Blending of Cultures [Katelyn]

[Txe'lan]

((Time skips are allowed to spare the need for extra threads.))

The flight had gone smoothly, Vrttep'taw performing brilliantly in flight even with the added weight of a passenger. The sun had touched the canopy of trees and began to turn the day into night, but that wasn't an issue. Pandora really looked different at night, with the abundance of bioluminescent plants giving the forest a new kind of light. Oh yes, nature and Pandora were funny like that, and now when it was night time Katelyn would finally see what made Pandora really special, especially with the Tree of Souls.

When the tree actually did come into sight, surrounded by great archways of wood and stone, Txe'lan headed directly for the open space leading to the Tree of Souls, landing Vrrtep'taw nearby where most of the Na'vi would congregate when worshiping Eywa. It was a complicated system or roots & stems that had plenty of spaces for the Na'vi to make Tsaheylu with Eywa, but this was not where they'd be studying. No, they would be going directly to the source, right under the willowy tree's illuminated strands, right by the trunk.

Once Vrrtep'taw had landed, Txe'lan dismounted and helped Katelyn off of his Ikran, ready to take her to the Tree of Souls. It really was a gargantuan tree, much bigger than anything that might have existed back in Katelyn's world (if there were any at all), but its brilliance and wealth of knowledge from the past was where Txe'lan was going to find his teaching aid; the memories of the last Toruk Makto. Also, it was going to be helpful for Katelyn; she was going to be the only human in over three centuries to set foot in this sacred place to the Na'vi.

"Alaski, Katelyn?" Txe'lan asked to Katelyn, wondering if she was ready to take on the task of teaching Txe'lan the way English was spoken and written, and in exchange Txe'lan was more than prepared to teach her the ways of the Na'vi language. There was a particular reason Txe'lan chose the Tree of Souls as a place to teach; it was one of the few places that Eywa was alive and ever present. Even though Katelyn was human, she would be very privileged to experience Eywa first-hand by means other than simple words & passing of knowledge between two beings, but she would be teaching in a method that would involve the sharing of memories.

This was going to be a real treat for the both of them...

((Translation: "Ready, Katelyn?"))

[Katelyn Zilar]

Katelyn had been trying to rest her eyes for a little bit here and there as the two had been flying on Txe'lan's Banshee, even if it was an eye inspiring view and a once in a life-time moment to actually see the true beauty of this world in the life of night on Pandora. But she needed to keep up her strength and a stable mind if she was to properly be teaching this Na'vi about the English language, she needed what she could get to make sure that she that she did not mess anything up for both sides. For if she had messed up with her studies just slightly, it could cause an effect to get into Txe'lan's mind and spread it to the other Na'vi like a virus of some sort, and if it was something insulting that had been brought to them while they talked to someone, then they will have a load of bullets in their guts which was for sure the truth right there. That was something that could not happen to them, this chain could not go in a circle like what had happened the last three-hundred years, no, this chain had to have differently-seperated links on this one to have different, and hopefully better effects.

For her, it didn't seem to long of a flight for her, propably because of her quick naps, as they had been heading to this Utral Tirea. It had been getting her quite curios about what this thing could possibly be, for all she knew of that word was the 'Tirea' part, which of course she had understood that it was a in her terms called 'Soul'. She didn't want to have to cheat and look it up in her translation booklet, she wanted it to be a little bit of a surprise for herself to where they were going. It was like going to a movie when you have read all of the book, it's just not that fun to see then, but not knowing fully about the movie when you have heard of the book, that was something all in itself as it was.

That was when her mind had went back into reality once more as she felt the Banshee land onto the ground, and the rapid sound of flapping which had snapped her out. She then had let go of Txe'lan since she had no need to now, and looked over his right side to see where they were at, and her eyes themselves could not believe what they had just saw. It was a massive tree, one that she had never seen on any planet she had been on before, it was just completely bizzare and alien to her.

The tree seemed to have giant tentacle strands similar to that of Txe'lan's nerve tentacles that came from the back of his head, and tied into his hair to keep it safe. But this... this was suppose to be inanimate object, trees counldn't grow something such as this, and she was not to study plants very much. Then again... she was only thinking about the trees on her own planet that were similar to others, and this place was not like her planet when they had things such as plants and trees.

When Txe'lan had reached out her hand to help her off the Banshee, she once more accepted the offer from him and reached out both of her hands again, reaching for his hand and part of his arm to help her up and off his ride, making sure she didn't hurt who he called Vrrtep'taw. She stayed close to Txe'lan, but enough to have a proper distance between one another, as they had walked towards this giant tree, and she began to understand what the 'Utral' part of the name meant.

"So... This is the Tree of Souls... huh."

She mumbled under her breath as she continued to walk on, though it slowened when she had gotten to the tree. These vine, tentacle things were just massive in length as well width as she had been lightly grasping one or two and examining them. They were also heavy as they had been pressing onto her body, it only took three of them to push her back a bit, though the just moved out of their way until she had gotten onto the base of the tree, and sat on the opposite side of him as she slung her backpack off of her shoulders as she zipped open the main pocket, and began to take out the stuff inside.

She had brought out with her was merely simple educating supplies for a human. Which were of course some pencils with eraser ends, some were those awkward thick ones that were usually just a joke or for larger alien species. Then there was some paper so they could write some notes on when it was either for the eduaction studies, or just for a little history jot-noting so she could remember where they were at so they didn't need to go over it again when it came to their next studies.

"I am, Txe'lan. Though if things to go well... This will be fast."

She told him as she opened up one of the books up which had letters in a row both lower and upper capital, and below them was a space for them to write on. This was little kid stuff, she hadn't done any of this since she was a little girl when she needed to spell things at like, what, five-years old. Though she had to teach this guy the basics first, even if the both were going to hate one another's guts for it. But learning was learning... And now she had some pity for those poor teachers that taught kids this crap.

[Txe'lan]

Now the teaching had finally begun. Txe'lan and Katelyn had come to the heart of the Tree of Souls, sitting right by the trunk as the willowy tendrils of the tree simply parted ways for them, lighting up upon contact to indicate that they were indeed alive and responsive to touch and motion. This was one of the most sacred places to the Na'vi, so it was only fitting that a momentous occasion would take place here, under the guiding nature of Txe'lan and the learning ways of Katelyn. It wasn't often that the Na'vi chose to come visit this sacred place, not since Toruk Makto and the events of three centuries ago. No, the Tree of Souls was a place of peace and prosperity, and the prosperity was being engaged quite well.

As Txe'lan sat down with Katelyn, she began to bring out some books and little things that had pointy tips, making him sort of curious as to what they'd be doing first. Even though Txe'lan was still new to the whole reading and writing of English, he did have an ace in the hole in order to fill in the gaps for Katelyn's teaching shortcomings. It was difficult to teach an old person something that should've been taken for granted, but Txe'lan's elevated consciousness would come in handy here. Txe'lan picked up one of the pencils, holding it between his fingers, not quite sure of its proper placement in order to write.

But this was where Txe'lan would be able to rely on the memories of Toruk Makto. Taking his hair cord, Txe'lan grabbed ahold of one of the tendrils of the Tree of Souls and formed Tsaheylu, closing his eyes for a second to reach for the memories of the last Toruk Makto, a Sky Person that went by the name of Jake Sully but had the body of a Na'vi. He eventually got far back enough that Txe'lan found the knowledge he was looking for, back when Jake Sully was in 'school', learning exactly what Txe'lan was learning now. What he took from the experience was the feelings and muscle memory for writing, but the language was still eluding him. Oh well, that was what Katelyn was here for, right?

"Let me try this..."

Txe'lan picked up the writing book, while the Tsaheylu was still formed, and put the tip of the pencil to the paper, finally getting the correct grip albeit modified for his rather large hand and lack of five fingers. Heck, the only writing utensil he could grab was the over-sized one, and even that one was a bit small, but this was still very new to him, so he'd have to contend with it for now. From there, he traced the graphite to form a line, mimicing the lines he could see on the paper's line above the one he was writing on, completing the first letter with the help of his ancestor's memories. It was a little crude, but it was at least legible.

Now that he obtained the knowledge from the Tree of Souls, Txe'lan continued tracing the lines, committing the knowledge of writing to his muscles' memory. To Txe'lan, this was the most exciting thing he'd done since learning to ride Vrrtep'taw; the excitement was practically making him tingle.

"Fi lu siltsan; oe hasey, Katelyn."

Txe'lan handed the book back to Katelyn, waiting for her to see what he'd accomplished in just a matter of moments. Txe'lan was not a hard person to teach due to the nature of him being able to access the knowledge of his ancestors, but he would still have to contend with being taught by Katelyn to understand how the sounds and writings came together...

((Translation: "This is good; I'm done, Katelyn."))

[Katelyn Zilar]

Now, Katelyn was actually quite impressed by the progress that Txe'lan had been just making right now, even if it was just copying the words off of the book and writing them down in his own little letters. She was even surprised that he was even able to hold a pencil despite it being still smaller for his own grip, but she couldn't feel that the Na'vi couldn't be that primitive, they did have at least sticks for weapons after all. So they could at least hold in their fingers what would be probably just a twig to them in order to merely write stuff.

Though what Txe'lan had done before he had began even writing had startled her just a little bit more. It seemed that the tentacle nerves that had came from Txe'lan's hair had sprouted out an began to latch itself onto one of those tendrils that just seemed to glow lightly where the both had touched in the same place. And after a moment or so, he began to write down the words on the book before she could even give out the instructions to him, this truly was incredible for her to see with her own eyes.

Now, even if she did not understand what the name of this was in the native tongue before the two had came here, she had been studying on trees like these for a bit, and had heard some tales about these exact trees. They said to have the memories of those who have been around this planet before anyone else's existence had came, and even so their existence might be recorded right now as it was. It was just like a hard-core memory drive to download the biographies of people, it was almost like a organic memory disk, and it was just a work of art in her eyes.

Katelyn had snapped back into reality once more when Txe'lan had told her he had been finished with his work, and was handing the work over to her once more. Closely she examined the booklet and all that Txe'lan had worked on, and she was quite impressed. Txe'lan had finished just about all of the booklet just in that small time-frame alone, even if his writing was a little sloppy here and there, but it was still good for a beginner. Now, usually people would find this to be cheating since Txe'lan was using this tree as a little boost of thought into him, but for reasons of such short times right now, these were times to take what you could as an advantage.

"Sìltsan tìkangkem, Txelan. Slä..."

She said with a little but of slight disappointment in the tone of her voice as she had skipped through some of the pages to re-look some of the work that this Na'vi had accomplished, but then looked back at him once more as she had closed the book an put it in her lap again as her finger had fiddled around with one of the smaller pencils to have her fingers do something as she had been concentrating on the Na'vi.

"Did the Utral Tirea peng nga the way of lì'u?"


((Translation: 1. Good work, Txe'lan. But... 2. Did the Tree of Souls tell you the way of words?))

[Txe'lan]

Once Txe'lan had finished his work on the booklet, he disconnected his Tsaheylu from the tendril of the Tree of Souls, getting back to the moment with Katelyn. He only connected to the tree in order to access the memories of his ancestors, and among those ancestors were some very fluent English speakers and writers, namely the Toruk Makto Jake Sully and one very late Grace Augustine. They were both Sky People, and they knew their own language forward and backward. The part where they learned their language was where Txe'lan was drawing his knowledge from, but all he was pulling was the information, not the feeling of having it ingrained into his own muscle memory. Things like this had to become second nature, and Txe'lan still had a long way to go in order to attain that level of fluency.

Txe'lan looked at what Katelyn was doing with her hand, watching her fiddle a pencil around with the dexterity of her fingers. He wanted to try that too, using his own over-sized pencil and tried to copy her hand motions. Needless to say, his own hand was different than hers, and once he tried to switch the position of the pencil between his fingers, he dropped it. No matter, he just picked it back up again and decided to not try that any further; it was just something that Sky People were probably used to doing with the dexterity of their five-fingered hands.

"Utral Tirea does not teach. Ancestors do."

Txe'lan simply referred to the tree as a bank for his ancestor's memories. Information could be drawn from the tree via the memories, but learning it to where it made sense was something that would have to be taught. This was where Katelyn would have to be a teacher, just to get the feelings and thoughts conveyed to Txe'lan so he could transcribe his own language to her own; once he could read and write English on a proficient level, he would be able to teach Katelyn how to speak like the Na'vi. Since she had a book with the Na'vi language already on her, writing it would not be much of a problem.

"You must teach me how to connect words and sounds; ancestors can only remember so much..."

[Katelyn Zilar]

Katelyn had gave off a light smile which was hidden underneath the filter of her mask as she watched Txe'lan trying to copy her pencil-fiddling scheme as she had been trying to concentrate on the work she was looking at. Txe'lan really was a child in such matters, even if his physical body was that of someone around her own age, just the way he seemed so interested in even the most simplest of things that the Sky People could do. Then again, it had been pretty much three-hundred years since either species had met with one another, so there were a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of things to see, even though they had their own memory devices to show their pasts, it was always nice to see things with the naked eye and to actually do things without just watching others doing it.

Once more she had looked back at the Na'vi again as he had been informing her of what she still had to play a decent roll on trying to educate him, and that of course was teaching him to speak proper english... This was Kindergarten all the way to grade four all over again. Either way though, this is what her night-job was going to be, so this will be what she was going to be doing to help the two species cooperate with one another. It was the least that she could do on this planet.

"Right, right. Well... I guess I'll just start with the first five. And those would be A... B... C... D... and E..."

She said as she had flipped the pages of the book which Txe'lan had been writing down when they had started this little study group, and had been showing the different words that had the had the sounds to them so Txe'lan could understand what the different words sounded like, despite them sounding the same in a way. She couldn't help but blush at this as well, it was just a bit funny that a full-grown adult was being taught like a little five-year old in such matters, but every path always needs to have a beginning, as well do they need an ending.

[Txe'lan]

Txe'lan, even though he still had a lot of progress to make, was beginning to find the language of the Sky People to be easier to understand than he previously thought. The writing was a brand new thing to him and the structure of words & speaking would be a bit of a challenge, but was just one of those things that seemed to come together, as it was mostly just the point of view of whoever was learning would eventually make it click into play. He got the writing down, at least making the letters appear legible, and if he could understand to read and write English he would then be able to teach Katelyn the Na'vi language in a way she would be able to catch on.

She started with the first few letters of her language, those being A, B, C, D, and E respectively. Txe'lan could draw up a comparison by the letters he wrote in the booklet, the one with one small bump being A, the one with two bumps being a B, the unfinished circle being a C, the barred half-circle being a D, and one with three lines connected to a single line being the E. That much he could understand, but they were just letters, simple stuff probably. If there was ever something he couldn't understand, he could just access his ancestor's memories to find out what was supposed to happen when using these letters.

"And these letters make words?"

Txe'lan didn't want to sound eager, but matching the letters to make words was the most important thing he wanted to learn. Once he had that vocabulary skill down, he could also teach Katelyn instead of just Katelyn teaching him. He didn't want to seem like the only one being taught a new language, but he had to be patient. It had to go one way before the road could be widened enough to allow the flow of knowledge to go both ways.

This was just a small step on a very large path of stepping stones...

[Katelyn Zilar]

Katelyn could tell that Txe'lan was trying to hold the eagerness of the realization that the words and the letters had the exact same, and yet, she was just a little bit disappointed at the same time. If there there was no connection between that of the words and the letters, what would the point be of the words even existing then? No, she couldn't think like that about questions like that, there really were no stupid questions in the universe, and she had to remember that as a fact.

"Srane, a letter tsun make a word nìwotx in it's own matter infact, it rä'ä have to have other letters to make it a word, though most of the time is needed... For tìkenong, 'A' tsun be used like... Oh Look! 'A' Sky Person! Or I am reading 'A' book."

She explained to Txe'lan as she had been trying to make the 'A' letter obvious in her little example sentences so he could understand what she was trying to prove to him, even if it did seem really pathetic in some ways to herself, but she was doing what she could to help him out, even if she knew that this would be a bit of a while to accomplish. Usually people are as merely children since their minds could consume ideas and understandings easier, but who she was teaching to was a full-grown adult.

Even if he was quite interested in this knowledge, and that he had this Tree of Souls to help him out, it was still going to take an awful long time to try and teach him all the basics in speaking and writing english. It would be indeed so much easier to just get one of those education disks that teaches you things like spanish and what not through AI intelligence, or what people would say, the easy slide to knowledge.

But no, it wasn't going to be like that, not on this planet that is. Like was quite easy, yet so complex for the human species when it cvame to the different purposes that the humans could accomplish, and it always caused problems such as greed and selfishness, it was like a paved pathway with random obstacles in the way. This was Pandora though, not Earth. So she will have to walk on the moss-covered rocks down the path to success, even if it would take longer to cross, at least she had a friend to help her when it came to learning the Na'vi.

((Translation: Yes, a letter can make a word all in it's own matter infact, it doesn't have to have other letters to make it a word, though most of the time it is needed... For example, 'A' can be used like, umm... Oh look! 'A' Sky Person! Or I am reading 'A' book.

[Txe'lan]

Txe'lan had nodded his head in understanding of Katelyn trying to teach him that a letter could be a word all on its own. This was truly something new to him, something that he would have to commit to memory, but he was more than capable of doing that. There were similarities between the English and Na'vi languages, such as the letter 'I' could be pronounced to "oe", but there wasn't anything he could relate to for the letter 'A'. It was as if articles of the English language were nonexistent in the Na'vi language, so that would have to be dismissed when teaching Katelyn to speak Na'vi.

"There's no 'A' word in Na'vi..."

He could appreciate that Katelyn was filling in the more complex words of English with Na'vi terms, but if he was going to learn her language structure he might as well have some big words altogether. This was going to have to be addressed.

"Katelyn, use tsawl inglisia li'u. Utral Tirea srung oe tslam."

Txe'lan then reconnected the Tsaheylu to the tendril of the Tree of Souls, looking for an example of what Katelyn had just told him about the use of single letters as words. He found it in the memories of Grace Augustine, someone who knew English and Na'vi. This was going to be his primary source of knowledge for when he would continue these lessons with Katelyn, but the night was still young for now, so now he had something to go off of when talking to Katelyn in English.

"A tree, a book, a tawtute, and a Na'vi. Right?"

Txe'lan was starting to get the hang of this. Even though he had the mind of an adult, he had the learning capacity of a child. His English vocabulary was ever-expanding, and thanks to Katelyn for teaching him structure for his words, he was starting to speak English coherently without using a bunch of Na'vi words to fill in the cracks.

((Translation:
"Katelyn, use big English words; Tree of Souls helps me understand."
"A tree, a book, a Sky Person, and a Na'vi. Right?"))

[Katelyn Zilar]

Katelyn merely moved her mouth to the side when she had heard Txe'lan begin to speak a bit more about the 'A' letter she was trying to teach him, she did have the feeling that they did not have some sort of word being simmilar to the 'A', since what she believed of what they used was the word ' 'aw ' or ' 'awpo ' meaning 'one', though that was her own little theory, since it was a Na'vi telling her that they did not have anything symbolizing the 'A' word.

"Oh well, it's just that we use the letter to point one thing out to others is all."

She statted out to Txe'lan just to get him to understand what the entire meaning of that letter being used was for the use of talking about a single individual or object, and saying one the entire time would be a bit annoying in her standards.

It was then she began to realize that she did not any sort of Na'vi language in her sentence before, and it made her feel a bit bad. She did not want the poor guy lost in her language, it was probably a hassle for him as it was trying to figure out words here and there, and here speaking full english must have been almost a nightmare to completely figure it out on his own.

But then, it seemed that Txe'lan had replied to her before she could say her sentence once more with more of a Na'vi language fit into it. It seemed that Txe'lan wanted her to speak fully in the english language, and it seemed that he was going to obtain more information from the Tree of Souls. In a few moments, he seemed to be getting the information he needed, and began saying things that had to deal with using the 'A' letter. She let out a smirk, it was time to cheat some more.

"Yep, that's right. But remember that not many letters can be used like this, even if they sound like the letter itself. Only 'A' and 'I' can be properly used as a letter and a word all on it's own. But, that does not mean that is all they are used for. The 'A' can be used in words like Amazing, or even in the word Na'vi, even if they sound different in both of those words."

She explained to Txe'lan as best as she could to get him to understand the differences of the usage of letters and how they could be used in multiple tones instead of just the one. She also used the word 'Na'vi' because since it was his species title, and he would have found out sooner or later in the first place. Though Katelyn could admit, she was starting to have a bit more fun now that they were getting some progress along.

[Txe'lan]

As Katelyn was telling him that the English language used the letter 'A' to distinguish one particular thing, Txe'lan nodded in approval. This was just one of the many oddities English had against Na'vi as far as phonology went, but Txe'lan could manage. He was as capable of learning this just like a human could learn to speak Na'vi. In all reality there weren't too many differences, though the finer points would always differ in some form or another. Oh well, just tackle them as they came; that seemed to be the best thing to do for now.

When Katelyn said that only 'A' and 'I' can be used as words and letters standing alone, Txe'lan cocked his head to the side a bit in confusion. This was something different too, but it was just something he was going to have to remember. Even though he didn't understand everything that Katelyn had said in that long-winded sentence, he got the gist of it, turning his cocked head into another nod of understanding. He still had a long way to go, but he would endure. Txe'lan could always endure hardships; his missed eye could more than vouch for that longevity.

"Tslolam. Sla, fyape si... letters si aypam sengi ayli'u?"

The question might have been confusing to Katelyn because it asked something specific of her, but Txe'lan wanted to get into the writing more. Through speaking English he could get to converse with Katelyn easily as speaking was something he could easily adapt, but writing was something he wanted to get into more so that he could later get into the habit of writing notes and letters to Katelyn in lieu of Txe'lan being unable to show up. Heck, if she could provide him with that information and maybe a few writing manuals he could study when she wasn't around. He didn't have all the time in the world to learn one-on-one with Katelyn, so he wanted to be able to walk away with this skill in-case something merited his attention at Hometree.

"Teach me to write... these sounds as words."

Txe'lan picked up the oversized pencil again, wanting to put his limited but newfound knowledge of English into writing. If he could understand how words sounded, then he'd be able to communicate in writing, something that was foreign to Na'vi almost as a whole. Even though he still had a lot to learn, he was beginning to get to the point where he could put sounds to letters, improvise a little, then explore the English language himself. This would help him when he would need to write Katelyn a letter.

((Translation:
"Got it. But, how do... letters and sounds make words?"))

[Katelyn Zilar]

Katelyn couldn't help but giggle softly inside of her helmet as she saw the enthusiasm that Txe'lan had for the writing as he picked up his pencil once more, he was really that eager to understand how to write in her language, and how could you not be if you did not have this knowledge? This was brand new thing for their species to try and understand, for it was probably something that was lost to them around two-three hundred years ago, that is if they were even taught this years back. For seeing that it was very understandable that the humans could not give out too much information to them, especially after what they were actually trying to get from this planet.

"Alright, alright, just calm yourself a bit down. I'll show you how it works there Txe."

She said as she got some more sheets of empty paper that was at her side and had put it beside the book which Txe'lan had written the practice letters inside for him to look over again, and had given this stuff to the male Na'vi while leaving a couple of sheets of lined paper with her as it had laid on her lap with a pencil on top so that she could show her studies of the language through her writings. Now, she knew that she had called Txe'lan in a shorter form of his name, a little like a nickname for him instead of having to say his full name, even if it was not very long in the first place.

"Now, these letters are all put into an order and alined in something that we call the 'Alphabet', and are put up in order to help a person understand the language easier, and usually it is by the sound they create that have people understand. now, when we speak 'words', it is actually letters and sounds put together into one, an example..."

She had instructed Txe'lan in full english, as he had told her to do, as she began writing down the five letters of the alphabet that she had been teaching him at the top of the page, and began writing down words that had letters relating to to the letters she had written down and had showed them to Txe'lan when she was done.

"You see? alone with these five letters, I already made up five words with it. Cab, bed, ace, dead, and bead."

She told him a she pointed out the different words as she had spoken them out to him to make sure that Txe'lan understood what she was trying to show as well say to him, since it would just get him completely lost in his own mind to try in figure out what she had been saying to him, and showed him the different words that she could create with very few words all on her own. She just hoped that he was understanding with that tentacle-tree of his to help him out, cause it would be a big pain in the rear if he was not getting this information through to him..

[Txe'lan]

As much as Txe'lan was eager to learn how to construct his own words in writing, he had to try and contain himself before he could fully grasp how to put sounds and letters together into words. English was a complex language, something he had to learn first before he could do what he wanted with it. Katelyn had to calm him down too, reassuring him that he would learn it, but it would just take a little time. This he could understand, even if her saying it in English jogged his mind a little bit. No matter; it was just a matter of patience and study.

Her calling him 'Txe' was new; not confusing, but new. Txe'lan didn't quite understand why, but there was no point in questioning the issue if it was even an issue at all. He'd never been called that before, only his full name by the rest of the Na'vi. 'Txe' just sounded like a half-baked attempt at his name, though Katelyn probably had a reason for doing so, something that Txe'lan was just going to have to live with. He wouldn't try to break her of such habits; that was just splitting hairs at its finest.

When she explained to Txe'lan how those letters were put together to form words, Txe'lan looked at her examples on the paper and interpreted the knowledge, finding that this was starting to make sense. C A and B formed 'cab' as a sounding word, and A C and E made 'ace' as a sounding word, although the E sound was somehow silent. Was E a ghost letter? This would just have to be learned he thought; there were more to these letters than Txe'lan previously figured...

"Why is... 'E' silent?

The rest he could understand about letters having different sounds when put together in a certain way, but the silent letters were totally different. Katelyn's words didn't fall on deaf ears (even if it was a little bit of a chore for Txe'lan to interpret every word she said), but there was something Txe'lan didn't understand about the letters. He wanted to know this in case he omitted something that should've been there in the first place; that would just make for bad grammar when he chose to write, and he didn't want that.

"Inglisi aymunge txan nume..." Txe'lan whispered to himself, knowing he would have to learn a lot to be somewhat close to being able to speak and write on the same level that Katelyn could. Everyone was fluent with what they grew up with, but learning something new and being able to make it second nature would probably take months or even years. No matter, it didn't seem like the Sky People would be leaving Pandora again anytime soon (much less if they had a way to leave), so Txe'lan could bear with the chore of learning. It wasn't as fun as hunting, but at least it engaged someone's mind, and Txe'lan's mind was dedicated to exploring the English language much like finding the right herb to counteract certain poisons and infections. This was going to be another adventure.

((Translation:
"English takes much learning..." [note: 'ay' prefix makes a term plural in many cases, thus it won't be listed in the lexicon as is.]))

[Katelyn Zilar]

Now that was a question that had gotten Katelyn completely stumped on, and very few questions like that ever floated around to get a person this stumped. it was just one of those things that you never bothered to question about it and just did it, like walking was a bit of an example, you just did it as an everyday thing, you never really questioned about it, you just did it because you know you just do it like anyone else... It was kind of funny that way. Either way though, she just couldn't pass over the question like a old candy wrapper, she needed to give him a little more than just a 'I dunno' answer to him, no, she had to show her use and not seem to be a waste to talk to this night, especially not on the first night the two were just starting their studies.

"Well, you see... E is... yes it is silent in some words yes, as well other words sometimes. It's just kind of like..."

Katelyn was beginning to panic just a little, you could tell just by her fingers tapping faster than usual on her leg constantly as she tried to think of a quick and simple way of explaining this word out to Txe'lan, and she had to think of it fast. But how could you explain something that you can't even explain to someone else? This was hurting her head just a little bit, though it will probably be worth her while, as well his if she was able to to just word it out right. Why was it so difficult, even she did not understand for herself, and she was usually good at thinking of solutions. But then it clicked in her head on what to say, and it might just be able to pass off as a workable way of words.

"If you think of it as the letters being clan members, members like the Es have important roles in the clan, though do not take credit in their roles, hiding in the shadows from others as the big ones do all of the work. There will be times that the letters like the Es get to be known, but a number of times they are almost cast away despite their helpfulness, and so are silent in their work of making a word."

That was probably the best, as well the the only way of explaining the word to Txe'lan in a fashion that could relate to his own people, and nothing was better than the things left back at home, right? This would would work, it would have to work, or else she was going to like a turtle on its back. Helpless, and embarrassed. It was a chance though, and any sort of chance was good enough for her to go on ahead with it, it was sort of that confidence that was needed in all good soldiers, to allow them to go through with things even if they seem near-suicide to try and accomplish.

(A little short yes, but I am not in the best of moods right now...)

[Txe'lan]

((Tis perfectly okay; everyone has their off-days))

The mystery of the silent letter seemed to still be looming, but what Katelyn said about it seemed to make sense. Perhaps all the letters didn't have to make a pronounced sound all the time, but when that happened Txe'lan would have to make the extra effort to verify that his work was right. He didn't want to make a mistake that should've been a second-nature effort, but English was still new to him; he would have broken words and sentences no matter how hard he tried. This was just something that would have to be corrected with time and practice.

"Sounds like... me sometimes..."

Katelyn's explanation carried more in-depth meaning that Txe'lan first realized, but then he thought about it a little and it seemed to hit true. Txe'lan was a lot like an 'E', heard many times but silent just as many times. He was a healer, doing an important job, but he wasn't as often focused on as some of the other letters, like the hunters and the consonants or the clan leader & tsahik being important vowels like 'A' and 'I'. This was definitely making sense, and Txe'lan was catching on more and more when something made sense.

Back on track now, Txe'lan looked at his little booklet again, seeing the letters start to make sense and form words. This was so exciting; he was getting the hang of it. The 'A' had a very pronounced sound, 'B' sounded a little blunt when pronounced, 'C' sounded like a sharp "cut" sound, 'D' sounded like a variant of B, and 'E' was Txe'lan's favorite letter, useful but silent in some cases; it most personified him as well as his understanding of English as a whole.

"Bad, add, decade... so many words... this is good. Tell me more."

Now that Txe'lan understood the basics of forming letters to words and sounds, all he needed to do was learn the rest of the letters. Once that was done, he could finally learn to engage conversation and learn to put words in proper places so that he would make sense when speaking with Katelyn in English. It was just within his grasp, and all he needed was a little teaching from Katelyn to fully seize this new language. It wouldn't be long now before Txe'lan could expand his English vocabulary on his own and then get to teaching Katelyn how to speak the Na'vi language.