Catarina shared our translations of the two tablets, and the old pair left. That left the twins and me by ourselves.
"So, about what we discussed," Pratt began to say, but didn't finish.
"Yes," I replied immediately. "You'll teach me pictorial."
"And you'll teach us Vikari," Dia said.
"Shall we begin?"
The twins went first. And they made a great pair, as expected. Pratt was the voice, Dia was the hand.
"Consider elementals. The basic characters represent ideas. In somewhat the same way, pictorial characters too are representation of ideas. The difference being that the ideas are perceived as linguistic constructs in elementals, whereas in pictorial they are visual constructs. And that creates room for expressionism. Let's say, we're describing dawn. In elementals, the characters for the sun, light, weather and other heavenly objects, come together to form a rune which describes dawn. Because the entire rune is of a linguistic construct, the understanding is highly dependent on personal interpretation. In pictorial, the construct of the rune is what is seen visually. So, every dawn is unique. And understanding is limited only by the extent of imagination. So, every pictorial rune must be read as if looking at a distinct painting."
As Pratt paused, Dia took over. She drew two dawns side by side on a whiteboard, and then translated them in Nashi.
Looking at my face filled with concentration, Pratt spoke slowly.
"Pictorial would be the natural bane for you, since they are the complete opposite of descriptives. But when you do get the hang of it, you'll see that that's not actually true. Other than the fact that pictorial have no linguistic characters, and descriptives have no non-linguistic characters, the two give the same importance to detail."
"I get it," I said. "But I need more practice."
"And that's what I'm here for," Dia said, taking over the voice too.
"The general idea is the same in all pictorial. It's like art. All art from a particular period, have an underlying feature. And that feature is what separates the different periods and styles of art. The implementation of colour. The brush strokes. The sharpness or bluntness. The point of view of the artist. In the same way, different pictorial runes vary from each other. Nashi and Vyaraishi differ in the perspective. Vyaraishi was a civilisation of the central flatlands, while Nashi was higher up on the mountains with a view of the sea down below. The geographical differences are evident in their perception of the world, and it shows in the runes. Nashi have a more dreamlike quality. Vyaraishi are more grounded, more practical, you can say. I'll send across a few simple runes of each. You'll get the hang of it easily enough."
Pictorial runes were very interesting because they posed a critical question to my theory. What importance would the environment have to pictorial runes?
It was a question for later. Right now, it was my turn to teach. And the twins were beaming with excitement and expectation.
I cleared my throat and began.
Almost an hour later, Jerry cut the call. We all needed our sleep, he said, happily ignoring the glares. The tabletop had turned back into a plain block of wood. The cottage had descended into complete silence. Nisha's door was closed. Locked too, I was sure. Catarina's door was open. I could see her asleep on one half of the bed. I wasn't feeling sleepy though.
"Maybe tomorrow," I said to no one, and turned away.
I pulled another tablet on the table, and read it to the end. I wasn't writing into my notebook, however. I just didn't feel like it. What I did feel like was to head out to the lakeside. And I did just that.
With everyone gone, it was just me and the runes. I liked it better that way. Simple. Quiet. Endearing.
I hadn't translated, but the story on the tablet was in my head.
The war had ended. Not in victory and defeat, however. The end brought no peace. Only an endless nothingness. The prophecy had come true, and it left no one happy. The sun dawned on a new, dark day. Appeared as a dazzling man in the dark court. Knelt by the dark woman and embraced her in silence. No words needed to be said between the couple. They were married thousands of years, and they understood each other perfectly.
The era of the heavens had ended and a new day dawned.
I sat by the lake and saw the words on the tablet turn into a pictorial rune on the dark surface of the lake. It felt very much like the library back home, where most of my years were spent. I felt like I was home.
"The era ended," I said softly to the quiet night. "A new day dawned. It was a temple for the sun and the cosmic darkness. It was a temple for the divine couple."
I knew I was right. But I didn't know what that represented. I didn't even have the whole story of the temple. I was speculating from the ending that I knew. I shouldn't, but I couldn't stop myself.
In that moment, I realised why I couldn't sleep. I allowed myself some more time enjoying the night. A little effort and I could probably see the cosmic darkness. But I was too lazy. Rushing back in, I reached for my notebook. And translated the three tablets into Nashi.