Zeraki woke up before sunrise, not as rested as he hoped to be but enough to get him through the day. The fire was still going strong, so Zeraki presumed someone was up every once in a while stoking it. Most likely, they were also the ones on lookout.
The camp was silent save for the heavy breathing deep in the woods.
‘What do you think that is?’ Zeraki asked.
[ ...I’m not sure. Check it out and see if it’s something we can outrun. ]
Just as they stepped into the area beyond the clearing, they saw a man walking towards them. As he got closer, his features became recognizable: chiseled jaws with slightly hollow cheeks. He had the potential to actually be considered attractive if only he watched his diet—or had one. He was one of the men with whom Zeraki didn’t speak the same language.
Not wanting to be rude, Zeraki bid him morning greetings before turning to leave. A simple grunt from him would have sufficed, but the man probably felt the same compulsion to observe social civility and dispelled greetings of his own.
Zeraki froze and turned around. If he wasn’t completely awake before, he was now. The man looked at him, probably wondering why Zeraki was still there, making things awkward for both of them. Zeraki rolled the words on his tongue, not trusting himself to blurt out what was on his mind. He parted his lips again and said,
<“…I intend to clean the carriage before everyone wakes up. Do you have anything I could use?”>
This was the man’s language, strange though it may have felt, but Zeraki was familiar with it. There were words referencing more nuances in concepts, like the concept of ‘love’ existing in its variants: Eros, Philia, Storge, Agape; yet Zeraki instinctively understood.
The man’s face instantly lit up with the joy of a man meeting a kinsman on foreign ground. Relief from finding an island of familiarity amidst all the seas of strangeness. Zeraki found his unadulterated joy off-putting and turned around to head to the stream to see if his shirt was still there. He could use that instead.
<“Oh, sorry about that, you can have this.”> The man rushed to his tent and came back with a water bucket and a cleaning cloth that had to have been made in haste.
<“I’m Hami,”> he said with a slight bow and a smile.
<“Zeraki. Let’s catch up at sunrise.”> Zeraki responded, also giving a bow.
After thanking the man, he left for the carriage to clean up the mess from his suicide. Zeraki wasn’t so crass as to think that his blood bothered no one. At the very least, the driver probably hated having to suppress everyone’s awareness of the rustic smell. Should everyone suddenly become aware, then the macabre sight of it was enough to induce formication. On his knees and scrubbing, it became easier to get lost in thought.
‘…It’s the same strangeness I felt yesterday when I could suddenly hold a conversation. If this morning’s events are anything to go by, then that wasn’t my language either…’
[Mhm. And it’s not the driver’s doing this time. When he’s around, we can’t tell if someone is speaking a foreign language. He drops the language barriers. What you did instead was learn a new language without even intending to do so.]
‘Do you think it takes exposure to comprehend an entire field of knowledge?’
[That’s quite a stretch, father… probably not. Either this vessel already knew the languages and you are simply triggering its memories, or… less probable, but yes, maybe it takes exposure to learn “language” and only “language” as a skill. This would probably explain the strange feeling you get when learning something new as opposed to remembering something you already knew and simply forgot. Arithmetic can be considered a language. It’s a numerical indexing of reality. Saying “10 meters” to someone communicates a particular ‘distance-between-points’ of reality. However, this is only my hypothesis. I could be completely wrong about it all.]
‘No rush. We have five days to understand this.’
The blood mostly gone, Zeraki sat and leaned back against the wall, watching the sun rays through the canopy as he pondered over how to prove or disprove Number 7’s hypothesis. Not long after sunrise, everyone was packing up their tents, so Zeraki went over and joined in on the foray, cleaning up the temporary camp. Hami came up to help with his tent as well as continue the conversation from where he left off. Zeraki was glad that he seemed to have calmed down and simply beamed with joy—an improvement from the earlier toxic radiation.
“Breakfast in five minutes,” Science-man shouted from where he was tying up his luggage to the carriage. He was a head shorter than Zeraki, roughly 180 cm (5’11) and had a slightly narrower face that gave him a bit of a feminine edge. He was Hami’s younger brother, apparently. He approached them, wiping the sweat from his brow. They honestly needed to eat more.
“This is my little brother, Kito,” Hami officially introduced the boy. He looked older than he actually was.
“I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Zeraki.” He placed his right palm over his left chest, going into a slight bow. Zeraki awkwardly imitated the gesture that looked more like a ritual to him than a way to dispense greetings.
“I’m also relieved you survived. I feared you wouldn’t make it. I’ve never heard of anyone surviving strychnine poisoning. All I could do was position you to prevent choking while you vomited and hoped for the best. I’m not a trained physician yet, so you should get checked in Astrohelm,” said Kito.
‘Do you know what strychnine is?’
[No… Medicine is in Number 5’s ballpark.]
“Well, whatever you did was enough. I lived. For that, I am grateful… sorry if what I ask seems ungrateful but, how did you know what the poison was?” Zeraki had nothing on him when he woke up, so he assumed he’d already consumed the poison—all of it.
“You dropped this vial when the spasms set in.” He pulled out a glass capsule the size of his pinkie. It still had half lime-green fluid in it and a logo that looked like snakes, herbs, and books on it. Kito’s face suddenly darkened at the last part of his statement as if waiting to shoot down any attempts at getting the poison back. Zeraki simply nodded at that.
‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’
---
“Seems you’ve been skimping out on us, big man. I didn’t know you spoke their language. The accent was on point too!” Hadiza said, sinking into the seat next to him on the carriage. The size had changed; it was more comfy now with padded seats. A point Zeraki, and everyone else, had completely missed. Number 7 found this ability disturbing in so many ways and chose not to speak of it unless Zeraki truly needed to know about it.
“Neither did I,” Zeraki said. “I woke up and it was just ‘there,’ like I’ve spoken it my whole life.”
“Speaking two languages ain’t uncommon,” said Bitrus. “Empire’s made up of many different groups. Learning both Mother’s Universal language and your group’s is an all too common pattern.”
“Could you speak Mother’s Universal language for an hour today?” Zeraki asked, facing Hadiza. He wanted to test out Number 7’s hypothesis.
Hadiza’s face turned red as she suddenly found the carriage walls all too impressive. Bitrus chuckled and said, “Sure, we’ll wait for Ola, and see what we can do for both of you, eh?”
“Pray tell, which of my noble virtues is being showcased, Bitrus?”
Zeraki looked up and saw Ola walking up the carpeted steps leading into the carriage, donning a black and gold-seamed traveling cloak. Number 7 swore on his siblings that those steps didn’t exist until a second ago and he would fight anyone that claimed otherwise.
“The children don’t know Mother’s language. Would be nice if we get them acquainted with the basics. Still have five days till we go our separate ways anyway,” said Bitrus as his gaze warmly lingered on Hadiza.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“…may it never be said that Ola, in all her transcendent beauty and peerless talent, is not magnanimous in her gifts,” said Ola with a dramatic flair.
Hadiza enjoyed Ola’s theatrics and always played along from what Zeraki could see. She forgot her earlier embarrassment from not knowing Mother’s Universal language and bubbled with laughter.
“Your words do honor us greatly. It shall indeed be said that Ola, she of peerless beauty and talent, bestows her gifts with a magnanimity that rivals the benevolence of the gods themselves.”
---
It wasn’t long after that the remaining party members were in the carriage and the journey began. Bitrus, true to his word, explained the basics of grasping Mother's Universal language as they crossed the countryside. At a certain point, Zeraki felt the now all too familiar strangeness of sound morphing to words followed by a very distant defrosting sensation. Zeraki interrupted Bitrus and Ola’s cram session,
“I’ll take a nap to process all of this.”
Hadiza still had enough willpower to continue, so Zeraki just leaned back, shut his eyes, and took a nap.
---
Zeraki didn’t know how long he had slept, but since he found Hadiza still listening, he gathered that it couldn’t have been more than an hour. After listening for a while, Zeraki rolled the words on his tongue for a moment before patting his lips and asking,
< “How long was I asleep?” > There it was, Mother's Universal Language, flowing as if it were his native tongue.
[ Second hypothesis! It takes exposure to comprehend a language… this is incredible… ] Number 7 said, awestruck.
Zeraki too was excited about the results. Now he just wondered what limits there were.
[ I think you can learn as much as you want to, father. I’m just wondering if it’s solely human languages that you can comprehend. ]
‘We’ll test it out once we make camp tonight.’
Bitrus, Ola, and Hadiza paused. After an awkward silence, their blank expressions cracked, showing how they felt. Bitrus was impressed, Hadiza scandalized, and Ola… Ola looked suspicious.
[ She seems to be re-evaluating something, ] Number 7 said as he watched the calm expression on Ola.
“How!” Hadiza, almost brought to tears, demanded. Her hours of cramming must have been brutal, and she had drawn solace from the fact that she wasn’t alone.
Ola did not speak of it while Bitrus just looked on with approval, then told Hadiza that it must have been among the things Zeraki forgot and hearing them speak had triggered the memories.
This line of reasoning seemed to have placated Hadiza, and a new source of motivation took root—the fact that she was the only one in their niche who didn’t know how to speak Mother's Universal Language.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
At noon, Zeraki moved up to sit next to the brothers and the lonely girl.
“How many languages do you know?” asked Hami after Zeraki settled down.
“I don’t know yet, that might have been the last one,” Zeraki answered, unsure if there was an upper limit to how many languages he could learn.
“Well, the girl to our right hasn’t had good company for days. It’s not a problem but… she looks like she needs it. Can you find out if you speak her language?”
“What if I can’t?”
“Well, good company doesn’t have to involve conversation.”
Zeraki looked at the girl —young woman? He actually wasn’t sure anymore now that he was this close. She was young, true, but had the exhaustion he expected from an older person— anyway, he noticed she had a distant look in her eyes as she watched the passing terrain. “She seems to have a lot on her mind.”
Kito’s stomach growled, interrupting their hushed conversation. They both reflexively looked at him, his ears turning red from embarrassment.
Hami chuckled, “Well, his stomach sure knows how to make itself understood when it’s being ignored.” He then rummaged through his duffel bag and fished out canned beef for him.
Kito wisely pretended not to have heard anything and continued reading his medical book while eating.
Zeraki, on the other hand, couldn’t help but dwell on what Hami just said.
‘He ignored his stomach’s protests’ meaning communication happened between him and his stomach. Without the need to use words to express its discomfort to his brain. The concept of Γ Discomfort ˩ was shared.’
Number 7 thought about that for a moment, [ Unlike two individual people. I mean, two people have nothing that binds them on a fundamental level. They both have their unique life experiences that birth their understandings of concepts. Pain from falling from a tree is different from pain from burning your hands in flames. But they are both partial understandings of the concept of Γ Pain ˩. ]
‘Indeed. When we communicate, we give a general name to the other party by way of ‘words’ and hope they have the same understanding of the concept as us. So I may say ‘I’m in pain’ while remembering the fall. They, on the other hand, will remember having their hands burn.’
[ But, the communication between the stomach and mind is one of shared ‘concepts’. The Γ Discomfort ˩ concept’s variant felt by the stomach can be understood by the brain for they are fundamentally linked biologically. It’s like two people sharing the same brain. ]
Zeraki nodded in agreement to Number 7’s assertion.
‘Arithmetic, on the other hand, is simply attaching labels to reality. Longitudes and latitudes label abstract space on the planet. Meters, kilometers; label distance between points of space, weight; identifies how much the concept of Γ Force ˩ is acting on stuff. Arithmetic is simply sticky notes all over reality. Because of this, arithmetic isn’t afflicted by discrepancies arising from different understandings of concepts. When told ‘5 meters’ one has to look into reality to understand. When told ‘pain’ one has to look into themselves to understand.’
Zeraki suddenly felt dizzy. The carriage spun around him, and then the wooden floor came into view. He tried resisting passing out, but the surge in his brain came too suddenly and was far more overwhelming than he could handle.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
“At least you didn’t bleed this time,” Kito said with a concerned look on his face as he took his pulse. The sun was setting, and Bitrus was setting up his tent, twice in a row now.
Zeraki actually felt pretty great; his mind felt warmer, large swaths of the irritating frosty feeling from when he woke up were gone, his thoughts felt organized, and… his body felt exhausted. That last part didn’t feel so good.
“What happened?” Zeraki asked, but his heart wasn’t really into it.
“One minute you seemed to be in deep thought, the next, you were collapsing. Then you came down with a fever. It passed after the first hour, but you were still out cold, till now that is,” Hami said as he handed him a bowl of broth. “Thanks, sorry for the trouble again, Hami.”
———————
After the meal, Zeraki went to take a bath by a river stream. It helped get the sticky sweat and grime off. He was concerned about the integrity of the vessel but didn’t know how to deal with it. Number 7 argued that voodoo witchcraft provided better medical consultation than doctors during an age when carriages were still being used.
[ You have better chances of healing from a cold by offering burnt sacrifices and dancing around the bonfire all night than seeing a doctor. ]
Though he felt great, the blackouts were clearly symptoms of something problematic, and he still felt like he had frost layers in his head. Half of it was gone after passing out earlier, but that just left another half still pressing against his mind.
Zeraki pushed the matter to the back of his mind for the moment since there was nothing he could do about it. After the bath, he went to sit next to Bitrus and Hadiza, warming himself by the fire.
“Tsk tsk tsk, one lesson and your brain is fried,” said Hadiza, looking at him with feigned remorse in her eyes. Zeraki grinned at the brazen teenager. He was actually starting to like the kid.
“Thanks again for the tent, Bitrus. I’ll try not to pass out again tomorrow.”
“Sonny, I’m more worried about your episodes,” he said, shaking his head.
Ola still hadn’t talked to him since his nap earlier in the day. Zeraki looked around and saw the quiet lady brushing her teeth, getting ready to turn in for the night, but something strange caught his eye.
The longer Zeraki looked, the more he could feel her exhaustion, and the mass pressing against his mind reduced by a tiny fraction. There was a sort of ‘aura’ about her that he could read like he had a sixth sense. She was tired, and a darker, depressing ‘scent’ was about her. Zeraki couldn’t identify the emotion.
‘Can you see this?’
[ Not clearly, father. It’s… hazy. What is it you see? ]
‘I’m about to find out.’
He calmly left the campfire, his curiosity getting the better of him, and approached her. He made sure she could hear him approach; creeping her out was the last thing he desired at the moment. A new ‘scent’ reached his perception, it reminded him of a blend between ‘intrigue’ and ‘curiosity’. Zeraki took it to mean: ‘She wants to know who’s approaching… and has a mild interest in what I want from her.’
Zeraki slowed his pace and slightly raised his voice.
“Hi, do you mind company before turning in?” he used Mother's Universal Language, not really expecting anything from that initial interaction. As far as he knew, she’d never demonstrated any understanding of it.
As expected, she had no clue as to what he just said. He could feel the earlier blend turn to a rather distinct Γ Frustration ˩. Subconsciously, Zeraki noted that he could pick up on the nuances when communicating with her.
As he read the sentiments radiating from her, the Γ Exasperation ˩ slowly turned to Γ Curiosity ˩ with hints of Γ Peace ˩.
[ Uhm, are you sure you’re reading that right? Why would she be at peace with you? ]
‘…I have no idea.’
< “*Sigh, looks like I’ll have to learn Mother’s Universal language to talk to you more.” > she said, not expecting him to understand her.
‘Number 7, what’s your take on this?’ Zeraki asked. This conversation wasn’t supposed to last longer than five minutes but the recent developments threatened to upturn that.
Initially, Zeraki had intended to listen to her speak then sleep on it to acquire the language. That’s all Zeraki had wanted but this time, acquisition happened instantaneously.
[ Our discussion about the nature of language earlier must have triggered something in you. Keep the conversation going and see what other changes could have occurred. ]
Zeraki rolled the words on his tongue to see if they felt right, then he patted his lips and responded,
<“You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Glad to make your acquaintance; I’m Zeraki. I doubt it means anything.”>
She froze, and only the splash of water from her cup onto her feet brought her out of it. Zeraki could feel the sentiments: Γ Panic ˩ that morphed into Γ Relief ˩, then Γ Joy ˩.
[ What a strange woman. ] Number 7 mused as he struggled to make out the sentiments.
She beamed a refreshing smile at Zeraki after composing her once raging emotions, which looked really nice under the moon light.
***