DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dinotopia and I don't want to. I have not and will not make any money off this story. Basically what I'm trying to do is reconcile some of the conflicts between the books and the miniseries. The M rating is for material to appear in later chapters.
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By the time Soneera and I left for Waterfall City three days later, I had picked up the bare basics of Saurian. There were still a lot of words I didn't know, of course, but I had the basics of sentence structure and the present tense down. Then there was the matter of pronunciation. My accent was terrible, and I knew it, but Soneera and her family were enough used to the way that I butchered their language that they could understand me most of the time. Keelkaru loved to share her knowledge, so Soneera had let her be my primary teacher. That decision had paid off; I had learned more from Keelkaru than I probably would have from Soneera, simply because Keelkaru spoke less human. Having a teacher who didn't speak my language very well forced me to use Saurian, so I wasn't held back by constant translation.
While we walked along, Soneera said, "So, tell me about your family back home." She said it in Saurian, so I tried to respond, but ended up reverting to my own language after about five minutes because I simply didn't have the vocabulary to continue.
"Well," I replied, "I have a mom, a dad, and younger sister. My dad is a computer geek and—"
"A what?" Soneera interrupted.
"Oh. Uh, how can I explain this? Well, we have machines called computers that… Oh, gosh, I don't know. I guess you can say they work like the human brain. They can store information – but not on paper – and can do calculations and stuff. Anyway, my dad works with computers. He fixes them and writes the programs – uh, creates their brainwaves, I guess – so businesses can use them to keep track of just about everything. And my mom's a veterinarian – a doctor that takes care of animals."
"Aren't humans animals?" asked Soneera.
"Yeah. But you know what I mean. Oh, maybe you don't. What I mean is that she takes care of non-human animals."
"Saurians?" she teased.
I laughed. "Yeah, right. I wish. Her patients are dogs and cats, mostly. She has some cows and goats and things too."
"Cogs and dats and what? I've never heard of any of those animals."
"Cats and dogs," I corrected. "And cows and goats. Dogs and cats are pe – I mean, animal companions – and cows and goats are farm animals."
"Animal companions? Is that like having a saurian partner?"
"Sort of, I guess. But dogs and cats are nowhere near as smart as saurians."
"And what do those other animals – what were they called again? – do on farms? Do they help plow the fields?"
"Back in the old days, they used to. But now they are mainly kept for milk and meat."
"Kept? Against their will, you mean?" I could tell that Soneera found the idea revolting.
"Well, yeah, I guess," I said, feeling awkward. "But it's not like they have enough brains to know the difference."
"And what was that about meat? Please don't tell me your people actually kill other animals for food."
I gulped. "Uh, well, most people don't. They buy it from the store all ready to cook. But, yes, as a species, we do eat other animals."
Soneera made a gagging noise. "Ugh. In Dinotopia only carnosaurs do that. The humans have long since forsaken such barbaric behavior. Most humans do eat fish, though. Their nutritional needs require that. But eating fish is nowhere near as offensive as eating the flesh of a reptile or mammal. But still, I would never eat a fish!"
"Okay, okay, I get the picture!" I said hastily. "I'm here now. I don't eat meat anymore."
Soneera was silent for a few moments, so I took the opportunity to observe the flora that we passed. It was tropical, so the palm trees and the ferns were the only things I could identify. I knew quite a bit about the plants in my region back home, but that was a temperate deciduous forest environment, so tropical vegetation was not my area of expertise.
I saw several small rodent-like things that could have been mammals scurrying about, but none of them resembled the squirrels or chipmunks and stuff that I was familiar with. The little animals darted from the cover of one huge leaf to another, apparently looking for food. I was beginning to get the impression that the intelligent inhabitants of Dinotopia weren't the only ones who were prehistoric.
After a few moments, Soneera said, "Tell me about your sister."
"Her name's Vanessa," I replied. "She's only sixteen, so she's still in high school. She can't wait to graduate – I can empathize, because I couldn't wait to get out either. I don't think she has any idea what college she wants to go to or what she wants to major in. Her main love is playing lacrosse – she got all the athletic ability in our family. Oh, and she has a boyfriend – she has all the luck that way, too."
Soneera shook her head. "Sometimes I think you're speaking a language I've never studied. I didn't understand a word of what you just said."
"Sorry. I guess you have to have certain cultural references to know what I'm talking about."
Soneera nodded. "I suppose so. Tell me, what would your life have been like if you hadn't ended up here?"
"Well, I just graduated from college this spring," I replied. "I majored in education with English as my concentration. I was going to start a master's degree program in speech pathology this fall, but… Well, I was on my way to visit a cousin who was studying abroad, when my plane fell out of the sky and I washed up here."
"Do you miss your home?" Soneera asked gently. I noticed that she did not make any more comments about understanding what I was talking about, though I suspected that she didn't understand any more of what I said than she could before she made that comment.
"Parts of it, yeah. I miss my family. But mostly I wish I could bring them here. I've only been here three days, and already I can tell things are better here. And of course, having dinosaurs – excuse me, saurians – a normal part of everyday life is just about the coolest thing ever."
"The coolest thing ever?" Soneera repeated. "What's that mean?"
"Oh. 'Cool' is a slang word where I come from. Something that's cool is interesting, exotic, new, that sort of thing."
"I see," Soneera said. "You have a lot of slang in your dialect, don't you?"
"Yeah, loads of it. Oops, here I go again. I mean, a lot of it. And it's so pervasive in our language that half the time we use slang words and don't even realize it." I paused. "What about your family? I mean, I've met them. But can you tell me more about them?"
"Of course," Soneera replied pleasantly. "My mother, Amara, is a gardener. You saw the impressive garden she keeps in her backyard. She maintains many others around the city as well. It's been said that the best gardens in and around Pooktook were designed and are maintained by Amara Malat. My father, Halroon, is a healer. He specializes in herbal remedies for bacterial infections. He has developed several that have saved many lives, both human and saurian alike."
"What about Marsavo and Keelkaru?" I asked.
"Marsavo wants to follow in his mother's footsteps, to some extent, at least. He's more adventurous, though. He wants to explore the Rainy Basin to find exotic plants to further beautify people's gardens. He'll be able to start doing that in about three years when he finishes his education." Soneera paused to take a drink from a nearby stream.
I was thirsty too, so I slid off her back and took a drink myself. As I did so, I was aware that this would have been dangerous back home because of the pollution, but here in Dinotopia even water just flowing beside the road – er, trail, was sweet and delicious.
After having drunk my fill, I decided to walk for awhile, so I took my place beside Soneera and tried to keep pace, even though I had to take almost three steps to match one of hers. Soneera politely slowed down so I could keep up.
As we walked along, I asked, "Now, you said Keelkaru wants to be a scholar like you, right?"
"Basically, yes," Soneera replied. "As I said when you first met her, she seems to be more into archaeology and paleo-linguistics than I am. I'm more into scholarly writing, so the things that I study aren't quite that old. But Keelkaru's still basically a little kid, so that could easily change."
"Yeah, it certainly could," I agreed. "She seems to have a talent for teaching, so she may decide to go that route when she's older. She certainly taught me effectively."
"Did she?" Soneera teased. "You reverted to your language about two hours ago."
I laughed. "That's true, I did. But she only had three days! It takes a lot more than three days to learn a language, you know. Oh, well, I guess I need some total immersion."
"You'll get that in Waterfall City," Soneera said. "Oh, yes, did I tell you that you're going to be staying with me while you study? You'll have your own room now, though. And yes, the bed has blankets, so you won't be cold."
"Cool," I replied. I really liked Soneera.
"Cool? Actually, the blankets will keep you quite warm."
"Not that kind of 'cool,'" I said, laughing. "I mean the other kind."
"Oh, right, of course. Cool, as in interesting and exotic. Speaking of exotic, I'll teach you how to eat the Dinotopian way."
"Do humans and saurians pretty much eat the same way?"
"If you don't count the carnosaurs, yes. But saurians and humans each have their own preferences and delicacies. You'll have to try the Dining Commons and the City Square Café. They both serve excellent, quintessentially Dinotopian food."
"Cool," I said. "Is Waterfall City called that because it has a waterfall in it?"
Soneera cracked up. "Not just one waterfall," she said. "I can't wait to see the look on your face the first time you see it. Come on, we're almost there." She took my hand and hurried me along, toward whatever wonders awaited us in the mysterious Waterfall City.
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