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The greatest relief of knowing Alaunna is a simple one. They speak the same language. Alaunna’s Common is a great deal more fluent than Xullara’s, but it is neither of their native tongues. That makes a lot of things a lot easier. With Alaunna, Xullara can speak as they think, not be stuck running up against the barrier of not knowing the words they mean. Alaunna helps with that issue, too. When she’s around, they can ask for a translation in either direction, knowing she will provide. That offering alone, Xullara would give near anything for. There are things they never discuss in Common, and things they never discuss in any language, but many more of the former. Sometimes it is simply easier, to know you will only be understood by the one you wish to be understood by, especially when even if others could understand the words, the nature of their conversations would prove difficult to understand. They discuss the kind of things that make people uncomfortable, sharing in the language of violence. They discuss how each of them learned to fight, Alaunna through brutal tutoring and Xullara through being left to learn or die. Xullara tells her the story of their first kill, and she does not flinch even for a moment.
It’s easy to fall for someone, when they understand you so well. What they have is not by any means easily defined, but the easiest way of putting it is simply that, that they speak the same language. There are things Xullara would not trust Alaunna with. They know full well how dangerous she is, and what little protection her care for them would afford them. Still, they trust her with this, their communication. They know that they can trust her with it, no matter what else plays out. After all, that shared language is a relief and a gift for them both.
