58. Message in an Echo (part 1)

I felt a shiver run down my spine as the man extended his hand toward the wine cup in front of him.

I was sitting right next to him. I had tried sitting as far as possible, but it had only served to earn me some intense looks, forcing me to move.

I sneaked a glance in his direction. Luckily, it seemed like his attention had momentarily switched to the plate in front of him, and I was able to breathe for a moment.

His presence was overwhelming, let alone his attention. The man was bigger than anyone I had ever met before. Lionheart used to be the tallest person I had ever met, but he was an ant compared to him. He was built like an ox, and his shoulders could easily seat a family of four. As if to make him ever more intimidating, a scar traced around his brow down to his cheek, telling the tale of a hard-fought battle...

A sudden burst of curiosity made me want to ask him about it… But then I would need to get his attention, and that idea was making my palms sweaty.

I looked down at my plate, probably as per this man’s request, we had been served large steaks with a side of beans and sprouts. Although I had taken a liking to meat, I always struggled with eating steaks on my own. 

Too tough and difficult to chew. 

I picked up the oversized knife at the side of the plate and, pressing as hard as I could, I tried to cut through the thick piece of brown meat with little success. I only managed to make it slide up and down my plate. I tried to stabilise my grip by using my fork, but no success.

Suddenly, the plate was snatched away from me. In a panic, I tried to take hold of it, but it was already out of reach; the man had already placed it in front of himself.

He immediately brought down his knife and fork to it. 

Was he going to eat my food?! Just like that? But his plate wasn’t even finished…

To my surprise, he did not eat the piece he cut into. Instead, he cut another. And another. He continued cutting the steak with long and smooth movements until there was only a series of neat square pieces left on the plate. He then slid it back to me while staring intently.

Had he… Cut it for me?

Why didn’t he just ask a maid to do it or let Mili be here and do it instead? 

For that matter, we couldn’t even speak without either her or Stash present… He hadn’t even allowed any servant to stay in the room longer than the time needed to place our food on the table.

Hesitantly, I took a bite from my plate and was pleasantly surprised by how easy to chew the pieces. Usually, even when cut into slices, I would struggle to chew on this type of steak. On some unfortunate occasion, I had even had to spit out especially difficult pieces that just wouldn’t go down... 

I looked up curiously and watched him methodically cut his own food and eat.

Seeing his hands work, if I didn’t know any better, I would believe he’s a cook or perhaps a ‘butcher’. A meat cook of sorts, from what Mili had explained to me once. 

Looking at him now, he really gave off that sort of aura. Cooks were often big and fat, but the man looked too muscular.

Ok, I’ll call him Cook… Uncle Cook. Since, like Lionheart said, he’s family.

-Thanks, Uncle Cook.- I signed.

The man must have noticed my hands from the corner of his eye because he almost choked on his food while turning toward me with a strange expression. He continued coughing for a while, and I started worrying, but after downing a few glasses of water, he seemed to regain his composure.

He cleared his throat once more before turning his body toward me and doing a spinning motion with his fingers while pointing at my hands.

Did he want me to repeat?

-Thank you, Uncle Cook.- I signed while tilting my head, not sure if that’s what he expected from me.

His eyes seemed to grow wide before his cheeks raised themselves almost imperceptibly.

He tried to say something, but seemingly caught himself.

-Uncle.- He signed before touching his chest.

As though claiming the name for himself.

I nodded affirmatively.

-Yes, uncle.-

He nodded before pointing to me.

Uh? What did that mean?

-Me?- I asked, to which he nodded.

Did he perhaps want me to introduce myself?

-I’m Sil– -

He interrupted me by raising his hand. He shook his head and then pointed at his mouth while speaking.

Did he…

-But I can’t talk…- I protested, but he didn’t budge and looked at me expectantly. 

Still intimidated by him, I tried talking.

[S– Silika. I’m S–Silika.] I tried to say.

The man nodded but then motioned for me to say it again.

I felt shy. I hadn’t really tried to talk to someone using my voice seriously in a long time. 

I sometimes talked to Darkie or said something to myself, but that was different; I knew no one would understand.

[Silika.]

Maybe if I just focused on my name, I could say that much clearly?

He pointed at his mouth and seemed to be slowly repeating my name while emphasising every syllable.

I frowned, confused and simply said my name again, but he shook his head.

He once more began repeating my name, but froze on his bare teeth.

[Sili…]

He stopped me again. He insistently only traced the first syllable on his lips.

[Si.]

I tried saying, he nodded, but again pointed at his closed teeth.

[Si!]

I repeated again.

His eyes narrowed for a second before pointing at his face again. He opened his mouth wide and pointed at his curled tongue pressing against his teeth. He then closed his mouth and made the motion of saying it again.

[S–ssi!]

I tried my best to mimic the strange tongue position he had done and repeated the line. 

It had felt awkward, but he nodded approvingly. After that, he had me repeat it several times.

We continued practising my name like that for a long while. So long that our meal was finished and replaced by tea and, eventually, snacks.

[Ssi– Leeee– kah!] I declared after a long time.

The man suddenly stood from his seat. I looked at him curiously, not sure what was going on.

Wordlessly, he walked up to me, picked me up from under the armpits and raised me so high I could almost touch the ceiling. As he stared at me intently, something strange appeared on his face. 

Was that… A smile?

I saw his lips draw my name once more! Excited, I repeated after him.

[Sii–leee–kah!]

I felt myself move, and before I could understand what was going on, I was sent flying through the air.

Wait what?! Oh, Scorn! Oh, Scorn! I’m gonna fall!

Just as I started feeling myself falling back down toward the ground,  the man caught me. 

Still disoriented and not sure what just happened, I looked toward my uncle, who was now once again holding me at the end of his thick arms, all smiles.

I looked at him dumbly as I felt a laugh escape my lips. I don’t know what happened or why he did it, but that was fun! 

He nodded at me as if to ask me permission for something. Confused, but somewhat excited, I nodded. I saw him slowly lowering me before launching me into the air. I saw him grow smaller and then bigger again. When he caught me again, I couldn’t stop laughing, and he threw me up and down over and over again. 

This is fun!

After a while, he stopped throwing me into the air and squeezed me so hard I thought my head would pop. As he did, he suddenly stiffened, he slowly lowered me down and once more sat me on the seat. The excitement of it all finally caught up to me, and my laughter slowly receded as I caught my breath. I turned around toward where my uncle was staring and was surprised to find Lionheart with an amused look on his face.

[Dad!] I exclaimed before getting up from my seat and running toward him, my earlier exhaustion now forgotten.

I threw myself into his arms. As he held me up, he freed his hand while supporting me with his forearm.

-Having fun with your uncle?- He signed before shifting his position to hold me properly again.

I let go of his neck and sighed excitedly.

-Yeah! He can throw me really high in the sky!-

I could feel a chuckle coming from his throat.

-Can he now? What else did you two do?- He asked as he walked toward where we had been sitting, pulled himself a chair and sat me on his knees.

-He helped me say my name!-

-Your name?-

I nodded excitedly.

[Siileekah!] I declared proudly.

I had expected Lionheart to look impressed, but instead, he froze up. He looked behind me at Uncle Cook, then back at me.

-Can you say it again?-

I nodded enthusiastically.

[Siileekah.]

He smiled and hugged me tightly. I could feel him stroke and kiss my hair. 

I didn't realise he'd be this happy!

-Do you mind doing something for me?- He asked as he released me.

I tilted my head, curious.

-Sure, what is it?-

-Let's go upstairs, I’ll show you.-

He said a few words to Uncle Cook before standing up, still carrying me in his arms, and heading out of the dining room where this one remained.

We went all the way up to Lionheart’s office. He sat me down on the sofa while he went to a large wardrobe, opened and took out a large object covered in canvas.

He placed it down on his desk and slowly removed the packaging, revealing a large ceramic bird that felt vaguely familiar.

-It looks like Sparrow.- I noted.

Lionheart smiled.

-That’s right, this is also a seeking bird, but a little different from yours.- He said before finishing to remove the different ropes holding the seeking bird in place.

-Different how?-

I asked, curious.

-Well, for one, it’s much bigger and sturdier. As you can see, its frame is coated in Nvŕs enamel, which makes it completely impervious to weather.-

-Nv– -

I tried to sign back to him. Unfamiliar with the name.

He nodded.

-Nvŕs, the god of wi… of fermentation. His name is pronounced a bit like ‘never is’. Nevaris is the god that gave us things like cheese, yoghurt, pickles… Anything that needs to be aged. Nevaris enamel was one of his miracles, which granted us a material that facilitated the process of fermentation.-

-Nevaris…Fermentation… Ok.- I signed back to confirm I was listening.

I was still vague on the concept of fermentation, but I wasn’t really interested anyway.

-So as I was saying, this seeking bird is bigger and stronger, but it’s also smarter. It can travel long distances and can even change its destination if the recipient isn’t home. But its most impressive and valuable feature is that this little guy here…-

He stopped signing to turn it toward me.

-...Can repeat entire messages.-

I looked at him, confused.

-Can your bird talk? Sparrow never talks to me.-

Lionheart chuckled a bit awkwardly before explaining.

-Well, actually, most seeking birds can talk… A little bit at least. Even Sparrow can repeat one word back to people…-

-Wait, so Sparrow CAN talk?!- I signed, caught completely off guard

Lionheart nodded.

-Absolutely. He always talks when you tell him something, and makes him fly. You just… Well, I guess I forgot to mention it. I’m sorry.- He explained apologetically.

-It’s okay.- I answered.

Suddenly, I felt a bit bad. I hadn't played nearly as much with Sparrow as Darkie and other toys because I hadn't found him that interesting after a while… I never imagined it was doing anything more than chirping… I’m sorry, Sparrow, I’ll talk to you lots from now on!

-...But on to our friend here! This seeking bird doesn’t only repeat a single word, it will repeat whole sentences and letters worth of words. Not only that, but it will sound just like the person saying it!-

From his face, I guess this is something very exciting, but being used to not hearing anything at all, I didn’t feel any way in particular way about this revelation. I still smiled since he seemed happy.

He turned to the seeking bird and slowly traced his hand along the smooth enamel wings.

-I want to send a message to my father… Your grandfather. I want to tell him we’ll be by his side soon.-

After signing this, his demeanour changed. 

As though something heavy had just been placed on his shoulders, he reminded me of the day I met him. 

Sad, tired, broken. 

I had almost allowed myself to forget that this was the reason why we were going to Norland in the first place… 

Here, I was worried about leaving Evergreen while Lionheart’s father was dying. How would I feel if I knew Lionheart was about to die? What sort of emotions would I have if I were in his shoes? 

I`m being selfish again…

I shook myself before I got any more caught up in my own thoughts and focused on Dad. 

-So what do you want to say in your message?- I asked him.

-Nothing much really. It`s been a long time since I wrote to him, let alone spoke, but I figured he should hear from me in case he… Well, I just thought it might make him feel better. Even if just a little.-

He smiled and came to pick me up and sat me in his desk chair.