Ch 16 Tongue Tied
Anna's mother looked around the damp and dusty shed "You kept coming back to this" she asked pulling her arm away from the cobwebs, that seemed to cover every surface.
Anna laughed "No, I came back to him". She pointed over at Darin where he was removing the blanket from Jeraela's back. Part of him disappeared into her linen closet before reappearing minus the blanket. He looked up and smiled, he had put his uniform top back on,and so looked the Herald again.
He picked up the lantern and gestured for them both to precede him through the shed doorway.
"Mom, I'll have to stay here for awhile, I need training and these people know how to give it for me. Could you arrange things for me at home" she asked.
Her mother nodded, then looked up as a thought came to her "When would I see you" she asked her daughter.
"You know where the door is now and you have a key to my house, you can come any time, that's why we're taking you to get you the language".
Her mother nodded, a slight frown on her face. "What's it like, getting the language".
"Well" Anna said slowly. "You feel Brytha in your head, and then when you wake up you'll have an awful headache, but you speak the language like a native".
"If you speak it like a native, then why was Darin having so much trouble with it" her mother asked.
"When you get the language you'll see, They don't have some of the concepts we have, he was getting some of the meanings tangled up" she said.
Her mother nodded "Talking about me" Darin asked as he walked up to where they were standing.
Anna smiled "Always". They heard a snort from the departing Jeraela and Anna's mother began to look at them with a certain light in her eyes.
"Oh no, I know that look" Darin whispered in Anna's ear. "My mother looks like that just before going into her matchmaking mode".
Anna laughed and whispered back "Do you mind".
"Not with you" he said softly.
"Why are we whispering anyway" Anna asked. "She hasn't gotten Valdemaran yet".
"It doesn't matter, mother's always know" he said seriously, with a wicked twinkle in his eye.
She laughed, noticing that her mother was trailing behind giving them plenty of room, and a measure of privacy. "I think you're right"she said, nodding over her shoulder at her mother, who was pretending not to pay any attention to them.
He laughed and Anna turned back to her mother "It's too bad it's night and you can't see the garden's they're really beautiful".
"It doesn't matter" her mother said rejoining them. "I can always come back and visit during the day".
After her mother had gotten Valdemar, they'd decided to stick to one language, they sat on the grass waiting for her to recover.
"What is Brytha anyway" her mother asked massaging her temples.
"A Dyheli" Darin answered. "I know that doesn't help much, but that's all anyone knows, we're not sure where they came from originally, but these came when we allied with the Hawkbrothers, they wanted a new place to live and we have quite a few grasslands that don't have anyone living on them, it worked out for both groups".
Her mother nodded and said "I think I'm ready to go back now". This time she said it in Valdemaran, her eyes flew open as she realized what she had done "Oh" she said in surprise.
"You'll have to be careful, about that when we get back" Anna cautioned her. "It takes awhile to get used to it, maybe you should go home early and just feel out the language, that seems to help".
"I think I will" her mother said. "I'll want to sleep this headache off anyway".
At the doorway Anna and her mother hugged, Darin was surprised when she hugged him too. "Welcome to the family" she whispered in his ear, before leaving through the doorway.