Molly V
16th night of the Month of Ice, 10:05
Jeza insists on accompanying her to the lesson, which okay, but also, weird. She said she had taken the day off, to make sure Molly was accommodating and all that, but her face was frozen in a look of thought that made Molly think the woman was mostly thinking about her murder case.
The building Jeza takes her to is, supposedly, named the Ogdra, and after Jeza tells Molly about it, she decides it's like their church, the city's only church, that doubles as school and funeral home. It's the most delicate-looking building in the entire city, or at least Molly believes so, it's made of intricate towers and white stone, it glows in the darkness of the city. But the inside is worse.
Mirrors. Everywhere. The walls, the high ceilings and even the floors! The only thing missing mirrors are the doors.
Jeza doesn't react to any of Molly's not-so-internal freak out, and just leads Molly to a wing of the Ogdra that is filled with children of all sizes. Ah, yes, the school part.
"Master Sipho booked a room so you'll feel more comfortable" is saying Jeza as they dodge groups of kids that are running around the reflective halls "I believe he also wishes to teach you the names of plants and animals, so maybe it will take more than a night"
Molly nods absentmindedly, looking around and trying not to look at her own reflection that stares at her from every angle possible. How creepy…why would they build something like this? It was deeply uncomfortable.
The halls are like a mirror house, maze-like and headache inducing. But soon enough, they reached whatever room Molly's teacher had booked, as Jeza opened what seemed like a random door to Molly and entered, Molly not far behind, following like a lost duckling.
It looks like a classroom, with small desks and a bigger one at the end of the room, where someone sits.
A tall and handsome black man, well dressed and reading a book as he waited. Sitting on top of the desk like a cool teacher, a pair of glasses perched at the end of his nose and face frowning at whatever he was reading.
"Master Sipho" greets Jeza, stopping on her path to the front of the class to bow sharply.
Master Sipho looks up from his book and smiles widely.
"Lady Zasya" he greets jumping off the desk, also bowing before his brown eyes find Molly's "And the younger Lady Zasya. My name is Shujama Sipho"
He smiles again and Molly is starstruck, he is…very handsome, and nice. He looks older than others she has met, with graceful salt and pepper hair that adds character instead of age.
"You can just call me Shuja" adds Shujama with playful wink that makes Molly nervously giggle
"I'm Molly" she mumbles suddenly shy.
"Ah, yes, soon to be Enuma, right?" Says Shuja and Molly frowns but nods.
She still has time.
"I'll leave you two alone" says Jeza giving Molly a smile and slowly turning around to the door "I need to talk to an old friend anyway"
Shuja waves her goodbye and Molly takes a seat in one of the small desk, the one closest to the teacher's desk.
"I have many things to teach you, but I was thinking about it last night, and I believe the first lesson should be money" says Shuja as he pulls out a leather pouch that sounds like it has coins or marbles inside.
"A good first lesson" adds Molly awkwardly, not really sure of what to say.
He chuckles and opens the pouch, revealing shiny things inside he starts to take out one by one and putting them on the desk.
The first is a shiny and opalescent pile of coins, with a small square hole in the middle, the next is a bigger pile of slighter smaller black coins and the last looks like a bloody red pearl.
"This first one" says Shuja as he picks up an opalescent coin "Is a Munar, is the most valuable of the three. The black one is called a Oblax and the small red pearl is a Khal"
"Okay" says Molly, looking at each coin individually and Shuja picks each one and shows it off.
"One Munar is worth a hundred Khali and ten Oblaxes" explains Shuja as he lifts up the black coin and red pearl "easy, right?"
"I expected it to be harder, actually" says Molly "But this is…plausible. I think I can get the hang of it"
"Any questions?" says Shuja as he gives the Munar to Molly to hold
"Kinda? I wonder…like Dagma made me a sapphire the other da-night, sorry- How does economy work here with that kind of power, couldn't people like, make their own money?" Asks Molly with a raised eyebrow.
"Not this one" says Shuja throwing a Khal into the air and catching it "This metal can only be mined, no earth Asha can make it. Gems, gold and silver are mostly worthless here, used for decoration, some jewelry and even clothing-that dress you wear, the golden parts are gold silk-but not worth what they are outside"
Molly gapes at the pretty purple dress she had decided to wear for the day-god, this was hard, not day, night, always night-and stares at the golden embroidery it had. It was actual gold? Genuine gold?
"What? How?" Asks Eloquently Molly as she grabs the dress' skirt and tries to bring it as closely as she can to her face.
"Well, is not only people that can have Asha in Neth" says Shuja "Animals and plants also can develop them. The nagas expels fire, for example. And the jouro is able to weave metallic silks instead of normal one, some jouro are just farmed for food, but others are kept to produce gold and silver silk"
"Jouro" mumbles Molly "What animal is that, anyway, I think I ate a pie of that"
Shuja shudders and Molly blanches. What? What did she ate!?
"The jouro, while completely docile, look, well…they look like a pig-sized spiders" explains Shuja with a disgusted look "Netherians eat it, but I refuse to try it"
Molly feels her stomach rebel against her. Did she eat a spider? Really? Why would they eat spiders!?
It hadn't…it hadn't tasted horrible.
"Why?" Asks Molly in a whisper and Shuja just Shrugs.
"I think is a good time to start talking about the different animals and food of Neth" sighs Shuja "Just so you know what's safe to eat and not"
"Yes please" pleads Molly with wide eyes. God, she ate spider. Who could have imagined it? Not Molly. Definitely not.
"So, safe to eat if they offer it: andaka, andavi and bao. The first two are like a mix of sheep and goat, and the last one is basically a cow" explains Shuja "The rest, I wouldn't recommend, but people here eat mostly those and jouro. There's also the fish called shawl, those are fair game too. Birds are out, Netherians have a law against killing any bird"
Molly nods. She had bao and shawl, right? She remembers those names. She probably did.
"Those are the eatable animals, for the next lesson I'll bring a book with illustrations so you can learn how every animal and bird looks, okay? As long as you stay inside the walls, you won't see any dangerous one, but you never know" says Shujama "Now, fruits. All of them are pretty good, but one I wouldn't recommend unless you develop a fire Asha:The arsi is one fruit that has developed an Asha, it's extremely spicy. It looks like a big blueberry, dark blue on the outside and red inside"
That…sounds familiar. Didn't Dagma eat one of those?
"Good to know" mumbles Molly. Then she remembers something "I forgot to ask. What power do you have?"
"My Asha? Well I got water" says Shuja with a smile "The Sipho family are mostly fire Asha, so my adoptive family got quite the surprise"
Molly nods, but clearly must look expectant, because Shuja sighs and with a smile raises a hand, water droplets appearing from his skin with the movement. The water dances around him for a second, growing in size, before moving towards Molly and taking shape; it looked like a dragon, one of those long ones of asian mythology, with small legs and long whiskers.
"That" whispers Shuja, almost like he fears he will scare off his own creation "Is what a rinaga looks like, it's one of my favorite animals here. I'll show you a picture on our next lesson"
And, as Molly watched the water dragon dance around the air like it was alive, and Shujama moved slightly his fingers and hands like an expert puppeteer, she realized she looked forward to the next lesson.
In her time spent with the other nomad, she had almost forgotten about her wish to return home.