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Characters involved:
Mchawi (xxx)
Sarangerel (xxx)
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"Gas out of kae voae, kaosrarbroem!"
To the Nergui, the language made complete and perfect sense. They had created it themselves and used it since the day of the Founding. It was a mix of dialects made even more incomprehensible by the bizarre pronunciations that would make even familiar words sound wrong to those who did not speak it.
Mchawi was one of those lions who did not and she had been here for a good few weeks now. The Nergui - on the whole - seemed to detest talking in the common tongue. Though she had been quick to realise that a lot of them probably couldn't speak it. It also hadn't helped matters by the fact that no one had bothered to teach her the language. Not that the witch minded, of course. It gave her something to do during the long days of doing nothing. She thought of the slaves on their mindless tasks and sometimes almost envied them. They, at least, had a purpose that kept them occupied.
She did not. For the most part, anyway.
It seemed her day was about to get interesting, though, from the angrily raised voice coming her way.
Dressing her face in the most exaggerated of smiles, the seer rose onto her paws to greet the strange foreigner, her ears drawn forwards to make her more appealing, perhaps. The low, guttural language sometimes made it difficult to hear whether the speaker was male or female - but she recognised this tone. A moment later and her eyes confirmed it.
It was the one they called Sarangerel or Faivkol. The latter appeared to be a term of respect, judging from how it was spoken. The female was large, too. Almost monstrous looking with her perfectly carved snarl and flattened ears. Beneath her forepaws she had pinned a raven and it flapped angrily in an attempt to escape.
"Ah, Faivkol. What an honour it is to see you here. How can I help you? And Moma, please do stop struggling. You're going to hurt yourself." She put exaggerated sweetness into her tone, hoping to provoke a reaction.
It did.
"Yui shut your kuisr you kersrae sud-kvovm" Sarangerel drew herself up high and mighty. "Vrara is Muunokhoi?"
"Muunokhoi?" Mchawi questioned. She knew full well who he was, of course. Who didn't? He was a bad-tempered creature, as monstrous and grotesque as many of the other males in this land. The seer didn't need to speak the language to know the pair were mated. "Sorry, I haven't seen him today. Perhaps he went to visit another female?" It was a dangerous game she was playing but she was invulnerable against claws for as long as the Nergui needed her.
Those claws, however, curled into the raven's body and the creature uttered a horrific shriek.
"Emuisr of your srecdk, sud-kvovm, I dmuv he vok here aorrear."
"My dear, Faivkol. I do believe you should have brought a translator. This is getting us nowhere." Although this was rather interesting. She clearly did not trust her mate. What did she think he had been doing then? Dropping by to see the awe-inspiring seer, perhaps? She smiled inwardly at the thought. A jealous female hunting down her cheating male. Did this Sarangerel really think she'd touch that scruffy male? She had higher standards than that!
Sarangerel growled.
"Now please." Mchawi continued with all the reasoning in the world. "Release my feathered companion, will you?"
Whether it was that her initial anger had abated or she had understood, a moment later, the Nergui did release the raven. And free from claws, the bird leapt into the air, hurtling past Mchawi at such speed that the tips of her wings clipped her cheek. The seer paid no heed to the wounded avian, however, her eyes fixed on the other female.
"Do you understand what I say?"
The next word came out mostly as a growl; "No."
Mchawi believed her. The way she had struggled to get that simple word out of her mouth left her with little doubt. She'd probably learned that one single word for situations like this. Which meant it was all rather helpless.
"If you are looking for Muunokhoi, you should try another female. I'm no whore." And, for all the lies and deceit, that was the honest truth. She had no interest in him or any other scruffy Nergui male. She liked to manipulate them, yes, but nothing more than that.
Sarangerel drew herself up even taller and sucked in a sharp breath. Her tail whipped from side to side behind her and then she spoke again; though it was truly a pointless task. "I am vormems you now. Ik I see aeui two susasrar osoem, I will koda you rasras es. Gud-kvovm ur not, ra is kema omd es is vesrem my resrs to vrusacs vros barumsk to me."
It always amazed Mchawi how much you could get from a tone. She had barely understood a word and yet the rigid posture, the curled muzzle and the fierce way in which she spat those words. She'd have to be stupid to not get the message. It was a warning to her. To keep away from Muunokhoi. The female was clearly delusional, or perhaps just plain stupid.
"You are important. I understand that. But so am I. We should respect one another, not hate one another." Again her words were empty. She cared little for the sharing of respect. So long as she had theirs, that was all that truly mattered. "I am Kaar Oma. You should not forget it." And she was glad, at least, that she had learnt that phrase because Sarangerel's eyes darkened with fury and with great restraint she turned and left.
Kaar Oma was what the Nergui liked to call Mchawi, for she was a powerful and wise seer with a reputation to be feared.
She sat, sentry-like, for a moment, listening to the sound of roars of pain somewhere off on the distant. The group of slaves were returning from their mindless tasks and soon the Nergui who were not on duty would pass their social time by tormenting them. Sometimes Mchawi would watch them, finding a strange amusement in their barbaric antics and the pitiful shrieks of the enslaved lions.
Other times she closed her eyes and imagined those screams belonged to others.
