Ahivo had never taught anyone before; he’d never even been assigned a new trainee to show around a various dig-sight or other. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to go about teaching Fuvii to read. He only bothered to say so once more after his initial protest.
“So this is the alphabet?” Fuvii’s furry brow narrowed as he peered over the paper, his face cinched tightly in a look of deep concentration,” What do I learn first?”
“I suppose…I…” Ahivo gnawed his lip,” Perhaps-“
“Oh, for heavens sake! Someone taught you how to read, right?”
Ahivo nodded.
“Well do what they did! What first?”
“But I can’t, really, I-“
“Sure you can,”Fuvii tore his gaze from the paper and stormed toward his bond, his ears pressed back in annoyance,” It’s a job, Ahivo. You’ve got two months vacation. He sucked the edge of the paper in his mouth and lifted it up toward Ahivo. .:: Teach me::.
Ahivo paused, stirring, but finally gave a resolute nod and sank to the floor beside the coffee table.
“Names first, I suppose. There’s a song they teach us…”
And so the lessons began.
Fuvii was an attentive learner. He paid attention and retained the information as well as he could without taking notes (it was rather difficult to write without thumbs, after all, but occasionally Ahivo scribbled a few cribs down for him). The alphabet had been easy enough, names weren’t difficult to memorize, especially in the form of a song, but trying to connect the sounds to symbols proved slightly more difficult.
He prevailed well enough, though.
The morning slowly sank into evening, and Fuvii still hadn’t pried himself from the notes. He slurped a pair of jasper stones off the table, crunching them between his teeth, and narrowed his eyes at a letter or two.
“What’s ‘h’ again, Ahivo?”
Ahivo looked up from his owner dinner, swallowed, and made the sound.
“Like your name, right?”
Ahivo nodded.
“But what about my name? Doesn’t ‘I’ make an ‘ih’ noise?”
“Sometimes,” Ahivo wasn’t really sure what to say. He wasn’t good at explaining things like this.
Fuvii let out a disgruntled noise and buried himself in the alphabet,” When do we get to start on words? I’m tired of letters, they don’t make any sense.”
“Don’t they?”
“Not really, no. Words seem so much simpler.”
“All right,”Ahivo pushed back his plate and stood,” We’ll do words.”
“Not tonight, I’m tired. Tomorrow maybe. Can we go somewhere?”
“After dinner…”
“Of course after dinner. I want to see the crusaders again.”
Ahivo plopped back down in his seat and hid a smile,” All right.” Fuvii was awful fond of the crusaders.
.:.:.::.:.:.
The halls were dark and empty, devoid of all guest and staff members except for the occasional security guard who passed them with a narrowed look until Ahivo produced some ID. They had little trouble navigating the halls, even without the light, and had little trouble from anyone. Fuvii knew the way ten times better than Ahivo did, and he bounded a head of him with a spring in his step, ears perked and mouth curled into a wild grin. Ahivo didn’t know how he managed it, especially after such a large and heavy meal (what else could rocks be considered?) and at such a late hour of the evening.
They wove their way through the halls until they reached the crusader display room, slipping in with little difficulty. Ahivo flicked on the lights and propped the door open with the discarded stop, to keep their activities from seeming suspicious.
Fuvii waddled passed the sets of armor, he favorite display, passed the beautifully painted pictures and tapestries, passed, even, the magnificent display of weaponry that hung in a thick, glass case on the left side of the room. Passed everything until he reached the very back of the room and plopped himself down in front of one of the old, framed, parchments.
Ahivo stepped up behind him, hands clasped behind his back.
Fuvii twisted his neck and grinned up at him,” Think I can read it?”
Ahivo leaned forward, squinting his eyes at the mess of words. Quite of few of them were not recognizably English (or at the very least, not modern English), and many had been smudged or hidden behind crisp wrinkles that marred the parchment. A few chunks of the paper were missing, leaving sentences incomplete and words half formed.
“Maybe,” said Ahivo, but he doubted it. He could barely read it.
Fuvii turned around and stretched his forelegs upward,” Pick me up so I can try.”
Ahivo nodded and scooped the hatchling into his arms, twisting him around so he facing the parchment. Fuvii leaned forward until his nose was nearly pressed into the glass. He narrowed his eyes, frowned, and pressed forward a little more,” This doesn’t look like the alphabet.”
“It’s old,” said Ahivo,”Most of the words have been smudged.”
Fuvii pouted, craning his neck back to shoot Ahivo a wide-eyed puppy-dog look,” Can you read it for me?”
Ahivo stirred, pattering his immense feet against the linoleum, but nodded none-the-less,” I’ll try.”
And he did. Most of the words he couldn’t make out, or understand (he knew little of Old English, or any earth-language other than modern English, for that matter, and the parchment occasionally slipped into, what he believed was, French.) He managed to pick out a few sentences that made some semblance of sense. There wasn’t much for him to read, though. Most of it was skewed, French, or torn from the paper.
“Wait!” Fuvii squirmed in Ahivo’s arms, squiggling forward,” What was that last bit?”
“I-“ Ahivo screwed his eyes up and leaned closer to the paper,” Something about the treasury of the Knight Templar. I’m sorry, Fuvii, I can’t get any more out of it.”
“That’s alright,”Fuvii pushed himself out of Ahivo’s arms and dropped, cat-like, to the floor,” Do you think the curators know what it says?”
“Oh, probably,” they had a knack for reading impossibly writing, after all. Although Ahivo had not interacted with them much, he had, on one occasion, been subject to a meeting notice, handwritten and delivered by one of the history-staff. Needless to say, he missed the meeting completely.
“Could we come back tomorrow then, and ask one about it?”
Ahivo nodded.
“That holy grail stuff is fascinating,”Fuvii continued, lifting his gaze back to the unreadable parchment,” Do you know what it is, Ahivo?”
Ahivo shook his head, flicking back his ears,” Some earth object or other, important to one of their religions, I think.”
Fuvii nodded,”Isheyne told me about it. Says it’s never been found.”
Ishenye? Ahivo shook his head. One of the curators, no doubt. He himself was not on first name basis with any of them, but he wasn’t surprised to learn Fuvii was, with all the time he was spending with them.
“It’s supposed to be hidden underground somewhere. Like fossils,” he shot Ahivo a grin,” Isn’t that right?”
Artifacts and fossils were two very different things, but Ahivo nodded anyway. They had dug up a few unusual knick-knacks during their excavations before, sending them off to the Labyrinth for the historians to deal with. Ahivo’s entire field was with bones, and other such petrified material. He didn’t know two things about how to handle historical artifacts.
“Do you think there’s much of a difference between digging for treasure and digging for bones?”
Ahivo tapped his foot and shrugged,” I don’t know.”
“Do curators get to do that?”
“No,” said Ahivo,”I don’t think so. Have you changed your mind about becoming a curator?” He tried to keep the note of hopefulness from his voice.
Fuvii shook his head no and padded away from the parchment, seating himself in front of the amour,” No….but it would be fun, wouldn’t it? Finding the holy grail.”
Ahivo let a tiny smile curl his lips and sauntered up behind him, reaching down to ruffle the feathers between his ears,” Definitely.”
Fuvii let out a yawn and turned around to face his bond,” Can we go back now? I’m tired.”
Ahivo nodded, his smiling softening slightly, and led him out the door.
.:.:.::.:.:.
"There's been a change of plans."
Ahivo found himself, along with one or two other paleontologists, seated in front of a rather stiff looking Tein, who shot them all a deep, disapproving look. Ahivo stirred uncomfortably and let his eyes drift to the carpet. He felt Fuvii stir beside him, placing a paw on his knee. He locked gazes with the hatchling, and Fuvii shot him a reassuring smile.
.::It's alright, you haven't done anything wrong::.
Ahivo nodded, trying his hand at forcing a smile on his face. His lip quivered slightly before dropped back downward. He failed miserably. Fuvii's own smile widened at the sight and he sunk closer to Ahivo, burying himself against the 'roo's side.
"We received confirmation from Avengaea to join one of their teams on a dig, but because of the numbers, we don't need all of you. So, you three had been assigned to a new dig, on Earth." Tien puffed his chest out at the word, confirming Ahivo's belief that the man was, indeed, human,” I do regret to inform you that I will not be overseeing the dig. The administrators are trying to decide who they'll send in my stead,” he sounded bitter,” But I'm positive they'll choose someone...adequate."
One of the paleontologists lifted a hand and gave a little cough.
Tien nodded to him, crossing arms over chest.
"Where on Earth are we going? I mean, they've been digging up things for years. Is there anything left?"
"Apparently the government has discovered some new, and I use the term loosely, fossils around the Western-European area. You'll be sent there to help one of their own teams."
Western Europe? Ahivo's brow furrowed. Beside him Fuvii had gone incredibly still. He could see the dragonling's muscle twitch in attempt to keep a grin from forming on his face. The poor thing was shivering with the effort.
"Unfortunately, this also means you won't be staying in Star City for the full two month duration."
The other two groaned, Ahivo simply bent his neck a little and accepted the fact.
"Stop groaning,"Tien barked,” You’ll get a higher pay in compensation. The flight it scheduled for next week. I advise you all to say your good-byes and prepare to leave for earth." With that he shot them all a dismissive nod and turned away.
Fuvii slip off Ahivo's lap and they slunk toward the exit.
"Ahivo?" Tien called over his shoulder. Ahivo cast a glance at him, then at Fuvii, before moving toward the man. He clasped his hands nervously in front of himself and perked his ears. Fuvii plopped himself down beside Ahivo's feet and cast Tien a suspicious look, frowning.
"First off, I'd like to congratulate you on bonding. You've been doing a hell of a lot to deserve a bit of recognition lately."
Ahivo stirred,” Really, sir, I'm not interested in-"
Tien cut him off, which earned the man a glare from Fuvii,"And we certainly could have used you on Avengaea, but the others aren't too happy with you right now, and rightly so,” he finally turned to him, paper and pen in hand,” Therefore I'd like to request that you transfer yourself to another team."
Another team! Ahivo's eyes grew and he stumbled backward a little,” But I-" He couldn't leave the Labyrinth! He had no where else to go!
Fuvii jumped forward, frowning,"Ahivo doesn't need to transfer."
Tien looked a little taken aback by the dragonling's outburst,” No, but it would be best for him and for the team if he did."
Fuvii shook his head,” No it wouldn't. He's been doing a good job lately, you said so yourself, so there's no reason he should transfer."
"It would create more relaxed environment for both he and for the crew."
"I can't see Ahivo causing a disturbance."
"The crew isn't happy with him since the last dig, we were forced to stay an additional two months because of his find."
"Because he was doing his job, and doing it right,"Fuvii puffed out his chest, fur bristling just the slightest bit in attempt to make himself a little more formidable looking. It may have worked, too, if it weren't for his big, violet eyes,"Ahivo shouldn't get punished for doing a good job."
"He's not being punished, he's being-"
"Transferred! Where is he supposed to go?"
"There are other teams aboard the Labyrinth."
Fuvii cast Ahivo a quick glance. Ahivo nodded his head a fraction of an inch. There were other teams, but none so large, or as experienced, as his own. Fuvii caught the inkling of disappointment and turned back to Tien, head held high.
"Well, Mr.-"
"Tien,"said Ahivo, scuffing his feet against the carpet and averting his gaze.
"Well, Mr. Tien, if you insist on having Ahivo transferred, we'll go to the..."he turned back to Ahivo,"Who runs the Labyrinth?"
"The administrators."
"We'll go to the administrators."
Tien set the paper down, frowning,” Very well,” he looked up at Ahivo,"If you wish, I'll have you transferred back to the Avangaea cr-"
"No!" Fuvii leapt forward again, eyes wide. He shrank back with an embarrassed cough and glanced upward at Ahivo,"I mean...we'd like to go to Earth. Those other two are returning to the main team after this dig, aren't they?"
Tien nodded, tight lipped.
"So, we'll go to earth. But afterwards Ahivo fully expects to be let back onto his regular team, don't you Ahivo?"
Ahivo didn't want to nod. He much would have preferred slinking out of the room without having to make a decision, but it did not appear he'd be allowed to do that. Fuvii was shooting him a glare from the floor, and Tien more at eye level. Sucking a shaky breath, he finally lowered his chin a fraction of an inch and muttered a tiny, barely audible, 'yes' under his breath.
"See?" said Fuvii, beaming at Tien, his lips peeled back in a malicious smirk.
Tien pressed his mouth into a thing line and nodded.
With that, Fuvii turned and marched gallantly toward the door, Ahivo in tow.
They were going to Earth!