Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 29: Exchanging Names

They had been on the train for over three hours. Saer Lon had nodded off to sleep almost as soon as the conductor had checked their tickets, lulled by the rhythmic clacking of the jointed railway and gentle swaying of the train carriage.  She had not moved since, and remained huddled in the corner by the door with the hood of her cloak up, with no indication that she was even aware of the other two occupants of the cabin.

Nem Koel and Suthe, meanwhile, had chatted at intervals about various topics, lapsing into silence to admire the landscape whenever the scenery changed. The craggy mountainside surrounding Fai had turned into lumpy hills, and then to a grassy plain as the train sped along to Sang Bur. At one point, they had even rushed atop a cliffside next to a great stretch of glittering water that Nem Koel had explained was one of the many fjords in the country. But all too soon, the tracks had veered inland, and now the pair had resumed their conversation as the view again turned to a great expanse of plain and distant snow-capped mountains.

"Here." Suthe watched as Nem Koel scribbled two complex letters on a slip of parchment rolled out on the table between them. Flipping her pen around, she pointed with its wooden end as she enunciated each syllable. "Nem. Koel."

Suthe leaned closer for inspection. The first shape was larger than the second, with more swirls and lines, and she could only guess at how to begin drawing such a character.

"This is mountain script?"

Nem Koel nodded. "Yeah, each block has a meaning, which gets lost when you write it with the Shun Dwo alphabet. See here – "

She covered the "Koel" part of the characters, and began following her pen along the painted lines of "Nem". "This swooping part of the block is wind, and it connects with these lines representing speed. So together, it means 'swiftness'. It was pronounced 'nen' in the Verli tongue though."

She moved her hand to reveal the second block.

"And this is 'night' – this line represents the horizon, and this part above it means the sky is dark. It used to be called 'kueh'."

Suthe squinted. Perhaps if she was very creative, she could see the symbolism, but most of the shapes were lost to her – and after all, Nem Koel had explained that the script had simplified over the years for ease of writing, so perhaps the darkness and horizon, among other things, had been more apparent in the character at the start of the Pretian regency.

"So you're saying your name is pronounced 'Nen Kueh' in the old language? 'Swift Night'? And is there a 'Slow Day' as well?" Suthe teased, laughing as Nem Koel made a face.

"I like to think of it more as 'the swiftness of nightfall'," Nem Koel replied, setting the pen down. "As in, 'one who moves with uncanny speed and agility'." She grinned. "Pretty fitting for a warrior name, don't you think?" She tapped the paper impatiently with a finger. "Now your turn. What's yours?"

Suthe reluctantly picked up the pen, rolling it between her fingers for a few moments before dipping it in the inkwell. "My family name, Montikwe, has two parts – the prefix, obviously, denotes my Montese heritage. It's the largest ethnic group in Montmyth, though Isendorn has a large Yonjin population, and Melendru has a few Crevvanese communities."

Nem Koel nodded, seemingly following along a lot easier than Suthe had while trying to understand mountain script.

"The last part is old Montese, but according to my mother it means something like 'from the heart'." The pen rasped on the parchment as Suthe wrote it out. "So I suppose altogether it means either I am a true Montese at heart, or I come from the heart of the country."

Nem Koel laughed. "I always like when you can have multiple interpretations!"

Suthe smiled. "My father might have known the true meaning, but unfortunately he has reunited with our ancestors."