Crow followed along with his eyes as Penelope wrote her name slowly, indicating which letters she was using to make which sounds as she went. As he suspected, it seemed like the symbols did represent multiple sounds, because two of the ‘E’s in her name sounded different than the last one. He looked over the word on the paper with a puzzled expression, wondering how he was supposed to know when the written letters were supposed to be pronounced in different ways, as well as how he was supposed to know which ones to use in different words when writing them out, himself. He sighed softly. It seemed like reading and writing were going to take him much longer than it took him to learn a spoken language.

He looked up at Penelope as she explained how the letter’s names were different than the sounds they made. That made him want to roll his eyes. Of course, it seemed that every part of writing was going to have some sort of trick to it. He wished it was simpler, so he could just learn a few general rules and pick it up from there. Instead, he was starting to think he was going to have to learn a lot of complex rules with exceptions. It was no wonder why Simon had still been barely literate after studying for so long.

As the knight offered him the quill, Crow hesitated for a moment before he took it from her. “I might as well,” he shrugged, looking down at the paper in front of him. “Just don’t laugh if my attempt turns out much worse than yours, okay?” Adjusting his grip on the tool to match the way she had held it before—the position made him use different muscles in his hand that felt foreign to him—he glanced between Penelope’s paper and his own as he meticulously copied down the way she had written her name.

As he’d expected, the lines and curves were a bit sloppy compared to the neat letters she had made, but when he finished, he felt rather pleased with himself. Though he still didn’t understand why he was using the particular symbols for her name, nor how to choose any letters for other words, he had written something that had a meaning for the first time in his life. The thought made him feel surprisingly giddy with excitement.

Looking up to meet her gaze again, he sat up a little straighter with newfound enthusiasm, “How do I write my name?”