Chapter 7:
The Mysteries of Mating
Dear Diary,
This morning I had a rather enlightening discussion with one of the friendlier sailors.
I was on the deck reading a book to take my mind off my nausea. Then I noticed what appeared to be a thick slimy rope wrapped around a mast. Looking more closely, I discovered the "rope" was in fact two eyoma leeches twisted around each other.
I couldn't figure out what on earth they were doing! Dannyl was walking by, but I didn't really want to bother him. Instead I curiously asked a nearby sailor, hoping he wouldn't glare at me for asking something so trivial. However, the Vindo was perfectly amiable, and explained to me that the leeches were mating. I felt a bit of a fool for having not realised this by myself. The sailor seemed eager to keep chatting, so I asked him the first question that came into my head – which eyoma was the male and which was the female? But after answering my question, the Vindo started relating the finer details of the mating practices of eyoma, and how it compares to other creatures.
I was immensely relieved that Lord Dannyl was out of earshot; otherwise the poor Kyralian might have died of horror from what the sailor was saying. But when the sailor realised I could speak Vindo, he began to speak in that instead. I made some feeble excuses, and I finally managed to leave. I concluded that this man knew far too much about mating.
The sailor hadn't seemed embarrassed at all by the topic of his discussion, even though I had felt like a twelve year old being told the facts of life. However, it wasn't all bad I'll admit. I've learned quite a few new Vindo words from him. Although quite frankly, I doubt I'd be able to use them in any polite conversation.
Yours in amusement,
Tayend
Sincere apologies for the late update, especially after saying I'd update faster! It feels like Tayend's been on this ship forever :P
Merry Christmas to all my readers, and thanks for all your reviews and support :D
