"You know, wavetongue seems to be pretty accurately named." Sunny Flare looked over her sheet, sipping her cappuccino. "There's an... ebb and flow to even the most basic sentences, and the words themselves seem to organize neatly into spelling formats by category."
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Lemon Zest tapped her pencil against the sheet. "Siiri, sirii, and siirii all sound alike, and their meanings are alike--travel, discover, explore. I wouldn't be surprised if siri meant something like 'find' or something."
"Actually, that would be 'serii,'" Sonata corrected. "'Siri' means define, or map--to set outlines, basically."
"You know, four weeks ago I wouldn't have heard the difference in that," Sunny Flare mused. "But that's not my point--I'm more amazed that this language has such patterns. If I looked at five adjacent words in a dictionary, I'd have five different meanings. But with this language, it's... it's almost radiating from a primal source, with more complex meanings being combinations or derivatives of simpler meanings closer to whatever the core is."
"Nn."
Lemon and Sunny looked at Sonata. The pink girl cleared her throat. "...Um, what?"
"Nn," she repeated. "It's not a defined word in wavetongue. It's a rare sound, actually, because it's so important to us as a concept. In fact, the only words I can think of with the sound are all derived from Renn--a defined song, a singer, a cohesive core, because--well, because nn is sacred, or thereabouts."
"Or therabouts?" Lemon tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for something to be sacred, everyone has to agree it's sacred," Sonata explained. "But Sirens wouldn't talk to each other--Adagio was an exception to the rule, before her we were solo predators, we'd eat each other if we were hungry... Heck, even mating was predatation--usually I had to bite into a male's neck before he slowed down enough for me to claim him." She smiled faintly. "Always a good meal after that, though..."
"Wait, you're a mother?"
The girl waved her hand dismissively. "I've laid eggs, if that's what you mean. Always found the best coral, but beyond that... for all I know, Aria's one of my daughters. Like I said, we weren't a social species. Figuring out what humans mean by family, that took us the better part of a hundred years."
Sunny paled for a moment, before her face wrenched up in confusion. "Wait. If you were solo predators, how did you even start talking? Language is communication, and communication is fostered by interaction, you couldn't... how do you have a language, if you couldn't even stand each other?"
"We weren't talking to other sirens. We were talking to magic." She looked at their nonplussed faces and sighed. "Alright. How do I explain... What's my name?"
Lemon frowned. "...You said it was Sonata Dusk, but that's wranglish, not wavetongue."
"That's correct. In wavetongue I'm Shupliipirei bo Tliirupiglipikiizh."
"Wait, I think..." Sunny looked at her notes. "I think... 'Wave Song of'... um... I heard gli in there, that means light, right?"
"Wave-song of Time-light-death, yes." Sonata sat down. "Now, this is important--I named myself. We all did, before we even said anything else--Sirens name themselves."
Sunny Flare looked to her notes, then back to Sonata. "That... seems impossible, honestly."
"When we hatch, we start eating each other," Sonata explained. "Well, and any fish that are unlucky enough to be around, but we go for each other first. It's... instinctive. There's meat, and there's emotion, and we sense both. No adult sirens, just newborns gobbling down on their brothers and sisters."
"You know, if I didn't read so much sci-fi I might be seriously disturbed." Lemon shifted in her seat. "But I can sort of see the logic--r-type breeding put through a high initial filter, plus the inevitable dangers of aquatic life, leads to rapid evolution and high breeding of those with the highest survival opportunity. Bringing this back around to wavetongue, though...?"
"I consumed all my siblings, finishing just as the sun was setting. My song was the only one in the waves, and marked by the time that light dies. And I knew this--I was less then a day old, and I knew this, I understood these concepts, and I took my name. Wave-song of Time-light-death. Shupliipirei bo Tliirupiglipikiizh. They were words, given to me by nn."
Sunny Flare managed to fight back the bile rising up. "And... what is nn, exactly?"
"It is... the echo, the core, the song behind the song. The will of magic, but... will isn't the right word, will implies direction, it's more instinctual. It's not the deep heart, it's not some god, it's... the pattern of existence."
"Forty two," Lemon quipped.
Sonata snorted. "No no no, it's not the why, it's.... The sun is a star, right?"
"Yeeeeees...?"
"Then why do you not call it that?"
"Because it looked different to primitive cultures," Sunny deadpanned, "and therefore was assigned a different name."
"Words, important to humans. Not the raw concept, but abstract labels thrown on after the fact." Sonata took a breath. "Wavetongue is closer to nn, much closer--our words are all nearer the core of their meaning--but even wavetongue isn't pure nn. I think you'd be good at feeling small nn, actually."
Sunny blinked. "Me?"
"Or your personal nn." She rapped Sunny's forhead gem with a finger, earning a flinch. "This lets you translate concepts through magic to reality, with no need for words--words help, they can guide and show what you can do, but they're also... limitations, impure."
"...You're talking about the concept of essential identity," Lemon mused. "The archetypes of existence."
"YES! That's the word! That's... as close as I think wranglish gets?" Sonata clapped her hands together. "You get what I mean, right? There's an imprint of everything in magic, and we hear the echo... or something... I'm sorry, I was always closer to nn then the others, and it makes it harder to communicate with words."
"And that's why you want us to learn wavetongue," Sunny realized. "Because it's... closer to magic. So you can communicate what you are trying to say about magic easier with it then with wranglish, since there's... the background pattern."
"I thought that was clear from the beginning," Sonata pouted.
"No, you said we didn't have words for the concepts," Lemon explained, slowly. "Not that our words were more distant from the concept."
"Isn't that the same thing, though? Words are constructed concepts, abstractions for interaction. You need them to communicate, if you can't directly translate your mind to another..."
"Agreed upon patterns for exchange of ideas, yes, that's what a language is." Sunny rapped her fingers against the table. "But if you don't have the words.... We're thinking of not having words and having imprecise words as separate concepts, but you see them as the same."
"Because they are the same!" Sonata exploded. "Words aren't the core, they're the reflection! When I say table, you think of a generic table, but if I say that table, you think of that table, unless I'm not indicating a table, in which case you're confused, and it's all so--"
"Easy. Easy there Sonata." Lemon put a hand on her shoulder. "Remember, we're discussing how magic feels for the individual, and we're learning wavetongue so you can communicate those concepts. Alright?"
With a deep breath, Sonata forced herself to calm down. "Words are so... frustrating. So useful, but useless when they don't go where you need them to. There are better ways to communicate, if you're closer to nn. Rawer ways, so some things can't be... made, but..."
She sighed. "Maybe we should go back to names. The way they bonded to the individual."
Sunny nodded. "Alright. Your... compatriots, the other two sirens?"
"My sisters. Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze. Maybe not by blood, but by bond." Sonata sighed. "We told each other our name stories. Aria Blaze... Reipirenn bo Hizheerrpigli, Song-sung of Burning-light. She was the one in her clutch with the most intimidating personality, she would lash out quick and kill in one bite before resting. In the end, what brothers and sisters had bowed before her, gave what she demanded to appease her. She was worshiped for fear of her strikes. Her song was sung, because her light burned others."
Lemon grinned. "Sounds like we found you a friend, Sunny." She leaned left, dodging the pen thrown at her.
"And Adagio Dazzle. Mmoopirei bo Shupliipigli, Slow-song of Wave-light." Sonata chuckled. "She was the furthest of us from nn, and so the least... primal. In her hatching frenzy, she would watch the others, and twist to let them attack each other... she went after the damaged and the weak, she manipulated the strongest into biting each other, she emerged unscarred. Her song was slower then others, but the way she lit the world was as subtle and powerful as the waves."
Her eyes fell to her hands. "If any siren could have started our species down civilization, it would have been her. Maybe her eggs have been fortunate enough to found something like it. Maybe not."
The room was silent.
"...You miss them," Lemon said.
"Of course I miss them. We survived together for a thousand years. I mean, Adagio had to constantly manipulate us to keep us together, because we were sirens--we were so used to being independent, even in the human bodies..." She frowned, rubbing at her collarbone. "But we weren't human, not entirely. Even then, with our heartstones... we forced ourselves to be us, as much as we could. Humans are social. We weren't... we didn't need to communicate any more then we did. We learned human song, because they were the singers, but until that thing with Sunset I wasn't a singer of your song."
She looked up. "I sang the song of siren. And there were two others in this whole world that could. Now, even if I remember the words, I can't sing properly--I can echo what others sing, but I can't sing my own song. And I don't know where the other two are..."
Lemon and Sunny shared a look.
"...maybe you should try to find them," Sunny Flare suggested. "Even if you were solo hunters before... you're mostly human now. You need friends, and... they're as close to family as you can get."
"I don't like them," Sonata grumbled.
"There's a difference between liking somebody and loving them," Lemon said quietly. "As in... caring for them."
"Or about them," Sunny murmured, almost to herself.
Lemon shot her an odd look.
She cleared her throat. "Our point is, you and these two had something special. Sisters by bond. Even if you fell apart, it... might be worth your effort to work to rebuild it."
"I... I don't know," Sonata murmured. "I was always fascinated by Adagio, even when I was trying to eat her... and Aria knew how to hunt... but we said such terrible things to each other, when we split..."
"...Family is the nn of humans," Lemon pointed out. "Well, social grouping for emotional support anyway. Like you said, humans are social and you're one of us now." She clicked her fingers together. "Aside from the accouterments."
Sonata grinned dryly. "I know so much more then the two of you combined. How come you're each smarter then me?"
"We've been developing our minds since childhood," Sunny replied. "And we've had to learn how to dig through knowledge and apply the right kind to the right situation."
"Also, Sunny and I are among the smartest humans of our age group. Kind of an unfair advantage."
"...If I go searching," Sonata warned, "you won't learn more wavetongue until I get back."
"What if we came with you?" Lemon asked.
Sunny blinked. "Wait what?"
"Oh come on. We're smart enough to finish our thing on the way--we can type it up on a laptop. And besides--"
"No."
Lemon blinked, turning to Sonata. "What?"
"You're thinking like a human. They'd be thinking like sirens. Solo hunters, taking what is around and bending it to their will. And..." She sighed. "And even though they can survive like this, they won't be... they'll be wary. Adagio would slip away if she heard a human was after her, and she will be listening. Aria would likely kill you--or at least cut you, corpses aren't useful these days. No, you shouldn't come with me."
"...we have the internet," Lemon suggested, hesitantly. "We could... look through articles from a distance."
Sonata tilted her head. "That... might work," she allowed. "But... not unless I ask."
"We wouldn't get hurt!"
"But you would be dead weight."
"You haven't seen crystal prep phys-ed," Sunny pointed out.
Sonata laughed. "I've killed people."
She looked at the two of them.
"Yeah. I've killed people. As a human. You thought those thousand years were all sunshine and rainbows?"
"Well, obviously not--"
"Oh, no no. Your little friendship games fiasco had injuries, one missing student, and no deaths. You can fight, but you can't hunt." Sonata stood up. "And you don't know what it's like to be hunted. Make no mistake, if you provoke them, Aria and Adagio will make sure you can't provoke any more. Maybe that'll mean ruining your social capital. Maybe it'll be stealing something irreplacable. Maybe it'll be sneaking in in the dead of night and slitting your throats. They're dangerous, and probably scared, and most likely pissed at me. I'll need to be at my best to find them, and that means I can't be looking after a couple of kids."
She paused, looking over their terrified faces.
"Or," she suggested brightly, "I could leave them to their fates, and this whole conversation could never have happened."
Lemon gulped. "Aheh..."
"Or," Sunny said firmly, "you could go looking for them, and ask us for very specific help. Like research. Stuff that can't be traced to us."
Sonata nodded. "That's also a possibility."
"Wow. This... got intense..." Lemon took a breath. "I mean... wow. You're actually... and I... wow."
"You thought I was just a ditz, didn't you."
"Not... no, I just... thought you were... casual."
"I'm primal. I follow my whims. And yes, that means I don't think that often." Sonata shrugged. "But when I do... well."
Sunny cleared her throat. "I think that's... enough for today. How about I take Lemon home and... you can contact us if we're meeting up next week."
And instantly Sonata was all smiles. "Sure thing! Ooo, homework: try to come up with your wavetongue name. Bye-bye now!"
The girl nodded. "Thank you for your time." She gathered up all her notes in her telekinetic grip, shunting them into her backpack as she walked over to Lemon and slowly led her out of the coffee shop.
"That just happened, Sunny."
"Yes it did, Lemon."
"I mean, I can get her being bad in the past, but..." Lemon glanced back through the window, where Sonata was cheerfully chewing down on a cookie. "For a moment there, she was... deadly."
"I saw, Lemon." Sunny paused. "...do you... want to drop it?"
After a moment, the pink girl shook her head. "No. No, this is helping our paper, and our paper will help the world. I'll just... tread carefully when it comes to the siren part of Sonata."
Sunny quirked a brow. "You're awfully accepting of her."
Lemon managed a smile. "Well, I'm friends with you, aren't I?" It was a weak smile, but it was there.
"Hmm. Perhaps." Sunny tapped her cheek. "Although, I don't envy you."
"Really?"
"Yes. My homework assignment is easy. But you...?"
Lemon Zest blinked for a moment or two. Then she let out a groan.
"Yes, the likelyhood that wavetongue has a word for lemon is rather low."
"And Sonata's still a better teacher then my fifth-grade neighponese professor," Lemon groused.