Finally since they had started flying, Maman said something.
*" Nice isn't it? I always come here in the mornings to meet the new day."* she said, her voice almost a whisper.
*" No matter how many times it's been, it always takes my breath away."*
She looked down at the baby in her arms whilst smiling.
Rumius just looked back, not saying anything. He felt like the usual perfunctory and thoughtless 'gah' or 'bleh' or whatever sound he would make was unworthy of such an occasion. He simply nodded and returned his gaze to the horizon.
' I should start trying to learn how to talk.' He thought. He wanted to know how to do this as well. If flying like this was possible then who knew what else was?
Rumius's gaze moved from the rising sun to his mother's face, bright and smiling.
' Do the laws of physics even apply here?'
' This isn't machinery is it? It's something else. It's almost like…'
His thoughts trailed away, entering realms he would have never thought to entertain causing him to shake them off. But he failed.
How could he? Faced with this…..wonder of world. How could he?
Rumius's heartbeat began to accelerate, his adrenaline flowing as a feeling he'd not felt in a long time filled his mentally old bones. It tasted of daring and adventure.
The mother and son duo stayed in the skies for a long time. By the time they had made it back to the mansion, the sun was no longer red but a bright yellow and the city below had begun bustling with noise.
The cold had gotten to Rumius somewhat but the rising sun had staved off the cold and somewhat thawed his numb fingertips.
Maman carried Rumius back to his room and tucked him into the covers, kissed his forehead, gave him a hug and left the room after saying a few lines that he didn't understand.
For his part, Runnius flopped down on the sheets and stared up into the ceiling, his mind swirling . So much adrenaline still pumped through his veins that he felt that he could run a marathon at a moment's notice.
What do babies even do anyway? Drink milk? Get pampered? Maybe play with a toy or two?
Babies can't possibly play computer games, can't possibly log on to that latest rpg or even tune in to a television program if such things even existed here.
But now all that didn't matter. Hell, they couldn't be more insignificant.
Rumius felt something awaken inside him. A hungry craving for the feeling he felt when he soared through the skies just a few moments ago. He really, really wanted to be able to feel that again.
Really.
Could he maybe go faster? Fly further? Higher? Who knows what other things existed in this brand new world?
Rumius clasped his hands together and squeezed them tight, hoping to release some of this excessive energy through the action. Without him knowing, the ends of his lips had turned up, plastering a toothy grin of pure excitement on his face. He was barely holding himself back from jumping right out crib.
In his reverie, Rumius distantly heard the "clack" of the door knob turning and he spun around on his butt with the explosiveness of a startled cat.
Having just entered was the young maid that he recognized as the one who had come the last time and gotten in trouble. In her hands she was holding a platter of the gruel that he had become so intimately familiar with for the past two weeks.
*" Good morning young master, your breakfast is ready."* said Rennie.
To which her only response was a blank stare of confusion and a silent.
' Well fuck.' Rumius thought.
' Flying is going to have to wait.'
Eventually, several days passed since Rumius's first flying adventure and he was at a crossroads. While Maman had come back many times as usual, she had not taken him on another one of those flights.
And while he had been trying to pick up as much of the language of his new world as possible, but just as a side quest, he was still wrestling with whether or not to even attempt communication.
Death by crucifixion was a terrifying prospect and an even more effective deterrent.
However, Rumius soon found out that it wasn't as easy as he thought.
Trying to learn a language from scratch off the completed sentences of another, without a single lead to even figure out what they were saying in context was like trying to collect water from falling rain using a teaspoon.
It wasn't like he had the choice to just say: " Violà Maman, I'm a genius!"
' Looks like the first step would be to be able to say something first.' Rumius thought.
'I'll worry about what to do after.'
Rumius looked absentmindedly at the maid who was setting down his breakfast.
Rumius noticed that the maids came around in an almost scheduled manner. In fact, he was almost certain that there was in fact a schedule. He'd been counting and it had simply been far too good of a coincidence for the same maid to come around, carrying his breakfast and playing with him while feeding him his meal exactly an hour after either she or another maid wakes him up every morning.
Today was no different and as a grown man, or rather, a formerly grown man, Rumius's pride took a slight hit every time the spoon entered his mouth.
After the meal, Rennie would either hand the empty platter back to another maid or would take the platter back out herself. She would then always come back to play with him, keeping him entertained with a series of funny sounds, faces and hand bonding.
All of which would have been perfectly reasonable had he actually been a baby.
The first few times were so bad that Rumius thought that it was some kind of disguised psychological attack using cringe as ammunition.
He did eventually gain a strong enough resistance to such "play sessions" , mostly thanks to one reason in particular.
It was that such sessions were surprisingly optimal for learning.
Humans are creatures that required communication. With a baby, Rumius knew with from experience as a parent himself that this communication was invaluable towards a baby's ability to speak. The same principles likely applied for the Babis of this world as well.
Soon, the spoon feeding came to an end and the another maid came into the room to take the finished platter away.
But before she handed away the plate, Rennie held it up to Rumius and asked:
" Eglisu a trarak dich lie den?"( How was the food?)
' There we go!' Rumius thought, jumping on the faint lead like a hungry lion.
He had heard the same line many times already, repeated from previous feeding sessions and always accompanied by the same action. He knew that this had something to do with the food.
' It would be naive to think that this language is formed the same way as english. The number of syllables also don't align.'
' Let's just go with the last syllable for now.'
Rumius pointed one baby finger at the plate and said:
" den?"
Rennie's face brightened as she pointed to the plate.
" Lie den."( Food.) She repeated slowly.
Rumius pointed at the plate again, emulating her actions. He repeated after her, his voice slightly uncertain.
" Lie den?" (Food?)
" Lie den!" Repeated the maid, nodding her head vigorously.
' Food is lie den! Alright!' Rumius gushed excitedly, repeating the word in his head, trying to lock it in.
Rennie then handed the plate back to another maid and turned back to Rumius. She walked the small round-edged shelf at the far side of the room and picked out a book and flipped it open as she walked back.
" Grotto sich einz lmala, noro?"( Let's continue reading, okay?)
Although he could tell that she said it slowly, it was still too fast for Rumius to pick up anything.
Rumius mentally kicked himself.
' Cmon focus! Don't get too excited from just getting one word!'
But even despite this, he couldn't help but smile from the progress he'd made.
Opening the book, Rennie flipped to the page that they had left off from the day before and read:
" Vain iche chara model yonde foure, il re dires"( The donkey ran up to the man, it said to him)
" Mme rande ichl, ranno ande quel so lie den la wour?"( I'm hungry, do you have some food to spare?)
Rumius heard vaguely the word for food and instantly jumped at it.
" Lie den!" He shouted out.
Rennie smiled warmly.
" Vre! Lie den!"( Yes! Food!)
" Mme rande ichl, ranno ande quel so lie den la wour?"( I'm hungry, do you have some food to spare?) She repeated slowly, carefully enunciating each word.
Rumius strained his ears to listen but he still couldn't figure out anything.
But then he noticed from the corner of his eyes something that Rennie did when she said the words "Mme rande ichl".
It was like an epiphany as Rumius excitedly rubbed his tummy and did his best to repeat the words.
" Mme rande ichl!"( I'm hungry!) Rumius said whilst rubbing his tummy.
" Once again, Rennie's face shone with a mixture of amazement and happiness as she too rubbed her tummy.
" Vre! Mme rande ichl!"( Yes! I'm hungry!)
Rumius giggled, punching the air.
' Mme rande ichl!"