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Chapter 13 - Nathan

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Chapter 13 – Nathan



I watched the kids swarm around my Nikes with a smile. My right foot was resting on its side and the kids were using it as a small climbing wall. On the left, Kiddo had enticed a few others to help him try to figure out how to untie it. The two or three not climbing or looking at my shoelaces were examining the logo on my shoes. It was like they couldn’t get over the texture as they ran their tiny hands over it. A triumphant crow from the top of my left shoe drew my attention back to Kiddo and friends as they pulled my shoelace, untying it. I chuckled as one of the loops shrank a little from the kids’ efforts. What really got me was that it was taking four of them to do what I could with one hand.
“You don’t mind them doing that?” Bar-keht asked, walking closer and motioning to the kids untying my shoe. They was a kind of cautious wonder on his face.  
“I not mind,” I assured him with a grin. “Easy do again.”  
Almost immediately after the words had left my mouth, Bar-keht moved to the other side of my left shoe and started pulling on that end of the shoelace. I chuckled as the bow finally disappeared with his help. Now all that was left was the first crossing of the laces. They kept pulling for a bit, tightening my shoe slightly, before realizing that wasn’t working anymore. Kiddo and the other kids lost interest and joined the climbers on my right shoe. But not Bar-keht. The teen seemed determined to untie my shoe now that the loops were gone. He clambered to the top of my shoe, squatting down to look at the laces. I moved slightly so I could lean on my left knee, drawing squeals of joy and wonder from near my right shoe. Bar-keht’s head darted first to check on the kids then to my face. I tried to look as friendly as possible as he stared up at me. It took a minute or two, but he eventually got back to trying to untie my shoe. He traced the lace from the hole it came out of to where it hung free. I could almost see the lightbulb go off in his mind. He stood and moved to straddle my laces, leaning down to grip one side where it crossed the other. With a small smile in my direction he started pulling the lace hand over hand like it was a rope. It probably was to him. What would have taken me only a few seconds took him about half a minute. After successfully untying my shoe, Bar-keht plopped down and smiled up at me triumphantly.  
“Good job,” I commented, returning his smile. His own smile broadened, and he turned his attention to my other shoe. My eyes followed his, and I couldn’t help chuckling when I saw the kids using my shoelace for a game of tug-of-war. It was Kiddo and another little boy against two little girls. The other girl and three boys were exploring around my calf. She managed to climb up on it, pulling on my leg hairs to keep her balance. Her companions gaped up at her, clearly trying to muster up the courage to join her. The first to launch himself was a stout little boy with a mess of dark brown curls. He got caught on my shin and scrambled for a place to hold on. I cocked my head as the other two, both blond, followed his example. A sudden idea cropped into my head. Checking on the four who had been playing tug-of-war (they were resting near Bar-keht now), I slowly started lifting my right knee off the ground. The girl already on my calf scrambled for a way to hold on as the boys on my shin readjusted their grips. With a grin, I swept all four of them into my hands. A squeal of delight came from the girl, but the boys huddled together against my fingers.  
I felt a sudden shift on my left foot. Cupping my hands around the kids, I looked down at Bar-keht. He lurched toward my leg, eyes fixed on my hands even as he tripped over the tongue of my shoe. Looking at the others huddled on or near my shoe, I saw a similar look of fear/concern on every face, including Kiddo’s. I cocked an eyebrow at them. Didn’t they know by now that I wasn’t going to hurt them? They had just been climbing all over my shoes for Pete’s sake!  
A small whimper brought my attention back to my hands. The lead boy was white as a ghost as he leaned against my fingers, and the girl was started to show traces of fear as well. Okay, so picking them up without warning was one of my worse ideas.  
“It is all right,” I murmured, trying not to seem like a monster. It was probably a little late for that, but I could at least try, right? “You want me put you down?”  
All three boys nodded vigorously, but the girl just cocked her little head. All things considered, I lowered them. At the same time, I felt Bar-keht start trying to climb my leg. As soon as my hands passed him, Barh-keht hopped on, speaking softly and rapidly to the kids huddled near my fingers.  
My hands stopped. Had he just jumped on my hands? Just like that? After looking at me like I was a monster? Whatever he was saying seemed to help calm the kids, but I still managed to catch some wide-eyed expressions from the boys. The girl, though, didn’t seem to share their fear. Mostly, she just seemed curious.  
“Why did you pick us up?” she asked, not a trace of fear left on her face or in her voice.  
“Yes, why did you?” Bar-keht demanded. In that moment, I could see how he and Sreh-sar were related. I looked away uncomfortably as he turned to face me. It probably looked really strange to any passerby to see this giant stranger afraid of a teenager literally standing in his hands.  
“I… I am curious,” I stumbled over trying to express myself in their language. “I also think maybe be fun for them?”  
The little girl said something at the edge of my hearing, causing Bar-keht to round on her. I smirked a little as he went into a soft tirade. Yep. He and Sreh-sar were definitely related. Of course, I wasn’t about to point that out at the moment. I could feel the boys pressing into my fingers again as Bar-keht reprimanded the girl. With a puff of a sigh, I lowered them to the ground and straightened my fingers so the boys wouldn’t have to worry about going around Bar-keht and the girl. The boys quickly scuttled off, joining the other kids still resting by my shoe, but Bar-keht was too focused on his lecture to notice or straight up didn’t care that he was close to the ground again.  
“My, my, my,” a slightly familiar voice called. “What did I miss?”  
I looked away from my hands to see Zee-lawf walking up, writing stuff in hand. Must be my turn to talk to the man. I only hoped I wouldn’t scare him.  
My eyes darted back to my hands at the almost imperceptible change in weight. Bar-keht had apparently jumped a little at the approach of the adult.  
“Nothing,” he said quickly, trying to cover up what had happened.  
“Nothing?” Zee-lawf asked, seeming to get a little more confident as Bar-keht and the girl left my hands. The girl must have grumbled something because Bar-keht’s head snapped in her direction. Zee-lawf chuckled, ruffling her hair and finally meeting my eyes. Bar-keht followed his gaze, and I could see how worried he was about my answer.  
“Bar-keht is right,” I shrugged, turning my attention to my untied shoe. As gently as possible, I nudged the kids away from my laces, at least enough that I could retie my shoe without worrying about them being in the way. I could feel them all watching me.  
“All right, kids,” Bar-keht called as I finished with my shoe. “Time to go.”  
There was a small chorus of groans from around my shoe, but, surprisingly, they obeyed. It might have been the fact that Zee-lawf was standing there in a purple robe. I watched with a small smirk as the kids trudged off behind Bar-keht. Although, one or three snuck looks back at me, including Kiddo.  
“You know,” Zee-lawf began, somewhat hesitantly now that we were alone, “I’m supposed to write about all that happens while you are here, not just what you think I want.”  
I cocked an eyebrow at him. He must have been talking about how Bar-keht and I had both said nothing was wrong when it was clear that the teen had been scolding a young girl while they were in my hands. Then again, he could be talking about what happened between Ro and I that she might not have told him. I sighed, slumping a little as the little man hesitantly moved closer.  
“I not know what you mean,” I told him honestly.  
Zee-lawf sighed, inching toward my resting shoes. He wasn’t really looking at me, and I half-wondered what was going through his head as he started to climb on the toe of my shoe. He still didn’t look up at my face, instead arranging his supplies as best he could on the limited surface area he had.  
“I can help?” I offered hopefully, drawing Zee-lawf’s attention to my face.  
“You can start by telling me what was going on earlier,” he countered. Nice try, little guy.  
“Not what I mean,” I responded, lowering a hand near the shoe he was trying to set up on. I could see the small face blanch as my meaning was communicated. “You talk to Ro. You know I not hurt you,” I half-groaned at his reluctance.  
“Well, yes,” he stammered, staring at my hand like it was going to bite him. “But even you must admit that it is one thing to hear about something like that, but quite another to do it yourself.”  
I had to give him that one, but I refused to move my hand. After all, if he was going to talk to me, he would have to look up for a very long time, and I would have to look down. I figured if I held him, it would be better on both our necks. The small man looked from my hand to my face and back a few times before hesitantly moving his things from my shoe to my hand. I couldn’t help a small smile as I felt the tiny items settle in my hand before Zee-lawf himself climbed on. He met my eyes once he had settled as much as he was apparently going to.  
“I lift you now,” I told him softly, fingers curling a little as I brought him to eye level. I could tell he was tensing, and gave him time to adjust to the feel of being in my hand. I tried not to stare as he rearranged himself slightly, tiny fingers tickling my palm. I would probably never truly be used to this feeling, despite my attempts to make it seem like I was. When he finally did look up at me, he had a bit more color than I expected. That was good.  
“I must say, this is the oddest assignment I have had to date,” he commented, pulling a writing desk onto his lap. I watched as he neatly organized his paper and quills on the writing desk. I tried to dampen my breathing in an attempt to keep from blowing away the pages.  
“Now, then,” the man said, seeming to have finished arranging himself. “Shall we begin?”  
I nodded, resting my weight on my other arm as I looked at him. “Where you like me start?”  
“The beginning preferably,” he answered, quill poised over the paper. “Such as how the Kings came to choose you.”  
I sighed, shaking my head a little. “I am not knowing the Kings like that,” I told him honestly. “Before here, I am with my mother’s brother in boat called Glory Daze. My first time seeing big water. I live land all around.” I really hoped that made sense to the little man hurriedly scribbling away in my hand.  
“Land all around?” he questioned, tapping the end of his quill against his chin. “I’m guessing that you mean ‘oo-soh-soh’ when you say ‘big water’, which means that land all around is beh-ma-hee, perhaps? Or possibly, hoo-rool… How much of what I say do you understand?”  
“Most,” I answered honestly. “I do not know three words you say.”
“But if I were to ask if the land goes up and down with little dirt, you would understand that?”
“Mountains,” I answered in English.
“Maw-oon-tehns?” He cocked his head to the side before writing a note on a different piece of paper. “Do you live near maw-oo-tehns?”
“I live land flat,” I answered. “Good soil. Much crop.”
At this Zee-lawf smiled broadly. Apparently he hadn’t expected giants to be able to farm. If only I could tell him about all the technology that came with farming back home. Of course, there was the failed attempt of explaining a TV to Ro from a couple days ago to stop me.
“But your mother’s brother doesn’t live there?” he asked, drawing me back to the present.
“No, he lives near big water, towards sunset,” I answered, not knowing if they even had words for directions like we do. “He has boat that he takes out every hot season.”
He mumbled a little, probably trying to find the words I didn’t know. I listened as close as I could, catching what I hoped was the word for west and another I thought meant summer.
“But you said that you don’t see the oo-soh-soh… er ‘big water’ where you’re from?” he asked, brow furrowing. “Which would make me think that your mother’s brother lives a good distance from you.”
“He does,” I nodded. “Over mountains. Very long way.”
“So you must have had a long journey just to reach him, and then he took you out in his boat?”
“Not over long,” I answered, trying to think of a way to explain this that didn’t make me seem crazy. “Only one fourth of one day. Travel easier there. Not have to walk all time.”
Zee-lawf looked completely confused at this. “But… you said there are maw-oon-tehns between you and your uncle…”
“Go over them,” I answered with a small grin. “We have things to travel in sky.”
“Kings save us,” he mumbled, face blanching. “Could one of those bring more giants here?”
“If not here already, not worry,” I responded easily. “I only here because I not listen to mother’s brother.”
“This is punishment from him then?”
I shook my head, looking embarrassed. “He say storm coming on oo-soh-soh,” I tried the new word, “and I not listen. He right. Small boat I in tip, and I swim and swim until here.”
“I see,” Zee-lawf answered slowly. “But something... something told you to leave the Gloh-ree dehz, and that something guided you here.”
“I guess you say that,” I replied after some thought. Although, if I was honest, my not listening was just my own stubbornness. I just liked the way Zee-lawf phrased it better.
“After you got out of the oo-soh-soh?” he prodded.
“I sleep. Very tired. When I wake, I am very thirsty. I find river and see Ro first time,” I paused thinking back to her first reaction. “She try catch fish, I think. Drop net when see me and run. I find her things later in day, put in my pocket in case I see her again.”
“Ro told me you reached for her,” Zee-lawf commented, looking up at me as though he expected me to deny it. I nodded, a sheepish look on my face. He seemed to understand. I mean, who wouldn’t be curious after seeing a tiny person standing in a little river? I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one who would want to pick up the tiny person right away.  
“How did you come to be in the river town?” he drew me from my thoughts.
“I am not sure,” I told him honestly. “I am sitting where I find Ro’s things, then am shoot with arrow. Next I know, I am in river town with chain on leg.”
“I see,” Zee-lawf muttered, seeming slightly disappointed. “The creh-teek said they ferried you, but not how. I was hoping you could provide me with more details.”
I shrugged, unable to answer him. Admittedly I was a bit curious of that myself. I was a giant to them, after all.
“I should probably just assume that Ro’s story is the most correct when it comes to what happened in the river town, then?” Zee-lawf murmured, scribbling down some notes. “When you saw her, what did you think of her?”
“She small,” I answered.
“No, no,” the man shook his head. “I meant were you certain she was a she despite her clothing?”
“Back home, women not must wear skirt,” I answered. “Women can dress same as man.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the scribe smiled up at me. “Tell me more of where you’re from. Oh, er, please?”
I chuckled a little as he turned his ‘order’ into a request of sorts. “What you like to know?” I asked.
The scribe tapped his quill against his chin as he mulled it over. “Well, there are more like you,” he began, seeming to grow more confident after I nodded. “I suppose a good starting question, then, would be about your culture and rituals.”
I hummed thoughtfully, trying to get the phrasing right in his language before I even tried to say it aloud. “Where I am from… people from different places first,” I paused shaking my head a bit, knowing that wasn’t exactly right. “People parent parent parent parent from different places.”
“Zeh-too-eh,” he hesitantly provided, a look of mild confusion on his face. “The ones who came before them.”
“Yes, they zeh-too-eh from other lands,” I nodded with a small smile. “Many where I from, zeh-too-eh from Germany is across other oo-soh-soh to sunrise.”
“Two oo-soh-soh?” Zee-lawf paused, evidently shocked by this information. Which, after I thought about it a little, made sense. He, and everyone else on this island, had grown up fairly isolated from the rest of the world.
“We count four oo-soh-soh where I from,” I told him. “Pacific is towards sunset from where I from, Atlantic is towards sunrise from where I from, and also Indian and Arctic.”
“Pah-sih-fihc, Aht-lahn-tihc, Ihn-dee-ahn and Are-tihc?” he repeated, obviously trying to figure out how to spell them in his language. “Where is the Ihn-dee-ahn from where you are from? And does this land of giants have a name? Like the Dzehr-mah-nee you mentioned.”
“My land is called America,” I replied. “Indian Ocean not touch America.”
“Do you still speak your In Galish often?” he asked, surprising me. “I wonder because many of these words you say are not hih-tah-kah. This uh-meh-rih-cuh and oh-shun, they are not hih-tah-kah.”
“Ro is learning In Galish as I learn hih-tah-kah,” I answered. “She is better learner.”
“I see.” By this time, Zee-lawf had set aside some of his writing things, seeming to just want to talk to me for a bit. “I wish to learn as well. If you do not mind teaching me.”
“I try,” I answered with a smile.
“This word, oh-shun, you used it to talk about oo-soh-soh Ihn-dee-ahn. Would it be right to say they are the same?” he started right in.
“I think same,” I told him with a smile, getting a little more comfortable as his face lit up like a light bulb.


By the time lunch was brought to me, Zee-lawf had learned quite a few English words and had the gist of some grammar. As the carts were rolled toward me, I set the scribe down and rolled my shoulder. I heard and felt the shoulder and elbow pop as I flexed my arm, sighing in relief. It wasn’t that Zee-lawf was heavy or anything, it just took a lot more than I thought to keep my arm steady for him. Of course, the small people on the ground near me didn’t quite appreciate the gesture or sounds. Zee-lawf looked especially concerned, even after I started eating.
I kept waiting for him to turn once I had taken a few mouthfuls from the carts, but he just kept watching. While fear was clear on his face, most of his expression showed only fascination. I chewed slowly, looking away from the small man.
“Do they always find you to feed you?” he asked just as I was picking up the last cart of food. There had been three this time.
“I am not easy hide,” I commented, finishing off my lunch with ease.
“I see,” he replied, seeming relieved that I was done.
My eyes wandered the clearing a little, expecting that Zee-lawf had all he wanted or needed at this time. I was proven wrong when he spoke up again.
“Do… do you have ih-zah-neh? Writing in In Galish?”
“Yes,” I answered, a question in my tone.
“May I see it?” He seemed so excited that it would have been cruel to deny him. With a smile I nodded, causing Zee-lawf to start bouncing almost imperceptibly (to my eyes, anyway) on the balls of his feet.
I looked around for something I could use to write with besides my finger and settled on an old log near the edge of the forest. It was a bit thick, more like a marker than a pen, but it was better than nothing. Not to mention, all the roots and branches had somehow already been stripped off.
“What I write?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow as I poised my “marker” over the ground.
“Your name!” Zee-lawf answered excitedly after some thought.
With a smile, I spelled out my name in all caps in the dirt in front of me. It was a little bigger than I would normally write, but not too bad, considering what I was working with. As I lifted my hand away, Zee-lawf walked among the letters, staring at the ground. I had a feeling he couldn’t see them all at once, not from his angle.
“Could you lift me again?” he asked hesitantly, confirming my theory. “I would like to see In Galish ih-zah-neh as you do.”
My left hand lowered to the ground palm up, so I could keep a hold on the log. I had a feeling he would want to see more. After all, Nathan only had four letters in it.
I couldn’t contain a smile as he eagerly climbed into my palm. Progress! I guess, the best way to get a scribe comfortable was to show them something they were interested in. And Zee-lawf seemed plenty interested in English. I brought him to about chest height, knowing he’d be able to see my full name from there.
The small man lay on his stomach in my hand, peering down at my name. I could hear him muttering something at the edge of my hearing, but couldn’t quite make out what he was actually saying.
“Neh-then,” he called up, rolling slightly to look at me. “There are only five sounds in your name, but you put down six symbols.”
“Middle two together make ‘th’ sound,” I replied, hoping I had understood his implied question.
“How many symbols does In Galish have?” he asked, sitting up and looking at me. His face showed earnest curiosity, and he seemed really interested in all this.
“Twenty-six we use to write sounds,” I answered, not bothering with upper case and lower case at the moment. “Others used for writing reasons.” Almost as an afterthought, I added, “Punctuation,” in English.
“Puhn-shoo-eh-shun?” Zee-lawf repeated. “In Galish must have many writings, then.”
“Other language too,” I replied carefully. “Not all use same symbols, but many language, many writing.”
Zee-lawf shook his head, probably trying to figure out where all these giants lived. “The world is clearly much larger than we thought,” he thought aloud. “For giants to have so many languages, for four oo-soh-soh to exist! The world must be huge!”
Even as he finished that thought, I debated starting to hum ‘It’s a Small World,’ but thankfully realized Zee-lawf wouldn’t understand the reference. He didn’t know most of the geography I had learned as a kid! There was no way he would know a Disney song.
“How would you write my name?” he asked suddenly, as if to bring us both back to the present.
I looked from him to my name and back. It was going to be tricky writing with him in my hand, I realized. “I maybe move you first?” I asked. “Not sure how good I write holding you.”
“Oh, um, of course,” Zee-lawf seemed to understand. Well, considering what he did for a living, it’d be weird if he didn’t.
I looked for a good place to put him before thinking that I’d just have to pick him up again so he could see what I had written, and that process would repeat itself for however many words the small man wanted to see. In a brief flash of ingenuity, I lifted him to my shoulder.
“Neh-then?” he asked, voice clearer than ever since he was right by my ear.
“Climb on,” I encouraged him, tipping my hand slightly. “I not let you fall.”
I felt the small man scramble onto my shoulder, gripping my shirt and occasionally the skin underneath. Once I felt him settle next to my neck, I rubbed my name out of the dirt and wrote his as well as I could. “Z-E-E-L-O-F,” I murmured as I wrote the letters.
I felt him shift slightly as I leaned back a little to admire my handiwork. “That says Zee-lawf?” he asked, wonder in his voice.
“Yes,” I answered, a small smile on my face. “I not sure how spell, so guess a little.”
“These symbols are all different than the ones in your name,” he commented, not seeming to want an answer. “It makes sense, though. Your name and my name do not share sounds.”
Acting on impulse, I wrote Ro’s name. It kinda felt like I was trying to prove that letters could repeat in other words.
Another shift on my shoulder. “Ro also has an o? But it is not the same as the o in my name,” Zee-lawf said, obviously trying to figure out what to him were probably really strange symbols.
“O is what we call vowel,” I tried to explain softly. “Has two sounds: long and short. Long is Ro name. Short is Zee-lawf name.”
“Vaw-oo-uhl?” the small man repeated, surprising me slightly. Didn’t they have ‘w’?
“Close, vowel,” I replied.
“That’s what I said, vaw-oo-uhl,” Zee-lawf said.
Okay, so hih-tah-kah had no ‘w’ equivalent. I could live with that. Man, I was turning into a language nerd. Sort of, anyway.
“There are other vaw-oo-uhls?” Zee-lawf’s voice started me out of my thoughts.
“Four others,” I answered, writing them as I said them. I felt two small hands latch onto my ear as I did. Was he really standing on my shoulder? Impressive.
“So the long sound you were talking about, that’s the symbol’s name?” he asked as I leaned back. I nodded.
“How do you say the first one again?”
“Ay,” I answered.
“Eh-ee,” he tried. It was close enough for my ear, but he kept trying. I could feel mini waves of frustration roll off him as he asked me to say it again.
“Zee-lawf is all right,” I told him after what felt like the five hundredth time. “Ay is hard sound for you.”
“But it’s in your name!” the scribe fumed. “Someone should be able to say your name correctly.”
“Here, I am Neh-then,” I shrugged with my unoccupied shoulder, feeling his little feet moving on the other. “Home, I am Nathan. Not big problem. Very close sound.”
“I suppose your right,” he sighed. “What is eh-ee’s short sound?”
“Ah,” I replied. “Sound like ‘cat’.” I gave the English word.
“Next one is ee, yes? It’s short sound?”
“Eh, like eh-hee,” I replied with a grin. “Then I’s short sound is ih like hih-tah-kah.”
“O is my name and Ro’s,” Zee-lawf provided. “Last one is yoo?”
“U short sound is ‘uh’,” I answered.

The writing lesson lasted through supper, only ending when it got a little too dark to see the letters on the ground. I had to mask at least five yawns in that time, being careful not to knock Zee-lawf from my shoulder. As I ferried him back to the ground, Ro approached us.
“We must continue this tomorrow, Neh-ee-then,” the man called up with a smile.
“I am here,” I answered, returning his smile. The man practically skipped away, getting an odd look from Ro.
“Continue what?” she asked, settling herself in my still outstretched hand.
“The English alphabet,” I grunted, slipping into Engish. “Poor guy’s gonna get confused real soon.”
“Ahl-fuh-beht,” Ro repeated scrunching her nose up a little. “What’s ahl-fuh-beht?”
“What people like me use to write,” I yawned, laying back and setting Ro on my chest.
“So, ahl-fuh-beht is ih-zah-neh for English,” she murmured, settling over my chest without argument. Despite learning a new word, she seemed distracted by something.
“What’s up?” I asked, settling a hand over her.
“I’m just tired,” she answered, getting comfortable. “Go to sleep.” Well, that’s the end of that, then, I thought ruefully. Of course with Ro settled comfortably on my chest, it was easy enough to fall asleep again, especially when I sleepily realized she was already asleep under my hand. A small smile slipped onto my face before I slipped away to dreamland.
IT'S BACK, I TELLS YA! Took me long enough, but here it is.

Chapter 12: [link]
Chapter 13: here!
Chapter 14: [link]
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cnart12's avatar
omg. i read all of these awhile ago when i didnt have an account, holy crap i love them so much. *fangirls* youre a fantastic writer