Mark Loren - The Student Speaks

“.Recortahn mesen”

“.recUrtan mEsen” Flora corrected me.

”?Recurtan Meesen”

“.mEsen  Like peas, or a really really forced toothy smile.”

“I’m never going to get this.”  I sighed.  Phonetics were the least of my concerns.

“Oh, come on.  It’s not all that different from other languages when you really sit down and look at it.”

“Grammar isn't my problem.  I get that much.  The problem is that none of these words stick in my head.  Or they all stick together.”

“You've been in that book far too long.”  I looked up to see Hannah studying a large map  “Books are one thing, but for any language to stick you need apply it.”

“And you have something in mind?” I said, looking at her over the bridge of my glasses.  She glanced up, straightened herself and gestured to the map before her.  I got up and walked toward the desk.  “Don’t we have translations of this map floating around?”

“Yeah, but that takes all the fun outta this.”

“When’s the expedition?”

“Right now, in just a minute.”

Artus entered with a backpack and climbing gear in toe.  “Just in time.”  Hannah beckond Artus closer.  “Help me convince Mark to come with us.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!  You too Flora.  It’s no garden age, but there’s much to be seen.”

“I know when my arm is being twisted,” I said, looking to Flora for support.

“How long?”  Hannah gave a blank stare back to Flora.  “How long will we be gone?”

“Oh, well the tunnel was designed to require a journey of three days, but surely there have been cave-ins and such…”  The look on Flora’s face was priceless.  “But that’s not to say we’ll be there for so long.  We have Relto.  Remember?” Hannah added quickly.  “We can return any time we want.”

Three days climbing through structurally questionable tunnels was not how I had planned to spend my weekend.  “How do we even start?”

Hannah grinned.  “We’ll start by making our way toward the Industrial area: Nehw’eril District.  From there we’ll follow the road to the South Gate and see where we can get from there.”

I sighed and looked over the map.  The figures and words were unfamiliar to me; all but a small portion of the cavern was not.  I looked to Flora.  “I’ll go if you go.”

“.recUrtan mEsen”