• Graded • [University] Working together again

[Aeodan]

3 Cyclus 717

"Aeodan?" He heard the voice through the stacks of papers and books, and his full-lipped face squirreled around the stack to look at Neville, the researcher he was assigned to. Neville was a squat man with mutton chops and a red face, but he treated Aeodan well and didn't push him too far physically. Neville smiled at Aeodan, holding out a manuscript bound with twine.

"I need you to take this to the historians, and help one of theirs copy and transcribe it. Before you ask, it's a field evaluation of some remains found at an old dig site in the Eastern Settlement, and yes, you can read everything first. But do it quickly, yes? I'm going to give you four breaks total. Don't disappoint me." He sounded stern, but Aeodan knew him better than that.

Excitement pounded in his chest as he snatched up the manuscript, rushing off to find Edalene. He knew that they were likely to ask her to do it anyway, so he decided to cut out the middle man and go right to her. Plus, it afforded him a chance to avoid talking to other people, which was always preferable to the Burnett boy.

His legs were sore from squatting, which made his already slow gait even slower, but he still made good time, finding Edalene in ten bits. He held the manuscript out with a smile.

"Guess what, sister darling? I've brought something on which we can collaborate. Neville gave it to me, and I thought directly of you." With a smile, he plopped down on a chair next to her. He laid the book out on the table and waited for her to examine it. He knew that she was likely overloaded with work already, but any chance he got to see her, he would take.

As closely as they worked, they did not see each other at the University often. Many times, they made excuses or found time specifically to see each other, often to eat lunch. Aeodan enjoyed their time together, cherishing it as much as he cherished the work itself.

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[Edalene]

Edalene sighed, stretching back in her chair, her spine cracking as she did so. She'd been stuck with this transcription all trial, and her basic Rakahi simply was not cutting it. She had a dictionary laid out before her, as well as fresh parchment, and ink blots scattered along the table. Her hair, as always, was frazzled, and there was a large dash of ink along her cheek, where she had rubbed her face absent-mindedly. Edalene looked a mess, but her mind was sharp as ever.

Luckily she did not have to finish this translation until the next trial. Her language skills simply weren't up to scratch, and it frustrated her. She could ask Aeodan tonight for help, but she didn't want to be bogged down in this all evening. All she wanted to do was crack a bottle of wine and stretch out in bed for the evening. Maybe she could even coax her brother away from his books for the night ... but she doubted it.

The door to the staffroom swung open, and Edalene broke into a smile when she saw who it was. Sitting straighter, she patted the chair next to her, and Aeodan sat next to her, buzzing with excitement. Her twin always made her feel warm - his excitement from his work was infectious. Edalene pushed all of her work out of the way, most likely making Aeodan cringe with the haphazard way she handled the manuscript. She had respect for books. Just not the ones she didn't like.

"Oh thank the Immortals," she breathed, turning to inspect what Aeodan had brought her. "I really didn't want to do that translation." The book was not so much a book, as a collection of notes bound roughly together. The script was messy, and she read over the contents. "Hmmm. Linguistics? This is your field, Aeodan, not mine." Edalene grinned at her brother. "Or did you just miss me so much you wanted to come give your big sister a hug?" Edalene turned back to the book, flicking through the pages. It seemed to be something which catalogued artefacts found in the Eastern Settlement. The notes even had dust still on them from the field. Edalene leant back, and waited for her brother to explain. Anything to distract her from that translation. Anything.

[Aeodan]

Aeodan smiled brightly at his sister's back as she turned to leaf through the pages. He knew that she would bite, even if only to get away from some of her own work. And not that Aeodan needed the help, he just enjoyed his sister's company. So he leaned on the desk next to her, standing over her as she flipped the pages.

"Can you blame me, Eda?" He chuckled. "You're the coolest person I know here." He laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And this should be something we could enjoy together. Flip to the second-to-last page."

He smiled and did it for her, too excited to wait for her to languidly do what he requested. The first entry on the page was one of a tablet, inscribed with written rules for a codex that was previously less-known. The language, Joukadri Cuts, was one that a tribe in the Eastern Settlement used long ago, and that they still continued to use in some remote off-shoots of the tribe's remnants. For Aeodan and Edalene, though, it was a whole new world. The next three entries under the tablet were skeletal remains, inscribed in the very bones with Joukadri Cuts.

"Figured you'd want to be one of the first to study this. Except Neville, of course. He gets all the fun." Aeodan joked, poking Eda gently in the side as if to tickle her.

"Unless you have better things to do? Lunch with a gentlemen caller, perhaps?" He bit his lip, unsure of her response. He missed her, and hoped she wouldn't have something else to do. But he would understand if she did. He knew it was too juicy for her to refuse though. His curiosity was alit, he could only imagine hers.

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[Edalene]

Edalene leaned her elbow on the table, putting her cheek on her hand and looking over at her brother. He looked so excited, and it filled her with warmth. Outside of work, he was quiet, contemplative, but here, on the hunt for knowledge, he simply couldn't resist himself. Edalene was always so happy to see her brother this way. It warmed her more than anything.

She leaned into the hand on her shoulder, laughing with him. Cool? Edalene, cool? "I think you and I have different definitions of cool to most people, Aeodan," she laughed, shaking her head. Edalene leaned in to look at the page that he told her to flip to, chuckling when he impatiently flipped to the page himself. "Okay, okay, calm down." The tablet on the page was filled with cuts she didn't know, but recognised as Joudakri Cuts, a written language from the Eastern Settlements. Not just on the tablet, but on the bones, sketched out on the page in dust ink, too. Edalene traced a finger over the sketches, and leaned back, eyes sparkling with eagerness to delve into a new mystery.

"Hmmm," she pondered, her eyes narrowed. It was the expression she got when she became focused. Aeodan went silent, and didn't sleep - Edalene became sharp, methodical, almost ruthless in her dedication to the work. Colleagues had been known to avoid her for fear of a sharp word in their direction when she became like this. Edalene laughed, lightly, but not quite as heartily as she had before, as he leaned in to poke her in the side. "Come now, Aeodan," she murmured, leaning back to the page, her eyes not drifting from the cuts. "You know my lady and gentleman callers only come by once the sun goes down." Biting her lips, she made a decision.

"So. Tell me. What did they find at the site? What does your department want from ours?" She rummaged along the desk, finding a fresh sheet of parchment, and a inkwell and quill. She was ready to work.

[Aeodan]

"Personally, I think that Linguistics just wanted to make sure that all of the items had been logged and catalogued by History, so that when they started doing true translation, they had a record of the instruments and bones. But this gives us a chance to spend some time together."

His grin was infectious, and he knew it. He was so excited about the Cuts, and the little Translation guide provided in the text would make it simple for the two of them to record and organize the items mentioned. It was tedious, all the scribing, but at least the two of them could do it together. With a smile, Aeodan let Eda get set up with her parchment and quill.

"I overheard Neville talking... D'ya see the cuts along the ribcage on Item One? He's never seen that pattern before... He thinks that it denotes royalty or a chieftain or something. Eda, this could be a massive breakthrough for the Joukadri, both anthropologically and historically. With this, we could discover their tribal beginnings. Doesn't that excite you so much?!"

He hugged her tightly from behind, his weak arms shaking with excitement. He took a deep breath to steady himself, calming in the scent of Edalene's hair, before releasing her. When he looked at her, the silvery mark over his eye shone.

"Okay, sorry, sorry. We should start with the Item One, though. Maybe categorize it under Bones, but also under New Findings? A cross-reference should make things easier." He grinned and plopped down next to her, letting her write. His rapid mind made his handwriting atrocious, and Eda's was so pretty. At least, to him. Granted, he idolized everything she did.

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[Edalene]

Edalene leaned back into the hug, and loved that her brother was so excited. She sent him a quick smile, but did not match his obvious enthusiasm. That said, it did not mean she did not feel the excitement as keenly as he did, but rather, her excitement at new work transformed within her into a steely determination.

"Okay, so, we're cataloguing the details of each find." Her eyes drifted over to the translation key. Aeodan's abilities with languages would be useful here. Not that Edalene herself did not also have a good grasp of language, but it was her brother's speciality. Edalene would write, cross-reference to the settlements and tribes, and Aeodan would dive into the language side of things. The twins were a well-known pair, and often when the departments had to work together, they would send either Edalene or Aeodan, knowing the two could be trusted to work quickly and methodically together.

Edalene let her eyes intently study the cuts on the ribcage, nodding absently as she pondered what she knew of the tribes. It was not over much, but with research and cross referencing, Edalene would be able to make some new insights. "One moment," she said, standing, drifting over to the other side of the staffroom, looking at the bookshelves. Ah. There. She picked a book up, a slim but dense volume. The Catalogue of Ancient Civilizations. She brought it back to the table. "Just in case," she explained to Aeodan, before picking up the quill again.

Edalene took her time to write out the headings Aeodan had suggested, neatly and methodically, as such:

Item One
Bones, New Finding.
Preserved ribcage, no sign of flesh. Most likely around three fifty arcs. Jourkadri Cuts inscribed along first to fifth ribs on both sides.

She paused, turned to Aeodan. "Will your department be okay with this set up? It's what we use in the history department." She waited for Aeodan to reply, before elaborating. "Oh, and when we're done, I should copy this out twice. History will want to write a paper on this, and I imagine Anthropology will, too." She nodded, waiting for his approval. "Now. Language time. Time to decipher." Edalene let her eyes travel over her brother's mark, before leaning back and smiling. "Work your magic, brother."

[Aeodan]

The mark of Yvithia was meant for those that were linguistically gifted, but did not mean that they knew every language perfectly. Especially at Aeodan's level of devotion, he was barely able to even read body language, which he'd been trying to learn his entire life. His mark may have given him an edge, but not one too serious.

However, the real magic was in Aeodan's waistband, intentionally hidden before he approached his sister. Before he embarked on his journey to share these discoveries with Eda, Neville had given him a linguistic primer that he had been working on regarding the Joukadri tribes and their unique written language. The little notebook was slim, but contained a decent amount of information regarding the Joukadri cuts, and how to translate them as closely as possible to Common. It wasn't complete, but it would serve as a really good base from which to launch. Triumphantly, as if he'd pulled off a magnificent ruse, he pulled the notebook from his waistband and showed it to Eda.

"My lady's gift is not a puppy to call upon when you wish, but this may make up for it. Before I left the Anthro wing, Neville lent me his personal notebook. It's like my gift, but tailored specifically for this task. Look at this!"

Excited, Aeodan tried to open the notebook, but instead sent it flying across the room. Blushing furiously, Aeodan rushed to his feet and stomped over to the notebook. Growling, he bent over and snatched it from the floor, planting it on the table in front of her. The first series of crude scratch marks denoted a male of the tribe, the next much shorter and sharper, showing a vaguely feminine symbol in their shape. Next to it was a note, scribbled in beautiful script. "Would be guttural if spoken, but is reminiscent of glyphs in writing."

"This should help. So Item One, the first inscription..." He flipped through the notebook, holding it in front of the drawing of the item to compare. Luckily, the artist in charge of copying the Joukadri cuts drew them up close, allowing the two a better view of the sharp lines in the ribcage.

"Uh... Is that 'cat' or 'young', do you think?" It could have gone either way. The lines next to cat were short, harsh with a soft-connector between the two. The one for young were similar, with the connector being slightly longer and turned up at the edge. His large doe-like eyes settled on Edalene, asking for her opinion. He was pretty sure it was young, but he wanted her to affirm his belief.

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[Edalene]

Edalene snorted in laughter at her twin. He had tried to be so regal, bravely defending his gift from Yvithia, but instead he simply sent the little notebook flying in a fantastic arc over the history staffroom. He seemed so quiet and demure, and then his excitement got the better of him. Many who knew her brother would think he was unaffected. Edalene knew better - there was a swirl of knowledge and excitement that lived inside Aeodan, and it gave her joy to be able to see it.

Edalene hid her smile behind her hand as he grumbled, picking up the primer and coming back to the table, dropping it in a huff in front of her. With a soft chuckle, Edalene leaned forward and picked it up, sending a sly smile over to Aeodan. "That was ... elegant," she giggled, before sobering and returning to the notebook. As she flipped through it, she noticed the amount of research and work.

"Oh," she whispered, flicking through the pages. "This is actually amazing. So much research... what has the Anthropology Department been hiding for us? This would actually help Marcus a lot with his research." Marcus was the one who focused on the Joukardi tribes. Edalene's own focus and interest was more on nobility and structures of hegemonic power, but as an Assistant Researcher, she needed to work on whatever was given to her.

The cuts were interesting, as the twins compared them to the bones found in the field. They were primal, and rough, but there was an elegance about them, an almost mathematical beauty to the way the language was written. Edalene had very little experience with pictographic languages, preferring to focus her study on morphological ones, but it reminded her in a way of mathematics - if you could find the rule, you could decode the meaning.

"Hmmm," she pondered, eyes flicking between the primer and the drawings. "I think it's young. They look similar, but you see the upturn here?" She pointed it out, and then began to move ahead, knowing somehow that the two would be in agreement, as they always were. "And here... this looks like the word for 'king'. But I can't decipher the ones after... perhaps a name?"

[Aeodan]

Aeodan smiled as his sister worked, eyes remaining on the drawing. She was right, the first rune ended up looking more like 'young', but it certainly had something strange about it. Aeodan too thought the Cuts were beautiful and systematic, elegant in the rigidity of their structuring. However, his curiosity outweighed the admiration of the language. He was far too interested in what it said, rather than how it said it.

"Hm... I don't think so. Look here." He pointed at the tail-end of the Cut Edalene described as "king". The rune for "king" in Neville's note appeared as two solid cuts, vertical, connected by a rounded circle in the middle, like a strange "|

|". But the rune in question had a sharper middle piece, like a horizontal bar connecting them like the Common 'H'. He scanned the list that Neville had written, frowning. Surely, it had to be "king", but it appeared more like "record-keeper'. Suddenly, it occurred to Aeodan that the pictographic similarity was intentional.

"Right here... The connecting line between the two is more horizontal and lengthy, rather than a circular dot like in 'king'. I think it appears more as 'record-keeper', but... What if the two are essentially the same? Look how hard it is to spot the difference... What if that was intentional?" He smiled. "Can we operate under the assumption that it could be either, and they are interchangeable? Because I think it helps decipher the next string. Look."

He pointed to the notebook, showing the singular alphabetic lines that Neville had hastily drawn. "It's definitely a name. The first three sigils, shown here..." A slash, a diagonal-dot-vertical combination, and a straight vertical with a break at the top, "Are letters. C-H-L. So if we assume that their names are vowel-less, this could literally 'Young Record-keeper King, CHL.' If that's the case, then the first rib is dedicated to describing the person."

There was a lot of speculation, but Aeodan understood innately how languages worked. If his assumptions were correct, which was entirely possible, they'd figured out the Jourkadri Man's name. CHL, or 'Cull" in the Common Tongue. Smiling, Aeodan beamed at his sister.

"Wonder what CHL here did to warrant his Cuts, eh?" He grinned, curiosity covering his face and making his eyes sparkle.

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[Edalene]

Edalene hummed to herself as she pored over the primer, Aeodan explaining the difference in the cuts. This is why Edalene preferred languages written with letters, not pictures - but Aeodan was so engrossed in the translation process, and it made her smile. Briefly, she thought of the paper she was working on in her own time - an essay on the history of horse trading in noble houses of Rynmere - but she could spare a few more bits with Aeodan, especially as he was so happy.

"That could make sense," she murmured, looking again at the runes. They did look awfully similar, so similar that at a quick glance a passerby might assume them to mean the same thing. "In that case, the record keeper would hold more of the power in the tribe. I suppose - wait." A thought occured to her. "Do you know if the Joukardi recorded history through written texts? What was the literacy like?" Chances are, Aeodan would not know, but as the idea formed in her head, she kept speaking, a stream of consciousness. "If literacy was low in the tribes, then possibly it was a position of honour - the tribal equivalent of a king, or chieftain - to record the history of the tribe. Whoever has knowledge, has power, right?" She sent a smile over to Aeodan. It made sense to her, but only the Anthropology department would be able to confirm it.

"Sorry if I rambled. It just... seems to make sense to me." She smiled ruefully, and then bent over the parchment again. Picking up her quill, she added to the notes they already had, so the paper showed thus:

Item One
Bones, New Finding.
Preserved ribcage, no sign of flesh. Most likely around three fifty arcs. Jourkadri Cuts inscribed along first to fifth ribs on both sides.
Translation: "Young Record-Keeper King, CHL."
Note: Record-keeper/king seem to be interchangable in meaning.

"How's that?" Edalene asked, sitting back, admiring her handiwork. "Does that live up to the Anthropology department's expectations?" She grinned at her brother, feeling proud of how well they worked together - and how easily. And then - all of a sudden - it occurred to her. "Shit!" she cried, leaping up, gathering her things. "I have to get to the library - I promised Professor Hayes I'd get her a textbook before her lecture, it's about to start! I have to go!" She leant down to kiss her brother on the cheek. "Feel free to stay as long as you need to. I love you!" She began to run out of the staffroom. "See you at home, Aeodan!" And with that, she was gone, all frazzled and hurried, leaving Aeodan with the cuts and the ribcage of a dead king.