The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 9

"One set of clothing should be ready tomorrow morning." Anya remarks as she leads me through the town. "So you do not have to wear your smelly old clothes." I can practically hear the smirk in her voice, "Perhaps you should bathe or I will continue waking you up with cold water."

That's good motivation. I haven't been able to find the time to bathe since I lived in my camp. If I have time later, I'll do that.

Anya leads me into a large tent, which I hesitantly follow her into. This tent is larger and more luxurious than mine, so it must belong to someone high up.

"Will the person that owns this tent be okay with us in here?"

"Yes, I am."

I realize what she means, "You could've just told me you're taking me to your tent."

Anya's smirk is back, but she doesn't comment on that. "It is time for you to learn Trigedasleng. It is the main language of the clans and everyone speaks it. The Heda may decide to teach you herself, or she may let me and Artigas continue teaching you."

I glance behind me to see Artigas standing at the entrance of the tent, having forgotten he's behind me.

"We will start teaching you the basics, Prisa." Artigas says in a reassuring tone. "Some is similar to Gonasleng, but pronounced and spelled differently. For example, I is just ai. You is yu. But most is different than Gonasleng. The word for we that excludes the person you are speaking to is osir, while the word for we that includes the person you are speaking to is oso."

I try to commit that to memory, knowing I'll probably have to write all of this down later.

"To make a pronoun possessive, it usually adds -on or -n." Anya says. "Mine is ain and yours is yun. To use it in context, it goes in front of the noun. Ain java, or my spear. Yun swis, or your knife. There are times you will need to speak your name, so you would say ai laik Clarke, or I am Clarke. If you decide to be considered one of this clan, you would be Clarke kom Trigeda. If you want others to know you are the one who fell from the sky, tell them you are Clarke kom SkaiKru."

I think on that for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know which one I want to identify as yet."

Anya nods understandingly. "That is fine. You can just be Clarke until you figure it out."

"We did not start out simple as I thought we would. Apologies, Prisa." Artigas gives me a hesitant smile. "No is the same in our language, but yes is different. In Trigedasleng it is sha. Thank you is mochof and you're welcome is pro. Please is beja, and a typical greeting of hello is heya or hei, while goodbye is leidon or leida."

They continue instructing me in Trigedasleng until I can speak in simple sentences, with comments from Anya that are somehow always helpful yet insulting ("no, you fool. Do not pronounce it I like Clarke, pronounce it ai laik Clarke. I know you like yourself but that is not how you introduce yourself").

When Anya releases me for lunch, she tells me I have the rest of the day off to do whatever I'd like. Artigas is once again following me everywhere, which I don't mind, but I guess he really does take his job of staying near me to protect me very seriously.

I head back to my tent after I eat. I rummage through my makeshift basket thing I used to carry everything here. I let out an "ah-ha!" when I find one of my notebooks. I feel along the bottom of the bag and notice a glaringly obvious lack of pencils or any writing utensils. I groan, knowing I forgot them at my pod. I tuck the notebook into my back pocket and head back outside of my tent. It seems like I'll be making a trip to my pod today.

I grab a nearby stick on the ground and take out my knife, carving one end into a point. I head to the nearest fire, which happens to be a torch on the side of a building. I burn the pointed tip of the stick in the fire and pull it out before it catches on fire.

Knowing I'll remember even less of what Artigas and Anya taught me when I actually get my pencils, I start writing down everything I can remember from the lesson in my notebook. Artigas looks over my shoulder and corrects my spelling of their words, as well as reminding me of words that I'd forgotten to write down.

Once I'm finished, I look up at the sky to gauge if I have enough time to get to the pod and back before it gets dark. It's not far from the center of the sky, so I should be able to.

I put my notebook back in my pocket and begin walking to where I know the exit to the village is.

Artigas stops me with a hand on my arm. "Where are you going?"

"I forgot something in my pod. I'll be back."

"I will come with you."

"Alright."

If it were almost anyone else, I'd think they were going just to keep track of me and make sure I come back. But Artigas' silent presence has become a comfort and I know he's both concerned for my safety and his (if Anya found out he let me leave alone, he might not live to see another day. Okay, it might not be that drastic but it's still Anya. She'd kick his ass).

We head out of the village, the guards of the gate nodding to us as we pass.

I know that's kind of a sudden ending to the chapter, sorry. But the next chapter will be Artigas and Clarke at the pod! Not too eventful, but they're kind of like siblings now (just more loving than my experience with siblings, is course. Plus they haven't known each other long). In a bit there (a few chapters maybe?) will be a time jump so we can finally get to Indra and Lexa! Thank you all for reading and stay awesome!