@Catkidemma Oof, be ready for a long, long post! I went off on a great number of tangents and included linguistic shenanigans before even getting to the story, oops!
P.S. Really looking forward to reading your reply! I'm sure Merida said a whole lot of interesting things, even if Zenza couldn't understand them. :D (I'm basing this on canon lore by the way, read the coatl encyclopedia page if you haven't done that in a while!)
P.P.S. Yes, this thing took several hours, so it's definitely going in Zenza's bio. XD It was useful for sorting out some things regarding my clan, and gave me one rather cool idea for another thing, so thank you very much!
Zenza went into the cafe and found herself a seat in the corner, where the sun streamed through the window and glinted off of her bright green eyes. She curled her wings in around herself and sat there, letting her gaze roam over the multitude of visitors, and listening in to all of the different hums of dragons talking to each other. If she concentrated, Zenza could make out the different 'words' and understand what they were saying. However, sometimes she enjoyed just letting the humming wash over her, like birdsong, without focusing on the meaning behind it.
In the general hum of conversation, a voice stood out to Zenza. It was the unmistakably melodic voice of another coatl, managing much more fluent draconic tongue than Zenza had ever achieved. Obviously the result of some serious study and practice. Zenza chirped a greeting in coatl, and the other dragon replied in turn, before switching to draconic again and continuing his dialogue with one of the baristas. Her own draconic was rudimentary - sufficiently fluent to get her point across, not fluent enough to be poetic about it, nor was her pronunciation particularly good. Zenza spent most of her time around other coatls, and enjoying using coatl tongue a lot more than draconic, so she didn't have much practice. She didn't mind though; if she needed to tell another dragon something, she could, and if she wanted to have a long conversation there were many coatl friends with whom it was always a pleasure to chat.
This morning though, Zenza was feeling oddly philosophical, and had for some reason decided to visit a neighbouring flight, find a cafe, stay a while and see whom she ended up meeting. The first nice-looking (and nice-sounding) cafe she came across, Zenza went into. Paying for food with a story seemed like an interesting concept, so she decided she would try it out. There didn't seem to be any baristas free at the moment, but Zenza was in no hurry. Just sitting here in the company of other happy dragons put her in a good mood- Zenza had always been unusually (for a coatl) sensitive to the mood surrounding her, which wasn't a hindrance in the forest, but could occasionally cause problems in densely populated areas without trees or running water to calm her down. It seemed that she would have no such problems here though - the atmosphere was friendly.
One of the customers, finished their meal, said their thanks, and left. This meant that now there was a barista available. A fae. Zenza uncurled her tail and titled her head to one side, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. Faes had always intrigued her a little - so small and insect-like, yet so dragon-ish and often incredibly powerful magic users. And all the more mysterious through being completely impossible to understand. Zenza knew of a very small hand-full of coatls who had successfully mastered the art of understand of understanding faes. But with no tonal variations, having to rely purely on the lengths of and intervals between hums, it was a rather difficult mind puzzle. As one of them put it, 'in non-coatl terms, it's like deciphering speech without any vowels'. Although another insisted that 'without any consonants' was a more accurate comparison. 'And even then, there are far more different tones to guess at than there are consonants available.'
This particular fae approached Zenza, fluttering her wings, and perched on a nearby chair. Even before she'd landed, she began making a series of energetic movements with her head crests, and humming something in monotone. Hum... hum-hum-hum, hum... hum... hum-hum... Zenza waited for a lull in the humming before speaking. "Hello, my name is Zenza. I'd like a fruity drink of some kind - anything you have, really, although I'm rather partial to pineapple. I'll tell a story, and afterwards I'd like some seafood, if you have any... I know that faes don't eat fish, and nor do skydancers, pearlcatchers or nocturnes, but I'm certain I can smell octopus from somewhere over there." Zenza gestured towards the opposite corner, where a young guardian was talking about something with a red-and-green nocturne. The fae hummed some more and then fluttered away, only to return shortly with a tall glass containing an amber-coloured liquid. Dipping her tongue into it, Zenza caught the taste of pineapple, cherry, kiwi and probably nectarine. A few ice cubes kept the drink cool, and Zenza picked it up with one of her front paws and took a sip.
"Thank you." she smiled. "This is very nice." The fae hummed something in response again. Then she fluttered over onto Zenza's shoulder and Hum-hum, hum, hum-hum-hum-hum-hum... hum-hum-hum... a rapid stream of hums. Several questions, by the look of it. However incomprehensible fae speech itself was, after interacting with the faes that lived in her clan, there were a couple of crest positions that she recognised, and among them was a 'please answer' position. "I'm sorry," said Zenza, "I can't understand you. I can speak draconic, but I can't understand it when faes speak it."
The fae hummed a few more questions, crest and fins shifting into a position of acute puzzlement. "You're asking about me speaking to you earlier? Touch your left wing with your paw if you are." The fae hummed again, the expression of acute puzzlement remained, but she hesitantly touched her paw to her wing. "Well, that's simple. No, I didn't understand what you were saying. But I can understand a little when non-fae dragons speak, so I gathered the gist of your typical greeting, and responded in turn."
"Sorry, perhaps I should have said I couldn't understand you earlier." Zenza continued, when the fae replied with a lot more humming and and crest movements, at an even greater frequency than before.
Hum-hum, hum, hum... the fae made a hand gesture towards the nocturne, who of all the other baristas was sitting the closest to them, and made as if to fly in that direction.
"No, please don't." Zenza asked. "Please don't leave. I may not understand you, but you can understand me. Besides, I wouldn't want to interrupt those two, they seem to be rather enjoying their conversation. Surely I could tell my story to you?"
The fae hesitated, then hummed a few words as though to herself, and touched her left wing with her paw again. "Is that a yes?" Touch. "Thank you." Zenza responded, taking another sip of the fruit drink. "You seem nice." she added. Hum... hum-hum... "Anyway, this story, it's not really my story, it's more... a story about the clan I joined." Zenza began.
"At its heart, it is a Wind clan. It started with Kerys and Sneaky... from what Labyrinth told me, Kerys's original aim was to make lots of kites, pinwheels, wind chimes and similar things for the winds of the Windswept Plateau to play with - Kerys really likes hearing the wind sound happy - and the lairs built around it all were just a sort of by-product of other dragons liking the idea and wanting to live nearby. Labyrinth was one of the first to join the clan, so he has experienced most of its history first-hand." Zenza took another drink, then caught one of the little pineapple cubes and chewed it thoughtfully, while the fae started her pleasant, monotone humming again.
"The interesting thing is," Zenza continued, "some dragons joined the clan for a short while and then traveled elsewhere, but kept in contact via letters, came to visit occasionally, received visitors themselves... kind of like an extended family, but an extended clan. And then other dragons met those dragons, and those dragons introduced them to the clan. In this way, the number of dragons who are part of our clan grew... there's probably a few travelers in each of the flights by now, I should think. Not surprising really, considering the Windy penchant for traveling. The majority of 'permanent' living spaces are in the Windsinger's domain though. That and on the boundary of the Shadowbinder's and the Gladekeeper's domain. It started with Faheel and Emma, who sought shelter on the Windswept Plateau for a time, before moving on to the Viridian Labyrinth which called to their hearts. It is believed that only guardians have Charges, but it is my opinion that those two tundras felt the call of those forests in the same way that a guardian hears the call of their Charge. They certainly protect it as diligently as any guardian." Here Zenza paused to drink some more, since her throat began to feel a little dry from all the talking - draconic tongue talking, no less.
"Many dragons joined Faheel and Emma in the Viridian Labyrinth, and a number of them had friends in the Tangled Wood. So it happened that now a large subgroup of our clan lives on or around that boundary. I also live there now, on the Nature side - Shadow is interesting for a visit, but I prefer to have broad green leaves above my head and surrounding my home. Interestingly enough though," she added, "I notice that the fir trees here in light are very similar to the fir trees in shadow! They even sound similar. Have you ever looked at the boundary between Light and Shadow?" she asked. "It's all most interesting. I'm thinking of one day visiting the other flights as well, just to see what kinds of trees grow there. I've rarely gone far from the Gladekeeper's domain, you know. Only visited Wind once, and Nature's neighboring flights a couple of times, and of course the Tangled Wood a couple more times over that. Since Cornsnake invited me to join the clan, I've gotten to know a lot of the other clan members, including those who live in the Tangled Wood. Cornsnake is a coatl too, by the way, and has also been with the clan nearly from the start. She's got a very pale coat, but she's quite healthy, not ill at all! She was born with her colours, and some coatls are scared of her because of that. It's one of the reasons she moved to our clan - she didn't want to cause other dragons to be scared, and our clan was somewhat known for taking in anybody in need of a home. She was one of the first coatls in the clan, I think, so she didn't feel like she was intruding on an established coatl home. All the coatls who came afterwards knew about a pale coatl living there, and could join one of the other wind clans instead if it bothered them. Cornsnake lives in Wind, by the way, she was only visiting Nature when I met her." Zenza takes another large sip of the fruit drink, and fishes out a few more pieces of fruit with her tongue. "It's a nice clan." she finishes off. "Nobody is swamped with unwanted attention - those who want to keep themselves to themselves are free to do so. But if anybody really needs help, the whole clan is ready to assist."
Zenza downs the remaining fruit drink and places the the glass back on the table and gives a small coatlish whistle. "Thank you for listening to me, it's been a long time since I spoke so much draconic in one conversation. Well, that's the story of our clan. I hope I was at least a little entertaining." Zenza raised and lowed her crest, then stretched her wings. "Could you wrap the fish up for me?" she asked. "I'd like to share it with my coatl friends at home, if that is possible. Oh, and... Merida, was it? I'm pretty sure I heard one of the others call you 'Merida', but if not, then I apologise. This may sound odd, but I'd like to give you a present. I really like making and giving presents and, well, you listened to my story, and I quite like this place..."
"Here." Zenza says. "The flowers are enchanted so that they do not wilt, and I think it will suit your colours very well. Thank you for a lovely morning."
P.S. Really looking forward to reading your reply! I'm sure Merida said a whole lot of interesting things, even if Zenza couldn't understand them. :D (I'm basing this on canon lore by the way, read the coatl encyclopedia page if you haven't done that in a while!)
P.P.S. Yes, this thing took several hours, so it's definitely going in Zenza's bio. XD It was useful for sorting out some things regarding my clan, and gave me one rather cool idea for another thing, so thank you very much!
Zenza went into the cafe and found herself a seat in the corner, where the sun streamed through the window and glinted off of her bright green eyes. She curled her wings in around herself and sat there, letting her gaze roam over the multitude of visitors, and listening in to all of the different hums of dragons talking to each other. If she concentrated, Zenza could make out the different 'words' and understand what they were saying. However, sometimes she enjoyed just letting the humming wash over her, like birdsong, without focusing on the meaning behind it.
In the general hum of conversation, a voice stood out to Zenza. It was the unmistakably melodic voice of another coatl, managing much more fluent draconic tongue than Zenza had ever achieved. Obviously the result of some serious study and practice. Zenza chirped a greeting in coatl, and the other dragon replied in turn, before switching to draconic again and continuing his dialogue with one of the baristas. Her own draconic was rudimentary - sufficiently fluent to get her point across, not fluent enough to be poetic about it, nor was her pronunciation particularly good. Zenza spent most of her time around other coatls, and enjoying using coatl tongue a lot more than draconic, so she didn't have much practice. She didn't mind though; if she needed to tell another dragon something, she could, and if she wanted to have a long conversation there were many coatl friends with whom it was always a pleasure to chat.
This morning though, Zenza was feeling oddly philosophical, and had for some reason decided to visit a neighbouring flight, find a cafe, stay a while and see whom she ended up meeting. The first nice-looking (and nice-sounding) cafe she came across, Zenza went into. Paying for food with a story seemed like an interesting concept, so she decided she would try it out. There didn't seem to be any baristas free at the moment, but Zenza was in no hurry. Just sitting here in the company of other happy dragons put her in a good mood- Zenza had always been unusually (for a coatl) sensitive to the mood surrounding her, which wasn't a hindrance in the forest, but could occasionally cause problems in densely populated areas without trees or running water to calm her down. It seemed that she would have no such problems here though - the atmosphere was friendly.
One of the customers, finished their meal, said their thanks, and left. This meant that now there was a barista available. A fae. Zenza uncurled her tail and titled her head to one side, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. Faes had always intrigued her a little - so small and insect-like, yet so dragon-ish and often incredibly powerful magic users. And all the more mysterious through being completely impossible to understand. Zenza knew of a very small hand-full of coatls who had successfully mastered the art of understand of understanding faes. But with no tonal variations, having to rely purely on the lengths of and intervals between hums, it was a rather difficult mind puzzle. As one of them put it, 'in non-coatl terms, it's like deciphering speech without any vowels'. Although another insisted that 'without any consonants' was a more accurate comparison. 'And even then, there are far more different tones to guess at than there are consonants available.'
This particular fae approached Zenza, fluttering her wings, and perched on a nearby chair. Even before she'd landed, she began making a series of energetic movements with her head crests, and humming something in monotone. Hum... hum-hum-hum, hum... hum... hum-hum... Zenza waited for a lull in the humming before speaking. "Hello, my name is Zenza. I'd like a fruity drink of some kind - anything you have, really, although I'm rather partial to pineapple. I'll tell a story, and afterwards I'd like some seafood, if you have any... I know that faes don't eat fish, and nor do skydancers, pearlcatchers or nocturnes, but I'm certain I can smell octopus from somewhere over there." Zenza gestured towards the opposite corner, where a young guardian was talking about something with a red-and-green nocturne. The fae hummed some more and then fluttered away, only to return shortly with a tall glass containing an amber-coloured liquid. Dipping her tongue into it, Zenza caught the taste of pineapple, cherry, kiwi and probably nectarine. A few ice cubes kept the drink cool, and Zenza picked it up with one of her front paws and took a sip.
"Thank you." she smiled. "This is very nice." The fae hummed something in response again. Then she fluttered over onto Zenza's shoulder and Hum-hum, hum, hum-hum-hum-hum-hum... hum-hum-hum... a rapid stream of hums. Several questions, by the look of it. However incomprehensible fae speech itself was, after interacting with the faes that lived in her clan, there were a couple of crest positions that she recognised, and among them was a 'please answer' position. "I'm sorry," said Zenza, "I can't understand you. I can speak draconic, but I can't understand it when faes speak it."
The fae hummed a few more questions, crest and fins shifting into a position of acute puzzlement. "You're asking about me speaking to you earlier? Touch your left wing with your paw if you are." The fae hummed again, the expression of acute puzzlement remained, but she hesitantly touched her paw to her wing. "Well, that's simple. No, I didn't understand what you were saying. But I can understand a little when non-fae dragons speak, so I gathered the gist of your typical greeting, and responded in turn."
"Sorry, perhaps I should have said I couldn't understand you earlier." Zenza continued, when the fae replied with a lot more humming and and crest movements, at an even greater frequency than before.
Hum-hum, hum, hum... the fae made a hand gesture towards the nocturne, who of all the other baristas was sitting the closest to them, and made as if to fly in that direction.
"No, please don't." Zenza asked. "Please don't leave. I may not understand you, but you can understand me. Besides, I wouldn't want to interrupt those two, they seem to be rather enjoying their conversation. Surely I could tell my story to you?"
The fae hesitated, then hummed a few words as though to herself, and touched her left wing with her paw again. "Is that a yes?" Touch. "Thank you." Zenza responded, taking another sip of the fruit drink. "You seem nice." she added. Hum... hum-hum... "Anyway, this story, it's not really my story, it's more... a story about the clan I joined." Zenza began.
"At its heart, it is a Wind clan. It started with Kerys and Sneaky... from what Labyrinth told me, Kerys's original aim was to make lots of kites, pinwheels, wind chimes and similar things for the winds of the Windswept Plateau to play with - Kerys really likes hearing the wind sound happy - and the lairs built around it all were just a sort of by-product of other dragons liking the idea and wanting to live nearby. Labyrinth was one of the first to join the clan, so he has experienced most of its history first-hand." Zenza took another drink, then caught one of the little pineapple cubes and chewed it thoughtfully, while the fae started her pleasant, monotone humming again.
"The interesting thing is," Zenza continued, "some dragons joined the clan for a short while and then traveled elsewhere, but kept in contact via letters, came to visit occasionally, received visitors themselves... kind of like an extended family, but an extended clan. And then other dragons met those dragons, and those dragons introduced them to the clan. In this way, the number of dragons who are part of our clan grew... there's probably a few travelers in each of the flights by now, I should think. Not surprising really, considering the Windy penchant for traveling. The majority of 'permanent' living spaces are in the Windsinger's domain though. That and on the boundary of the Shadowbinder's and the Gladekeeper's domain. It started with Faheel and Emma, who sought shelter on the Windswept Plateau for a time, before moving on to the Viridian Labyrinth which called to their hearts. It is believed that only guardians have Charges, but it is my opinion that those two tundras felt the call of those forests in the same way that a guardian hears the call of their Charge. They certainly protect it as diligently as any guardian." Here Zenza paused to drink some more, since her throat began to feel a little dry from all the talking - draconic tongue talking, no less.
"Many dragons joined Faheel and Emma in the Viridian Labyrinth, and a number of them had friends in the Tangled Wood. So it happened that now a large subgroup of our clan lives on or around that boundary. I also live there now, on the Nature side - Shadow is interesting for a visit, but I prefer to have broad green leaves above my head and surrounding my home. Interestingly enough though," she added, "I notice that the fir trees here in light are very similar to the fir trees in shadow! They even sound similar. Have you ever looked at the boundary between Light and Shadow?" she asked. "It's all most interesting. I'm thinking of one day visiting the other flights as well, just to see what kinds of trees grow there. I've rarely gone far from the Gladekeeper's domain, you know. Only visited Wind once, and Nature's neighboring flights a couple of times, and of course the Tangled Wood a couple more times over that. Since Cornsnake invited me to join the clan, I've gotten to know a lot of the other clan members, including those who live in the Tangled Wood. Cornsnake is a coatl too, by the way, and has also been with the clan nearly from the start. She's got a very pale coat, but she's quite healthy, not ill at all! She was born with her colours, and some coatls are scared of her because of that. It's one of the reasons she moved to our clan - she didn't want to cause other dragons to be scared, and our clan was somewhat known for taking in anybody in need of a home. She was one of the first coatls in the clan, I think, so she didn't feel like she was intruding on an established coatl home. All the coatls who came afterwards knew about a pale coatl living there, and could join one of the other wind clans instead if it bothered them. Cornsnake lives in Wind, by the way, she was only visiting Nature when I met her." Zenza takes another large sip of the fruit drink, and fishes out a few more pieces of fruit with her tongue. "It's a nice clan." she finishes off. "Nobody is swamped with unwanted attention - those who want to keep themselves to themselves are free to do so. But if anybody really needs help, the whole clan is ready to assist."
Zenza downs the remaining fruit drink and places the the glass back on the table and gives a small coatlish whistle. "Thank you for listening to me, it's been a long time since I spoke so much draconic in one conversation. Well, that's the story of our clan. I hope I was at least a little entertaining." Zenza raised and lowed her crest, then stretched her wings. "Could you wrap the fish up for me?" she asked. "I'd like to share it with my coatl friends at home, if that is possible. Oh, and... Merida, was it? I'm pretty sure I heard one of the others call you 'Merida', but if not, then I apologise. This may sound odd, but I'd like to give you a present. I really like making and giving presents and, well, you listened to my story, and I quite like this place..."
"Here." Zenza says. "The flowers are enchanted so that they do not wilt, and I think it will suit your colours very well. Thank you for a lovely morning."
