The Wish of a Broken Heart

Party Slime

Mik’Oriella 26th
Inqwé’gaelaō
15:37

~Amanda~

The Halls of Mélas Tugöllyi are stunning. The roads are wide with drainage that leads to a sewage system. I try to get a look, but freak when something big moves inside. My luck, it’s a huge sewage rat. I hate rats. The teeth and eyes with claws… nope! I can’t believe Cara had hooded rats growing up.

It takes everything I have not to scream when I was interning. The lab rats were terrifying to me. They were sweet and playful, but I just couldn’t get over my fear. I blame it on our camping trip to the bayou. I woke up with a nutria in my tent! We chased it out. Right into the awaiting jaws of a python.

That camping trip didn’t last long. Ada and Aya took us to a hotel and found a camper quickly. We learned how to attach it without smashing our fingers in the ball-hitch. Unlike my friend who came with. She broke two fingers, trying to impress my jerk brother, who spent the whole trip sulking. He wasn’t allowed to bring his girlfriend.

Watching the people as we went, I noticed some of the women had beards. It seems completely natural to them. I noticed they were older women as well, much older. I can’t keep my tongue.

“Tell me about your people. I have no idea. Your dwarves are completely different than ours.” This gained a lot of attention.

“Ye ‘ave gamádír in yer lands?”

“We do, but there’s a few differences.”

“Aye? W’at differences do ye notice?”

“Well, most of our women don’t have facial hair. I mean, it happens. Especially with those who have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, diabetes, hormone imbalance, and a few other things.” The blank looks on their faces tell me to put it in layman’s terms. “They have internal medical conditions.”

“Oh.”
“Ah.”
“I see.”

“Well, ours get it when t’ey give up bein’ in t’e family way. T'e longer and t’inker t’e beard, t’e wiser.” Gálbard explains.

“So, you give up being able to have kids? When does this happen?”

“I’ll take that, brother.” Valdáh has the accent but speaks clearly. I wonder why? “I’m also easier to understand.” She pokes him. He pouts. “My work in the su…rth helped me learn a balance of speech everyone can understand. We only ovulate every six months. We normally don’t start until we meet our mate. When we’re done having nanú, we… Is something wrong?” She looks at me confused as I shake my head. There’s a ringing in my ears that’s slowly increasing.

“I don’t know what that word was, but it changed while you were speaking. My head is ringing a bit.” I rub my temples.

“Your mind is still adjusting. Apologies. I forgot to warn you. Cara was unconscious for this part. We’ll get you some headache medicine.” Ana and Kaenaék rummage around in the medical supplies.

“A language scroll?” Valdáh whispers cautiously.

“Yes. Ana and her team are translating our planet’s languages slowly. There’s hundreds of thousands. They can be complicated. English, our language, is the absolute worst. Even those raised with it have issues speaking it.” I snicker privately at how many people in English speaking countries slaughter it.

“You need to eat. Take those. Let’s hurry you home. By chance, what word was it?”

“It was a location or direction. The place you go to work.”

“North. Did it translate properly now?” I nod and instantly regret my action.

“Here sáry. Quickly.” I take the pills and drink the hot tea from Cara’s mug. I can’t believe this thing made it. I try to pay attention, but my head is throbbing. They notice after a moment. Peter picks me up, whispering for me to rest.