Private Tales The Lost Princess and The Exiled Prince

[Maeve]

Maeve looked a little surprised at his question. She had expected more scholarly questions from Arun; things about Humans he had confessed he was too nervous to ask of other Humans, or hadn't gotten a chance to ask when they had lain dying around him. She considered it for quite some time before frowning and beginning to answer.

"I guess... someone who is warm, kind, strong," those were the qualities she admired most in past partners. "Humour is important too, I like people who can joke and be playful," cause mischief with her. Though she doubted her parents would approve of that kind of match. They would want someone who calmed her down, countered her passion with sense. Perhaps she would prefer that; maybe that had been why all of her previous relationships had been quick and fast fleeting moments.

"I honestly haven't given it much thought. I just like who I like."

 

[Arun]

"Neither have I." He commented freely with a frown.

His mother had tried to arrange several matches, but...well none of them had ever really worked out all that well. The War was partly to blame for that, but the rest was mostly on him. He pursed his lips for a few moments, wondering once more about the woman he had been betrothed to.

"Part of me wonders what it would have been like to choose." Arun said softly. "It seems an awful lot of pressure."

His head shook. "Drinking a bottle of oosqua seems much easier."

 

[Maeve]

Maeve nodded in agreement.

"I guess... everything just was... fun because I knew someone would be chosen for me when the time came. I just wasn't expecting it to be a Fae," she grimaced. Perhaps her reaction had been a bit of an overreaction to leave so suddenly in the dead of night with just her bow and the satchel she had had with her when she had come in to confront her parents.

"Nor for my soul to be the reason why," a sudden laugh escaped her before shaking her head. "It's just a different world being royalty isn't it really?" she lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. "I guess it seems to be the same no matter what you are. Royal problems stay the same."

 

[Arun]

Arun chuckled. "To be fair I don't think she would have asked for my soul."

From everything that he'd heard she really had been a lovely individual, or at least as lovely as any elf could mean. Likely three times as beautiful as any human could be, but only containing half the emotion on her very best day.

Though in truth Arun knew that he was in no place to critique anyone for that.

"It seems though that we escaped that fate." He chuckled. "For a little while at the very least."

They still needed to get her some iron. "Fate is funny sometimes."

 

[Maeve]

"Yes," Maeve watched him with an odd expression. It was like she was trying to read something in his expression or like she held a secret she was debating sharing with him. It caused her eyes to splinter and dance in a kaleidoscope of different hues of green. "Fate is a funny thing."

Her eyes lingered on him for a moment more before she took a breath and shattered the spell. Her eyes turned back towards her cup and she shook it then slammed it down once more.

"Two fives."

 

[Arun]

Arun watched her expectantly, as if he saw that she wanted to say something. After a few moments her words slipped free, and he only smiled.

The cup came down once more, and the Elf watched as she lifted and made her claim.

If it was a lie it would have been an incredibly silly one, given that there wasn't really much of a stake to claim. Arun reached out and rolled his own cup, shaking his head and letting out a muted 'curse' as he spoke. "One three."

Was he lying?

Was there more?

This game was starting to get fun.

 

[Maeve]

So they were going to take it slower this round, huh? Mae watched him with a faint smile; it was nice to see him enjoying himself. Relaxing into it. It was a side to him he didn't show very often even in the company of just her.

"Four fives."

 

[Arun]

Arun considered for a moment. "Lie."

How likely was it that she had the same roll as he had before? It seemed...well pretty much impossible by the standards of most odds.

"An audacious one at that." His use of the common tongue was getting a bit more fluid he had noticed. Perhaps he was remembering old words, things that he had once known and chosen to forgotten.

It certainly felt that way.

 

[Maeve]

Audacious? There was a blank stare for a moment or two as Mae tried to place the words meaning and then slow realisation broke out like the dawn across her face. She laughed and then tipped over her cup. She had three fives but if he had one under his cup then she would have won. It was a relatively safe gamble in this game but she knew the elf played his cards a bit closer to the chest.

 

[Arun]

Arun slowly moved his cup.

Beneath it she would find not another five, but instead two of them along with two threes and a smattering of other numbers. He had lied his first round, setting off her own guesses in a gamble that she might try to use his lie to her own advantage.

"See?" He said with a smile. "I'm getting the hang of this game."

He was pretty sure he had won at least...

 

[Maeve]

Maeve started laughing at his confident expression and once again counted at the fives to demonstrate she had won.

"I don't think you are. Remember it's trying to hide what you have whilst also trying to figure out what I have in my cup. So there are ten dice in total in the game," she motioned across their two sets of dice to illustrate her point before tapping her finger to her lips thoughtfully. After the last story she didn't think more of her questions were going to be as funny as they were with humans. It seemed Arun had been round the block a few too many times.

"If you could be any other race what would it be?"

 

[Arun]

"I hate this game." Arun said with a frown.

He had always so much preferred cards. It was easier to keep track of and down to more skill. Reading ones opponent, easier than liars dice to be sure. Lips thinned for a moment and he dramatically flopped back against the sofa.

A frown touched his face as he considered her question for a moment. "I'm not sure."

His head cocked.

"I've never really thought about it." Why would he want to be anything other than an Elf? "Perhaps one of the Kivren."

He offered. "I always have enjoyed the sea."

 

[Maeve]

Mae's giggling continued as he complained and flounced into the sofa like a rather dramatic pampered prince. It was definitely a human game, she thought. From everything he had told her about his people it didn't seem the type of game that lent itself well to a higher class of being. But if that were the case, Maeve was glad she was human. It was a darn fun game.

"Yes, with your long silken locks I can see you flopping up on a rock and singing," the image set her off on another stream of giggling. "We can play a different game if you like, I think I've tortured you enough," she stifled a yawn. "Or I can teach you a bit of my language."

 

[Arun]

"The ocean is a wondrous place." He chided her. "Exploring it's depths is something I have always wanted."

Arun had traveled the forests, seen the skies, but never the bottom of the sea. The idea of it made him smile, though a part of him doubted there was anything down there. Save for of course what the Naga and Kivren kept to themselves.

His head nodded. "Yes."

It had been fun, but he was a little too out of his element.

"Perhaps a lesson." He told her. "Then another game...tomorrow."

A different game. One he was good at.

 

[Maeve]

Mae snorted somewhat and then thought about how best to start a lesson in her own tongue. He was probably going to be a much quicker study than she would be at languages and she didn't want to patronise him by going through the alphabet but...

"Okay, we'll start with the basics like how to say hello," that would at least be helpful. "Dia dhuit - JEE-uh Gwitch," she sounded it out for him slowly. The gutteral 'gw' was what tended to catch people out the most. "Or if it is a group it's Dia dhaoibh - JEE-uh YEE-iv."

 

[Arun]

Arun looked at her for a moment, then slowly began to pronounce the word back towards her.

It took him a while, but once he had that one down it became easier and easier to take the next step. Before long Arun slipped into an almost entirely different person. He watched her lips carefully, took in her expression as she spoke.

Every word and every pronunciation she uttered was carefully studied and then quickly replicated. The Elf, as it turned out was a fast learner.

An hour or so later Arun and Maeve we're still seated opposite one another as he spoke yet another new word. "Like so?"

The Elf prompted.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve gave him another one of those smiles that hinted at something... more. Some secret thought she kept to herself.

"Yes, perfect," she hadn't been slow with him when she had realised he was picking up the language quickly. She took him first through some typical phrases then explained a little more the nuances of different sounds on letters. At one point she had gotten up to fetch some paper and ink and had begun writing the words out too so he could see it as well as hear it. By the end of the hour she was pretty confident if he were lost on her isles he could have at least gotten through the beginnings of a conversation, asked for directions to someone who spoke Common, and ordered an ale.

She rubbed at her eyes. "I'm impressed, I'm not sure how many people know this language off of the Isle so I can't compare you to other students but I thought it would take you a little longer than this."

 

[Arun]

"I have always been good with languages, the talent of a diplomat my mother used to say." Arun said the words with a smile, glancing up at the bookshelf for a moment before he got up and pulled out a large tome.

The book was about three times the size of any others on the shelf, the outside bound in what appeared to be an odd sort of leathery stone. He hefted the tome and brought it back over towards the table.

"This." He said as he put the book in front of Maeve. "Taught me dwarvish."

Her lessons though were far easier. "Though you make it much easier."

He offered her a smile.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve's eyes widened when the tome was set in front of her. She wondered if her language would be able to fill something so huge but she doubted it. At least in her mind it seemed far too simple for such a grand looking, complex dictionary. She began to leaf through it curiously.

"You're very kind - I've not taught anyone before so I guess it is a comfort to know I'm not messing it up too much," her eyes raised briefly from the page to him before back to the text. "This is incredible though..." her fingers followed the line of text and her lips moved wordlessly over the pronunciations. "Languages aren't really common on the Isle - it's just our language and Common that they teach. How many do you know?" with 200 years under his belt she assumed it must have been many.

 

[Arun]

Dwarvish was hard on the tongue. Pronunciation was something that he was sure he still didn't have down just yet. In all fairness he'd never gotten to practice it with an actual dwarf, and he was sure he could have nailed it.

"Five." He said with no hint of pride. "Perhaps six soon though."

A smile touched his lips. "Elvish, Common, Orcish, Dwarvish, and Selleri."

The last was a dialect of elvish spoken only in the far south. It was so different than Elvish that many of his own people did not really speak. Arun had only learned because that was where his mother had come from.

 

[Maeve]

"That's very impressive..." Maeve tried to remember what an Orc was. She had definitely heard of them in stories before but couldn't bring to mind much more than hulking great monsters with blue skin. Was that even right? Her nose wrinkled a little and she decided to let it slide.

"What does this mean?" her fingers lingered over a particular line. She had been following the translations offered on the page but this line had nothing to explain it either side of it. Was it an authors note or further instructions? How did you give instructions on how to learn dwarfish in dwarfish? It seemed silly.

 

[Arun]

A frown touched Arun's face for a brief moment as he looked at the Line, glancing at it for a moment before standing up and turning so that he was on the same side of the table as hers. For a brief moment he studied it.

Dwarvish was not exactly the easiest thing to read, nevermind speak, but after a few seconds he got it. "Ah, it's a note from the editor."

He said smiling.

"I believe it was the authors wife." Arun looked at Maeve. "She was chiding him for a misspelling...here."

He pointed to another word.

 

[Maeve]

Mae turned the book a little towards him when he came to join her on her side of the table. When he sat she slid the book so it spanned both their laps and then bent her head to follow the line of his finger. She couldn't really understand most of it but the idea the editor had included his wife's berating correction made her smile. It was a nice little touch that made her wonder who these people were.

"Funny," she said with a small snort and went back to reading. Mae loved languages. Her Common Tongue lessons had been the thing she was best at perfecting even though she had never thought she would need to learn it. "I speak Common, Erainnish and Fae - or at least, the Isle's version of it. They don't like to speak our tongue but they are actually quite similar."

 

[Arun]

"Hm." For some reason the thought that the Fae had their own language had never really occurred to him.

Naive really.

Everyone had their own tongue, why would the Fae be any different. He took in a slight breath, half leaning slightly as he felt Maeve besides him. Fingers traced slowly over the letters of the book, remembering where he'd gotten it.

"Did you learn it on your own?" He asked. "Fae, I mean."

 

[Maeve]

"No," there was an odd note to her voice. It wasn't quite anger nor sadness nor bitterness nor... happiness at the memory. Not quite any of them and yet... and yet all of them at once. "He taught me," her fingers stilled on the page for a moment and then she played with a lock of her hair; a nervous habit he was probably beginning to notice. She tugged on it then began braiding it.

"Not many but some of our people do get chosen every now and then to learn it. It's a crime to teach someone else, only the Fae can pass it on, but it is helpful. It's why I can understand the Wind when all you hear is air. Like now," its voice was almost constant wherever she went. It was merely... quieter and further away. Like background music in a great hall. Other times it was like an orchestra and in a tiny room.