Yunalesca entered the large library almost silently. She glanced around her, deciding that the Lupine, Quess, who she had intended to meet here, wasn't in the library yet. She began walking toward a table in one of the corners, where fewer people would stare at her, as an elf...or half elf which is what everyone would asume. Yuna felt akward in the large building, but not half as bad as she had outside.

The city had been a nightmare. There had been more people than Yuna had ever met, or had ever wanted to meet. She did not like crouds. And it had been loud, Yuna was used to quiet, like in the forest. Elves were not half as loud, even all crouded up as they could be in the Elven Capital. It was just all to much for Yuna. But, she had made it here, to the library in one piece, which was a plus. It would be hard to teach if she were in pieces. But that brought her to another train of thought.

How do you teach a Lupin how to read? Yuna wondered to herself. I guess the same way you teach anyone else...boy was this gonna get akward. Yuna added, still thinking. She hadn't started talking to herself yet at least... that was yet another plus. People tended to start thinking you were crazy when you held conversations with yourself.

Quess awkwardly squeezed through the throng of people outside the library and into the place of learning itself. She looked away from the irritated librarian and the glares she received from the “educated” people clustered around the little tables, noses buried in every kind of nook imaginable. Well, she’d show them! All these racists might think of lupines as nothing but bloodthirsty beasts (which some of them were) but Quess was determined to clear at least part of that bad name, by learning to read.

It hadn’t been hard to find a halfway-competent teacher. Everyone else she’d had the courage to approach either gave her a suspicious look and walked away or started laughing. Now, finally having met a nice-enough elf, Quess had arranged the meeting to be here. She scanned the library, hoping this whole thing had not been some cruel joke. Finding Yuna, Quess made her way over to Yuna’s table.

Not even attempting to sit on one of the tiny chairs, Quess simply crouched down, her stomach level with the small table.

“Hello, Yuna. Thank you very much for agreeing to help me.”

Yuna jumped very slightly as the lupine came up. She had been deep in thought, and there fore hadn't seen Quess coming, no matter, the lupine didn't intend to hurt her, so there was no harm done, this time. Yuna knew she should be more careful...but she just didn't care to be. Not at the moment anyway, normally she would have been more careful, but this place had her distracted.

Yuna glanced up and smiled brightly at Quess. "Why wouldn't I agree to help you? Its nice to see some of your kind being a little less 'i want to kill everything reguardless of race or alignment' it makes it very hard to make friends." Yuna said quietly, trying to make a minor joke, but getting the feeling that she was failing - and rather badly too.

"I was curious if you had any prior knowldge, or if we would be starting from scratch here." Yuna began hesitantly, she didn't want to sound rude, but she didn't want to begin with something that Quess already knew.

Quess gave the briefest of scowl, butting in rudely.

“My kind – contrary to public opinion – do not go around killing everyone!”

The voice did not rise any higher than a whisper, but it was quivering with suppressed anger just the same. But, seeing as the kind elf who’d agreed to help her learn how to write didn’t react, the white lupine simply dropped the matter and began the daunting task of trying to learn to write.

“I really – I don’t know anything, really. My people…The kind of education I received was certainly not of reading and writing. My clan considered such skills trivial. And indeed – the ability to write is truly useless in the misty forest.”

Feeling she was rambling, Quess hastily pulled open a book already on the table – Yuna had probably brought the whole stack – and flipped through page after page of symbols. Some were simple, like the circle or the cross, but others were more complicated, like the thing that Quess would soon learn was a “G”. But they were all so unfamiliar…Where to begin?

Yuna gazed at the Lupine for a moment wordlessly. "You are correct, it was very rude of me to imply that all of your kind are nearly mindless killers. They are not and I know as well as understand that." Yuna said very quietly, not in fear, but becuase she didn't want to start the lesson off with bad feelings.

"Thats fine. We will start easily then." Yuna said, nodding ever so slightly as Quess opened a book. Yuna took a deep breath. Very hesiantly Yuna tapped the page, indicating one of the many letters. "Thats an 'a' when you are reading it makes the 'ah' sound." Yuna said calmly.

This may not be QUITE as akward as I feared it would be...she really is very nice. No more akward than the fact that we are being stared at, at any rate. Yuna restrained those to thoughts alone.

Determined to learn, Quess echoed the “ah” sound rather artificially. It was called an…”Eigh?” She frowned, wondering why the letter wasn’t called by the same thing as the sound it produced; it would have simplified things so. Quess traced the little symbol, making a little “A” with her long finger, though to her, it seemed like a little mountain. She would remember it that way, she supposed.

“It is an…”A”…And it makes the sound “ah” as in…salAHmander?”

The lupine dropped her eyes from Yuna’s – it was odd how they were different colors. Quess had never seen such an oddity – and onto the next symbol, the one she didn’t know was an “a”. To her, it was simply another symbol, a more complex one than the little mountain “A”. She squinted at it, putting a finger on it.

“What sound does this make?” She asked, letting her finger trail around the little letter once more, studying its shape. It was all so complex.

"Yes, it does make the 'ah' sound as in 'salAHmander' very well done, Quess." Yuna said with a gentle smile. She was happy that the Lupine was picking this up so quickly, while it would still take time, the task was beginning to look posible.

As Quess dropped her eyes, Yuna noticed she seemed a little disconcerted. Yuna flushed deeply, somehow knowing it had to do with her oddly colored eyes - mostly becuase she had affected many that way at sometime or another. It had always embaressed her.

"Thats also an 'A'." Yuna explained carefully, gazing at the symbol in question. Yuna didn't think about the oddity of her eyes anymore, that would just bring around more trouble.

Though Quess thought she had been doing alright with the first letter – it was simple and made sense – she began to grow unsure. There were two different symbols that made the same sound? That seemed to make no sense – didn’t that simply overcomplicate things, when you could just have one sound per letter? It was clear that the lupine was perplexed, as her expression changed to a more confused one. Fidgeting ever-so-slightly she traced over the letter “a” with a sharp yellowy nail.

“You mean there’s two different letters that make the “ah” sound? Why would you want that?” questioned Quess, hoping that the two letters were interchangeable. After all, a myriad of slight differentiations was always more complicated than a few blatant ones.

Yuna took a deep breath. "Well, actually, they are the same letter. The first is a capital letter, the second lower case...capital letters are used when naming something specific - a person or a place usually, or when starting a sentence...but we'll get a little more into that when we start writing." Yuna explained quietly. She hoped that she hadn't just confused Quess even more..but it really was kind of hard to explain.

This is going well. Yuna thought absently...in that small part of her mind that always analized everything that went on around her. Sometimes Yuna really hated that part of her...it was SO, or at least could be, very sarcastic.

Still puzzled, Quess tried to make sense of the new information. To recap on the basics so far, the symbols “A” and “a” both made the “ah” sound, but the capital letter designated specifics. But what did specifics specifically mean? That was what Quess wondered now.

“Excuse me…What do you mean by specific? Do you mean to say…If you say apple, you would use the lower “a” but if you say, for instance, “the Apple”, you’d use the upper case? I don’t see why it would make any difference…”

If there was all this confusion with just the first letter, mastering the entire alphabet would be more difficult than any weapon or combat skill. Well, maybe the other letters wouldn’t have a bunch of special rules or anything…

"No, its more like you would use a lower case letter for 'apple' and a capital letter for a name, like Arwen." Yuna said, trying to clarify to the best of her abilities. Just wait until you start trying to explain vowels...and 'a's other sounds......thats going to be great fun. Yuna thought...she hoped that she would get better at explaining as time went on, other wise there was going to be a lot of backtracking going on later.

Yuna glanced at the book again, wondering how the classes were going to progess...after she finished the main alphabet, and vowels, what exactly would she need to teach Quess...or would Quess give up before then due to Yuna's own inexpertise in teaching? Thoughts like that troubled Yuna...that she may be the reason someone decided not to learn didn't seem like something she wanted to think about.

A name like “Arwen” was what classified as a name? But what if someone said something general like everyone with the name “John”? Would it be john? So many possibilities, so many hypothetical exceptions whirled around Quess’ head, making her truly question herself if she were meant for learning how to read and write. After all, Quess thought as she absent-mindedly stared at her claws – the implements of a killer – her whole life – body, mind, and soul – revolved around combat and survival in the wilderness. Perhaps she really was never meant to understand all these complex rules that governed the written language of man. Or, at least, in the written sense.

Well, it was best to dwell on the positives and just assume all names were capital, and everything else was lower case. Things seemed so much simpler when you grouped them into general little clauses like that. Moving on to the next little symbol – ugh, still fifty to go – Quess pointed a yellowy nail at the “B”.

“Um, alright then. What’s this? Is it a third form of “A” or something else?”

Already feeling weary, Quess leaned back for a moment to stretch out her lanky limbs, cramped from the small, uncomfortable chair. She wished she could take notes – but it was a bit of a catch twenty-two on that front. As things stood, all Quess had to remember these lessons with was her brain.

"No, there are only two forms of each letter. That is a "B" it sounds like 'bah' " Yuna said calmly, clearly. She took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. She was worried that this wasn't going well. Yuna kept her mind focused on the lesson, refusing to let herself think about anything else, that would only lead her to confusing poor Quess even further. That was the last thing that Quess needed, more confusion because her teacher was being spacey.

For a long moment Yuna studied her student. Just looking over the white lupine while waiting for her to take in the new letter.

“Bah?” repeated Quess doubtfully, mind flitting over the possible uses of this word. Why, she wondered, would anyone short of sheep want to make the sound “Bah”? She couldn’t think of any word that would use it….BAHtle?...No, that didn’t seem to work, Quess realized with a frown. Was the letter B maybe just used to very specific situations? With no other idea, the confused lupine decided that her feeble guess would have to do – though it was an odd idea to put a special letter so early in the alphabet…Wouldn’t that just drive off possible learners?

Scratching the side of her neck awkwardly, she allowed her attention to drift over to the next symbol, “b”. It looked a little like a rocking chair but more curved. Guessing that this little thing was the “lower case” form of “B”, she half-heartedly read it as “…Bah…?” before falling silent as she waited for Yuna to verify if she were correct.

Ugh, all this was all so complicated. As she squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, she was starting to have second thoughts about undertaking this whole ordeal. This was so late in her lifetime for trying to do this…And it was all really so complicated…

"Yes, 'bah' with other letters it make make slighlty different sounds. 'battle' starts with a 'b' " Yuna said slowly. She realized that she was confusing Quess even more than she had with the upper and lower case letters. I can't stop confusing her for even a moment. We're only on the second letter and already I have confused her twice. I'm never going to get this right.' Yuna thought quietly. She tapped her fingers absently trying to decide how to go on. How could she do this without confusing Quess even more.

“Bah-ahttle is battle?” Quess asked with great confusion, not understanding how the sounds of the letters could make little changes when used in different words. How, she wondered, was she supposed to know what sound a letter would take in each and every word? Did the sounds change in every word? But that would make no sense…Then there would be no point in having an alphabet at all, if you were supposed to just memorize words! Hesitantly, Quess slid back in her undersized chair, unsure if she wished to continue this painful process that only served to embarrass and humiliate her again and again.

“Um, Yuna…I do not believe I am cut out for this…” she began, though her voice wavered, betraying that she was unsure. She didn’t want to give up, of course, but this really was not her path of life, and she was having second thoughts. It would be so much easier to just stick to her old life! Searching almost desperately for something to look at, the uncomfortable lupine found herself mesmerized by her elf friend's bicolored eyes. They were so...interesting.

"Your eyes...Have they always been like that?" asked Quess bluntly.

"You are Quess. You can do this, I'm just not so good at explaining things sometimes. and I guess in-" Yuna froze in mind sentence as Quess continued talking. Her muscles tensed up suddenly as she stared at the Lupine. "Your eyes...Have they always been like that?" Quess's words echoed through her mind a hundred times over...echoing and blending with the words of the past...the taunts because she had always been so different.

Yuna's eyes closed, she took a deep breath, slowly counting to ten. Then she counted to ten again to give her mind time to settle, and her voice time to steady, it wouldn't do well to have her voice start shaking while she spoke. After another moment she released the breath that she had been holding in. Slowly her eyes opened and she found herself looking at Quess yet again.

"Yes, my eyes have always been like this. I don't know why they are...they just always have been." Yuna said quietly, her voice was emotionless...it was just blank, empty...as if she felt absolutly nothing. I am used to being stared at...and questioned...why is this such a big deal for me? Practically everyone asks now...why can't I just get over it. At least they don't shun me like the elves did for it. I sould be greatful...not upset.