Spending the lazy chilly winter evening in front of a fire with a nice book sounded idyllic, and sure, Asala could have taken the easy way and picked a book in a language she could read, but instead she had wished to read something written in Tevene. It wasn't the sole book she had in the language, and most had been translated by Cyrus, but she also had a number that weren't. Some were manuals, or other study material, but she had one or two that were just stories. She had attempted to teach herself by using the ones that Cyrus had translated for her, but the grammar proved much more difficult than she anticipated.
Granted, being able to read the language would also do more for her than just being able to read bedtime stories. She'd be able to read the tomes without having to take them to Cyrus first to translate them, and well... She did not wish to depend completely on Cyrus. She wished to become a bit more independent in her studies, and she imagined that continuing her lessons would be painful for him, considering what he'd lost. She was grateful to him, but she also wanted to do some things for herself.
Of course, in order to learn a different language, she'd need help. It was why she'd left the comfort of her little room to cross the snowy expanse between her building and the keep. The cold was the worst on her ears, and since hoods weren't exactly a viable option, she had to get a bit creative. She had taken to wrapping a length of cloth with fur sewn onto one side around her head to cover her ears and keep the warmth in. It did a fine job of keeping the chill away from her ears as she approached the keep, storybook in hand. Once inside, she pulled the fur down to rest around her neck, and headed toward the Inquisitor's office.
Estella had proven to be a knack with written languages, so it seemed obvious that she go to her in order to get tutored. She issued a pair of knocks on her door and waited a moment before she took the doorknob in hand and opened. "Estella? You're not busy are you?" Asala asked, poking her head inside.
Estella was at her desk, which she perhaps should have expected. There a fairly tall stack of papers in front of her and to the right, but it wasn't clear if that was the stack of papers to do or the ones that had been recently done. She glanced up, brows arching slightly when she recognized her visitor. Looking back down at the paper in front of her, she sighed slightly, then shook her head.
"Not too busy for you, Asala. Come on in. Is there something you need?"
Asala smiled and enter the room, gently shutting the door behind her. "A favor, for when you have time," she said, gesturing toward the stack of papers. To-do or done, it was still a lot of papers regardless, and she didn't envy her work load. The infirmary had its share of paperwork as well, of course, but she did not have to do much of it herself, as it was delegated between Milly or Donovan or both. The most she had was updating the charts of the patients she saw to herself.
She then revealed the book she carried under her arm, the cover emblazoned with ornate script. The title, however, she was unsure of, since it was written in untranslated Tevene. It had arrived among other items that were taken as spoils of war from a raid on an Venatori encampment. From the font and organization of the inside, however, it appeared to tell a story of some sort, instead of a journal, or something likewise important. All she had to do was to ask for it, and it was given to her. She had intended to read it after she had taught herself using Cyrus's translations, but... grammar issues arose.
"I would like to read this, one day, but... I will need help," Asala said with a pleading smile. "I thought that since you were so good with languages, that I might ask you." Her gaze flicked back to the papers on her desk for a moment, "When you can fit me into your schedule, of course."
Estella considered that a moment, folding her hands together under her chin. Her eyes rested on the title of the book for a moment; a flicker of a smile crossed her face. "I think you might like that one, when you can read it," she said, lifting her eyes to Asala's before sighing softly through her nose.
"Learning a language isn't... it won't be a fast process. Even if we could have lessons three or four times a week, it takes years for most adults. Sometimes that can go faster with immersion, but there are very few people around here who can speak Tevene, so that's not really an option." She tilted her head a little, so that she was leaning her cheek against her wrist. "And... as much as I'd like to, I probably can't help you more than once a week. Even if I gave you exercises to do between each, it's going to take a long time. But... if you know all that and want to learn anyway, I'd be happy to help you."
Asala smiled easily and nodded. It wasn't as if she expected to learn the language before winter was up, after all. As with learning anything new, it would take time, study, and practice and this was no different. However, she was a bit disheartened to hear that it may take years though through her optimism it was soon quelled. She would learn, eventually, whenever that was.
"I understand. I mean, I did not think it would be a... simple matter, to learn," she said. That was the first lesson she'd realized upon attempting to teach herself. However, if she was able to learn it, then a whole new door would open up for her. She could study other books from Tevinter, broaden her study of magic, and hopefully gain new skills that would prove beneficial not only to herself, but to others as well. It was an opportunity she did not want to give up simply because it would be too difficult.
Estella nodded slightly, then stood. "Um... okay. I've never really taught anyone anything before, so this might be a little bumpy, but I'll do my best." Crossing the room to her bookshelf, she ran the pads of her fingers carefully along several spines before she reached the one she wanted, hooking her index finger over the top and tugging it from the shelf.
"This is a really basic grammar. Just the very simple things, like the basics of declining nouns and verb conjugation in the present tense. We'll work through it first, I guess, and then move on to other tenses and moods and vocabulary and things." She turned in a slight spin, holding the book out to Asala. It was quite plain, just bound in brown leather, and looked very well-used. "Tevene's grammatical structures aren't quite as complex as the ones of Qunlat, but they are very different, and there are lots of idioms in a language that old, plus holdover grammar from Old Tevene, which is a completely different language with even more declensions and things, so. Um. We'll get to that later, I guess."
Asala sighed, but not at all of the terms that Estella had just listed off for her, or rather, at a single specific term. "Idioms..." She expressed ruefully. She wasn't so thick as to not realize that most modern idioms and metaphors often flew over her horns. She'd taken to simply smiling and nodding whenever she believed one was in use, and had began to catch on to the others shift in tone when they used them. However, there was no such tone in written material, especially if it was as old as Estella said. Still, she managed a smile and nodded, accepting the book in her free hand, before cracking it open to a random page to see what it looked like.
Unfortunately, around the middle of the book where she opened, it just looked like gibberish, the letters familiar as those used by the trade tongue, but arranged in ways that simply had no meaning for her. There was a chart in one corner, with a few words she sort of recognized, such as 'nominative' and 'genitive.' At least they seemed to be trade-words.
"You'll want to start at the very beginning," Estella said, a knowing smile slanting her mouth. "Maybe have the first thirty pages or so read before next week? Then I can teach you that section." Moving back to her desk, she grabbed what looked like a spare piece of parchment, dipping her slightly bedraggled-looking goosefeather quill in the open inkwell on the left side of the desk. She wrote a little note there in delicate handwriting, then set both quill and parchment aside.
When she glanced back up at Asala, she arched an eyebrow. "So... yesterday morning. Not too much of a headache, I hope?"
She flipped the book closed and stacked it against the other she carried, before looking back up to Estella and giving her a rather bashful smile. "Terrible, actually," she revealed. Along with that, it felt like her tongue and throat had sprouted fur during the night. Apparently, she had slept with her mouth open, leaving it dry and scratchy as well. "At first, anyway. Thank you for the water and the potion, by the way. I managed to... deal with the rest of the symptoms on my own," she said, calling a magical healing glow to two of her fingers in demonstration. "Relatedly, I am getting better with my spirit healing," she added with a soft laugh.
Estella chuckled softly. "Well, that's good to know. How, ah... how much do you remember about the party itself? Because at one point you were definitely petting Ves's head. Which was a little strange for you, even if the lion fur is quite soft." Her eyes glittered with clear amusement. "You, ah... passed out under a table. Leon carried you back to your place, in case you wondered how you got there."
"I... thought that may have been the case," she said, feeling the blush rising to her cheeks. He was most likely the only one strong enough to carry her home without dragging her. Considering that she did not see a rut where she'd been dragged leading toward the door to her place, that was the only logical explanation. Still, she chuckled and nodded, "I remember most of it, just... not ending up under a table," she paused after that. How did she end up under there, she wondered. Regardless, she would be far more careful in trusting Zee so liberally next time drink was involved.
The blush eventually faded and she continued, "It is all still kind of fuzzy, but I do remember the fur. It was really soft," she agreed. She did not feel entirely embarrassed about the evening, not really. It did kind of sting that she had to be carried home, but otherwise, she remembered feeling quite liberated. It was... nice. "I think my night was relatively tame in comparison to some of the others," she said with a throaty giggle. She ended up with more clothing as the night went on after all, not less.
The suggestion must have been dubious to Estella, though, because she looked a bit skeptical. "I don't know. I think most of the card players were sober enough to know what they were doing. None of us ended up wearing someone else's socks on our heads." Her tone of voice was light, clearly more teasing than attempting genuine counterargument.
"Wait, I had someone's sock on my head?" she asked with a mix of surprise and horror. She definitely did not remember that.
"I don't know for sure, but I think it was Zee's," Estella confirmed. "She lost more clothes than most of them did. And technically it was on one of your horns." She pointed to the air next to the left side of her own head.
The blush returned in full force, this time bringing a burning sensation with it. She may not have remembered the sock, but she certainly remembered Zee.
"Oh... Oh dear."
Estella's eyes narrowed precipitously, her head canting slightly to the side, until her thick ponytail fell over her shoulder. Her hand dropped from where it hovered near her ear, finding her hip instead, and the other crossed her abdomen to rest in the crook the first created. A little smile, more slanted than her usual ones, turned her lips just fractionally. It was actually an expression that resembled Cyrus more than anything else Asala could compare it to.
"Well now. That's not the reaction I was expecting. You know, I'm here if there's anything you'd like to share, Asala." She seemed to have something particular in mind, if her tone of voice was any clue.
The blush got worse as she offered a half-hearted smile. "I, uh, well... Um, yes. Of course. Right here," she offered, pointing downward and gesturing to the room at large. "I should... I should probably go get started?" she asked, holding up the books in her hand.
Mercifully, Estella did not press, instead lifting her shoulders. "Feel free. I'll see you in a week, if not before."
Granted, being able to read the language would also do more for her than just being able to read bedtime stories. She'd be able to read the tomes without having to take them to Cyrus first to translate them, and well... She did not wish to depend completely on Cyrus. She wished to become a bit more independent in her studies, and she imagined that continuing her lessons would be painful for him, considering what he'd lost. She was grateful to him, but she also wanted to do some things for herself.
Of course, in order to learn a different language, she'd need help. It was why she'd left the comfort of her little room to cross the snowy expanse between her building and the keep. The cold was the worst on her ears, and since hoods weren't exactly a viable option, she had to get a bit creative. She had taken to wrapping a length of cloth with fur sewn onto one side around her head to cover her ears and keep the warmth in. It did a fine job of keeping the chill away from her ears as she approached the keep, storybook in hand. Once inside, she pulled the fur down to rest around her neck, and headed toward the Inquisitor's office.
Estella had proven to be a knack with written languages, so it seemed obvious that she go to her in order to get tutored. She issued a pair of knocks on her door and waited a moment before she took the doorknob in hand and opened. "Estella? You're not busy are you?" Asala asked, poking her head inside.
Estella was at her desk, which she perhaps should have expected. There a fairly tall stack of papers in front of her and to the right, but it wasn't clear if that was the stack of papers to do or the ones that had been recently done. She glanced up, brows arching slightly when she recognized her visitor. Looking back down at the paper in front of her, she sighed slightly, then shook her head.
"Not too busy for you, Asala. Come on in. Is there something you need?"
Asala smiled and enter the room, gently shutting the door behind her. "A favor, for when you have time," she said, gesturing toward the stack of papers. To-do or done, it was still a lot of papers regardless, and she didn't envy her work load. The infirmary had its share of paperwork as well, of course, but she did not have to do much of it herself, as it was delegated between Milly or Donovan or both. The most she had was updating the charts of the patients she saw to herself.
She then revealed the book she carried under her arm, the cover emblazoned with ornate script. The title, however, she was unsure of, since it was written in untranslated Tevene. It had arrived among other items that were taken as spoils of war from a raid on an Venatori encampment. From the font and organization of the inside, however, it appeared to tell a story of some sort, instead of a journal, or something likewise important. All she had to do was to ask for it, and it was given to her. She had intended to read it after she had taught herself using Cyrus's translations, but... grammar issues arose.
"I would like to read this, one day, but... I will need help," Asala said with a pleading smile. "I thought that since you were so good with languages, that I might ask you." Her gaze flicked back to the papers on her desk for a moment, "When you can fit me into your schedule, of course."
Estella considered that a moment, folding her hands together under her chin. Her eyes rested on the title of the book for a moment; a flicker of a smile crossed her face. "I think you might like that one, when you can read it," she said, lifting her eyes to Asala's before sighing softly through her nose.
"Learning a language isn't... it won't be a fast process. Even if we could have lessons three or four times a week, it takes years for most adults. Sometimes that can go faster with immersion, but there are very few people around here who can speak Tevene, so that's not really an option." She tilted her head a little, so that she was leaning her cheek against her wrist. "And... as much as I'd like to, I probably can't help you more than once a week. Even if I gave you exercises to do between each, it's going to take a long time. But... if you know all that and want to learn anyway, I'd be happy to help you."
Asala smiled easily and nodded. It wasn't as if she expected to learn the language before winter was up, after all. As with learning anything new, it would take time, study, and practice and this was no different. However, she was a bit disheartened to hear that it may take years though through her optimism it was soon quelled. She would learn, eventually, whenever that was.
"I understand. I mean, I did not think it would be a... simple matter, to learn," she said. That was the first lesson she'd realized upon attempting to teach herself. However, if she was able to learn it, then a whole new door would open up for her. She could study other books from Tevinter, broaden her study of magic, and hopefully gain new skills that would prove beneficial not only to herself, but to others as well. It was an opportunity she did not want to give up simply because it would be too difficult.
Estella nodded slightly, then stood. "Um... okay. I've never really taught anyone anything before, so this might be a little bumpy, but I'll do my best." Crossing the room to her bookshelf, she ran the pads of her fingers carefully along several spines before she reached the one she wanted, hooking her index finger over the top and tugging it from the shelf.
"This is a really basic grammar. Just the very simple things, like the basics of declining nouns and verb conjugation in the present tense. We'll work through it first, I guess, and then move on to other tenses and moods and vocabulary and things." She turned in a slight spin, holding the book out to Asala. It was quite plain, just bound in brown leather, and looked very well-used. "Tevene's grammatical structures aren't quite as complex as the ones of Qunlat, but they are very different, and there are lots of idioms in a language that old, plus holdover grammar from Old Tevene, which is a completely different language with even more declensions and things, so. Um. We'll get to that later, I guess."
Asala sighed, but not at all of the terms that Estella had just listed off for her, or rather, at a single specific term. "Idioms..." She expressed ruefully. She wasn't so thick as to not realize that most modern idioms and metaphors often flew over her horns. She'd taken to simply smiling and nodding whenever she believed one was in use, and had began to catch on to the others shift in tone when they used them. However, there was no such tone in written material, especially if it was as old as Estella said. Still, she managed a smile and nodded, accepting the book in her free hand, before cracking it open to a random page to see what it looked like.
Unfortunately, around the middle of the book where she opened, it just looked like gibberish, the letters familiar as those used by the trade tongue, but arranged in ways that simply had no meaning for her. There was a chart in one corner, with a few words she sort of recognized, such as 'nominative' and 'genitive.' At least they seemed to be trade-words.
"You'll want to start at the very beginning," Estella said, a knowing smile slanting her mouth. "Maybe have the first thirty pages or so read before next week? Then I can teach you that section." Moving back to her desk, she grabbed what looked like a spare piece of parchment, dipping her slightly bedraggled-looking goosefeather quill in the open inkwell on the left side of the desk. She wrote a little note there in delicate handwriting, then set both quill and parchment aside.
When she glanced back up at Asala, she arched an eyebrow. "So... yesterday morning. Not too much of a headache, I hope?"
She flipped the book closed and stacked it against the other she carried, before looking back up to Estella and giving her a rather bashful smile. "Terrible, actually," she revealed. Along with that, it felt like her tongue and throat had sprouted fur during the night. Apparently, she had slept with her mouth open, leaving it dry and scratchy as well. "At first, anyway. Thank you for the water and the potion, by the way. I managed to... deal with the rest of the symptoms on my own," she said, calling a magical healing glow to two of her fingers in demonstration. "Relatedly, I am getting better with my spirit healing," she added with a soft laugh.
Estella chuckled softly. "Well, that's good to know. How, ah... how much do you remember about the party itself? Because at one point you were definitely petting Ves's head. Which was a little strange for you, even if the lion fur is quite soft." Her eyes glittered with clear amusement. "You, ah... passed out under a table. Leon carried you back to your place, in case you wondered how you got there."
"I... thought that may have been the case," she said, feeling the blush rising to her cheeks. He was most likely the only one strong enough to carry her home without dragging her. Considering that she did not see a rut where she'd been dragged leading toward the door to her place, that was the only logical explanation. Still, she chuckled and nodded, "I remember most of it, just... not ending up under a table," she paused after that. How did she end up under there, she wondered. Regardless, she would be far more careful in trusting Zee so liberally next time drink was involved.
The blush eventually faded and she continued, "It is all still kind of fuzzy, but I do remember the fur. It was really soft," she agreed. She did not feel entirely embarrassed about the evening, not really. It did kind of sting that she had to be carried home, but otherwise, she remembered feeling quite liberated. It was... nice. "I think my night was relatively tame in comparison to some of the others," she said with a throaty giggle. She ended up with more clothing as the night went on after all, not less.
The suggestion must have been dubious to Estella, though, because she looked a bit skeptical. "I don't know. I think most of the card players were sober enough to know what they were doing. None of us ended up wearing someone else's socks on our heads." Her tone of voice was light, clearly more teasing than attempting genuine counterargument.
"Wait, I had someone's sock on my head?" she asked with a mix of surprise and horror. She definitely did not remember that.
"I don't know for sure, but I think it was Zee's," Estella confirmed. "She lost more clothes than most of them did. And technically it was on one of your horns." She pointed to the air next to the left side of her own head.
The blush returned in full force, this time bringing a burning sensation with it. She may not have remembered the sock, but she certainly remembered Zee.
"Oh... Oh dear."
Estella's eyes narrowed precipitously, her head canting slightly to the side, until her thick ponytail fell over her shoulder. Her hand dropped from where it hovered near her ear, finding her hip instead, and the other crossed her abdomen to rest in the crook the first created. A little smile, more slanted than her usual ones, turned her lips just fractionally. It was actually an expression that resembled Cyrus more than anything else Asala could compare it to.
"Well now. That's not the reaction I was expecting. You know, I'm here if there's anything you'd like to share, Asala." She seemed to have something particular in mind, if her tone of voice was any clue.
The blush got worse as she offered a half-hearted smile. "I, uh, well... Um, yes. Of course. Right here," she offered, pointing downward and gesturing to the room at large. "I should... I should probably go get started?" she asked, holding up the books in her hand.
Mercifully, Estella did not press, instead lifting her shoulders. "Feel free. I'll see you in a week, if not before."