What's up, all? Coming atcha with TWO updates this week! When's the last time that happened?
And if you're thinking, "Two, what the hell?" I recently released a pseudo-sequel to Complement, titled Consummate! It's explicitly M-rated, ambiguously 'canon' and basically all the stuff that I've been avoiding here. It's not so much plot as it is, y'know, not-plot, so browse it or skip it at your leisure. If you like it, great! If you don't, then it doesn't exist! Yay!
As for THIS behemoth, we're entering the post-goal phase of the story which is… kind of a weird place for me to be. I have an ending of sorts in mind for this story, but I have no idea how many chapters will surface between now and then. As for today's chapter, I also have no idea where the idea came from, but it kind of took off into something fun. Now that their relationship is nice and comfortably established, I can just go back to the stupid stuff! Yay!
Language
For the first time in months, they had re-entered familiar sea charts and could observe old familiar landmarks scattered about. In a small act of celebration, they'd decided cut the day's travel short and stop at the first populated island they'd come up on. Link grinned as the ship nestled neatly into port under Gonzo's experienced hand. Not that he hated ship life, but it was always interesting to break at port and find out what was going on. Tetra stood at attention beside him, arms crossed and expression stern as she watched the dock workers tie down her ship. While not one for socializing, she had made progress on being more outgoing, and she'd agreed to wander into town with him completely unprompted. He certainly wasn't going to pass up the chance to explore with his favourite partner.
A voice called out from the dock, and Senza and Nudge dropped the gangplank down to the platform. Then they stood patiently at either side while the captain descended first, Link flashing a grin and a wink at the pair as he quickly followed suit before they could stop him. As soon as his feet were on the dock he fell into step beside Tetra, their hands twining together without a word. The town was bustling, and seemed considerably bigger than he'd first realized. He guided her forward as they joined the moving throng of traffic, letting themselves be carried up the street without a destination in mind.
In his hand was an envelope, the contents of which was his several-month update to his family. It was difficult to send updates back to Outset the further out they travelled; the postal network got thinner and thinner until they were out of touch entirely. They'd re-entered their own hemisphere, at least, but neither of them could really predict how long they'd stay. He wasn't going to miss the chance to send word back to his grandmother while he had it.
"Should we deal with your letter sooner, or later?" Tetra asked loudly over the din of customers and salespeople. "I'm thinking sooner, given the state of things here?"
"Yeah, let's see if we can find a mailbox. We can poke around once it's out of my head," he agreed, glancing along the edge of the road. That sounded easy enough, but given the mass of bodies constantly swarming around them…
Tetra seemed to echo his thoughts. "How are we going to find one here?" she complained loudly, standing on her toes but failing to peer over the taller heads around them. "Do you think there'd be one back closer to the dock? Should we– Oh, wait! There's a Rito right there!" She pointed somewhere through the crowd; all he could see was the flow of the townspeople moving in every direction. "Look, he's in uniform! He's a postman!" And before he could say anything, she'd snatched the envelope from his hand and called, "Achack!"
Before he could even process what she'd said, the pirate had begun moving straight in the direction of the Rito, shoving through the crowd without a word to the angry retorts that followed. He quickly followed in her wake, waving sheepishly and mumbling apologies to everyone he passed. When he caught up to Tetra, she was standing with the Rito at the side of the road. She had already handed over the envelope and was counting out some rupees into the postman's hand. He stepped in closer to hear their conversation, but even as he did so he realized it didn't help.
"Chiyo che Outset," Tetra said as she closed her wallet and slipped it back to her belt. "Arock phes," she added, shaking her head with a wave of her hand. The postman seemed to understand, as he pocketed the money and slipped the envelope into his bag. He handed Tetra a clipboard, who quickly signed the bottom with an exuberant-looking quill. Then she returned them to the Rito and nodded, apparently satisfied. "Teedou."
"Teedou," repeated the Rito with his own nod, before turning and disappearing into the crowd. Tetra turned back to him, looking rather pleased with herself. He could only stand there, mouth half-open as he struggled to come up with anything to say. What the hell was going on? Did he fall and hit his head without remembering? Were colours still colours?
"What?" Tetra asked after a moment, her smile beginning to slip from her features. "Did you… not want me to do that? Should I have asked first?"
He swallowed and quickly shook his head. He needed to say something before she misunderstood. But he understood her that time, so that was progress, at least.
"What was that?" he asked, gesturing in the direction of the absent Rito. "What were you saying to him? And he understood it?"
Tetra blinked in confusion, her mouth forming several words before finally settling on one. "Yes," she said slowly, glancing down the road and then back, as if he were the one confusing her. "I assumed he would. It would've been weird if he couldn't, right?"
"I don't know!" he exclaimed, then winced as several people glanced in their direction as they passed. A bit quieter and enunciating as clearly as he could, he asked, "That wasn't Hylian, right? What language were you just speaking?"
Tetra seemed to realize a second later and lit up in understanding. "Oh! It was just Rito," she answered with a shrug. "I'm sorry. I thought you'd heard enough of us to pick it out."
She offered her hand to him, seemingly ready to resume their walk, but he just shook his head. Rather than an answer, he just had more questions. He wasn't really sure how the two of them were in such two different places at the moment.
"Rito?" he repeated, raising a brow. "As in, a Rito language?"
Tetra nodded slowly, staring at him as if he were the oddest thing she'd ever seen. "As in, the language the Rito speak."
"What the f–" He stopped himself as he remembered they weren't on the ship at the moment. Instead, he cleared his throat and replied, "I… didn't realize the Rito had their own language."
Tetra stared at him in surprise for a good few seconds before he finally felt the need to roll his eyes and plant a hand on his hip. "Look, is it really that surprising?"
"I… Yes!" Tetra all but exploded as she grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the crowd. "Haven't you been to their home island? How did you not know that?!"
"Because they all spoke Hylian!" he shot back, exasperated. By now he wasn't sure who had better cause for surprise. "Quill, Medli, the chieftain, the prince, all of them!"
Tetra glanced at him as they turned down a side street, eyebrows flying to her hair in surprise. "Really? Not even around you?"
"No!" he shook his head fervently. "Valoo spoke some ancient language only Medli could translate, but so did the Deku Tree. And Jabun. But it was some old form of Hylian," he added, omitting the detail of the King of Hyrule sharing that information with him.
Tetra made a noise in her throat before shrugging and pulling him along the path, glancing at a stall of steaming meat as they passed. "I guess you were just so important as their chosen one," she muttered slyly, bumping him with her hip. "They gave you the benefit of working around your needs."
He sighed absently, hoping in his heart that wasn't the case. Shaking his head and wiping the thought from his mind, he spotted a bench nearby and directed her towards it in order to escape for a moment.
"So what were you two saying, then?"
Tetra thought back for a moment as they took a seat beside each other. "Not much. Just told him how far it needed to go, he told me how much it would cost, I told him where it was going and told him not to rush it." She shrugged, looking guilty. "No offense. I just figured we were close enough that it wouldn't make much of a difference, that's all."
He nodded, trying to remember the noises they'd made but unable to recall more than a couple. It had sounded so much different than anything he was used to. "And what was that thing at the end?" he asked, gesturing between her and the imaginary postman. "That part you both said?"
"Teedou," Tetra said, speaking clearly for him. "It doesn't really have a meaning in Hylian. It's just something they say at the end of a business exchange. Some cultural thing, I think it's like a celebration of success. The whole postal thing is pretty deep for them."
She was acting cool, but Link could tell she was thrilled to be teaching him something she'd call 'smart'; he'd normally be the one repeating interesting facts like this to her from whatever book he was currently working through. But he was very curious to learn more about this part of Rito culture he'd apparently been completely oblivious to, and very, very curious to know why Tetra of all people knew about it. She was never much one for books.
"I'm still having trouble coming to terms with this," he said, massaging his temple gently as Tetra patted his shoulder in pity. "Why do you know some of their language? Where'd you learn?"
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked, as if it was the most obvious thing to say. "I know Hylian is the most widespread language on the ocean, but the Rito basically run the postal service out here, so it doesn't hurt to know a bit of their tongue. My mum taught me a bit when I was young, and I've picked up snippets since, here and there." She scrunched up her face in thought, trying to sound out a phrase before sighing and shaking her head. "It comes and goes. It's there when I need it, but if I think about it too much I push it away. I can't speak that much," she added, waving her hand quickly. "Just a few words, enough to send or get something. Usually it doesn't matter – most Rito speak Hylian anyway. But occasionally it comes in handy. I bartered with a Goron once in Rito."
He nodded excitedly, mentally filing away the information. The next time he ran into a Rito, he was going to try everything she'd said and see what happened. Worst case, Tetra was pranking him. But more likely, he'd start learning a fascinating part of Rito culture. That being said, Medli definitely owed him an explanation someday. How had she never mentioned it to him, in all their idle conversations in the Earth Temple to stave off the looming fear?
"Teach me something else," he said, turning himself to face her. "You told me how to finish a conversation. How do you start one?"
"A greeting, usually," Tetra remarked with a playful wink. "I use achack. It's kind of proper, but not too serious. Helps establish a more casual tone for the relationship right away."
"This sounds really complicated, and I've learned exactly two words," he groaned, sinking his face into his hands. "Why does it sound so different? I can't put my finger on it."
"It's mostly vowels," Tetra answered matter-of-factly. "We only have a few vowels in our language, but lots of consonants. They don't have as many consonants, so you have to listen harder. It takes practice." She slipped her hand into his and squeezed gently. "I'm sorry about earlier. I just never imagined you'd never heard any of it before. I know it's not Hylian, but it's common enough."
"It's cool," he replied, matching her pressure with his. "I can't believe I never knew. I feel so ignorant."
"We're all learning, every day," she said airily, pointing her chin in the air as she adopted a wise master's disposition. "The stone cast today will carry through with deep ripples tomorrow."
He blinked in surprise. "Is that some Rito saying?"
She snorted. "No, I just made that up. Did it even make sense?"
He fell against her as he laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he hugged her tightly. "I don't know, I couldn't follow it!"
She hummed in amusement before resting her head against his shoulder, watching the townsfolk go about their business. "Well, if you really want, I can teach you the bits that I know. That way you can say you speak a trade language."
"I thought Hylian was the trade language!"
"It's a trade language. Rito is another one."
He chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. "You're something, you know that?"
She grinned and turned to him. "Eekay."
"Is that an insult?"
She giggled. "I said kiss," she said with a smirk before leaning into his lips. He grinned and pulled her close as her arms wrapped around him. At the very least, he'd make a point of remembering eekay.