The Foreigners

The 6th day of the 8th month, 7999 A.C.

Being naturally inquisitive about the world as he was, Jeod was familiar with a great number of ship designs; including every craft that had plied the waters around Teirm in the last twenty years. Yet, as he stood on the wharf, overlooking the flat horizon, alongside numerous other spectators and even a few guards, he understood why Rolf had called the ship "unusual".

The ship was of considerable size, as large as any seafaring vessels in the Empire, with its two full masts and another half-length one close to the stern; the only ships that were larger had to be the three-masted class directly under the king's core forces. Like all ships, it was slightly curved, but it was also uncommonly flat and smooth. Indeed, its design seemed to emphasize simplicity and uniformity before the more intricate and elaborate designs all too common in ships nowadays, yet the craft was strangely pleasant to look at. The ship was also painted orange, and curiously, red at the wooden outlines. Even the sails had a slight orange hue to them. Is this one of the Empire's new ship designs? thought Jeod. If so, the Varden should be alerted.

As the ship slowly drifted closer to the planking that was the docks, Jeod squinted his eyes and saw the figures of people aboard the ship, who were decidedly human. Unusual garments, he thought. Like robes, they covered the wearer from shoulder to legs. But even from this distance of over five hundred feet, Jeod could see that the garments were no robes, as they were more constricted and less airy, and were embroidered with various patterns. In all his life, he had never seen attire like those. It did not fit the description of anything he had ever read in any books.

Finally, the large ship closed the last of the distance to the pier, and the crew aboard the ship cried and motioned with their arms for the bystanders below to back away as a gangplank was raised and eventually laid down on the wharf.

For a moment, nothing happened. Jeod and the others gathered continued to stare at the ship, even as the crew aboard seemed to be in no hurry to disembark as they were in quiet conversation with each other aboard the ship.

"Never seen those dresses they be wearing," Jeod heard someone slur. Others also made similarly bemused remarks.

More guards arrived at the pier, and Jeod began to wonder whether the city authority had been caught just as flat-footed as he was, as a few of the guards were yelling at each other with confusion in their tones.

Then, at last, the people aboard the ship seemed to stop their talking. Organizing themselves in a line, the people aboard slowly stepped down from the ship onto the pier, and the guards below shouted for the masses to give way to a berth. The people aboard moved carefully and deliberately, as if any missteps would cause undue alarm, and Jeod knew then that these people did not work under Galbatorix.

Jeod was immediately struck by a few remarkable observations. These people were clean; far cleaner than any sailor out at sea had a right to be, as the latter tended to be characterized by their sweat and grime. Their skins were surprisingly smooth for seafarers. Their appearances were neat and well-kept, of a kind usually bestowed on nobles, wealthy merchants, and others similarly well-off. All of them seemed to be healthy - certainly none of the ones disembarking so far had scurvy - and they all seemed to be reasonably well-nourished. In fact, despite having been at sea, they seemed to be tidier and healthier than the majority of commoners in Teirm!

The men - and a few women, Jeod noted - all had dark and, unsurprisingly, well-kept hair, and their eyes were similarly dark around the pupils. Compared to the populace of Teirm, they were of average height. A few of them had slightly curved scabbards hanging at their hips; Jeod noted with fascination that their swords seemed to lack guards except for a small ring, yet were fitted with long handles.

One after another, the strangers stepped onto the pier, looking around them with what Jeod thought was marvel in their eyes, as if they were just as astounded by the sights around them as Jeod and quite a few surrounding bystanders were of them. Jeod counted at least seventy among the strangers, and he suspected a great number of them had chosen to remain on the ship. None of the ones he saw seemed to be inebriated, which surprised Jeod.

A few of the guards approached the strangers, and he saw them exchange a few words. Then, one of the guards frowned and shook his head. The short exchange seemed to have rendered the guards even more bewildered than before, and they seemed too floored to even continue their exchange with the strangers.

Curiosity overtook Jeod, the ever inquisitive scholar, and before he could stop himself he made its way to where the guards and the strangers were standing.

One of the bewildered guards, upon seeing Jeod, exclaimed: "We can't understand what they are saying!"

What?!

Jeod turned to the one stranger closest to him, and asked: "Excuse me, good sir, but from where did you set sail? For it seems that the port authority of this city did not expect your arrival at this time." Up close, he noted that the fabrics of their garments seemed to be smooth and of very high quality.

The stranger looked at him apologetically and tilted his head, before speaking.

And Jeod became as floored as the guards. For out of his mouth came words that Jeod had never before heard. It sounded nothing like the words of the common language of all humans, not even a distant dialect or accent. In fact, it did not sound like any language he had ever heard; not the ancient language, the language of the dwarves, or even that of the Urgals - however restricted Jeod's knowledge was of that foul tongue. The few things Jeod could make out of the language - language! - as he listened to a few strangers conversing with each other were that the vowels seemed short, and the use of consonant clusters (an elven concept he had come across during his studies of the ancient language) seemed very limited. The foreign words that had left the strangers's mouths also sounded crisp and clear, more so than the common language. Other than that, the language almost sounded like singing to his ears.

Jeod had to stop himself from staggering from the shaking of his legs. His heart had started pounding heartily, and he started taking in deeper breaths at the shock and astonishment he was feeling, not taking it as well as he used to in his old age. The idea that there were human languages other than the common language was almost too much to take in, even if it made logical sense.

These people had to have come from outside the Empire, outside Surda, outside the Hadarac Desert and its wandering tribes, and even beyond the Beor Mountains and the humans who lived there. Jeod had read theories about inhabited lands to the south of the Beors, but any information on civilizations beyond the western parts of Alagaësia were very scarce. Were these people on an expedition from some country beyond the known lands? Jeod's mind was in upheaval at the possible implications.

Jeod realized that he had remained stupified for more than twenty seconds since the response he had gotten from the stranger. He quickly made gestures in response, unsure himself what he was trying to convey, but the stranger did not notice as he no longer had his attention on Jeod.

"We already sent words to Lord Risthart," Jeod heard one of the guards mutter to another bystander. Ah, so they were waiting for his lordship to arrive, presumably to receive these guests from far away lands. Or would Risthart do something more improper, even nefarious? With how unpredictably the governor had been acting as of late, Jeod could not be sure.

The strangers seemed to understand that the important people had not yet arrived, as they tarried on the pier, a few conversing quietly with each other.

About half an hour later, three horse-drawn carriages were seen in the distance. They stopped just before the plankings, and from the one carriage embroidered in gemstones and gold platings, the governor of Teirm stepped out.

Finally, Lord Risthart had arrived, bringing with himself an entourage of guards and important nobles, most of them dressed in ostentatious costumes and billowing cloaks. Yet Jeod was not sure even their fabrics were of a similar quality to those worn by the strangers. A few musicians played the familiar fanfare on their trumpets, signaling the arrival of his lordship. The strangers- no, foreigners, stared at the arriving entourage with fascination, excitement, and a few seemed to be in awe.

"All hail Lord Risthart, the great and honorable master of Teirm!" a town crier shouted. Risthart, who was dressed even more elaborately than the surrounding nobles, stepped forward, along with two guards covered in full plate armor and armed with poleaxes. One of the foreigners, who Jeod guessed was the leader of their group, stepped forward to meet Lord Risthart while holding a perfectly smooth wooden box in his hands. They stopped about ten feet from each other, and then the foreigner bowed, one hand pressing the box to his waist, the other also at his sides, even as his head and torso were lowered.

Risthart scowled with slight disapproval. In a haughty voice, he asked: "Speak you for the voyagers that have arrived unannounced in my city?"

The leader of the foreigners from distant lands tilted his head, then replied in that foreign language of his, and Risthart's scowl deepened. The leader then lifted the wooden top of the beige-colored wooden box and kneeled, his arms stretched forward to present the opened box to the governor. The box, Jeod noted, was smoother and more uniform in color than any wooden box he had ever seen - at least those made by humans.

Risthart moved closer, along with his guards, and took the box from the foreigner's outstretched hands. He closely examined what was inside, then picked it up with one hand.

It was a figurine, made of some glassy material whose quality astounded Jeod. The sculpture was white and impossibly smooth, and Jeod was not sure what it was meant to depict, although the animal outline it was shaped after vaguely reminded him of a Fanghur. Even Risthart looked dumbfounded for a moment as he stared at it and weighed it in his hand, his fingers rubbing at the lean surface. His disposition immediately changed, and he said in a tone that was no longer haughty: "As governor of Teirm, I welcome you to my city. You and your men are free to stay here as long as you would like." He frowned for a moment, then gestured at the group and then swept an arm at the city that was behind them.

The eyes of numerous foreigners lit up as they nodded. Risthart then pointed to the leader of the group, then to himself, and then the castle. "I would like to invite you, and a few of your more distinguished men, to my castle."

The leader seemed to understand, and he walked slowly to stand beside Risthart. A few others from the group hesitantly joined him, bowing at the entourage, and then Risthart started walking while beckoning for them to follow him, and he and his entourage escorted them away from the pier, toward the carriages that would lead them to the citadel.

And then it was just the bystanders of Teirm, a few guards, and the remaining foreigners from the ship. Jeod absently saw a few of the foreigners going back to the ship, probably to inform the rest of them of what had transpired. He himself was still in a daze with everything that had happened.

He saw that a few of the foreigners started making their way off the pier and into the actual city, while others seemed to still be deliberating. A few were even trying to communicate with the bystanders, gesticulating with their hands while making inquiring or affirmative tones.

Jeod knew what he had to do. He had to get acquainted with a few of the foreigners, invite them to his mansion, then try to find out as much about them as possible. His inner scholar demanded it. He could even make history by being one of the first to publish a book on this extraordinary event and on the foreigners and their lands. And if there was even a slight chance this could help the Varden in their effort...

His mind set on the matter, he walked over to one of the foreigners, one young man who looked to be in his earlier twenties and as immaculate as the rest of them, and bowed with his hands to his sides, as he had seen a few of the foreigners do. The man looked surprised, even perplexed, and seemed unsure what to do. Jeod noticed, as he approached, that the foreigner lacked the slight sweaty, greasy, and pungent odor that most sailors, or even commoners, carried.

Jeod considered what to say. In all the books he had ever read, few of them ever dealt with the issue of language barriers. Even the Domia abr Wyrda had skimmed through such details. It seemed in every encounter between humans and other races there was always someone in the latter group who spoke the common language.

In the end, Jeod hoped to be able to convey his meaning by putting emphasis on individual words. He pointed to himself and pronounced: "Jeod. J-od." He repeated that a few times before pointing to the young man with a questioning expression (or so he hoped).

The man hesitated, then murmured what Jeod presumed was his name, only the differences between their languages and naming conventions made it hard for Jeod to grasp the unfamiliar name.

"Sew-bahsah?" The young man shook his head, and Jeod was glad at least those universal gestures did not seem to change across the lands.

The young man slowly pronounced his name a few more times, seeming uncomfortable doing that, until Jeod could pronounce it passably. "Tsubasa," Jeod finally got down, and the man Tsubasa nodded.

"Well, Tsubasa," Jeod said. "How about I show you around the city." He pointed to himself and to Tsubasa, then gestured toward Teirm. "Then I can show you one of my favorite taverns, where we can get something to eat." He then mimicked an eating man while pointing toward the city. Tsubasa nodded, seeming to understand.

Jeod softly nudged Tsubasa's arm and made a gesture to start walking, but was interrupted by a young woman who seemed to be in her mid-twenties. She bowed with her hands clasped in front of her, then pointed to herself and pronounced clearly: "Marie."

"Ah, pleased to meet you, Marie. My name is Jeod. J-od."

Marie pronounced his name, her pronunciation slightly off, but Jeod did not mind. She then said a few words to Tsubasa, who curtly answered back, his gaze on the city.

"Well then," said Jeod. He explained (or gestured) his planned itinerary once again, this time to Marie, who responded with what seemed like agreeable words, based on the tone and the nodding.

And so they set off, away from the wharf and toward the rest of the city.