The Sapphire Pass: All-Father

Fight Night

Ophelia walked back to James' office weakly. Her mind had been on a roller coaster and she wasn't sure she appreciated it. Some of the things she'd seen and heard in the past few hours had seared their way into the darkest reaches of her brain for all eternity. There were still some things that she didn't understand, but she couldn't think about that now, she had more important things to deal with.

She sat at a small desk near the door poring over files all written in Jelu, that she largely couldn't understand for the most part, aside from a couple common words like 'stay' 'follow' 'yes' and 'no.' They weren't permitted to learn it, In the whole of the world there was only a single language that survived, and it was the only one spoken anymore- by humans that is. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with all them until she came across the pages of grammar and sentences she was also supposed to go through.

Translations.

This is what she was going to work on. It made perfect sense considering the documents the rebels would require would be written in Jelu. If she was the only one who was able to read and write it fluently, she would be irreplaceable. It wouldn't matter if they knew she was working for James or not.

Of course they would. Orion was with them, and she couldn't trust him. There was no doubt he'd told anyone who would listen that James was a terrible person, because he didn't know, or didn't want to know the truth.

The way she saw it though, she would be more of a liaison. Both sides were working toward the same goal, Just going about it in different ways.

To Ophelia, James' way was better. He was trying to cure everyone while having a system in place that kept them alive and healthy. The rebels on the other hand, chose to make war. She wasn't sure if after taking all the Jelumme down they planned to take over the world for themselves or, if they also wanted to find a cure to this terrible plague that had stricken humanity. The only thing she was sure about at the moment was that James was attempting to find solutions with as few casualties as possible.

It couldn't have been easy for him to figure out a plan to keep everyone going after the world fell apart, yet, his goodness made him persevere. Of that, she was sure. One day he would fix the terrible thing that had happened, and she would be there to help him do it.

She put her head down and got to work on the translations which went slowly at first and sped up by a fraction of second by the end of the day. She'd learned a few words and because she had the opportunity to hear James speak it all day, it helped her remember certain words or phrases, though most of those things would probably fade by tomorrow, she'd have James there to help if she ever happened to get stuck. As she progressed her learning could only get quicker and more accurate. Starting something was always the hardest part, at least that's what her junior teachers taught them on the first day of training.

James tapped on her desk as she looked over yet another page of grammar.

"Jewy goto sone?" he asked.

"Home?" she asked quizzically, only partially understanding one word.

He nodded and she did the same with a smile. She liked the idea of the word home. It sounded more relaxed and comfortable than 'living quarters' or 'residences.' It sounded warm and full of hope and promise.

"What would you like to make tonight for dinner?" he asked on the short drive back to his house.

"Can we just have Venya make something tonight?" she asked, leaning her head on his shoulder. "My brain is kind of fried already and I learned some really traumatic things today."

"Did you now? Well I suppose I could have her make us some dinner while we watch a movie and then we could talk about those traumatic things if you'd like." he suggested.