The First Claims To Know Geography, The Second Admits He Does Not, And The Third Imagines He Must Find It Out But Is Mistaken
The mission stayed for two days in Conoybarvi and traveled upriver by roads which required some repair to the thinking of the Adabans, though none of the locals seemed to mind the occasional crack or misaligned blocks. “We like our infrastructure to show a little character,” explained a certain Superintendent Oligad Sein, who should have been overseeing a work crew but was in fact reclining alongside the workers as they enjoyed the breeze together. They displayed their status for passersby to admire in a manner the Adabans considered scandalous but the Defiafis unremarkable.
“And they aren't even high numbers,” employees noted as they wondered why foreigners did things like that. Indeed, what purpose was there in putting up unexceptional stats such as these like placards outside of a theater? And yet they did.
> HP 316
>
> Muscle 43 (+1)
>
> Coordination 30 (+1)
>
> Verve 36
>
> Sticktoitiveness 45
>
> Discernment 33
>
> Gumption 40
>
> Tit-for-Tat 30
>
> Receptivity 22
>
> Panache 32
That barely qualified for anything except inclusion in a government study of the average stat distribution in the population.
Upriver of course meant south along the Meggi Tem. “It is still the Meggi Tem, or? Geography and I have never gotten along,” one employee admitted. “I can barely remember where Yean Defiafi is, and then we talk about Obeneut and Swadvanchdeu and I become lost in my own head.”
“The unexpurgated edition of these informational journals claims the Defiafis are pleased to leave it as the Meggi Tem,” Dirant said after reviewing his copy. “Calling the northernmost major artery in their country the South River amuses them.”
Another Rikelta, the fourth one, moved in to assist with the more general issue. “Think of Egillen as a gigantic hand trying to grab some crumbs below it before mother finds out,” Silapobezor recommended. “I won't, but I was told this works for plenty of people. At the wrist in the far north is Pavvu Istis. Don't worry about the arm, we don't have one. Below that are, east to west, Obeneut, Pavvu Omme Os, and some GE members. The next row is Yean Defiafi, much of our GE, Tabiligdum which we surround, tiny little Sedoglai Dolinyan, and Saueyi, then more south are Redrin, more GE, and northern Chtrebliseu. Now the east side curls into a thumb that has Swadvanchdeu, Noiswawau, and Drastlif on it, but the western side is is like a glove made up of the GE, Beriskirofen, and Chtrebliseu. Also Egilof is in there somewhere, but you cross that in a day. Then the crumbs.”
“This is a strange comparison, but I can see it.” Onsalkant Stiskenhalpt had a map held up before him as he rode.
“Most of them belong to Drastlif. One of the bigger islands, I mean crumbs of course, is half Drastlif and half Redrin, and they call their part Lesser Redrin. Then the biggest island is divided among Drastlif, Eubosh Ashurit, and Stegzi. And that is Egillen. Wait. I forgot Ililesh Ashurin.” Silfour closed his eyes. “Because some of the crumbs . . . flew up . . . Agh! Never mind. There's an archipelago north of the GE and west of the Pavvus. Finished.”
That cleared up everything. Sound in its conception of place, the convoy traveled south up the river to Asajvridz. That town became the cause of a discussion on an intellectual topic quite distinct from geography when Dirant remarked that even with Desurvyai (Basic) he knew the meaning of that name: “I tripped.”
Takki laughed. “And they named a city that?”
“Of course.” Fluent-Desurvyai-speaker Silfour confirmed the fact and added his own observations. “In plenty of countries, back in Kitslof for example, half the place names mean something like 'Green Field' or 'Steep Hill' if you take the words apart. Mostly we don't do that and treat a name as a name, which is good for me, because 'Pile of Money' sounds a little crass, doesn't it? What I mean is, how many of us have really thought about how Adabanneher breaks down into 'the tough-handed people?' But the way the Defiafis do things is that—”
As worked up about his topic as Silapobezor was getting, the crowd's wonderment had already peaked. The employees interrupted him by their cries and laughs over the realization.
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“From adim? That's what the Ada- is?”
“It actually does mean that! It never occurred to me to think about it so.”
“All those years in schooling and training and I learn this now? As a casual aside?”
“An excellent joke, Mr. Silapobezor. Next you will tell us the Rikenlikneher are the Song Hill People.”
“Are they not?”
“But this is astonishing!”
Silfour rode along, bemused at the reaction he received before he even reached the important part. Adabans hurried forward or dropped back to tell everyone the news. Out of all of them, it seemed only Stansolt Gaomat knew the startling fact already.
“This may be a matter of a bird that never wonders how it can fly. In Sivoslof, we discuss the old tribes from a more detached perspective.” The Adabans agreed that was likely the case, and also that “the old tribes” sounded somewhat flattering.
Soon they settled down, for as much as the revelation startled them, it carried no particular implication. At last Silfour was able to proceed to his main point. “Place names, yes, I was speaking of those. Most of them end up being a mere description, and usually not even a unique one either. The bulk of the rest of them usually have some historical significance, Eptem for example.”
“Or Rattap Tuik. Lose Crown to put it another way.” Takki leaned over to tell Dirant. “It would probably be Lost Crown in your language. A king was killed there as he swam across the river in his flight after a battle that went badly for him. The strange thing was that the people who killed him had nothing to do with that. They were just robbers.”
“But when there's a name like that in Yean Defiafi,” Silfour was saying, “they put it away as soon as they find something more zestful. You've heard of husbands with the same idea of course, but the outcome of that is usually a scandal or a corpse.” The mostly married employees liked that one. “The Defiafis like to be more, I suppose, playful. We just left Conoybarvi. That means 'To the Neighbors.' They changed it to that after the border with Pavvu Omme Os became fixed there. That's the kind of thing that happens. Look at the two great lakes. Those would be Bigger Lake and Smaller Lake anywhere else, something like that, but here they're Older Sister and Younger Sister, and the city between them, the capital, it's called Engoyan Ifrazlim which means Doting Father. Those are the names they prefer here.”
His audience appreciated the insight into the conventions of another country. The abridged educational material provided by the company repulsed them by its terseness and lack of character, unlike the road underneath. Perhaps if the authors traveled along with them their perception might have been more favorable, but as it was, they imagined some man with permanently pursed lips, either gone slightly to pudginess or close to emaciated so far out from his youthful days on the rowing team, clad in the finest fashion of thirty years ago as he sat in an office stocked with shelves of books he had written himself. That man had never handled a shipment of amber or cellos. His perspective was too distant from theirs to be considered wholly reliable or relevant.
The expedition as a whole fell to discussions of various names, whether of cities or anything else. How did Greater Enloffenkir's two longest rivers, Ontoffemmiror and Onbehemmiror, Like a Slow Cow and Like a Fast Cow respectively, fare as far as Yean Defiafi preferences? Was Fennizen a nice name? Why was Onsalkant so popular?That sort of thing. The discussion became so enmeshed in GE specifics that Millim Takki Atsa required assistance.
“Mr. Dirant, I hope you will help me understand some things.”
“I accept the challenge.”
“First of all, what makes Sivoslof different, if I interpreted that correctly? Is Mr. Stansolt not an Adaban?”
Dirant felt easy in his mind. He knew the answer to that one. A thorough explanation might even improve his reputation. “Sivoslof is a member of the confederation of course, and we love our Sivoslofer friends as much as, say, Likstamitlofers, if not more. Still, there's no cause to pretend it isn't in an unusual situation. Most GE states are contiguous, but Mr. Stansolt's homeland is far east of the main body, past Redrin and on the shore of the Suvozingedyai Sea. A confluence of peoples and historical accident created it, for assorted villages and trading outposts belonging to Adabans, Hewekers, Mabonns, Yumins, and even Survyais and Obenec banded together to resist the usual Dvanjchtliv incursions. They did so with success enough that all those disparate tribes embraced one another as brothers and sisters. More importantly, as husbands and wives, and now the descendants of that mix consider themselves a new tribe for all that they seem to us to be Adabans with a pleasant way of speaking. Something like when your friends assist you in moving your possessions into new lodgings and all relax afterward to catch their breath, delivering in soft gasps their complaints about having to help as they accept refreshments. The technical explanation has to do with aspiration, I believe.”
“I think I begin to understand. My father always insisted we overused Adaban as a label, but I'm sorry about having to admit I've never grasped the distinctions.” She frowned. “You are an Adaban though? I haven't been insulting you in my mind this entire time?”
“If you have, please keep it to yourself. I would hate to hear it. And yes, I am a proper Adaban. That of course makes me an expert on Adaban matters. You may ask whatever you want to hear in full confidence.”
“I will must take advantage of the opportunity then. So, am I right in thinking your family names are much like ours? That is, as Mr. Silapobezor said, we think of them as names instead of words, and that their definitions are not always relevant these days. For instance, there's rikelta as in someone who sings and the Rikelta family, and you don't sing at all, right? The Rikenlikneher talk made me think of it.”
“After the refreshments provided by a friend I helped move it is harder to say, but in ordinary times that is exactly true. Our ancestors once were assigned the job of singing out changes in the laws and taking the lead part in religious displays, but now we think of nothing but money. Ah, it escaped me how cynical that would sound until I said it.”
Takki laughed and swayed festively, which was about as much motion as she could manage in the saddle with Horse Riding (Intermediate). “That's happened to all of us, hasn't it? A takki used to be a householder who owed military service in place of a fee in money or in kind, but now it's someone who sits in a stuffy room and writes about what takkis got up to historically. But really we should be glad not to have those old jobs, because we're free go out to uncover the truths of the world without being tied down.”
“To say nothing of the strain on my voice.”