Closed Preparing for the Journey (Ivandra)

[Mihiya Darkmane]

As they rode along, Mihiya formulated ways to teach Pavi to Ivandra. Perhaps saying a sentence in Common and then one in Pavi? That would be fairly effective. At Ivandra's mimic of her Pavi, she smiled. It was very close, the pronunciation was a bit slurred from Ivandra's accent which she probably did not know she had, but it was still evident that she was willing and eager to learn.

"Good. I speak Common first, Pavi second, you learn this way." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. Then she began. "Hello. Name is Mihiya. From Endrykas." Another slight pause and then. "Hello. I am Mihiya. I come from Endrykas." She pronounced the words slowly, careful to make her gestures just as carefully if the woman felt like imitating those as well. Her Pavi was strung together better, but it was likely that Ivandra's first sentence in Pavi would be as broken as most of the sentences that Mihiya spoke in Common. She liked the Kelvic woman though, and would be as patient with her in teaching her Pavi and how to ride as Ivandra was with her poor Common.

"We ride til night. Find safe place for night. Be in Riverfall in some days." She wondered if she should repeat the sentence and then decided she might as well. If Ivandra listened to Pavi often enough she might pick up more and more words which would be a good way to teach her. "We will ride until it's nighttime. Then we will find someplace safe to stay for the night. We should be in Riverfall in a few days."

[Ivandra]

Ivandra paused as Mihiya's suggestion for teaching her Pavi sunk in. It made sense, and she was bound to learn quicker that way. Even though they did have some time to fill the empty time gap in between, it would be slow learning if she would learn word by word. There were too many words in the language to allot for that. If she learned the way Mihiya suggested, she would be able to grasp the general meaning of the words and phrases quicker through observation. Wasn't that how babies always learned a language? She paused, listening to Mihiya speak, then repeated the sentence back, substituting the name and city with the ones that applied to her. "My name is Ivandra. I come from Syliras." The words rolled off her tongue in a choppy, unfamiliar way. She glanced at Mihiya as the woman suggested that they ride until nighttime, then repeated the suggestion in Pavi. The different sounds mixed in her ears as she tried to remember the words. "Yes, that's a good idea." She struggled for the right word in Pavi -- what had been the word Mihiya used? -- then it suddenly hit her again. "We can set up the tent and I'll go hunting for us. Or you can come along too if you wish." She felt a tinge of pride at being able to apply the word to the sentence. Even if it was just a word, it was a start. She glanced back from the direction they had been riding. They were far enough from Endrykas now that she couldn't even see a trace of the dark tents and pavilions that marked the city. Gazing ahead, she could also see no end to the endless field of grass. "Are you sure this is the right direction?" She couldn't find a way to fit any basic Pavi words in there, but she was eager to hear Mihiya's response. As long as she kept repeating what she said in Pavi, her vocabulary would expand.

[Mihiya Darkmane]

The response was not the best replication of Mihiya's Pavi, but it was fairly similar. The gestures were neglected, which was unfortunate, because it left a bit out of the comment. However, any Drykas would have been able to decipher the words even through the heavy accent. She nodded and smiled again. "Is good," she spoke in common, taking a moment before she repeated herself in Pavi "Good!" She added a few of the signals for praise and for good as she rode along. Her gestures were fairly subtle, but she made sure she did them so that Ivandra could mimic if she desired.

"Will have keep eye out for creatures. Could be dangerous." Her pause was quick as she repeated herself in Pavi "We have to watch out for creatures. The Sea of Grass can be dangerous." Her words were exaggeratedly slow so that Ivandra could catch all of them. She smiled as the Kelvic managed to slip in a word of Pavi instead of just repeating them. She frowned as she tried to figure out if she wanted to go hunting or not. It would be polite to help, of course.

"Will help hunt. Not so good with sling, miss often. Be animal when hunting, Ivandra?" "I will help hunt. I'm not very good with a sling and often miss. Will you be an animal when we hunt, Ivandra?" Her first language felt so much more comfortable and she preferred it over the grating Common, but she was pleased that she had managed to successfully communicate with the woman and that they were making plans as well as learning each other's languages.

"Haven't traveled Riverfall way in years. Hope is right way, think so." Mihiya shrugged, "Endryaks close to Riverfall now. Shouldn't take so long." I haven't gone to Riverfall in many years. I hope this is the right way, at least I think so. Endrykas is close to Riverfall right now. It shouldn't take very long."

[Ivandra]

[Should we have a monster appear? Could make it interesting.] At Mihiya's comment about the creatures, Ivandra began to scan the horizon for moving objects that didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the environment, anything that wasn't grassy and wavy. Everything appeared to be the same all around in every direction, but then again, one could never be too sure. Monsters had a way of appearing when one least expected it. Then, at her question about whether or not she would be an animal when they hunted, Ivandra nodded. "Yes. I will. It's much more comfortable that way, and I hunt much more effectively." She was actually looking forward to the hunting and practicing her skills. When she was in her leopard form, hunting wasn't tiring at all to her. It was just a natural skill that came along, something that felt very smooth. She never felt awkward, the way she did when she was trying to hunt in human bow with man-made weapons such as a bow and arrow. "Riverfall close to, to -- Endrykas?" Again, the same choppy tone was there and there was a hesitation as Ivandra grappled for the right words. "How many days do you think, approximately?" She had her own guesses, but she wanted to hear it from her first. It was such a contrast from the way she spoke Common and Pavi. Common slid off her tongue in such a familiar way she hardly had to think about it. Pavi, on the other way, was quite the opposite. "Oh yes. I think I'm getting used to this walking pace. Could you teach me how to trot?" She was eager to push to new speeds as much as she could so they would be able to reach Riverfall faster. Even though walking on a horse was faster than walking on foot, she did still want to pick it up a little.