Page 31 of Black Salt Queen

“I...” Ariel faltered, struggling to find the words. “I shall strive to make myself worthy of this post, Dayang.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Is that your best attempt at groveling, Orfelian?”

Ariel stared back at her. “Do you wish me to grovel, Dayang?” he asked, a discernible bite in his tone.

Laya glanced at him, amusement flickering in her eyes. “I know you’ve been told to lie to me, and I would hate for you to fall back on your word,” she said mildly. “But I will find out your true business here. Try to stay out of trouble until I do.”

“But?—”

“In the meantime,” she went on as if she hadn’t heard him, “you can keep me company this afternoon.”

Ariel blinked in surprise. “Yes, of course, Dayang. Um, would you like to sit down?” He gestured to the divan near the study window, the paneled shades rolled back since no one else was around.

Laya ignored him and leaned back over the writing desk. Openly this time, she scanned the papers littered across its surface. Plucking one sheet from the pile, she held it to the light. At closer glance, she saw that every inch was filled with the same spiky western script she had never learned to read. She thought back to the history texts she’d once memorized in the course of her studies. The same story echoed across time in other corners of the world. Centuries before, the islands in the Untulu Sea fell to a set of vile conquerors, all of whom were eager to carve a bounty for themselves in the east. Orfelia fell to a western power by the name of Salmantica. They stole the Orfelian natives’ wealth and imposed their ugly language and even uglier script.

“Is this what Salmantican is supposed to look like?” she asked with a grimace.

“Yes,” he said, approaching her with caution, as if she might attack him. “I often write in Salmantican.”

“Not Orfelian?”

Ariel shook his head. “Sometimes it’s more natural for me to write in Salmantican. It was the language of my studies.”

“You feel more at ease in the language of your masters?” Laya sneered as she handed the paper back to him. “Forgive me if I find that rich.”

“Salmantican has its uses, you know,” he said. “For me, it opened the door to some of the best universities in the world. Some of the greatest literature, as well.”

“Does Orfelia have no great literature of its own?”

“I’m afraid much of our literature was lost centuries ago in the conquest, Dayang.” Bitterness crossed his eyes, and she took note of it.

Idly, she made her way to the open window. In the courtyard below, servants were sweeping dried leaves and withered petals from the ground ahead of the guests’ arrival. “I bet you haven’t seen much of the palace, let alone the rest of Maynara,” she remarked. “Although I expect my father will lengthen your leash after the feast days, once all the visitors leave.”

His cheeks reddened as he shuffled his feet. “I’m afraid I don’t understand your meaning.”

“Liar,” she said, keeping her voice light. “As I said, Ariel, I will pretend that you are my Salmantican tutor for now. But one day, I’ll find out why you’re truly here.”

“Iamyour Salmantican tutor, Dayang,” he said, stone-faced.Good.That was the sort of challenge Laya liked.

“Suit yourself, then.” She drew a second chair to the desk and had a seat. “If you have nothing better to do, I’d like to request an advance lesson.”

Ariel raised an eyebrow at her. “I would be delighted to teach you. But?—really?”

“Really.” Laya nodded and reached for the pen. The paper she’d stolen rustled faintly in her pocket. It would be written in the same script as the rest of Ariel’s damn notes?—how else would she learn to read it?

They began with the alphabet, which she hated. She found it lifeless and ugly, and at first, she didn’t understand how it worked. Ariel was so patient in his explanations Laya began to question whether he was brought there to be her tutor after all.

“You mustn’t think of it in terms of the Maynaran script, where each symbol represents a syllable. Because in the Salmantican alphabet, each letter represents a distinct sound. See, this is your name here.” He etched out her name on the paper. In Maynaran, she could spellLayawith two symbols, but the Salmantican alphabet required four arrow-like shapes that didn’t appear to represent her name at all.

Ariel wrote out all the letters for her on a fresh sheet, leaving space for her to copy them beneath. Laya felt like a child again as she clumsily retraced his scrawl. It was a humiliating exercise, and she wanted to give up after less than an hour.

“How tiresome,” she said, throwing down the pen. “Perhaps I ought to teach you the Maynaran alphabet instead.”

Laya had intended it as a joke, but Ariel nodded. “I would like to learn. I can only recognize a few symbols.”

“You come to Maynara, and you cannot even read the language?” she asked, shocked.

“I never had to learn, as spoken Orfelian shares many similarities with Maynaran. It’s the writing system that’s different.”

---