First Entrance

[x_coriare]

The front door opens on a rather unsuspecting patron--in fact, she's never been here. She could have sworn she was opening the door to somewhere most certainly not a bar, and she stops on the threshold with brows creased in vague concern.

Things have been a whirlwind since she manifested, at her count all of five days ago. Sooraya doesn't really know what to make of there being a bar where there shouldn't be one, but she's no longer hiding as she had been, turned to sand and spread around the dusty complex she's staying in. It's taken those few days for her to open up a little to the culture around her with all the colors and textures it has--she's wearing a long tunic and relatively slim trousers in far brighter colors than she'd have dared to before. But it's cool, and her face is still covered.

It might be worth it to come in. Or she thought so until the door shut behind her and disappeared when she turned around.

Well.

Comments

[x_coriare]

Her eyebrows raise at that, clearly surprised. "Why do I wear which part?" she asks. It's not like she hasn't got some idea of what he's talking about, but if he's referencing anything other than the fabric covering her nose and mouth she'll be pleasantly surprised.

[lifethatisscratched]

His answer is simple.

"That part," he says, pointing to the veil. "I've never seen anything like it in the valley."

[x_coriare]

"I wear it because I want to," she says simply. "I appreciate the modesty it affords me. Not everyone wears them, but I like to."

[lifethatisscratched]

"Oh."

A half-beat, then:

"My people don't wear anything like that."

Another half-beat, then:

"I am Kanien'kehá:ka. From the valley."

[x_coriare]

"I think you're from a very different place than I am," she says. "But it's alright if your people don't wear anything like it. They don't have to."

She smiles, and the veil lifts gently across her cheekbones. "My name is Sooraya. I can't say I've ever heard a name like yours before."

[lifethatisscratched]

He nods. "Most people here haven't. Most of their names are shorter than mine, but Mother says every name means something special."

He bows his head and twiddles his thumbs. "One of the meanings for mine is 'life that is scratched'. Mother says she gave it to me because I was very sick as a baby, but that I am stronger for having gone through that."


He looks up, making eye contact with Sooraya.

"What does yours mean?"

[x_coriare]

"It means princess," she says. "Or gem, something precious. Did your mother wait very long before she named you?"

[lifethatisscratched]

He shrugs. "A few months. My people do not force a name on someone, but instead wait for a name to present itself."

[x_coriare]

"I would imagine that it works well for names like your people have."

[lifethatisscratched]

He nods. "I think it does. My mother tells me that her parents waited a year to name her."

He pauses and frowns as a thought strikes him. "She's never told me what hers means, though."

[x_coriare]

"I'd like to know her name, but I don't know your language, so I wouldn't be able to tell you," Sooraya murmurs. "But it is a very pretty sound, anyway."

[lifethatisscratched]

"Her name is Kaniehtí:io," Ratonhnhaké:ton says, pronouncing it kahn-yen-ti-EE-o. "But she doesn't like it when I call her that, I think. Mostly I call her Mother."

[x_coriare]

"No, most parents like their children to call them mother, or father, I think. My mother's name is Mirah, but I don't call her that."

[lifethatisscratched]

Ratonhnhaké:ton nods, twiddling his thumbs again. "Mother doesn't talk about Father much," he says. "Just that he left us before I was born. Sometimes I wonder what he was like."

He looks back up at Sooraya. "What is yours like?"

[x_coriare]

"My father?" she asks. "I've never met him, and my mother doesn't talk about him."

[lifethatisscratched]

"Oh," he says, simply.


"Then I guess we have that in common."