(2025-04-07) Two Linguists

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Author:	Luridel
Summary:	Alaisa catches Kaerix putting up a job posting that is very relevant to her interests: the good old language-and-ghosts combo. ~1.6k words.
Rating:	T for Teen

The Ironforge headquarters of Cobalt Company is not officially open at this time of night, but like all members in good standing, Kaerix has a key.

A young draenei woman with bold horizontal horns enters dressed in social rather than work clothing: a well-tailored and slightly festive pantsuit in shades of green and gold that should clash with her dusky blueberry coloring. But somehow it works. Her hair, as always, is pulled into two long dark pigtails, with strands artfully pulled loose to frame her face.

Clip clop, go her hooves down the stairs as she descends with purpose and approaches the notice board. As she carefully attaches a notice to the cork surface with one of the provided pins, she is absent her usual smile, and the somewhat stern default setting of her heavy dark brows is more apparent.

She steps back to survey the notice, as though scanning it last-minute for mistakes.

One of the lamps at the back desk is lit, even after hours. Alaisa sets her paperwork aside as Kaerix descends the stairs, and she rises silently from her desk to go read the notice. She is dressed in her work clothes: a white blouse and a long cobalt blue skirt. Her hair is a soft cloud of brown curls that hangs around her face. She realizes that there's the potential for a jump scare here and tries her best to alleviate it by purposefully scraping her chair on the floor as she pushes it in.

Kaerix turns with friendly curiosity at the noise, her glowing eyes brightening a bit.

"Oh! Hello," she says. "I didn't realize someone was here. I apologize if I'm interrupting your work." If Alaisa's eyes were closed, she might think someone had just stepped off the Stormwind House of Nobles debate floor to address her. Even the way the draenei has slightly flattened the naturally resonant timbre of her voice sounds distinctly human.

Alaisa smiles, moving to stand next to her and looking at the notice. "Oh, I should have gone home thirty minutes ago," she says with a little laugh. She up-nods at the notice. "You're Kaerix, then. I'm Ally Lysander, it's lovely to meet you."

Kaerix puts out a hand to shake in the human fashion, returning the smile wholeheartedly. The resting stern expression of her brow melts away immediately.

"The pleasure is mine, Ms. Lysander," she says. "I haven't had the chance to meet very many members of Cobalt Company yet. I always take assignments in some faraway place, often with draenei I already know. So it's delightful to see a new face. Your name sounds familiar to me, but I can't remember why."

Other than a slight pause between her sentences, there's no sign whatsoever that Common might be a second language requiring extra effort.

Alaisa shakes her hand firmly. "Oh, Ally is fine in here. I'm Cobalt Company's translator, I'm the one who puts out the Darnassian and Draenic versions of the newsletters each week."

Kaerix's eyes go wide, and her smile brightens.

"Oh, so that's why I made note of the name! You've been extremely helpful to me. Every week I put the newsletters…" She demonstrates slightly, with her hands, holding them both palm up. "…Side by side. And I compare them. It's a great way to learn new vocabulary. But then of course I have to ask someone about the pronunciation… because Common is so rarely spoken the same way that it's spelled. Oh! Since you're here…" Kaerix does a shy little swivel, lacing her hands behind her back. "Would you be so kind as to tell me if there are any mistakes in my note?"

"Oh, that's wonderful, I'm so glad to hear they've been useful to you." Alaisa rereads the notice for Kaerix's benefit, scanning carefully just in case she missed something her first read-through. "No, this is perfect. And I am very interested in this. It's always been a curiosity to me, the little magical shortcuts that exist to obtaining information, particularly language. Learning Kalimag from a conch shell, learning Furbolg from totems - does this grant a true understanding of the language, or is it based on the beings who empowered the objects to begin with?"

Kaerix takes a moment to parse Ally's question, her brow going a bit stern again as she thinks. Then she smiles, her face softening.

"The end result is complete fluency," she says. "I believe it is a kind of memory… transfer, and it is permanent." She gets more and more excited as she talks. "Each totem allows an ancestor to speak directly to your mind. One is not enough. I think it's because of the complex way language… sits in our mind. It happens in layers. In the case of the Stillpine language, it took five different totems and five different Stillpine ancestors speaking to me before the entire language…" She makes a sort of blossoming gesture with both hands. "…Unfolded. But now I know it just as I know any language I have spoken for years. It is… independent of the totems now. A memory of my own."

"Five, and they've all meshed together?" Alaisa looks fascinated. "And they've managed to form a complete understanding? That's amazing. Is there anything that remains of their individual speech patterns? Or can you no longer tell?"

Kaerix shakes her head, disappointment clear on her face.

"By the time I knew the language well enough to hear different accents or… quirks, all five had… blended together. I can’t tell which knowledge came from which furbolg. This may be one reason there are five, so that you gain a…" She spreads her hands wide. "Broad understanding. One person would only teach the way they speak."

"And five was enough," Alaisa says, fascinated. "Only five. Incredible. I live in a deeply haunted house, I have a great number of ghosts in employment or as guests at the moment, and I'd be pleased to introduce you. I don't believe any of them would be considered linguists, but perhaps you might find one for your own assembly of… five? If five is your goal as well?"

Kaerix's mental processes clearly grind to a halt at "deeply haunted house"; her face freezes in an expression of mingled confusion and fascination. Even though it's obvious that she doesn't hear anything Ally says after that, she waits politely for Ally to finish speaking before she speaks again.

"Deeply… haunted… house?" she repeats, as though it weren't already clear where she checked out. "You live… in a house… with… many ghosts?"

She doesn't look scared at all. She looks like she simultaneously won a lottery and stumbled upon a friendly dog with six heads.

Alaisa nods. "I do." This is the most interesting reaction she's had to this fact in a little while. "My house is in Old Town. When Stormwind was attacked by orcs, my family fled north, but not all of our household staff escaped safely. Those who fell, their spirits now reside in our home. Not all of them are fully aware that they are dead. Most, but not all. When Neltharion - Deathwing - attacked Stormwind, I led many more ghosts back to my home. Some have since passed on to the afterlife, but several seem to have become permanent residents."

Kaerix is just… staring and staring as Ally talks. Her mouth falls open slightly.

"How…" she breathes, when Ally is finished explaining. "Is this fate? I can't imagine a better place to begin. I have so many questions about how human spirits interact with the living, but… we can just… I can just see. This will help so much! I can't believe it! Oh, if you'd be willing to invite me to your home, I'd be so grateful. I'll bring — do you like wine? What kind of food do you like? Is there anything else you'd like me to bring?"

Alaisa chuckles. "I doubt the way I interact with spirits is the way everyone else does, but I can… make them visible to the living, if I touch them. Of course I'll invite you, although I must check my schedule and my parents' schedules and get back to you with a date. If you would like to bring something, I'm fond of cookies? The little bite-sized ones."

"Oh! Do you have a favorite flavor? Never mind, I'll bring all kinds. I'll surprise you!"

Is it a surprise if you tell someone you'll surprise them in advance? Kaerix pulls out a little journal and writes in it carefully.

"This is the best place to reach me right now," she says, then tears off the sheet and hands it to Ally. "Just send a letter here, and if I have … at least one day's notice… I can be there punctually." There is a slight emphasis on the final word, a lingering on it, as though it might be a favorite.

Alaisa reads the address, nods, and folds the sheet in half. She attaches it to a clipboard on her desk. "Of course! I'll do just that." She smiles at Kaerix and begins neatening things up, choosing what to bring home with her and what to file away in the filing cabinets in Headquarters.

Kaerix smiles warmly and as she heads for the stairs she says over her shoulder, in Draenei, "I hope to see you soon. Do you have a preference as to whether we speak in Draenei or Common going forward?"

Alaisa laughs and says in Furbolg, "Whatever it is that you choose!"

Kaerix giggles, waves one last time, and then scurries up the stairs.