The sun rose over the city of Lomedor, scattering morning mists as the first rays of golden sunlight graced the streets. A few people were already out and about--merchants setting up stalls for the day or knights finishing up a night of patrolling. As the first rays of daylight touched the rooftop of Lomedor's Parmamar Library, a white-winged half-angel landed, her feet lightly touching the street outside of the library's large oak doors.

Yuki Ishimura got to her feet, folding her wings behind her. She had decided to fly this morning instead of walking, mainly because she needed to clear her head. Her twin's antics from the night before had been frustrating to say the least, and needless to say, her sleep had not been as restful as she intended it to be.

Today was the day that she was going to teach Lalandria, known as Dria, how to read. The young half-angel sighed, her hand gripping the bag she brought with her tightly. Inside were a few rolls of parchment, a quill and ink set, and one or two books that Yuki thought might come in handy.

In all honesty, Yuki had no idea how to go about teaching Dria how to read. She had been a very early reader as a child, and because of that, she could not remember exactly how she had learned how to read. She remembered watching her mother teach Ruri how to read, but this was the first time she would be doing something like this on her own.

I guess I'll just have to...what's the term Ruri uses? Wing it? thought Yuki with a slight frown as she stood outside the library's doors, waiting for Dria to arrive. Her lips curled in a small smile at the thought. Since when had she ever 'winged' anything? Yuki always had a plan for everything, unlike Ruri who acted on impulse. Then again there were those occasions...

Maybe we really are related after all... thought Yuki, I was beginning to wonder.

This day could turn out any number of ways, and Yuki was just waiting to see what happened when the elven girl arrived. Hopefully, Dria had not forgotten, but then again, seeing as how the elven girl had wanted to learn how to read, Yuki doubted very much that she would forget.

Lalandria had walked to the library gracefully, stopping at inns on the way to ask where the library was located. She had never been there, and had forgotten to ask Yuki how to get there. She strolled in the crowd, drawing eyes as she reached the better part of town, her neat but worn clothes didn't belong there. Dria didn't let it bother her; she had been through here before, even if most of her life had been spent in the darker parts of the city.

When she reached the library she had wanted to stop and gape, but she stopped herself when she spotted Yuki. She quickly climbed the stairs and went over to Yuki smiling. Today Dria's hair was held back by a ponytail, so that it wouldn't get in her face, when she was leaning over a table trying to read, or write.

"Hello Yuki," Dria said with a small wave as she reached the half-angel.

"Thanks for doing this," she added with a small blush, which was quite unusual. It took allot to make Dria blush, she had seen to many things for to much to affect her.

Yuki turned in the direction of the steps the moment she heard footsteps coming towards her. Very few people came to the library at this time of day, and she was hoping it would be Dria. Standing outside the library and in full view of the street was very uncomfortable for her, since everyone seemed to be glancing her way...at least in her imagination.

The young half-angel smiled, seeing that it was Dria after all. She waited for the elven girl to get to the top, listening to her words of greeting.

"Hello and good morning, Dria," said Yuki in reply.

She was feeling more comfortable around the elf girl now, and she was happy about it. It was seldom that Yuki made a friend that was not Ruri or one of the family. In fact, it had been a long time since she last called someone a friend. The fact that she and Dria were both here today meant that Yuki was changing somewhat, and perhaps for the better.

Dria turned to her, thanking her for this, and Yuki noted that a light pink stained her cheeks. She probably did not expect something like this, guessed the mage-in-training. She smiled.

"It's nothing. I hope I'll be able to help," she said, walking over to the large oak doors and placing a hand on the handle.

Yuki wondered if she would actually be able to teach Dria anything. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in Dria as a student. It was that she didn't have faith in herself as a teacher. Putting the thoughts out of her mind, she nodded to Dria and opened the door, stepping inside and motioning for the elven girl to follow her.

There was no doubt that the Parmamar Library was one of the finest libraries in the world. Books upon books were stacked on seemingly unending shelves. One of the walls was filled with a row of fireplaces, with several comfortable chairs in front of them for those that wished to do light reading. For those that wished to work, the library also came with several wooden tables. In the early morning, the library was almost empty, save for a group of humans reading by one of the fireplaces, and what looked to be a wizard surrounded in books on one table, looking like he hadn't slept the entire night.

Yuki made her way towards one of the tables, sitting down in a chair and motioning for Dria to sit beside her. She began unpacking the bag, laying everything on the table in an organized manner. Carefully, Yuki uncapped the ink, placing it on the table. She unrolled the parchment and dipped the quill in the ink, testing it. As she was working, she wondered what Dria thought of the library.

"This is the Parmamar Library, Dria," said Yuki, "What do you think?"

Satisfied that the quill was sharp and that the ink was of good quality, Yuki dipped her quill in the ink, writing a word in several big letters on the parchment.

L-A-L-A-N-D-R-I-A

"This is your name 'Lalandria'," said Yuki, passing her the parchment so that she could see clearly.

When Lalandria followed Yuki into the library she saw more boks in one glance than she had in a life time. She almost recoiled in shock, but saw Yuki leaving her buehind. She quickly followed and sat at the table with her. When Yuki asked what she thought of the library it took a while for Dria to answer, not really knowing how to describe what she was feeling.

"It is very nice," Lalandria finally said, her struggle to find the right words clear.

Lalandria looked down at her name in almost awe. It all made no sense at all but if Yuki said it was her name, then it was. She like the first letter the besat, due to the artful curves that the quil gave it.

"What is that letter?" she asked pointing to it.

Yuki smiled at Dria's question. It was a simple enough question, but it reminded Yuki of what she would need to teach first--the alphabet. Harder words could come later. Still, it was important that Dria at least learned how to recognize her own name. It would be useful to her while traveling, especially for performing, since sometimes in the more organized performances, names were written down along with a schedule for performance. She imagined that the elf would be embarrassed asking people to read the schedule for her, and that she would be opening herself up towards practical jokes.

"That letter is the capital letter 'L'," said Yuki, pointing at it, "The alphabet of the common tongue, Adunaic, comes in 26 letters. Each letter has two versions, the capital letter, and the normal letter. The capital letters are used at the beginning of every sentence, and as the first letter for names and places. I wrote your name in Adunaic, but I assume it would have a different spelling in the elvish languages. Your name "Lalandria" has nine letters: l, a, l, a, n, d, r, i, and a. Your nickname "Dria" has four letters: d, r, i, and a."

She wrote the word "Dria" down on the parchment as she spelled it out, showing it to Dria. Once she was done, she took the parchment, writing down the entire alphabet in pairs, the capital letter first and the smaller letter second. Once she was done, she showed it to Dria.

"This is the alphabet," she said, "The twenty-six letters are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z. All words are made up of these letters. Each one of them makes a different sound, and by putting the sounds together, one reads. There are five vowels in the alphabet: "A, E, I, O, and U." The rest are consonants. Sounds are produced by combining a consonant with a vowel. For example, in my name 'Yuki', the letters used are: y, u, k, and, i."

As she said each letter, she pointed it out on the parchment. When she spelled her name, she pointed out the individual letters before writing her name down below the alphabet. She paused, pointing the tip of her quill on the letter 'Y'.

"Y is commonly pronounced 'yuh'," she said, "Y is a consonant, so in order to produce a sound, it is combined with a vowel, in this case 'U'. 'U' is usually pronounced 'oo'. So, in my name we have Y--"yuh"--and U--"oo'. 'Yuh-oo'...'Yu'."

She paused for a moment, glancing at Dria to see if she understood before moving onto the next syllable of her name. Each time she introduced a letter, she pointed at it with her quill so that Dria could see it.

"Consonant-vowel groups are called syllables," said Yuki, "So in my name, we have the first syllable 'Yu'. Now, moving onto the next one. 'K' is pronounced 'kuh' usually, and 'I' can be pronounced as either 'eye' or 'ih'. In my name, it is pronounced 'ih'. So we have 'K'--'kuh'--and 'I'--'ih'. 'Kuh-ih'...'Ki'. Putting them together, we have Yu-Ki...Yuki."

She paused, moving back to the Dria she had written earlier. This would be a bit more complicated than her name. She smiled at Dria, hoping that the other girl was following. Her quill landed on the letter D.

"Your name is a little harder, because it has a consonant followed by a consonant--"D and R". When we read this, we start by getting the sound of the 'D' which is 'duh'. Then the sound of the 'R'--'rr', and finally the sound of the vowel 'I'--'ih'. "Duh-rr-ih"..."Dri". Then, we move onto the last vowel--'A'. 'A' can be pronounced as either 'ay' or 'ah'. In this case, it's 'ah'. So, "Dri-ah"...'Dria'. Do you understand so far?"

She looked over at the elven girl, hoping that she was following.

((OOC: I wasn't sure if you pronounced the 'I' in your name with a long sound or short sound, so I made it 'ih'. Just tell me if you want to change it.))

OoC: You got the name right, no worries.

IC: Dria followed, if in a struggling way, but she managed to understand the whole speach. She looked down at the letters for a moment. She saw that the end of her real name and her nick name looked exactly the same.

"So that means Dria," she said pointing to where Yuki wrote her.

"And that also means Dria," said pointing to the last part of what Dria said was her name.

"So that means that is Lalan," she asked, pointing to the begining of her name. Her head was tilted to the side as she looked at Yuki with a questioning face.

She then placed her finger on each letter and tried to sound it out like Yuki had done earlier. It made her name sound stretched out and almost not really like the word it was, but she could make out her name in what she said with some hard work.

Yuki watched as Dria put two and two together, pointing out the end of her name as well. The half-angel smiled. The girl was a fast learner, but she had guessed that already. If Dria was able to commit all her songs to memory without making any sort of notation, then Yuki guessed that she had to be at least moderately intelligent. She watched as the elf began sounding out the letters. It was stretched out and slow progress, but it was still her name. She was also impressed that Dria had been able to read the letters of Lalan without her explaining the sounds of each one.

"Yes, that's right, Dria," said Yuki, smiling at her, "You're making very good progress. If you're in Lomedor for performances, I suggest you stop by here and read a little each time. Eventually, it will come naturally to you, and you will stop needing to sound everything out."

Starting from A, Yuki pointed at each letter, giving Dria the sounds that were associated with it. Once the girl had reached Z, she turned to Dria.

"Can you tell me the sounds of the letters, just like I told them to you?" she asked, waiting for the girl to respond. She hoped that Dria would be able to understand the sounds of the letters, because once she did, the actual reading would come naturally.

Once the girl was done with that, Yuki passed the quill over to her, handing her a new set of parchment. Now would be the time to practice writing. If anything else, Yuki wanted this day to end with Dria at least being able to write her name. If they could accomplish more before the day ended, that would be much better. She smiled at the girl.

"I'm going over there to get a book," said Yuki, "While I'm gone, I want you to practice writing your name."

With that, Yuki left the quill on the table, getting up and walking over to one of the shelves in the corner of the room. This one was for children's books, and was one of the loudest sections of the library during the daytime. Thankfully, it was still early morning though, and there were no children around.

The reason Yuki was here was because that Dria would need to practice with easier books first, and the children's section had the easiest reading in the entire library. Most of the books were made for very young children that were still learning to read, so they all had simple words in them. She picked up one, noting that it was a classic fairytale story about a knight saving a princess. Taking the book in her hands, Yuki walked back over to the table.

"So, how are you doing? asked Yuki, laying the book on the table as she leaned over Dria's shoulder to see how she was doing with the name.

Lalandria nodded to Yuki's suggestion of stopping by and reading when ever she was in Lomedor, it made sense. When Dria was asked to repeat the letters back she did so, pausing every once in a while to remember how Yuki had said it. The letters sounded close enough, but weren't completely perfect. Dria heard the difference and tried again. This time she was close enough to pass the toughest teacher.

Then Yuki passed her the quil and told her to practice her name while she was gone. She stared at the ink, paper, and quil for a moment, having no idea what to do. Then she looked at Yuki's example and decided she should copy it. The first time she wrote her name, the lines were shaky and the letters nearly unrecognizable. She was unhappy with it, and tried again and again. The second time didn't loook any better, but by the time Yuki had returned, Dria had filled the whole page, and the letteres were atleast recognizable in not at all pretty in her last attempt.

When Yuki asked how she was doing Dria blushed slightly and looked down at her messy practices.

"Oh well I'm trying, and I think it looks better now than it did before," she said looking at Yuki with a smile.

Yuki looked down at Dria's paper, smiling slightly as she saw the numerous names written on the parchment. None of them were very special in nature, and a few were downright unrecognizable, but the fact that there was so many of them meant that Dria was trying. She was also improving from what Yuki could see, although the improvement was very slight.

Perhaps I was too hasty... thought Yuki, sitting down beside Dria, I didn't even teach her how to hold the quill yet, and we don't even know what her dominant hand is. It's usually right, but I've met a few left-handed people before, and I know for a fact that Ruri can use both equally.

"Dria, this is how to hold a quill," said Yuki with a smile, holding onto Dria's hand and positioning it around the quill. She decided to let Dria try to use her right hand first, since most people in the world were right handed after all.

"Which is your better hand?" asked Yuki as she continued to help Dria hold the quill properly. "The left or the right?"

She finished positioning Dria's hand around the quill, looking up at the girl. The Paredhel would find the grip awkward at first, and would probably have a hard time using it, but it would be much easier to control as time wore on. Although she didn't say it out loud, she was impressed with Dria. The girl was learning a lot in just a short amount of time. Then again, she supposed that the fact that the girl already knew and spoke Adunaic frequently had been to her advantage, since she could predict what the words were after reading a few of the letters.

Seeing that the piece of paper she had handled Dria had already been filled with writings, Yuki took it from her, handing the girl a fresh sheet of paper.

"You're doing well, Dria," said Yuki, reassuring the girl, "You're a fast learner."

The quill in Dria's right hand felt awkward, as if it shouldn't be there. Once more she looked down at what she had done and sighed. She needed to hold the quill this way if she wanted to learn well. She noticed Yuki's smile and smiled back, taking in another glance at the library. The shelves towered over her, and the books, oh so many books, crowded every shelf, but still managed to look neat. She yearned to absorb the knowledge held within these tomes but first she had to learn how to read. "Which is your better hand?"“The left or the right?"

"My right hand," Dria replied drawing herself away from her reverie.

Yuki nodded and finished adjusting her hand to hold the quill correctly. She then gave Dria a new piece of paper and complimented her on being a fast learner.

"Thank you," Dria said before looking back down at the white piece of paper.

It looked clean, fresh, and suddenly Dria had an urge to put down the quill and not stain the spotless paper. She quickly dismissed this urge and dipped the pen. She then tried to write her name on the paper but the quill seemed awkward, not right. She had trouble keeping her fingers in the correct position but she managed. Her name was written and she seemed to be back at the beginning with it being unrecognizable. She kept trying, being the stubborn person that she was, and finally after more times than it took before, the writing had become somewhat recognizable with some strain from the reader. Her hand was cramping from being in that position, but her fingers had become more accustomed to their place, so Dria could pay more attention to what she was actually writing.

((OOC: So, sooo sorry for the late reply. I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to roleplay.))

Yuki nodded as Dria confirmed that her right hand was her better hand. Most people had their right hand better then their left. Back home, she had only encountered two left-handed people...three if you counted Ruri who could use both her hands. She watched as Dria began to write. She was getting better, although she wasn't going to win any awards for penmanship just yet.

After a while, she noticed the Paredhel's fingers becoming more relaxed around the quill, as if she was getting used to its strange position. Her hands really were the hands of a musician--slender and able to adapt to any situation. In contrast, Yuki's hands were the hands of a reader--slightly stained with ink and made for turning pages of books. The hour wore on, the gentle ticking of a clock near them reminding them of the time as Dria continued to write. She smiled at Dria, allowing her to try writing a few more times before turning to her.

"That's enough writing for now, Dria," she said, taking the book she had borrowed earlier and placing it on the table.

The library was slowly beginning to fill up with people, and the tables beside them were beginning to fill up as well. The old wizard she had noticed earlier had left, and his table was now taken up by what appeared to be a group of human mages. An elf sat by one of the fireplaces, reading a book while one or two children were already sitting around the children's area of the library. She smiled turning to Dria and opening to the first page of the book.

"This is a book made for children, so it's easier to read than most of the other books here," said Yuki.

The first page had a picture of a castle on it, taking up most of the page. Above the castle were the words: "Once upon a time, in a castle far away". Yuki pointed at them, reading them aloud to Dria. She stopped at the word 'time' turning to the girl.

"The word 'time' has what we call a 'silent e'," said the half-angel, "That means that when we read it, we don't pronounce the 'e'"

Explanation done, she finished reading the last of the passage, before allowing Dria to look at the page and match the letters with the sounds as she did earlier.

OoC: Don't worry I was pretty busy myself, with more than a couple of projects for school due at the same time.

IC: Lalandria could hear the clock ticking away behind her. Time waited for no one, at least it never had for her. Anger boiled in her for a moment, the dark, bitter memories of a child long hidden behind shadow. Dria quickly rid herself of the feeling and concentrated fully on the writing, trying to get as much done as she plausibly could before time ran out on her, as it had so many times before.

Finally, when Dria felt her hand was almost cramped to the point that twitching a finger sent pricks of pain down her hand, Yuki told her she had written enough. Lalandria put the quill aside and glanced around herself. The population inside the library had more than doubled since she had looked up last. The people inside had also changed. She and Yuki were the only ones left from the early morning.

Yuki then brought the book out; it had a picture of a large castle on the first page. Inside Dria felt a childish sense of wonder at the picture, the part of herself that she rarely showed others, but who she truly was most of the time, analyzed the letters carefully as Yuki read them to her, ignoring the picture. She felt confused at the one letter that Yuki hadn't said at all, until Yuki told her it was supposed to be silent.

Dria was still slightly confused but she tried to repeat the words anyway. She placed her finger on the line of writing, tapping each word as she read it aloud. The letters were stretched and she almost forgot that the e was silent in time, but she repeated the word again when she read it incorrectly.