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[longwillows]

reach out?

the smell of fresh water in dry desert air. the feeling of cautious curiosity. a place as dangerous as it is resplendent.

c

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[longwillows]

[Having anticipated needing to clarify that, the answering thoughtful wind blows more in the direction of deciding how much of his unspoken curiosity to indulge. In the meantime, she focuses on the actual question.] Well, I'm mortal as far as I know, so I still had to be raised like a mortal child. Taught speech and language, and all that.

I had to learn speech as normal, and Common the way most mortals do, accumulating knowledge of what words go with what concepts. But I never had to be told what the word for a concept was in Celestial; it came to me as soon as I understood the concept being described.

So, I look at this... [She tilts the ring a few times in indication.] ...and my caretakers would tell me that in Common, it's called a "ring." A small piece of round jewelry for a finger. And then I would just know— in Celestial, it's a (ring.) Like I already knew the word, I just needed the thing it went to. I still had to practice saying it, but the mouth movements came much more naturally to me than speaking Common.

[This all feels like something that most people would consider incredibly boring. Thankfully, Arthur is not most people. Still, she decides to volunteer the main point of interest in this object. For her, anyway. Nostalgia and a pang of yearning underscore the wistful candor of her explanation.] My first partner had this made for me. He's an aasimar too— the first other I'd ever met.