed my eyes. She said, "Tothy'ahue." (Sleep)

Using improper syntax, I said, "Mvilu tothy'ahue."

She looked at me curiously for a second and then said, "Mvilu?" I'm certain she was thinking the same thing I thought earlier. "Why did he use his family name?"

I pointed to her and said, "My-Ara." Then, I pointed to myself and said, "Mvilu."

My-Ara and My-Rora looked at each other questioningly before My-Ara said, "Ky, Uatusun? Zo, Mvilu?"

I said, "Zo, My-Ara."

Then, My-Ara said, "Acheyko thyvatho tuany zashy, Mvilu. Ynnakoo eu' thy Tashoo va na'hovo tanoo shu' ke rotha. Ara tua mashoo vasha gueoo. My-Rora mashoo vasha gueoo, Rora. Shu' atuany rothu cha My." ("Bill, please accept my apologies. The family name comes first in this area of Earth. You may call me Ara_. You may call_ My-Rora_,_ Rora_. _ My_is our family name._")

After making this statement, My-Ara stood up and motioned that I should follow her. She led me down a short hallway where there were several doors. She stopped at one and said, "Chokotothy' My-Rorany." ("My-Rora's bedroom.") (Chokotothy' literally translates into Sleep Room.) She walked to another door and said, "Chokotothy' My-Arany." Finally we arrived at a third door that was a little separated from the other two and she said, "Chokotothy' Mviluny."

I turned to her, smiled and entered the room. It was strange to be able to see the room clearly. I say this because, as we finished our meal, I had noticed that the sun was setting and I had been learning the rudiments of their language for a couple of hours. As a result, since there were no windows in the room, it should be dark as a cave in the room. But, it was bright enough for me to see everything. I saw the same kind of lighting system I had noticed in the anteroom of the palace in use here. As I looked around the room, I saw a door at one end of the room. I walked over, opened it and looked inside. It was a closet and it was empty. At the other end of the room, I saw what looked like a bed with a thick covering of furs. After looking in the closet, I made my way to the bed. All I was wearing was the shorts that I had on when I awoke earlier in the day, so I didn't have to worry about disrobing.

I crawled under the furs and shortly afterward noticed that the room was gradually getting darker. A few minutes later it was absolutely black and very shortly after that I was asleep. This situation was explained to me later. Somehow the Mory and the trees form something similar to a symbiotic relationship. The trees give the Mory the things made of wood that they need, create them actually, and the Mory help to fertilize the trees through the use of their commodes, showers and the "burying" of their dead. However, I never did learn how the trees a) knew what the Mory needed and b) how the trees created these things. The lighting can only be described as clairvoyant. The Mory and the Uany have no idea how it works. The best guess I could come up with is that somehow the lighting connects with the thought processes of everyone in the room and stays on only as long as it is needed. But, as I said, it's only a guess.

The warmth of the furs combined with the rigors of the day, made it easy for me to fall asleep. I thought that I would sleep peacefully all night. Unfortunately for me, I started having nightmares that night.