[IC] Star Arch (E/E)

[Benedict]

With her help, Ezner was gently lowered down upon a log. He let out an exhale of relief, taking a few extra moments to take in some breaths. She showed him the letter B on a piece of parchment and he smiled nervously. "Is it important that these three letters look so similar?" He let her work, focusing on this task at hand, forgetting about the disgruntlement he previously had about being tended to. It was important he learn to read, and he wanted to do it right.

"Does B change as much as E? I don't really understand E. If it has all those different sounds, why don't they just make new letters for them instead?"

He tried to think back to some signs he'd seen that had this letter. He knew the names of the places because he'd been told them. They had gone to... Mrs. Wick's Furrier. That one had an F in it. Mr. Wick's Cobbler. Then Ezner cocked his head, because he remembered having studied the sign. "Is there a B in 'Mr. Wick's Cobbler'? It sounds like a B but none of these look like the letters from the sign." He continued to think on this letter. The dress shop was Sarah's Silks. Then he remembered another, a tavern Mr. Dey liked to go to.

"The Butcher's Block has two Bs in it." Then he smiled broadly, and with the mirth of a child having a discovery, "Elisabeth has a B in it!"

Once Elisabeth was done wrapping up his torso, he looked up at her, smiling, "Thank you. Shouldn't hurt to breathe in a few trials or so." Then he chuckled, "Breathe."

Then he decided to just press onward, "So you said there were twenty four letters. What are all of them? Could you show me? I enjoy looking at signs now, but I only know the three."

Not only was he taking it seriously, but he seemed to be enjoying it. His eyes had a look in them, one she'd seen a glimmer of the trial he'd been so tired and grouchy. It had shown up when he was playing their little streets game. "When did you learn to read? Who taught you?"

Then he remembered something recently, "I was in the Order several trials back, a couple trials after I showed up at your door that one time." He paused, giving them both a moment. It had been an important moment for him, comforting her that way. Plus he got to clean her dishes without her admonishing him. "My shoulder was really hurting, I was peeing blood, and having dizzy spells again. Anyways, I shared a room with a woman. She tried to let me borrow a book of hers. She was very friendly, lots of curly read hair."

Then he grew a bit somber, "I didn't like telling her that I couldn't borrow her book. But I hated telling her that I couldn't read."

[Avalaon]

Grabbing the fresh bandages, Elisabeth began to apply them while listening to his questions. “Not really. It’s just the way they were created.” Her soft hands moved along the lines of his body as she wrapped his torso, laughing a bit at his question. “I’m sorry about ‘E’. That’s a really hard one. I shouldn’t have tried to teach you it so soon. I just thought, with it being the first letter in both our names. ‘B’ is like ‘F’ – it doesn’t change much.”

His question about the appearance of the ‘B’ in the sign triggered the realization that she hadn’t introduced the idea of capital letters yet. Leaning over and grabbing the parchment again, she drafted a ‘b’ next to the ‘B’ and showed it to him. “Each letter has a big form…and little form. They always look similar. It’s not important for you to know why there are two forms yet.” Pointing at the little ‘b’, she glanced at him with a smile. “Do you remember seeing this letter on the sign?”

His excitement for learning made her smile brightly, nodding. “Both correct.” She thought to point out that the ‘b’ in ‘Elisabeth’ was a little ‘b’ but again, no need to confuse him again.

Finished with wrapping his torso, the young woman did something she had never done before. Elisabeth leaned over and gently pressed her lips against his forehead. Why she did that, she didn’t know. Something about his happiness at learning letters inspired her and that was how she chose to express it. Leaning back up, she reached out and caressed his cheek gently, sapphire eyes simply choose to get lost in his earthen gaze for a moment.

When the moment passed, she heard his new question and grabbed the paper again, nodding. Settling down on the log next to him, she wrote out all 24 letters with their ‘big version’ and ‘little version’. Carefully, she put a diagonal line over the ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’ – for now. Pointing at the ‘e’, she explained. “These are the really hard letters. That’s ‘e’ right there. Those need to be left until later.”

Smiling at all the sudden questions, she explained her education. “I was abandoned when I was very little. The two people that found me, taught me. They are teachers – very smart. When I was old enough, they saw to my education and made sure I knew lots of things. I always thought I would be a teacher like them some trial but that doesn’t seem to be happening.”

His mention of the time he showed up at her door – it had been special to her too. It had been the first time Ezner had been aggressive in caring for her. It had surprised her in a way she hadn’t been expecting, adding a new perspective.

Listening to his story about being at the Order, she noted his somber tone when he mentioned hating having to admit he couldn’t read. Nudging him softly with her shoulder, she grinned. “Don’t worry. We will have you reading in no time. I have some books with me that we can work on – together.”

[Benedict]

Ezner nodded, listening carefully to every word she shared with him. Surely there was a reason why those letters were made that way, right? Everything had a reason or purpose, at least everything that was made. The only accidents were those that occurred when people connected with on another. Him meeting Elisabeth had been an accident, the best of them. At her teaching him the difference between big and small letters, he nodded. It was like she had said how there were multiple Ezners, multiple Elisabeths. Everyone had different versions of themselves, and it seemed letters were no different.

"Yes, I do remember it now. Do the big and small letters sound the same?"

And when he felt her lips against his forehead, a spark ran through his body. He somehow managed to simultaneously relax and shudder from a chill all at the same time. She then caught his eyes with hers as she caressed his cheek. He was entranced, thinking absolutely nothing, just experiencing that cerulean gaze and the remnants of that bolt of electricity that had surged through him.

He looked at all the letters, trying to remember all the ones he had seen. There had been so many. He would need to practice more, he thought. When she spoke, he smiled, looking back up at her coyly, "You're a teacher right now."

And when she nudged him, he smiled more. "How do you spell our names? I've never seen my name before. My mother always spoke it to me. She said it differently from me, but I think that was just her accent."

Then growing somber, thinking. He gently plucked the sheet of paper, looking at all the letters. "Do you think our names start with E because our lives were going to be just as hard as that letter?"

[Avalaon]

He was entirely too smart for his own good. That had always been clear to Elisabeth. His question was an excellent one too. “Yes, they make the same sound. Just depends on where they are in a word or sentence.”

Elisabeth had felt it too – the electricity. It had been undeniable, yet she couldn’t fathom what it was from. It wasn’t something she had ever felt before and yet when she looked at him, that beautiful earthen gaze, she knew that he was feeling it too.

Shaking her head gently, she pressed on, laughing as he called her a teacher. “I guess I am….but only for you. I don’t think anyone else would get me to agree so readily.” He then asked her how their names looked. Turning the parchment over, she wrote ‘Eliasbeth’ first and ‘Ezner’ right underneath it, pointing out and explaining what he was seeing. “This here is my name – Elisabeth. Right here, is Ezner.” Passing the parchment and pencil to him, she nudged him again. “Try writing your name?”

The question about their names and ‘E’s’ struck her heart. On one hand, what a beautiful mind he had…but the thought he expressed was just so very sad. Laying her head gently on his shoulder, her words were softly spoken. “No…I think that’s just how it turned out. But it’s ok. I found you and we will make things right.”

[Benedict]

He looked at their names. His name. The first time he'd ever seen it before. And in that moment, he knew his first words. Elisabeth and Ezner. He smiled as he looked at them, his eyes bouncing back and forth between the two. He memorized every line, every curve, of both names. And when she handed him the pencil, he took it gently, his hand shaking. His hands were growing sweaty as he lowered the pencil down to the paper.

Ezner didn't really know how to begin, so he did his best to try and draw the letters, starting from left to write. He held a fist around the entire length of the pencil, moving his head a bit to the side so that he could see what he was writing beneath the fist. He had been paying so much attention to what Elisabeth had been writing, he hadn't thought to see how she wrote it. His fist slowly dragged the pencil tip across the paper, forming rough, jagged lines. The frustration was mounting on his face, because even though he was doing it slowly, carefully, it still looked almost nothing like what Elisabeth had written. It was crooked, in several places. It was about five times the size of what she'd written.

But still, he managed two somewhat replicate their names on the paper. And when he held it up, he could sort of see the similarities in what she wrote and what he had written. And he smiled. He was reading. He smiled at her, "We already are."

Then looking back at the paper, "So what letters are all these? There's the adult E's, the child B."

[Avalaon]

She watched with interest as he tried to write out their names. Elisabeth wasn't a teacher and because of that, she had forgotten to show him how to hold the pencil. It was something she wanted to fix but he was so intent on writing the names, she didn't want to interrupt.

When he was finished, she noted the smile on his face, which in turn made her smile. It likely had been the first thing he had every written and he seemed proud of it. In truth, the young woman was as well. It wasn't anywhere near perfect, but for one's very first attempt and not knowing how to hold a pencil? Perfect enough.

Ezner always surprised her with insights and comments that were far beyond what most would have thought him capable of, and he did so again as he told her that they were making things right...together. Something about that statement touched her deeply but then again, that was Ezner. He had a way of reaching her soul and making it feel things she hadn't ever experienced. He always knew the right thing to say to make her smile...and sometimes cry. That comment earned him another grateful brush of lips against his cheek.

Taking the pencil from him, she demonstrated how to hold it and wrote both names out for him again quickly, calling out each letter as she went. 'Adult' and 'child' letters? That was a good way to put it. Handing the parchment back to him, she waited to see what he would do. "Your turn. Write me something..."

[Benedict]

The lips on his cheek set them ablaze, the blush invading his skin like wildfire. He cast a side eyed glance at her, another shiver racing through him. He was smiling again now, one she would've never seen on him before. It was boyish, softly curved, a slight biting of the inside of his bottom lip. His throat was tightened again, his heart racing once more, and he still wasn't sure why. But he knew it was because of her.

Whatever she was doing to him, he was loving it, even if it was strange and confusing.

He watched with studious eyes as she showed him the proper way to hold the pencil, but all he could hear was his heart beating in his ears. And, for some reason, he wished to smell her hair. He knew what it smelled like, oranges and lavender, but in this moment he wished to know it again. He looked to his right, hoping she was still close but she had just pulled away, leaving him with the smallest look of longing before it faded back into studious.

Turning back to the paper, he focused. She wanted him to write something. He didn't know anything beyond his memorization of a few signs he'd seen. He put his fingers around the pencil in the way she'd shown him. It felt.. awkward. His fingers weren't relaxed, forming an almost sort of claw around the utensil. But he could see the tip of it better at this angle.

And so he started to draw the sign he memorized. It was slow, Ezner was working against the flow, not having practiced the letters yet, so it was really more of a drawing than writing. A few haggard loops, some unsteady swirls, shaky peaks and valleys that eventually formed two words.

Sarah's Silks

Those two words were both a pleasant reminder of a lovely day the two had spent together, but also as a hidden compliment. Ezner had discovered beauty that day, seeing Elisabeth in that dress. It was a favorite memory of his, one he'd cherish for the rest of his days. He didn't speak after writing those two words, letting them speak for him, for he wasn't sure what his tongue might say.