Lost in Translation

I'm making progress. I clung to that thought throughout the days ahead, as I turned new words and sentences over in my head and ate imaginary dinner after imaginary dinner.

On the other hand, I was completely exhausted. It felt as if I stuffed my head full with information—so much information that I now jumbled everything together. I knew this fork comes later, but I grabbed it anyway. I stared at it I put it down again.

Meike sighed.

"Enough for today," she said. “You did good."

I smiled at her. "Thank you."

I can't wait to get back to Nela, I thought. I just want to lay down.

Both of us were pretty busy with their own tasks. While I was out here learning more about her culture, she was doing princess-y things, like patrolling the ocean for dangers. So when we saw each other in the evening, we mostly are something and I watched her fall right into her pile of pillows. She was still the cutest, of course.

The next day, I got out of the room the same way I always did, earlier than Nela. I was ready to go to Meike to get the final steps of the dessert routine down, but was stopped.

Ulfret glared down at me, his hands full of books. It looked like he could—and wanted to—throw them on me. His green eyes behind his glasses glared at me with barely contained fury.

"I'm sorry?" I said. "I can help you?"

"Dat heet Can I help you," he hissed. "Du musst dat Fraagwoort an ’n Anfang stellen. Weetst du nich mal so en Lappalie?"

I blink at him. Right. I understood some words, but clearly, Meike and Nela had been holding back. Ulfret, on the other hand, showed me once again just how little I really knew about the language.

"Follow me." He waved his hand at me, and abruptly turned around.

I was pretty sure he asked me to follow him. And I did remember that Nela had talked to him - probably to get me to study things even further? My mind raced as I went into a room with him.

It was nice, and quiet. The room was divided with bookshelves as high as the ceiling, but there were enough windows to let in the sunlight and breeze. It was surprisingly peaceful.

Ulfret slammed down the books in his hands, and I flinched. Maybe not so peaceful after all, I thought. But any further thought was gone when he turned around and started loading question after question on me.

"What is your name?"

"Ik... bün? Leo?" I stammered back. That was how you said it, right? Or did I mess up?

He narrowed his eyes at me. I passed, but barely.

"Wat för ’n Wekendag hebbt wi vondaag?"

"Huh?"

"Wat för ’n Wekendag hebbt wi vondaag?" he repeated.

"I don't know." There was no use trying to find out the meaning from him.

"Count to ten."

"Een. Twee. Dree. Veer. Fiev. Söss. Söven. Acht. Negen. Teihn." Finally, something I was confident in.

He didn't even acknowledge it.

"Why do you like Nela?"

"H-huh?"

"Why-"

"I heard you the first time," I quickly said.

Hearing me speak my own language was enough to make him stop. My face was burning, and I didn't have an answer for him, and certainly not the words to express that answer. Of course I like her, I thought.

"Face." I said. "Smile. Laugh. Sleep. Time together."

Even in my ears, I sounded like an absolute idiot. What am I even trying to convey? Ulfret listened to me, but it looked like he was one word away from hitting me over the head with a book. What is it with all that antagonism?

As I struggled to convey all the ways that I like Nela, he finally shook his head.

"Enough. This is embarrassing," he said. "You don't know basic things. You're like a child."

I stared at him. Was he serious? He couldn't be serious. No he really was serious. I was giving my best, and he called me a child? I shook my head.

"I am not a child."

I was doing my best—learning so much in just a short span of time, cramming my head full of customs and vocabulary, with no real langauge teacher—and he called me a child?

"Like a child. Not a child."

As if that makes it better.

"You need real Anleiden. Een, de di de Spraak vun Grund oplehrt, ne." He shook his head. "But for the Verlovungsfier, you need a good speech."

He turned around and rummaged through the books on the shelves.

"Think about why you are doing this," he instructed me.

I stared out of the window into the vastness of the ocean. Why was I doing this? For Nela, of course. And for me. I didn't want to go back to my old life, to my father—not now, and maybe not ever. And on my terms, not the queen's. I liked it here, even if it was difficult. I just wished I didn't feel constantly stupid, as if I was the only one who didn't know how to do things. Well, that was the truth of it, wasn't it? I was the only one my age here who didn't know these things. I was different. And most people disliked me, on top of that.

But I didn't want to focus on those negatives. Not when I had to convince the queen that I liked Nela, and that I cared for her wellbeing. How would I do that? Which words could express what I felt, and what my plans with Nela were?

Plans. My head burned. Sure, we were heading towards marriage—but that still felt as if it wasn't real. But it was, wasn't it? What did Nela think about that? Was she really alright with it all?

Was I?

I wanted to spend more time with her, get to know her better. But both of our days were spent away from each other—and we were so exhausted that even the small breaks were not spent in a way that I wanted to. I wanted to learn more about her—about her plans and dreams, about her childhood, what she valued in a friend and what she was bad at. There was still so much we could share.

But I did have a feeling that nothing she said would make me hate her. That wouldn't be Nela.

"Leo?" Ulfret said, taking me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry?"

"Read these." He put a small pile of books right before my face. "We will continue when you're done."

I nodded. Right. He didn't call me a child, but definitely gave me stories for children. He must have sensed my apprehension, as he added:

"Don't forget the payment Nela promised."

"Huh?" I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion. Nela promised him payment? Did I have to go get a job on top of everything else?

"As soon as you’re married, you will teach me your language instead," he continued. "I want to learn from you. More languages is good."

Huh. I nodded at him, before he quickly left me with my reading for the day. I stared at the door. Even if he was impatient and kind of rude, apparently he was interested in my language, at least?