The Uniting of Nuui Orc

Chapter 2: A Certain Future

"Get up!" Flute shouted into Kobra's ear. It's always him, Flute rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to get up?! We're gonna be late for class!" 

"Just a minute," Kobra grumbled, covering his eyes with his arm. 

"We're already late!" Flute growled, "We don't have time for another minute." 

"Ugh, fine," Kobra said. He slowly got out of bed, rubbing his forehead. "Aklatos," he swore, "I have a bad headache. Why'd you have to scream at me?" 

"Because you didn't respond the other ten times I told you to get up," Flute said sourly. "Now, hurry up and get ready!" 

After a few excruciating minutes, Kobra had managed to put on his school uniform and comb his hair. It wasn't very neatly combed, but it was better than it was before. The two then left their shared room and began walking. They exited the apartment building and entered the wild terrain. They took their usual path through the woods to get to Krazy's teaching space. "Why are you walking so fast?" Kobra groaned.

"Why are you walking so slow?!" Flute snapped.

"I told you, I have a freaking headache!" Kobra exclaimed. "Jeez!" 

"Krazy-Drogadhu is gonna kill us," Flute said, "so you better catch up." He marched on through the trail. Finally, they emerged from the woods into the clearing near the river.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," Krazy, their droga, or mentor, clicked his tongue. His other two students, Code and Zomb Izmian, were sitting there with judgmental looks on their faces. They were aristocrats; their family was rich. They even had a half-blood servant! They were entitled to everything, including their education, which Flute and Kobra had worked hard for.

"I'm sorry, Krazy-Drogadhu," Flute dipped his head. Kobra did likewise beside him. 

"What excuse do you have to show up late?" Krazy said a bit too snappily for Flute's liking. 

"I had a terrible headache," Kobra said. 

Krazy shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter. You are here now, and that's what matters. Let's start today's lesson before we lose more time. Take your seats." 

Kobra and Flute assumed their positions on the two large stumps. 

"Let's have a little review of yesterday's Evvendhriel lesson, shall we?" Krazy said. "Kobra, can you translate this sentence to English: '¿Zomb pan tik empera?'" 

"Umm..." Kobra tapped his knee with his fingers.

Flute glared at him out of the corner of his eye. We just learned how to ask questions. We put the subject first, then the question word, then the verb. The subject is Zomb, the question word is 'pan tik', and the verb is 'empera'. So... Zomb for what wait? A smile crossed his face as he raised his hand. It's 'What is Zomb waiting for?'. After a few moments of Kobra's obviously hard thinking, Krazy looked at Flute. "It means, 'What is Zomb waiting for?'" 

"Caavi," Krazy said, which meant 'correct'. "Zomb, can you tell me the difference between 'pantik' and 'pan tik'?" 

"One is used like 'why' in questions, and the other one is used like 'because' or 'why' in explanations and stuff," Zomb said.

"Caavi," Krazy said again. "Code, do you remember how to answer questions?" Code nodded hesitantly. "Then answer this; '¿Abben lu Evvendhriel?'"

"Aii," Code said slowly, "hav abben Evvendhriel." 

"Almost there," Krazy said, "you just have to switch the order of the verb and the subject. I know it's weird and not like English, but that's just what you have to do. It should be, 'Aii, abben hav Evvendhriel.'" After a pause, he continued, "Now, back to Kobra. How do you say 'What are Zomb and Code eating?'"