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A few days had passed since her encounter with the Light apparently it had deemed her pure. She almost wanted to laugh at the thought, but she was still too shaken by the whole thing for it to be funny. She sat up on the edge of the infirmary bed, the elves had brought her here afterwards, perhaps they did have some compassion.
It was such a relief from the ring of fire that even though she had her vision back now she put aside any attempt to escape. A few moments later, the door opened and the interpreter walked in with breakfast and placed it on the small table next to her bed. “Good morning. I’m here with breakfast,” they signed. “Good morning,” she replied.
“I… regret to inform you,” they began, looking genuinely disappointed “but now that your sight is back the Golden Knight has asked me to resume the interrogation.” “Resume?” she thought. She was going to ask them if they thought that fit she threw counted as an interrogation but she thought better of it and focused on her food.
They were a gentle spirit, she knew from that much from the times they had spent together so far, not the type to handle such a comment well. While she couldn’t see, they had taken the time to painstakingly press signs into her palm so that she would have some inkling of what was going on.
As she ate her breakfast and collected her thoughts she found herself wanting to know more about them. They were young but a talented signer, truly an anomaly for an elf, even most humans didn’t bother. She didn’t even know their name, granted she hadn’t given hers and wasn’t planning on it, but it would be nice to know. She finished her breakfast and started signing. The elf looked on eagerly.
“I’m not giving you any information. How about I ask you questions?” Their face fell.
“I’m not sure that is permitted…”
“What could I possibly do with the information? If I try to escape, I’ll get thrown back in that ring of fire. I’m thousands of kilometers from my kingdom and anyone who could make use of it. Just tell me, what’s your name?”
“Kazi.” Now that they had opened up. She wondered how much more she could get out of them.
“How old are you Kazi?”
They paused. They knew from their research that humans counted in base 10 as opposed to the Sunfire’s base 12. They would have to convert. “24,” they finally signed, hoping that they didn’t come across unsure of their own age.
She knew they reminded her of someone, but their age had made it abundantly clear and without thinking she replied, “That’s the same as Gren.”
“Who?” Kazi lit up, seemingly remembering they were supposed to be interrogating her.
Now she was kicking herself. She had set out not to give the elves any information and now she had slipped but she had options. She had used his name sign. She could lie, make someone up and Kazi would never know. No. She had no reason to lie, he was too far away and besides she needed to get this off her chest. “You’re the same age as Gren, my interpreter in the Katolian Army. The last thing he saw was the explosion.” She paused for a moment. “He...he probably thinks I’m dead.”
“What’s he like?” Kazi began. From the pain in her eyes, they would have to tread carefully, but they were too eager to resist.
“He’s tall and strong. His eyes are bright blue. He’s got brown hair, much lighter than mine, looks almost orange when the sun hits it right. He’s a lot like you.”
“Me?!” Kazi signed. Now worried they’d let themself get too absorbed in their mental image of Gren and missed something.
“Yes.” she continued. “He’s kind and gentle. So gentle he refuses to carry a weapon despite nearly a decade in the army. He’s quiet but well spoken, and chooses his words carefully to avoid hurting people. Unlike me!” She signed and let herself laugh. “He practically radiates goodness,” she added with a soft smile, clearly incredibly fond of him.
An intimidating exterior which housed a quiet strength and aura of goodness reminded them of something. Their hands stilled for a moment while they thought. Reflecting on their mental image of Gren… blue eyes… orange hair, it hit them. “He seems like a hotcat,” they signed.
Her eyes went wide for a moment then she relaxed slightly. “A what?” she signed. Clearly thinking more than she was letting on.
Kazi quickly realized they had automatically used a Lux Aurean sign for hotcat as no such term existed in Katolis. “A twin-tailed inferno toothed tiger,” they signed, slightly more slowly than usual. “Big creatures, orange and blue fur, two tails with fire at the end, and a pair of wings. We call them H-O-T-C-A-T-S for short,” they spelled and then signed again. They continued, “A lot of Sunfire are afraid of them, say that they can sense evil and turn on you but if you get close with one they’re super affectionate…”
She put up her hands, stopping them. “Other elves, here, they sign?”
“Yes, Lux Aurea has its own sign language. Not nearly as common as spoken language but, as you might expect, it is plenty common among deaf elves.”
“And you?”
"I attended an immersion school where all instruction was provided in Lux Aurean Sign Language. It’s rather fortunate really, as immersion is the fastest way to learn a language, and the early exposure made it much easier to achieve fluency. I have loved studying other languages and cultures ever since."
“I think you two would get along. Although I’m not sure he’s attracted to men. Or women, for that matter. He’s never dated anyone. That’s probably my fault; I can’t imagine my antics make it seem appealing.”
Being mentally set up with a human on the other side of the border by the person they were interpreting for was certainly not what they had in mind for today, but based on description alone, they had to admit they weren’t opposed. “Oh I’m not a man... or a woman, so...”
Well there it was. They definitely hadn’t planned on this, but they were so surprised by what she said that their hands had gotten ahead of their brain and their sense of self preservation. Now she waited, eyebrows raised, hands at her sides waiting for them to finish.
They felt their heart start beating a little faster. Their conversation had been perfectly civil even friendly up to this point but she did make her life’s work killing elves. She probably wasn’t the best person to be alone in a room with without a better understanding of what humans, (Katolians? Maybe it varied?) thought of people like them. Plenty of people who were accepting in theory were… less so in practice. “I’m nonbinary,” they began and when she didn’t look confused or angry they continued. “Most Sunfires, like humans, consider themselves innately male or female.” “I consider myself neither.”
“I understand.” She signed smiling. “It’s the same with humans. Now that that’s taken care of, how do I get the Golden Knight to admit that she finds me cute?”
They blushed. “Ok...you’re clearly well enough to go back to your cell General…?”
“Amaya,” she provided, making a show of pouting as she walked with Kazi back to her cell.