A working life (Ryjaoka)

[John Vicari]

6th Fall, 510 av


He was awake before he knew the sun was even up. How did he know this with no windows to shed light nor clocks to show the bells? He did not know if asked yet he knew his body always did wake beforehand for it was use to season after season working for the undeniable interests which was a odd artifacts and book store of sorts. He always had to be up before it really did open for the masses even if it was never that busy but he felt it was growing in uses.

The lamp near his bed was long dead but he knew his way around as he re lit the old thing. The oil inside would not last much longer as he pulled his shirt from the ground throwing it on as he took the small bronze lamp with him into the main home. He had plans to leave it all behind yet he wanted to talk to Ryjaoka about a idea. A few ideas really yet he forgot he had to work most of the day and did not tell her. He found the quills and paper upon the table as he placed the lamp down.

"Dear Ryjaoka,

I am needed in the bookstore (Undeniable Interests) When you read this do feel free to lock up the house and get a bite to eat at the rearing stallion. When you are ready please meet me at the shop. Don't worry of your friend, the Windmount stables will tend to him but we can check up and you can ride upon him later today if you wish. Did not want to wake you up. I will leave a miza by the letter which you can use if you want to buy some more clothing. The skirt and top may be a bit to much in the warm bookstore.

~John"

The letter was quick yet each letter was rather neat. Neater then the common hand which showed his slight skill in the ways of the quill and paper. With a nod to himself he moved back to the rooms with lamp and note in hand. The door was already slightly open as he pushed it a bit more. The light flooding over the room in a soft glow as he placed the letter upon a table near her with a miza from his pocket. His eyes looking over at her sleeping body and without another thought he left slowly from the room. He knew she had to be more tired then he was as he closed the door slightly.

With that he placed a key upon the main table and blew out the lamp leaving the home in her care. A sign of trust or was it a mistake on his end? He did not know as he left for the shop with a smile upon his lips.

With him always working so late he had his own key for the shop. If he wanted to steal anything it would had been pointless to work so long as two more seasons would make a year it would seem as he lit the lamps upon the room. He found a small note upon the backdoor as he moved towards the area which he tilted his head reading to himself.

'Kid - Don't set fire to my store. You know your job so do it. Will be back in a day.'

It was in Dominacs writing in more ways then one. His print along with his tone as John laughed softly to himself as he put the note near his bag which he left upon the other day. Dominac was the type to even yell at him and call him more words then his own name along with hitting him with a cane or book if he was not smart. He must had been dumb in his eyes for John did see many books and cane hits more often then not. Maybe it was his way of showing kindness?

With that he pulled up a stool upon the counter along with two books, a quill and bottle of black ink. One book held no title while the other held a title inside the book cover called "Cryptography" which he flipped towards the first page of both books and slowly started to copy the cryptography book into the empty page.

"Cryptography is the art of ciphering and deciphering secret codes that can be used to keep sensitive messages safe from untrained eyes. This tome will show you the basic steps and terminology of cryptography and act as a basic blue print to the first time learner."

John did not say a word other then the words the book told as he wrote very slowly making sure not only to pay mind to the words but to the letters and ink upon the pages. He was still learning how to use the same words yet his mind had a habit of skipping out upon words and that alone made his boss more then just slightly mad for it was his name on the line in the end.

He felt it would be a long day at this rate even if he saw the first signs of life outside the dirty shop windows. He did not even think of food at the time as he did his best to keep his head in the books writing and copying. He could not just take off more time from work even if a part of him wanted to.

[Ryjaoka Windia]

Stretching her body out long ways she couldn't help the curve that curled her spine forcing her chest up while she woke. Sleeping in a bed had been a nice change from sleeping on the cold hard ground. She found that she wasn't as sore when she woke up this morning. Morning? Was it even morning outside? She found herself wondering, with no windows she couldn't really tell and just hoped that it was.

Draping her legs over the bed she let her hair fall down around her, the curly locks covering half of her face while she adjusted to being awake. Looking around the room she took in notice of only a few things here and there. She figured that his sister must have cleaned the place out before she left. A small frown coming to her face she felt sorry for John, she didn't know why but somehow she felt as though he didn't deserve that kind of treatment.

Her green eyes falling upon the paper she took it up in her hands, holding it steady she fumbled to light the lamp that was in her room before lighting the small space. Waiting until she could she all the words clearly she read what he'd written. Smiling at it her eyes scrunched in wonder as to what he has to talk to her about. Wondering what he had to say, looking at the miza she shook her head at it. She didn't understand why he insisted on doing things such as these.

Mind you the act was nice but she could buy her own means of things around here. Taking the miza she placed it into her pocket making sure it was easy to get at so she could return it to him. She felt bad enough that he had paid for her sword, so she couldn't take this from him too. Moving to get ready she looked for her lighter dress she would wear in the castle. She was sure that she didn't have to worry about anything while she was here. Or at least she hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Once her clothes were in place a small dagger shoved in her boot for safe keeping she began the long task of braiding and wrapping her hair just right. She'd always took pride in her long mane, it was something that Drykas's were known for having so she would be no different from the rest. Working her fingers she focused calmly, letting her muscles move by memory while she did her hair up.

Once she was finished she let her warm breath blow the lamp out, grabbing the key he had left she made her way towards the door. It was odd to be left in his home without him there. Just the thought that he trusted her that much made her body warm on the inside. She would do well to make sure it was as he left it, even if she could just leave right now and never see him again. Shaking her head of the thought she locked the door while heading out of the room.

She was too curious to just leave without hearing what he had to ask her. If she knew anything from being with him yesterday it was that his questions were never unpleasant. Smiling as she walked she looked around a few places that were just starting to open, people slowly filing out of their homes. Looking to the sky she smiled as the sun kissed her cheeks warming the skin while the smoke vanished from the ground.

Keeping her steps calm she made her way to the rearing stallion. Not really wanting to stay long she let her feet keep her quick about her task. Moving into the door she decided that she would be in and out, carrying her food with her. That way she wouldn't have to wait long to find out what John had to say.

Plus to her being in this place alone wasn't worth it to her. She didn't like the questioning stares and murmurs while she walked by. She knew when she was welcomed and when the crowd just fell short of opening their arms to let her in the club to. Maybe that's why she'd followed John with little complaint; he was nice to her treated her fair and above all wasn't afraid to be around her. Mixed or not.

[John Vicari]

His eyes looked up as he heard the door open, he debated to add a magic item to forewarn him but he knew a bell would work just as well. It was a young man who came in the store, grey tunic and brown pants. He looked like he was just out of his teen years like John yet had a look of food upon his face as his hands kept rubbing together as if was cold or some bad habit. A bag laid upon his belt as John moved from the books to him.

"Hello, how can I help you?" John was good at his job, not the best but still good about the normal cut he thought as he looked at the man. Brown saggy hair played upon his head as a darker tan laid on his skin.

"Umm...looking for a book...you know just a old book of sorts...for my friend you see..."

The voice was broken in more then one place as the man looked around the store. John knew most did not have a flare for having mask as they went into the store yet he also had a good idea the man was looking for something not so common and odds are were not for a friend.

"What kind of book does this friend of yours need or want?"

"Well..you see..he wants...a book of Projection...you know?"

John would had said something yet it was not his place to forewarn buyers. His job was to sell and not hold back yet he knew better then let the kid run off with any magic tomes that could get them killed. But if his boss did find out he failed in a sale he would not hear the end of it as he moved about the shop picking up a old looking book.

The book was of the common type in terms of books yet the leather bound side was not for looks when it came to the faded title. It was made like that in case someone saw it from afar in his eyes.

"This book is worth 35 miza. Will teach your friend the basic understand use of it and with that they can learn more once they read all of it a few times."

"35? T-t-that seems a bit...high."

"Not really, a magic book can be up to 100 or more yet if your friend does not want it then he can look elsewhere. Yet this is the safest shop to find something that won't kill you."

"N-No they will want it...here..."

With that the man counted upon the coins on the counter from his small little bag and John gave him the book. He left without a word as he placed the money in a small safe under the counter and went back to his books.

"You need a key to work almost any code. A key is a hint of sorts to figure out the given code. At times a key is not needed however this is very rare."

With that he slowly wrote back into the book waiting for another buyer or seller which were rare but he did see his share at times. He had to wonder when she would show up as he wrote another passage in the book.

"Anything can be a key from a idea, item to even glyphs. A item based key is a keyed code while the others are key-less."

[Ryjaoka Windia]

Moving through the small crowds of people she makes her way to the shop. Letting her eyes scan over things here and there while she keeps the food as best she could from getting bumped and messed with. Coming across a stand filled with colorful shirts and air breathing tops she looked among the clothing items.

Her eyes scanning over one she liked she picked up the top, letting the light soft green colors play to her eyes before reaching in her pockets to pay the woman with the silver pieces. Keeping the shirt tucked away she moved towards the shop again. Wondering what today would hold.

Thinking back to the other day she tried to think of where to turn to next knowing that one way lead towards the shop. The other circling back around the city, and she didn't want that. Searching her memory she smiled turning to the right while she headed for the store.

It wasn't long before she came upon the shop, an older woman trying to open the door while she struggled to stay on her wobbly legs. Moving quickly towards her she grabbed the door handle. "Allow me," Ryjaoka insisted as she pulled it open for the woman to come inside.

Watching as the elderly lady smiled she knew what would happen next. Meeting eyes with the grey haired woman she watched as her face of graditude changed to a face of both fear and disregard of her. She knew that the woman must have been around in her life and probably had seen her fair share of Dhani's in her life time.

"Thank you," she said almost half hearted before making her way to the inside. Shaking her head she let the look go, she expected the look and almost was surprised when she didn't get harassed more for what she was. Entering the dust covered room she tries to fight the cough. Letting her nose clear and adjust to the particles in the air.

Her eyes scanning over the store she smiled while she headed over to the man scribbling away. Placing the food on the counter she smiled at him calmly her edge not there, or at least not while he was around her.

"I got food," she stated while she set the top down next to the wrapped arrangement of the rearing stallion. Beginning to slowly unwrap it she tried to keep the small hurt from the woman off her face while she looked over the food.

"Do you want any?" she asked while she slowly started to pick at what she had ordered. The meat being just right for a breakfast, surely she would be provided with her energy for the day.

[John Vicari]

"Shift code, the simplest code type and first to learn for most people. This code just shifts all letters by a fixed number of places. Such as in a "Right shift 3" code A becomes D, B becomes E and so forth. While extremely simple this code are enough to foll uncivilized barbarians that do not know the alphabet."

John slowly said under his breath as he wrote down the page. His eyes looking up to greet Ryjaoka before he saw the old woman enter the store. Most women he found wanted 'love potions' or the like and the older ones wanted something to cure old age. what they needed was something John nor even this shop could give as he stood up leaving the book open near Ryjaoka letting her read his work.

"Hello miss,how can I help you?" He was once more in salesmanship mode so to speak, his voice bright and happy even if it was a slightly act yet he found it make people more at ease when in a store such as this.

"You brat, where's my Dominac? He said he would be here today and I don't want no brat like yourself."

John would had laughed if she was not here as she called him her Dominac which was his boss and the type of person to really get close to someone. He blamed the dirty jokes he told John at times in the backroom for that yet he now understood why he left the shop in his care if he knew this woman was coming.

"Sorry miss but he is not here. Something came up and he was called away. I can help you look for anything if you like?"

"Stupid brat, I am not here to buy but sell this paper. My Domie said he would buy it off and use it for his shop."

She said as she pulled a old paper out from the insides of her clothing and shoved it in johns hands. He really had no idea what it was as it seemed to be in another tongue but if he took a guess it dealt with some type of glyphing or alchemy of the sorts. Yet the downside was he did not know how to buy it for he had no way to know if she was telling the truth or not nor did he know how to price it. He only knew how to price books.

"Sorry miss but only he can buy this. He will be back tomorrow if you wish to still sell it..."

"You idiot, I am here today and this is his chance now buy it. I want 40 gold Mizas for it."

With that he just blinked, he had no idea of this woman nor the paper if it was real or fact even if he did not have it if he wanted it. She could have been trying to con him for all he knew as he stood there with her.

"Sorry, I can't buy this. Come back tomorrow and talk to the owner." John said firmly as he forced it back in her hands.

"Stupid brat, you will not forget this mistake!" She yelled as she stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind her sending waves of dust in the air as he shook his head coughing slightly as he looked at his friend.

"Sorry...Ugh I hate it when they try to sell things. If it was needed then well I will deal with it later...How are you?" He asked as he pulled up another stool for her as he took his seat once more with some food.

[Ryjaoka Windia]

Looking over her shoulder she watched cloudy eyed as the overly mean woman left the small store. Looking at the door for a long moment she kept her eyes to the handle, the gold glittering in the dim light of the shop. Her mind racing to another gold object only this one being terrifying to her. The remembrance of the pain from it, from the screamed shouts of anguish and rage. It wasn't until she heard John's gentle voice reach her ears that she was pulled from the memory thankfully.

Shaking her head she looked to him almost in a daze her eyes dark as she tried to recall what he had said to her. "It's fine, I'm use to the yelling," she faked the best smile she could before looking back down at the food she'd bought at the stallion. The food sectioned off to give John some while she fouled with her own plate for a long moment. This happened to her every time she thought about that time. The time after her mother, the time that drove her away from her home land in search of freedom. Swallowing hard she pushed the thought aside once again, her eyes slowly returning to normal before looking to John.

"I hope you like what I'd bought. I'm not too sure what your favorite is from there I just picked something that seemed good and not sketchy," she tried to change the conversation. She hadn't really seen what was on the parchment that the old woman insisted John buy from her. All she knew was that it looked as if it was written like mage's writing. Not the same just similar, she could recall looking over her mothers notes while she was busy with other household jobs.

It wasn't anything that the parchment had on it but it seemed like it dealt in the same genre of knowledge's. Turning her focus back to what was laid out on the counter she let her eyes read over what he was doing. She wasn't really sure what any of it meant. The language seemed twisted to her, not to mention something she never even laid eyes on before. Letting her body move over the counter she tried to see what he was copying. Or at least trying to make sense of the language he was scribbling down on paper.

Looking up at John she smiled to him hoping he didn't find her nosy. She usually tried to keep her nose out of things that didn't concern her, yet she never was the less curious about it all. She'd always felt that knowing what was going on around you was the best way to keep yourself alive.

Letting the food enter her mouth she enjoyed the meat she'd bought, letting her mouth chew it until she could swallow before messing around with the rice on the plate. "So tell me what are you doing over there?....If you don't mind me asking," she finished her question.

She didn't want him to think of her as bothersome and often she found that if you stated so you wouldn't be taken as a burden. Ryjaoka kept her eyes moving between John, her plate and the book nearest to him. She wasn't really sure why people would recopy a book if it was already there plan to read. She guessed it was because not all could read certain languages that often were written in the native tongue of the author. Even so she'd been plenty of places and never had seen writing such as that anywhere.

She couldn't help but look at John strangely for a moment, was he not from here and from an island that she'd never been to. Than again he had said he'd lived here his whole, let alone ever having stepped past these safe stone walls. So than what was that, getting up she moved the stool a little closer to him, bringing her food with her.

Maybe she was just to far away and if she'd got closer the text would clear right up for her. Taking another sideways look she shook her head, letting a tiny frown past her lips. The move did little else but move her closer to her new friend. She still couldn't read what he was writing, somehow it seemed a little difficult to make out. Her eyes searched for any signs of patterns or distinctions in the script but she couldn't really find one.

Nodding at the realization that she just would have to wait until he told her or just long to know if he choose not to she looked to him. Her body relaxed in his company while she ate her breakfast wondering if he liked his. Or if he would tell her what she wanted to know.

[John Vicari]

As she moved closer to him he looked at her dress placing the food down, a soft tone cotton blue dress that fell a bit past her knees. It was tied in the back letting it pull in the waist line and show more of her curves along her body in his view. Her braided hair was a normal sight yet he had to wonder how many times she wore a dress in the wild as it did not look like it was used often. He took note of a small floral pattern along the borders on the neck line which was made in a v-cut. He had to wonder if it was a mark of the craftier but it worked for her as he had a smile along his face without even knowing it.

"Sure, The book is of a hard topic for most to understand and uses a lot of different terms then you find in day to day talking. While it is in common it takes a bit even for me when I am fluent in but well it is of Cryptography which is the art of making and breaking messages that are made to be safe from eyes that you don't want."

He said slowly to her showing her his copy and the main book. He was breaking it down into terms that she would understand more then the book terms that was used such as ciphering and the likes. It was not the fact he did not think she knew it but for the simple fact he wanted her to understand more then just newer terms.

"As for the food, I enjoy it. I know you can't really pick our meals at that place but it is the cheapest around and is always up to the house at the time. Yet I am enjoying it. Thank you for bringing some as I forget to eat often then not."

He said as he moved getting two blank parchments and another quill. He handed her the quill and one one of the parchments as he moved closer, his arms touching hers as he showed her his copy of the book.

"While they are both in common I know mine as I do put some in my own words even if I should not. I am told that will get better in time but here..You know how letters are made? But what if you had to keep something hidden but still write it? Well you would go to Cryptography which this is. As I was writing, you have a lot of codes but once you know a code it helps along with having a key which is...well the answer to work out the words...here..."

He pressed the quill in the ink and upon his parchment as he slowly wrote with skilled writing. 'I am John.' which was in common so she would understand it better then something she might not have.

"Now, anyone who knows how to read can see this. Well what if I do this?" He asked as he wrote under the words 'J bn kpio' as he showed it to her.

"Now can you understand it? It looks hard but once you know the key then you can break it and understand what it meant to as this books talks about. The code I used is a shift code it seems. What it means is it shifts the letters by an amount which can be different each time but if you knew what it was then you would be fine. This is a right shift 1. Which means each letter to moved to the right so you should move then back...So the J becomes the I, B becomes A and so on..."

He was slow in his talking looking at her and the letters showing her as he wrote slowly going step by step on what the book was talking about even as he was coping it he still did not know much other then what it said so it was the first time he was doing it as well. While he had a slight upper hand he was far from understanding the rest of it.

He never did teach anything but was hoping he was doing a good job at the task. He was doing what he would had liked and he remember the small lesson in Pavi she gave him last night.

He slowly wrote one more time as he thought of the letters. He wanted to make sure he knew it along with her knowing it as he looked back at the book. While anyone could learn from reading it was still hard to understand it as it was not the same as him having a teacher.

'Slbclgyzjc glrcpcrq'

It was very slow work for him as he kept pausing to think of the right letter as he wrote the letters as he looked at her handing it to her. "Shift left 2."

It was all he said as he waited to see if she could break it and understand the message as he took a small bite of food that she got him. Even if he had food around him he still forgot to eat if he was working on something and he was working on something as he was having a hard time even making a code that the book said was the simplest of the codes.

[Ryjaoka Windia]

She listened carefully to him taking in what he was saying while she let her eyes gaze at the book in front of him. She wasn't quite sure why anyone would use this type of language. Of course she knew that he said it was for giving secret messages. However, this concept was foreign to her by many means. First off why would you write something down to someone when you could simply tell them yourself. Sure than you could avoid all this work and save Mizas's a long with it.

Secondly she'd always been raised to speak her mind and stand strong in what she was saying. It was the way of the Drykas, whether it was smart or not she really wasn't sure. Through most of her travels she'd known others to keep quiet about what they had in mind and that was final. Maybe that was part of the reason she got kicked out of most places she entered. She'd given them a reason to throw her out, of course Ryjaoka knew that they wanted to from the beginning;but actually giving them a reason to do it was a whole other tale.

She smiled at him while he spoke to her trying to be the best teacher he could be. Ryjaoka took pride in the fact that he found her important enough to teach. Sure she had asked what he was doing, but he had choose to teach her instead. Keeping her quill to the paper she wrote to the best of her abilties what he was showing her. To her this wasn't too hard to learn, and it seemed almost simple. It was her common hand that was a little off it's game when she wrote.

Looking over the paper he'd handed her she looked at the jumbled word using her own paper she wrote out the word properly. It took her a minute to remember how to form the letters on paper for a moment. Recalling her teaches words and certain signs she'd seen around. Looking over the words one more time she checked it with her answer. "Does it say Undeniable Interest?" She was pretty sure that's what it had read, but than again she'd been wrong before.

Looking to him she wondered if he was going to think her as unintelligent if she had gotten it wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time that she was called naive or ignorant, or even arrogant before for getting a simple question wrong. Sometimes things weren't as easy as others seem to think them, and sometimes nerves could stop even the sharpest mind.

Looking down at her filled parchment she wondered if she could get him to read something she wrote down. Moving her quill to the ink she made sure to dip it carefully. Taking up the right amount of ink before bringing her pen down to the paper, drawing a word from their lesson yesterday she changed the letters of the Pavi as he had taught her. Looking it over she smiled, she wasn't sure if she should show him though.

She knew that when she had given the lesson he hadn't been all there with her. Of course she understood that seeing as before he'd seemingly lost his only family member. Not to mention the incident between them was a hard one to just forget and get on with learning. Still she still was curious to see if her lesson had been a success. Sliding the paper she paused again a new thought haunting her.

What if he took it as offense that she would show him a language he really didn't under stand? What if he thought her rude for trying to test him? Or worse what if he thought she was trying to trick him? All these possibilities and not one could she find had a happy ending. Each one ending in a lost friend and John saying goodbye. And for reasons she really didn't understand she just didn't want to lose John anytime soon.

[John Vicari]

He smiled at her as she got the terms right. He was very happy with her and how she grasped the idea behind it or at least on paper as he flashed her another smile.

“Very good job. Do you want to try it as well?” He asked, his eyes looking down to see what she wrote yet he did not pry to see it for she would show it to him if she wanted to in the end. He was sure he was not teaching the right way if a right way was about yet he was trying to still but shook the ideas out of his head as he moved the quill back in the ink then on his own sheet forming new words upon it as he worked at his own understanding of how one would use the skill in real life.

“Try this one...shift right 4...”

He said softly as he slowly wrote out the letters. It took him far longer as he paid mind to each letter each time shutting his eyes as if to recall the letters even using his fingers at times.

‘xlmw qiwweki mw jsv csy. e fmx levhiv fyx m eq wsvi csy ampp hs aipp. aljr csy fvieo mx tsoh qi.’

At last he was done after what felt like forever. Parts of the ink were lighter then others as the quill ran out along the tip yet he nodded to himself thinking it was right the first time and hoping he did not make any mistakes. It was very hard and long work for him but not on a body level yet mind level thinking of the letters in a new light. He even found he saw his own patterns in the code without knowing the key.

“If this is the simplest form then I feel very dumb when I need to copy the rest of that book. I will work on it in a bit after you crack this and if you have anything for me to crack.” He said softly as he pushed it towards her for her to take as he lean his neck back. His hands rubbing it slowly as he looked about the store still not seeing a soul. He was glad for that and would get back to work after his small little lesson with her. He would take the lesson back up after he wrote a few more pages and did hope she would understand why he had to work even with her around.

His work was not hard yet it did take time for he could not make any mistakes unlike some people who could fix them. His mistakes could cost lives in the end if he made a mistake in a magic tome that someone was learning or even a mistake in this book and learn a term wrong doing it somehow.

“I would like to learn more Pavi later on if you had the chance and also something I wanted to ask you yet not sure how you would take it...it is a odd question...” He said very slowly with his eyes shut letting them rest a bit from reading and writing. He really was unsure how she would handle his request but for some reason he wanted to ask her about it.

Maybe it was his fear of being alone or his feelings for her which he was unsure why he had. Friendship was such a odd term for him even if it looked like he lived a normal life he never did understand the term. His twin sister was family and he always thought it was normal in that sense but she was far from family. She made him ponder and enjoy himself. Maybe he would find the answers in time? Yet he just wished he knew then as he waited for her reply without opening his eyes for fear of her look.

[Ryjaoka Windia]

Smiling to herself that she had gotten it right on the first try she kept her confidence high. She knew that she would learn it eventually because she knew that she would continue to try it even if he stopped teaching her. Looking at him she nodded before looking back down on her paper, she would give him this one. But she would wait until a later time when he knew more of her native language. When he was sure of letters in the tongue so he could descipher which to replace it with.

Hearing his question she smiled at him. "I'm ready for it," she stated calmly not wanting to sound to excited to solve another one of these puzzles. Watching as he wrote down each letter calmly she began trying to do it and remember what she had come up with. Deciding that in the end it was better to wait she let her gaze stretch out over the store.

It was empty except for them and somehow she wanted it to stay that way. In a weird way she enjoyed her alone time with John, he was different to her. Somehow more interesting than even the most adventurious of travelers. Maybe it was for the simple fact that he was nice to her that she found him so interesting.

Although that was probably a good reason she doubted that it was the only one. Maybe it was for the fact that he never really told what he was thinking, that fact that he kept a mystery around himself. She was always use to Drykas's just speaking their mind right out and never keeping their business to themselves. Letting her eyes looking over at his writing she smiled at him, he was a friend that she thought would never exists, but instead hoped for.

Looking at the paper being slid towards her she smiled at it seeing how long it was. Setting her quill in the ink she began the task of writing out the common that it would take to decode this message. As she worked she found herself frowning the more she moved the letters over to the four place mark as instructed. The sentence didn't make sense to her, she didn't get it in the slightest. All she seemed to get were the letters in a scrambled order.

Sighing in defeat she looked over at him before moving the paper over with what she wrote. "That's what I got, I know it's wrong but I don't know how," she says looking at the print. Her parchment reading bpqa umaaiom qa owz gwc. i jqb pizlpz jcb q iu avzm gwc eqtt lw emtt. epnv gwc jzmis qa xwsl um. The series of letters making her both embarrassed and angry she had not gotten it this time around.

Moving to her own parchment she thought about what to write and have him decode. With a smile she started to come up with a simple sentence that she hoped would be both amusing to him and meaningful to test his skill on.

"Move 5 to the right," she instructed him sliding over her parchment to him. Hoping that she had done it right and he would get it. rcvo yj tjp cvqz oj vnf was what the parchment read. Sliding over the words she looked at him waiting to see if he got it. Hoping that she had done it right.