Big Salmon Lake Mumbling To My Heart

She didn't hesitate to comply. No sooner had she mentioned it and considered the topic of language, than she launched into a simple word. She spoke it first, then broke it down into syllables before lengthening the word in such a way that he was better able to catch the subtle inflections of it. The way she did it really helped the world click. It was so much easier than someone just repeating it a bunch of times and hoping he caught on.

"Avay-orn," he attempted, recognizing it sounded wrong and trying again. "Ava-yorn. Ava'yorn?" That last one sounded closer. "Did I get it?" He looked to her, waiting for confirmation on the yes or no. That combination of letters felt really strange upon his tongue, but if the rest of her language was similar to that, it definitely explained why her accent was so exotic. It was different.

"Datharan?" he asked, noting she'd put a name to the language. "Is that what your people are called?" Or perhaps some variation of the word. It was the first he'd ever heard of that society, but it sounded like they were vastly different from anything he knew. It was interesting. "Are your people adept diggers? For dens and such?"