|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:31 pm
Ardea leaned far enough back in his chair to lift the front two legs off of the carpet, his arms stretched out over his head. After a large yawn, he returned to the proper sitting position and rested his elbows on the table with a sigh. It had taken him longer to find these books today than he had expected, because it seemed that all of them had been misplaced.
Odd, but no need to worry, the Heron figured. He had them now, so now he should start to read. Flicking a few strands of hair back over his shoulder, Ardea opened the first one to the ribbon marker in the middle, and started scanning over the page for the sections he needed.
Ink, pleased that he was able to help his master locate a few of the books, was taking the time now to rest. He hung upside-down, clinging to the carved armrest of the chair beside Ardea with his little toes. The bat glanced about the library curiously, wondering if he and Ardea would be here alone all afternoon. Quiet was nice, but it got a little boring sometimes.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:40 pm
Aquae found herself being settled on the ground just outside the library. The mouse-Fey who was her usual caretaker mentioned briefly something about "staying inside the library" and "I'll be back soon". More than likely it was because of some difficult horse or the other.
The little girl didn't mind. She liked the library. Lots of books there for her to explore, even if she wasn't able to make out what the funny black marks all over the pages meant. Some of them at least had some pretty pictures, or the black marks looked prettier than other ones.
She made her way cautiously to a more inward section of the library, and spotted Ardea. Quietly, the little one came towards him, watching him. It was really the bat, she realized, that was attracting her attention. She was not sure what she thought about the Fey yet-- afterall, she'd met Fey before, but a bat was something new...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:55 pm
Ooh, someone else? Ink turned his head to peer at Aquae. There seemed to be lots of other people like Ardea in the castle; the bat wondered how many. He did not think he had yet seen one so little, though.
He knew he could not talk to her. So he settled for licking his nose, then blinking.
Ardea reached over to grab a second book, and then a few sheets of paper, but he did not notice Aquae.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:06 am
The little girl ventured a bit further forward. She reached out to the bat, about to gently brush the top of his head. He was really cute! She liked him already. Well, she thought she did. She wasn't completely sure.
"Name?" she asked softly, peering at the rather noble man before her. He at least must have some sort of rank, unlike her caretaker...perhaps something more like her mother's. She didn't remember her mother very well, but she did know that she'd been a kind of minor nobility before she was a monk.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 4:28 pm
Ink was not so sure about letting the girl touch him, but he supposed she seemed alright. He sort of leaned himself away from her hand for the moment, and continued to watch her to see if she would try again.
As the girl spoke, Ardea jumped slightly and glanced back, peering down at her through the feathers that stood out from his shoulder. He knew of two child Fey - though they were not supposed to be like that, precisely - and neither one of them resembled this girl.
"Name?" the scribe repeated, not sure what to make of the little girl yet. "My name is Ardea. If you are talking about him, though-" he nodded to the bat. "His name is Ink." He paused a moment, then asked, "What is your name?"
He was not quite sure he knew how to deal well with children. Ardea dearly hoped he could get through this meeting without the little one running off in tears or something.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 4:35 pm
Aquae pulled her hand back as the bat moved away. She knew enough to realize that sometimes animals didn't want to be touched, and usually when they pulled away, that was why...and if you didn't respond in a good way, they might bite you or something.
"Aquae." she responded to the older Fey's questions, pointing to herself. Her voice was very clear, lacking the usual childish tones-- quite possibly because the few words she ever said she worked -hard- to get -perfect-.
She peered at Ink, then looked up at Ardea again,
"Friend?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:22 pm
Ardea scooted his chair back a little from the table, and turned so he was facing the girl a bit more directly. He figured it could not hurt to take his attention off his research for just a few minutes to entertain the child. She would likely grow bored anyway and leave soon enough.
"Very nice to meet you, Miss Aquae," the Heron said, giving her a small bow from where he sat. "And yes, we can be friends if you like." Knowing very little of children, Ardea hoped this would not be too taxing a promise to make to her.
Ink made a quiet little chitter sound and stretched out his wings for a moment before folding them back around himself. Then he cocked his head a little to the side and blinked at Aquae again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:21 pm
The girl paused briefly, searching for words and phrases that she understood and could make use of to get her point across. Not that she had a lack of vocabulary-- Muris read to her enough that she certainly had enough words stuffed in there, she simply was too young yet to properly understand many of them.
".....book?" she asked, pointing to what Ardea had been reading,
"read....me?"
She enjoyed reading most of all at this point. Particularly stories that had some sort of moral or religious context to them, as they reminded her of her mother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:08 pm
"Read this to you?" Ardea asked, marking his place with a fingertip before flipping the book closed. It was a history text, and quite an old one. This one in particular had been penned by a rather dry writer, and the information was dense and dull enough to nearly put Ardea to sleep sometimes. He laughed a little, setting the book in his lap. "I promise it is not very fun or colorful," the scribe warned.
Still, he supposed he could still scratch down notes as he read aloud to her. If she really wanted to listen to it. Ardea opened the book again to read a few lines to Aquae - something about a petty dispute between two Sun Court officials from several hundred years before - then paused to glance up at the girl, to see if she looked intereseted enough to necessitate his continuing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:26 am
Aquae watched him for a moment, mimicking the motions of his lips with her own and drinking in the words. She didn't understand them, but that didn't matter. She hardly understood most of the words Muris said when she read either-- though she caught some meanings by looking at the illustrations that went with them.
Still, she delighted in the beauty of the words themselves, the interest of sounds heavily engrained in her essence. Unconsciously, she moved forward as he spoke till she was right next to poor Ink without knowing it and grasping the arm of the chair in an attempt to actually -see- the words that she was hearing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:04 pm
As little grabbing toddler hands came too close for comfort, Ink took off from the arm of the chair and began to flutter in erratic loops in the air around the table. Not that he was afraid or anything, the bat was just a little wary of the young one since he had just met her. And, quite honestly, the flight felt good after sitting still for a while.
Ardea, who had started to read again, stopped as soon as his familiar started flying around. Looking up, he asked something, presumably to the bat, in a language that likely meant even less to Aquae than the language he ordinarily spoke. Somehow, the bat replied in the same cryptic tongue, and the Heron glanced back down at the girl.
"Ink was restless from staying in one place, so he is just stretching his wings now," he assured her, in case she might worry that she had scared him. Or, well, perhaps she had, but Ink was not admitting it anyway.
"... Shall I keep reading?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:40 am
The little girl startled a little as the bat took off, taking a few steps back. Her face scrunched a little bit-- barely noticeably-- in upset and confusion until Ardea spoke to Ink, and suddenly she was more fascinated by that than upset by the bat's startling her.
She moved forward again, waiting for the explanation that soon followed, and then nodded,
"Read...me..." she confirmed, just the littlest bit of command in her voice.
She hadn't even thought to worry she might have startled the bat. Young children were so delightful in that respect-- the world still revolved around them, afterall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:25 am
Ardea hesitated a minute, blinking at the girl. He had no experience at all in dealing with toddlers, and he could not recall his own time in that stage of life, so being ordered about by one so little as Aquae seemed a bit strange.
"Alright, I can read you more," the Heron assured her, scanning over the next couple lines of text with his eyes. Then he leaned over to pick up his quill. "Oh, just a moment, I need to make a note on something here...." Ardea trailed off, scribbilng as quickly as he could on his parchment. He normally wrote fast anyway, but he was still inwardly hoping that this delay in reading would not anger the little girl.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:31 am
Aquae watched as he scribbled on the paper. She wanted to write too! ...but not until she learned how to do so properly, and to make sense of what she was writing. Something deep inside balked at the idea of mindless scribbling.
Her eyes took in the ink as it slowly sunk into the paper, the curves of the letters, the way the quill moved. Just as she had been when he was reading, she was fascinated by the writing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:38 am
Partway through his writing, Ardea glanced sidelong at Aquae just to make sure she had not yet burst into angry or upset tears at him or anything. Truth be told, he was surprised he had been able to adequately entertain her so far.
As soon as he was finished scratching down the lines of notes, which only took a few more seconds, the adult Fey turned back to face Aquae and quickly found in the book where he had left off. Then he cleared his throat a little and continuned to read, occasionally looking up at the little girl to be sure he was not upsetting her or anything.
He could get through this without doing anything wrong, he had to. And this would be knowledge for the future, if ever he had more encounters with younglings. Just... do not make her cry....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
