Meniscus: One Point Five - Forty Missing Days

Glossary

measurement:

one-sun: about one year; every four hundred sun-reels, one sun moves behind the other and winter arrives

parnel: small area, about four square centimetres

sun-reel: one day

tarn: a unit of weight, about six kilograms

plant life:

arbel: nodding woodland flower with edible corms

banyan: a tree, native to Earth, with aerial prop roots; an individual tree spreads by these roots until it resembles a grove of trees; brought to Meniscus as an ornamental but escaped to overtake the natural grammid forest when birds carried the banyan seeds to their nests

dagger-drip: a plant with clusters of toxic pink berries

find-a-way: vigorous thorny vine with hanging juicy fruit; native to the edges of the Darn'el desert

glasswort: transparent, low-growing plant, adapted to the edge of the churn

glough: a poisonous woodland plant with flocked white berries and a sticky exudate

grammid: tree with copious orange leaves and edible seed pods; smells like cinnamon

ishlin: a crisp lichen-like edible; grows on flat rocks in the desert

martrop: a low-growing plant with large plate-like leaves; dew gathering on the leaves becomes poisonous to drink

ransindyne: plant grown for its edible root

slag-fern: fern-like plant with leathery leaves

spenel: small plant with edible berries

thief-bush: bush with thick leaves and blue berries; used to make beverages

yarnel: tree with edible fruit like pomegranate

zill: green herb with frothy leaves, grown to flavour foods

animal life:

celedon: a migratory woodland bird with green feathers and purple eyes; deconstructs its nest in autumn, just before flying west for the winter

elginard: wingless insect; moves by floating on air currents

evernell: feral cat-like scavenger, with whiskers; sprays saliva

grell-swallow: large flightless burrowing bird; used for a food and fat source

kemet: striped horse-like animal with hooves and a long tail

kotildi: woodland carnivore, like a large wolf with a hump and mane; source of meat

midlar: territorial, tree-living rodent; hoots

nelip: small external parasite, infesting fur and hair

slear-snake: snake-like reptile with poison teeth, claws, and pincers

warbel: song bird living in the woodland

windfleer: heron-like bird; moves in flocks

other:

Agillies: children of the Argenops

Baltella: an asterism containing seven stars, one rumoured to be Earth's sun, Sol.

colax: hot caffeinated beverage brewed from blue thief-bush berries

crummnel: small flat silicon sheet which can be folded and used as a utensil

humble-song: an Argenop chant in honour of Amblyn, god of fire

jar-bright: a game of hide-and-seek where the hidden one is located through the bottom of a glass jar

link-shelter: portable pop-up shelter; component links mesh to form a strong shell

slammer: a weapon similar to a hand gun

Sol: old name for Earth's sun

tath-toll: a board game with wooden game pieces to build tunnels and stairs

ticket: the main currency used on Meniscus, in paper or electronic form

zed: hot caffeinated beverage brewed from thief-bush leaves