Prompt: We’re not speaking the same language

Thanks to all who entered my drawing for a free copy of Faith Hunter’s upcoming release, Broken Soul. I’ve been in touch with the winner already. If you haven’t heard from me, you still have opportunities to win on another one of Faith’s blog tour stops—good luck! And get ready to enjoy Jane Yellowrock again on Oct 7^th!

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Jillie sat with her back to the big “oak” tree and dropped her forehead against her knees. It wasn’t an oak, of course, but Jillie had started to use Earth names for things here, partly for some small familiar comfort, and partly to keep herself sane.

She heard steps and breathed in without lifting her head. The scent of rose and ash. Even though there were no roses here. Everyone here had a unique scent. The steps stopped in front of her, and hard-soled feet scuffed the dirt. Jillie sighed and lifted her head, careful to cover her teeth with her lips. “Hi Rose.”

“Set day not been change mill more, Jillie?” Rose folded her double-jointed knees and sat gracefully in front of Jillie. Her long, slender, furred arms reached out, and she began grooming Jillie’s forearms, even though they were clean. Jillie closed her eyes and schooled herself not to pull away. Rose would be sad, and Jillie had few enough friends here.

She pondered Rose’s words. The translator provided plenty of vocabulary, but it simply couldn’t make any sense of their grammatical structure or context. Set day not been change mill more… She smiled and quickly covered her teeth, even though Rose was looking down at her wrists, gently brushing her dewclaw over Jillie’s skin in a soothing pattern of endless grooming.

Jillie lifted her hand to her mouth, and Rose’s eyes followed. “Time to make food? Eat?” Jillie mimed moving food into her mouth with her fingers and chewing.

Rose nodded and stood, reaching slender fingers down to pull Jillie up next to her. “Set day not been change mill more.” She continued, “Any use log remember call link place under your else share open into wall,” as they headed back to the circle of grass huts where Rose’s people had sheltered Jillie for the past three years. Earth years, according to Jillie’s few pieces of surviving equipment. Three years alone with sentient giraffes who spoke nothing but gibberish…

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And so, with a loving heart, I offer you

Namaste

I’ve heard many translations. Here’s one I love:
The light of the universe that shines within me recognizes
the light of the universe that shines within you.

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Dogs in House	Houdini, Brindle
Music Playing	Book of Mormon soundtrack
Time writing	~20 minutes
October word count	370