Chapter 15 – Awkwardness of Silence

The room was lavished. A chandelier hangs up the ceiling. There are lamps filled with oil nailed to the walls. The walls have paper flower designs on them. The flooring of the room was quite simple. There is a mat on the floor and in the middle of the room, there is a table with four chairs on it. Three of the chairs were occupied, and the young girl eating the sponge cakes was staring at the two who didn’t say anything to each other.

How could they say anything to each other? Joshua didn’t know the common tongue. And Leiko could not be bothered to speak to Joshua who doesn’t know the common tongue. How could she express herself to this human? There was a language barrier between them and she was already having a hard time conveying gestures to him. What more if she tries to talk to him? It was impossible and thus she can only keep silent.

Joshua himself knew that he could not say anything to her. Although he was with two people here, he felt like he was alone in his own world. Their words to him were like gibberish to him. He was able to understand only a few words like ‘Hello’, ‘Good Morning’, ‘Good Evening’, ‘Follow me’, ‘Are you okay’, ‘Are you alright’ and a few cursing words that he learned from Shig and Leiko.

He was not that dumb. He could understand but it would take a while before he can understand everything. None one of them speaks his language and thus it was hard for him to know where to start. That’s why he can only say words like ‘Are you okay?’ to Leiko who then told him. “I am.”

He learned already what the words for ‘I am’ are. Still, it didn’t mean he can communicate her. So he could only sit in silence while trying to savor the sponge cake that was laid in front of him. There is also tea but he wasn’t fond of hot tea so he didn’t drink it until it was cool. Leiko found it odd and could only sip on the tea while praying that Shig would arrive to diffuse this awkward silence between them. Luckily for them, Kioko’s playful manner made the two at peace. There was no threat of sand worms appearing. There were no riders that are armed with rifles looking for them, and certainly no dust entering their mouth when they breathe.

The curtain on the widows swayed. A ray of light entered through the glass window and created spots of light on the floor. Kioko ate her sponge cake without being troublesome. Joshua and Leiko stayed quiet as a mouse while trying to relax.

Joshua leaned on the table while his cheeks were in his hands. He looked at the curtain and stared at it while eating the sponge cake.

Meanwhile, Leiko has started to talk with her sister. This was her way to avoid such awkwardness. Luckily, the door opened and Shig, who was wearing a red sash around his waist now and looked at the three. He eyed Joshua before turning to Leiko.

“How is it?” said Leiko, curious.

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“It is fine. We can stay here. Mia has agreed to shelter us. And if you want you can have Little Kioko here learn how to read the common tongue along with Joshua.”

She looked at Shig in the eyes. “Is that true?”

“Yes.” Shig nodded. “I’ll be using my salary as the Lord Enforcer to fund their education. Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Leiko shook her head. “In fact, I wanted to teach my Sister to read for a while now. But I think a scholar will do her more good. Will Joshua be learning with her?”

“Yes. I made sure of that,” said Shig, sitting down and eating one of the sponge cakes. “I rather have them together when they learned. As for you Leiko, would you mind being my assistant?”

She crossed her arms. “You want me to assist you in this city’s affairs and problems?”

“Yes. And you should know that the blue district that we’ll be working on have demi-humans on them. So there’s no need to worry about meeting too many humans when working.”

“You really thought this through huh?” said Leiko, with a raised brow.

“Yeah, since we’ve worked together well. Of course, if you like to you can always reject the offer and stay in the stronghold as a guest. Mia allows it.”

“No need, I shall work for my stay here.”

“That’s good then.” Shig gave a sigh of relief.

“So when will we start?”

“Soon once you get acquainted with the city. I can tour you. But I do suggest that Joshua and Kioko start learning. Especially Joshua, well...” Shig looked at Joshua and then back to Leiko. “He being unable to understand us is quite the problem. And it would be a bit better if we can understand what he wants to say. That way we would know what his true colors are.”

Leiko nodded. “I agree. I find it troublesome not being able to speak. It is not like I want to chat with him or anything like that. It is just hard to trust someone who you know nothing about. So I think him learning to converse with would be great. Maybe I’d begin to trust him more then.”

“I agree,” Shig looked at Leiko in agreement. “So that’s settled then? You’ll work for me and be my assistant?”

“Yes, I will. No need to worry, Shig. I’ll help you. And besides, it is not like me and sister and has a place to return to. And with how things are. I think it is for the best that I stay on these walls.” She said with this looming sadness on her face. Shig opens his mouth and tried to say something but he closed it again and bit his lip. At this moment it was best to keep silent. After all, his words won’t do any good to someone like Leiko who bottles the pain she experienced in her heart.

What need was there to say? He was not there when those thing happen to her and sweet words won’t heal her wounds.