28-Spring-514
The sergeant's finger thudded against the desk as he impatiently waited for the teacher to arrive. It had been years since Markus had last been on the school bench. He could safely say he had not missed it one bit. He sighed as he considered if skipping classes would look bad on his records. The teacher might not even notice he was missing.Markus looked around the room and saw plenty of empty chairs and barren tables. He was all alone. Perhaps his absence would be noticed should he sneak out. He heard the door open behind him and turned to look at his teacher. Sergeant knight Tyr Rhanan. His former superior, now colleague appeared from the doorway.
'Hello Markus. Ready for 4 bells of exciting lectures?!'
”Not particularly, ser.” Both smiled strained to one another. No doubt that the student didn't want to be sitting here.
'Right. Well, pay attention anyhow. Today we will be going over the basics of the Ekeldi language – the way to form simple commands and words.' Rhanan placed a book on Markus' table. A hefty book and Markus opened it and to his delight saw it was mostly drawings of hands accompanied with words underneath. A simple translation. But the more pages Markus flipped, the more he realized he was going to be learning an entire new language of gestures and signs.
Petch me...
'Right, close the book and focus on me. You probably know some of these commands.' Rhanan held up the palm of his hand flatly towards Markus. ”Stop, I assume.” Rhanan nodded and went on to the next gesture. His thumb up and the rest of the fingers folded into a fist. ”Yes or excellent?” Another nod and he continued. His ring finger bent, thumb moved across his palm and locked the finger against the palm index and middle finger close together as they, and the little finger, was stretched out. The little finger and index/middle finger was spread apart, creating a larger gap. Markus stared with a raised brow for a couple of moments before shrugging. ”I don't know.”
'A fork in the road.' Markus nodded. He did not understand why they had a word for that. But okay. And how was that a basic word? Why? Who was he to argue with a foreign language. Rhanan continued this way for close to ten chimes. The further he got and less common the gestures became Markus got more wrong than he did right. But all in all he was satisfied with his answers. Could not be expected to know more than the most basic of universal signs.
'Well, you got a basic grasp of those signs. But half the challenge with Ekeldi is getting your fingers to make the intricate movements. This.' He left two fingers up. 'Is simply two. But this.' He pointed at his eyes. 'Means: I see or simply see.' - Markus nodded slowly. He could see the difference, but making such a simple mistake in the field might cause confusion and that last thing a commander needed was more confusion when he led his troops. Markus made a mental note to remember the small things when using the Ekeldi language. 'There are many similar signs, so you have to be sure that you're doing them correctly.' Markus hand raised to catch the thing Rhanan just tossed to him. A coin? He looked at the silver coin, there was nothing special about it. Curiously he looked to sergeant Rhanan who also held a coin which he then began to move across his outstretched fingers. The coin turned about as he gracefully moved it from finger to finger.
'A simple exercise to prepare your fingers for the intricate movements.' Markus nodded. Great, he was going to be doing homework in the form of juggling a coin.
"So you are not paying me to get the petch out of here before you lose your patience?" The lack of both smile and laughter told Markus that jokes were not appreciated at this bell.
