The Wolf, the Butterfly, and the Kraken

Chapter 42

                                                                            Vam

I had demolished the floor with ease. Joann worked on patching holes and cracks in the walls, and Oshie sat in a corner with a bucket of water, practicing shapes and water forms. He was learning to concentrate, which for a two year old was hard. His grandfather swore he could swim. I had trouble believing this, but was proud.

All of the dockworkers were proud of him too, and showed their support in small ways. They pitched in and purchased him some quills and ink. The ladies Joann worked with always had a treat for Oshie. Sometimes the legionnaires gave him piggy back rides through the streets.

He worked so hard though. It had only been a week and he was mired in enough work for a month. That he did not know how to write or even hold a quill did not help. I wanted to set my tools down and help him, but my Veneran writing wasn't much better than his.

Joann caught my eye and motioned me over. I went. "Yes?"

She eyed Oshie, "I think we should take 15 or 20 minutes out of every hour and work with Oshie."

"But I do not know how to write in Veneran."

She nodded. "But you do know Lycant, and he will need that when we go home. Maybe we can help him, and in the process you can learn more Veneran, and I can learn more Lycant."

She was right. He would need to be educated in Lycant as well. I agreed. We collected slate boards. "Oshie, your mother and I have been talking, and you need to learn in Lycant as well." His ears wilted. "But it will be okay son. You will only work on Lycant a little each day, and it will help your momma to learn it too. Plus, maybe you can help me learn some Veneran."

He perked up at this and wagged. My son loved being helpful. And so we worked on one letter/hieroglyph/sound for the next fifteen minutes. He had trouble with the chalk, but it was looking better at the end. Still not good, but better.

Joann still had a ways to go on her hieroglyph, but it was coming along. I felt my letters were not quite right either, and resolved to do better. Oshie went back to making water shapes, but I smiled when I realized he was forming letters and hieroglyphs in the water.

The next hour we worked on numbers. He taught me to make up to the number 3 in Veneran. I taught him and Joann to three in Lycant. Then he went to work practicing, and I headed out to bring in one of three beams that needed to be set in order to have a sturdy ground floor. As it was, we were all working in a pit. I started to heft one beam, and it barely moved. I tried harder and it came up a bit, but I was never going to get this thing installed by myself.

I thought of the other times I had hefted a beam such as this. There had always been lots of help. I wondered if Venerans had some other way of doing this.

"Joann?"

"Hmm?"

"How do beams get put into place here?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. I could ask my father. Why?"

"These beams are too large for me to lift by myself. Where I come from many men get together to do this. I can't do any more on the floor, or interior walls until this is done."

She blinked, "Maybe you could ask some guys from work to help?"

"But then we would just owe more-"

She laid a hand on my arm, "Stop. There are times in Venera where it is different. This would be considered a friendly favor. I would make dinner, we would invite them over. You install the beams, and I feed everyone. No money owed."