Water in the Desert

Chapter 1

Pronunciation: A as in hat; E as in Innate; I as in see; U as in blue; O as in home; Oy as in deploy; Ay as in fly; Aw as in now; à, ì, ò, ù, è means the vowel has a low tone; á, í, ó, ú, é means the vowel has a high tone; Zh as in vision (vih-zhun); Q , this consonant sounds like a K but is pronounced farther back, around the uvula (the thing that dangles at the back of your throat); GQ , this is pronounced around the uvula and sounds like a G; R as in perro; ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ mean the vowel is lightly nasalized; a͌, e͌, i͌, o͌, u͌ mean the vowel is nasalized heavily; ' as in uh-oh between vowels; the ' in consonant clusters like n'g is different, n'g is like wrong /ŋg/, the ' distinguishes it from sounds like in sing /ŋ/; ' can also be put in front of or behind y & w used to specify that a word like "mo'yik" is pronounced "mo-yik" not "moy-ik"; two consonants that are the same with ' between them are pronounced twice the length like "nn" "unnamed"; and "tsay'og" is pronounced "tsay-og" not "tsa-yog"; ts as in tsunami; dz as in birds; two of the same vowel next to each other mean the vowel is pronounced for twice as long, so "oo" and "ee" does not make the same sound as "food" and "see"                                                                                                                        ex: "Chen" is pronounced like "Chain" & "Kon" is pronounced like the english "Cone"

Zhe'om got a glass of water. Living in the desert meant she had to conserve water. She indulged in a little extra water today considering she lived alone. The sun was rising, glowing with a reddish-orange light. Zhe'om ate some insects then walked out the door to her job. The streets were beginning to fill. "Get your chen berry and dzan eye wine!" shouted Mid, a salesperson who prided himself on selling items from foreign lands. She was surprised he had acquired such a rare beverage, made with fermented chen berry juice, a berry known for being sugary, honey to change the flavor and make the wine more syrup-like, and dzan eyes to give it chunky parts. She admired his love of selling exotic items but she didn't like alcoholic beverages. One person was selling dyed fabric. Another was selling stone carvings of a mother goddess, who Zhe'om was named after. Zhe'om's country was religiously diverse but over half of the population believed in a sect of the Soje religion (which does not involve the mother goddess Zhe'om).

The people of this world were called Tigs (or Chigs if you were from the Chon'go and Soje Empires). Tigs had long and sometimes short snouts, blue-green to emerald green to olive green skin, prehensile pointed tails, claws, tusks protruding from their upper jaws, heads reminiscent of birds, heels raised above the ground, and the males had red throats. The tigs of the desert had green skin similar in color to olives, as well as black patches around their eyes. Their eye color was brown. Zhe'om was conventionally beautiful by tig standards. She had round facial features, round eyes, and a long snout. Her cheekbones were also high but subtle.

Zhe'om walked past the fields of plants near the river. Workers used sickles to cut off the purple pods that resembled corn from the top of the plants. She waved hello to them and they waved back. Her village wasn't big nor important, but it was a nice village. In Zhe'om's culture it was considered a virtue to be kind and friendly to each other, and self expression and art were highly valued. So the people of the village were friendly and the village was nice and calm. It also had a big library, full of wondrous books. From compilations of folktales about spirits of the Jots mountains to fantasy stories about sorcerers. Zhe'om walked along the river breathing in the cold morning air. She watched some adorable lizards with vibrant colors with the playfulness and loyalty of a dog and the intelligence of a monkey resting on the shoulders of the farmers and catching any pests on or near the crops with their long tongues.

She then arrived at her job, a building dedicated to writing documents and stories. "Tsihang," she greeted her coworkers.

"Tsihang," they greeted back. They were all scribes; her job was to copy down stories and various documents. She loved her job. She always tried to enjoy the stories as she copied them down but tried not to be distracted. If she was copying down an interesting story she would spend her break continuing copying it down at a slower pace. It was a different story when she had to copy down documents or stories she wasn't interested in. But she always tried to finish on time, not wanting to disappoint her boss.