Blackfeather Woods You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

Miraak was in the Temple once more. His dreams had become more vivid lately, darker. Visions of the Void were no longer flashes, but long glimpses. He could see the moving bodies of his family and friends there, clearer, with a multitude of indigo eyes flashing at him. A month ago, he would have gladly slipped into their embrace, no questions asked. But now he had something to ground him to this mortal coil, for just a bit longer. He knew his thread was short now, but he could do more than lay about and pray.

He called for @Maegi, eager to teach the little girl something new today.

Maegi was looking for Nyx in the Redgrove when Miraak's call rang out across the trees, and, abandoning the futile search--the star-dusted girl hid well in the dark forest--began to make her way quickly as possible to the Temple, from which the invitation had sounded. Namira's Mire slowed her down a bit, but she got there eventually, wagging her tail as she saw Miraak's burly form in the center of the clearing.

"Hi," she greeted, beaming up at her uncle. She hoped he had more lessons for her today. Her uncles--well, uncle and father, she amended, thinking a bit darkly of Cicero--had been good at teaching her many things, from poisons to prayers and everything in between. Kove, too. She looked forward to every potential scrap of knowledge she could grab hold of.

"I've been practicing Daedric," Maegi informed him gravely, sitting on the frosted grass alongside him. "Skorkydoso glaesā?" She hoped she had gotten the pronunciation right, though Miraak was often gentle with his corrections.

She does not take very long in responding to his call. The girl spoke a greeting, pronounced rather well despite the brief teachings she received. His tail thumped behind him as she settles beside him. Iksan sȳrī. He rumbled to her, gently nudging her on the top of the head. I am well,

She received no correction and felt a thrill of joy--her practice had paid off, at least for that one sentence. Other words, the verbose prayers in particular, were a bit harder, though she tried every night to master those.

"What will you teach me today?" she asked politely. Out of all the wolves in the woods, Miraak was the one she felt she could look up to most. Her other teachers were kind but distant, and the women she had met, while filling in the mother-sized gap in her heart, did not know as much about their religion as her great-uncle.

Pronouns, Miraak settles himself on the ground, knowing that it was going to be a long lesson. For referring to yourself and others, Of course she had used pronouns all of the time in her normal speech, but he could not assume that she knew what the proper word for it was. I, Miraak points to himself. Nyke, He stresses the word, slowly rolling it off of his tongue. You, Miraak points to Maegi then. Ao, His paw settles to the ground, having no one to refer to for the rest of the pronouns he had to list. He, she, it: Ziry.

She tries as best she can to absorb the new words quickly, linking his gestures with the sounds falling from his lips. "Nyke," she repeats, wagging her tail. "Ao," and she nods at her uncle. "Ziry. Was that right?"

There was so much that went into learning a new language. In the future, she'd understand that Miraak's teaching her so young was incredibly beneficial; trying to shove a new tongue into an adult wolf's mouth was a monumental task.

He nodded. A smile stretched onto his face. Right, good. He said. Now, when you add verbs — words like go, walk, laugh; action words, He was not sure if she had learned the technicalities of grammar and language to that extent. Very few wolves did. It becomes strange. You conjugate the words; change them based on the pronoun. For instance, to be. For I, it's, I am. You are. She, he, it is. In Daedric it is iksan, I am. iksā, you are. Issa, she, he, it is. He hoped it didn't go too over her head. It was a lot of things to go over at once. He studied her expression, wondering how she would react.

Whoa, now. She was pleased that she had passed Miraak's first test, responding with an excited wiggle of her tail, but what he threw at her next was at first a mess of jumbled words, gobbledygook to her ears. She tilted her head slightly sideways, eyes narrowing as she tried to break it down one part at a time.

I. Ziry. No! Nyke. I. . .nyke. I am. . .iksan? "Iksan. . .Maegi?" the girl said tentatively, lowering her chin to her chest. "And. . .and. . ." You. Ziry. Drat, no! That was ao. Ao-- You are? You are. . .iksa. Iksā? Maegi frowned, her mouth moving silently as she tried to work out the sound of the unfamiliar word.

"Iksa. . .no, iksā Miraak? Right?" she went on, looking up at her uncle quizzically. And as for the last. . . Ziry. . .finally, Ziry! Ziry, he she it. That must mean that issa is. . .no, wait. . .

"Issa. . .well, there's no one else here," Maegi trailed off, her mouth lifting in a smile of embarrassment. Perhaps he'd go over that last one again.