Sorry this one took so long! I've been pretty sick lately, just sleeping all day. Hasn't been fun.
Zami propped his chin up on his hand, leaning forward over the table. He tried not to let Syrise's snickering get to him.
"Okay," Mythene set a piece of paper in front of him, "What does this one say?"
Zami looked down at the little elvish squiggles. He definitely recognized it. It was a place. Somewhere he'd been, he remembered. Alas, he'd been pretty much everywhere by now. Fortunately, he could narrow it down by knowing it was a place with an elvish name. That's when it clicked.
"I got dis," He nodded, pointing to the paper, "Ashenvale."
"Very good," Mythene nodded, "You're getting quicker."
"A quick troll?" Syrise piped up from the sofa nearby, "Color me surprised."
She leaned forward with a condescending grin plastered wide across her face.
"I thought you were all a bit slow."
Zami rolled his eye and glanced over at her, unamused. His expression just made her snicker.
"Focus," Mythene tapped the table in front of them, "How about this one?"
Zami looked back down to the table.
"Oh, dis one easy," He chuckled, "Druid."
"In Darnassian, please."
"Uh," Zami furrowed his brow, "...Alu?"
"Very good," Mythene nodded, "Remember, alu can also mean the essence of Nature itself."
"It can also mean hair color," Syrise added, "Like, she's a natural blonde. Get it?"
"Oh, I get it…." Zami glanced over at her, "Alu'dal ashte'rodne."
Syrise gasped in, feigned, mild offense as Jazax looked up from his alchemical table. His goggles made his beady violet eyes look huge.
"Hey, easy on that elf stuff round here, would ya? People might talk."
"But Zami has to keep up with his studies," Mythene looked over, "How could he do that without speaking?"
"I dunno, sweetcheeks, but if you keep this up any longer, I'm gonna be speakin' elf myself soon," Jazax said before shrugging, "Why don't you take it somewhere else?"
"Jazzy, you could never speak an elvish tongue," Syrise grinned, nudging him with her boot, "You don't know the first thing about it."
"On the contrary, I know plenty about elvish tongues," Jazax flipped up his goggles, flashing her his signature 'charming' grin, "I've dated plenty of 'em."
"Okay then!" Mythene snapped her book closed uncomfortably, "We'll study somewhere else! I really don't want to hear any more."
Zami nodded in agreement, helping her to gather up their things.
"Yes, run, you cowards!" Syrise called after them with a laugh as they exited the room, going out into the hall.
Once the door was shut, and the increasingly vulgar conversation inside was silenced, both gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, that was..." Mythene cleared her throat, leaving the remainder of her comment up to the imagination.
If only Jazax were so modest.
"Sorry bout him," Zami shrugged, "He ain't really used to bein' round women."
He paused a moment before adding.
"Syrise don't count."
"I shan't ask why not," Mythene perked an eyebrow, "So am I to assume all men speak in a similar crass manner in the absence of women? Going on about past lovers in such a way?"
Zami looked at her flatly.
"Yeah, obviously?" He shrugged.
"Really?" Mythene cocked her head to the side, "Even you?"
"Uh, well," Zami cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably, "Not...really…"
Zami didn't exactly have any past lovers to go on about in the first place. Well, except the one. But the most intimate he ever got with Zin'aka was when he murdered her. And that didn't quite seem like a story to regale at parties.
Not that he would ever admit any of that, of course. Zalu mocked him enough for not having a woman at the present. The last thing he needed was Zalu, or anybody else, knowing that he'd never had a woman, ever.
"Well, let's find somewhere to go set up," Mythene said as she gestured to the books in her arms, "These things are quite heavy."
They soon found a rather isolated spot outside, near the docks but in the shade. Both factors contributed well to the area being rather cool, comparatively. It was still sweltering outside, especially with the midday sun on high, but the shade and proximity of the cool ocean water were enough to make the spot comfortable. Zami wasn't sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate that there wasn't much of any breeze that day.
"This will do," Mythene said as she crouched down to the ground, "Now, where were we…"
As she flipped open a book and skimmed the pages, Zeni poked its flowerhead out of her vest pocket. Seeing Zami take a seat across from Mythene, it hissed excitedly and leaned forward, plopping to the ground. It made its way over to him, tiny shrunken vine-arms hugging at his leg.
Zami smiled a little as Mythene muttered to herself, still seeking the lost prior page, and reached down to scroop up Zeni into his hand. He held the tiny lasher up in the palm of his hand, peering down as it began to wiggle excitedly. A curious thought came to him and he brought his hand up to his eyepatch, pushing it up. After blinking a moment, adjusting to the sudden sunlight, he looked forward.
To his surprise, Zeni still bobbed excited in his palm. From what he now knew about the Emerald Dream, it showed the world as it would look if people had never meddled with it. No buildings and so on. Curious, he thought, that Zeni might still exist. Perhaps it was due to technically being a plant elemental.
Then again, sometimes he saw other people. He could see Mythene, and Zalu too. But not Syrise or Jumi. Maybe it was because the former two were druids, while the latter weren't. Whatever the reason, it sure was curious.
"Ah, here we go," Mythene pointed to the book, "Alu. Druid, nature..."
"Hair color," Zami added with an amused chuckle, poking Zeni lightly.
"Yes, well," Mythene rolled her eyes, "A Thalassian usage, no doubt."
"What it be in Darnassian?" Zami glanced over at her, "Hair color, I mean."
"Well, usually you would just use dal'drassil. Color is implied."
"Dat's….ya crown?"
"Or you may use ana'drassil, meaning my crown. It's often perfectly clear in context."
"Ain't dere any colors?"
"Well, yes, I suppose you could get specific if you wished to."
"Okay, so what'cha call dis color?" Zami held out his hand, touching her silver white hair at the base, near her chin.
"Kal."
"Star, huh," Zami nodded, "Dat makes sense."
He then reached up and thumbed his own fiery red dreadlocks.
"How bout dis?"
"Sin."
"Blood…" Zami lowered his hand, "Dat...makes sense, too."
He glanced aside, setting Zeni down into the grass.
"In more ways dan one…"
Mythene perked a long silver eyebrow, looking over at him. Zami sighed, lowering his eyepatch back into place.
"Guess it be time to tell you, den…" He shrugged, looking out to the water.
"About what?" Mythene furrowed her brow, growing concerned.
Zami sighed again, rolling his shoulders a bit to relieve some of the stress that had built up over the last...who knows how long. Days, weeks, months. Then he glanced up at the sky. It was a nice bright blue. The ocean was still and quiet, due to the lack of breeze.
"About what?" Mythene repeated, a bit softer this time.
Zami looked back to her after a minute, anxiety readily apparent on his face.
"Bout me."
PS: Zami said "Your nature is truly quite ugly" in accurate Darnassian.