Valycion [draft]

Part 5

There was no morning in space, just a set number of hours he was allowed to rest. Time flowed around him until he no longer felt its pull, the first days were hard, tentative and unsure, and then his body forced him to relax into his assigned schedule. He didn't know why Fiore had him learn how to fight, how to smile, he didn't know where she found the new skin that he was wearing but he didn't question it. Sometimes she attended his lessons, encouraged him, and other time she was absent to attend to other matters. What they were he didn't want to know and didn't find out. His mind was empty, moving from one task to the next. The new language he learned was not strange but it was foreign and it felt alien coming off his lips.

He enjoyed his time with Fiore as much as he could, she was warm where others were cold. And despite the way she looked, sharp angles and hard, he found that she was the only one who would truly talk to him and allow him to explore the new language in a conversation that wasn't contrived. He missed home, but the idea of a home without the Valycion in it was just as distant to him as the rest of the creatures on the ship.

Remembering his way down the gridded passageways he made his way to the first room his lesson was in. The creature that waited for him there was a lot like him and Fiore, a dark triangular face but with green eyes instead of blue and gold. As soon as Valaz entered he clicked his beak and commanded "Take a seat."

"Yes Juni." This language was built for someone with a mouth like the one he had now and though he knew it should feel natural it didn't. His mind stretched out and contracted as fast as the motion was started.

"What do you think you're going to be learning today?" The words still came out too fast sometimes but he pieced them together like putting the wrong types of branches on a tree. Juni did not try and slow his speech for the Valycion, that was not how one learned.

Trying to force his brain his navy-blue gaze catalogued the items in the room as words stumbled from him "Trade?" The room was set up like a market place with stalls and bright baubles littering the impressive space.

Shaking his head Valaz winced, the movement scrutinized by the male, instead of commenting on it he instead shook his head "No, this is a gaming room, for recreational purposes people will come here and socialize." Then clearing his throat for the next words he indicated to one of the trinkets "Money and valuables often change hands here when one wins or loses."

He tried to wrap his hands around the idea of it. Nothing was his here, but it always seemed to be someone else's in particular, why someone would come to gamble away things that were theirs, a title that seemed hard to achieve in this world, he didn't understand. Although that didn't make it stand out any more than anything else. Not seeing any indication of understanding in his pupil Juni continued "You need to know how the games work and how money exchanges work within the games, they will be important places for you."

Navy eyes reflected the light of precious stones, unsure of their value. "Okay." It was superfluous but he knew he couldn't remain silent forever.

The other creature then proceeded to instruct him on how each game worked. They seemed either to be luck entirely or mostly skill and it frustrated him the amount of cheating in games of both. There seemed no way to win without rigging them or in some way gaining knowledge that the game wasn't designed to let you have. Either way was frustrating but slowly the deception itself became the game and he shut his eyes so that he could feel the slips of paper in between his claws, each one's imperfections revealing it.