The Orion's Daughter : To Lands Beyond

Forms and Family Names

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Chapter Seven | Forms and Family Names

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I laid back against the grass and stared up at the bright blue and seemingly endless sky. I was completely out of breath. I closed my eyes and let myself relax just for a moment. I knew Steele would have me at it again in just a moment, but I decided to enjoy this moment with every fiber of my being.

The air has turned from the burning of the warm months to those of change. Already, the leaves started to fade from green to dozens of other shades of reds, browns, and golden oranges. The promise of the cold months was on the horizon. Still, it didn't stop the blazing sun from baking the ground, and me with it.

As I laid on the ground, I felt my muscles twitching and aching, the pain washing over me like waves in the ocean. One moment, it was a dull ache, and the next it might be a harsh pinch or throb.

Still, I would not change it for anything.

For these past few moons, Steele has been putting me under every test imaginable. If I was not learning common script and letters with Mehlein, I was training and learning with Steele. His knowledge of practically everything under the sun made him such an asset to me. I felt like I could spend a thousand years with him and still not know everything there was to know.

We started with different histories of the land and significant events in history, both from his land and my own. He taught me about some of the great wars as well as some of the natural disasters that occurred, as well as how to combat the tragedy and restore balance.

It was something he was very insistent and passionate about – balance.

He talked about how there was a give and take in this and every world beyond the stars, which really made me think about what else could be out there. The possibility of worlds like ours but so different at the same time was mind numbing, and I loved it.

Next, he taught me about strategies using games and scenarios. I knew it was to grow my mind, but this is something I struggled with quite a bit when he first introduced the topic to me. The games were simple, but recently he started to make them harder. The games consisted of certain amounts of supplies and soldiers. I had to move them from one point to another without casualties, minimal supply use, and as fast as possible.

Over time, he would throw in different scenarios and tragedies. There would be natural disasters and realistic injuries I had to learn how to deal with. Sometimes, I had to divide my forces, and other times I needed to keep everyone together. I wasn't always successful, especially in the beginning. However, a few moons of practicing and working through the different scenarios made the games a little easier. I was able to see patterns in how Steele worked, and I used them to my advantage.

When he realized I had picked up the patterns, he changed them, sadly leaving me in defeat once again – but I wasn't going to give up.

We had a game later in the afternoon tomorrow, but now was not the time to worry about that. Right now, I focused on breathing and relaxing my body, forcing my mind to function. I knew that Steele would not let me rest for very long, but just because my body needed a rest didn't mean that my mind needed a break.

Mentally, I was primed and ready to charge forward in my learning.

So, as I laid there, I went over the words I knew from Steele's language. He had been teaching me intermittently, but the list of words I knew had increased tremendously.

Viyoo-en rhonor meant are you alright. Please was vandri. Mother was naterma. Thank you was bromidian. Stop was zhanth. Apologies, or I'm sorry, was ptiedier. There were other things like counting that I had gotten very good at, but only up to nineteen. The twenties were a bit harder for me for whatever reason. I needed to practice them more. I was nowhere near as good as my momma and I could only hope to catch up to her sooner than later, but, for now, I knew what I knew and that was enough.