Work Text:
It comes out when they’re on watch one night, as naturally as rain falls and the earth spins. Yasha, always prone to talking to inanimate objects, fixes a lantern.
“There you go, lantern,” she tells it. Except, for some unconscious association, it slips out in Celestial, a language that normally lives in the back of her throat, with all its quirks and beauty. To go, as in to work, is the same verb as ‘to shine’; the word for lantern is a contraction of ‘fragment’ and ‘light’ that is used also for candles and hands lit aflame. “All fixed up. I hope you feel better.”
Caleb, who had been running a finger over his spellbook until she said that, looks up. “What is that last word you used?”
“Better?”
He nods. “I have heard that word in school, but it meant…holy. I have not seen you pray with a lantern, so…”
“Ah.” Yasha blushes. “No, it is not…not religious. I think that word…it means more good, too? Like, what one would hope for.”
Caleb nods again. “That…makes sense. Celestial is a language of many senses.”
Yasha hums a little, thinking it over. “I guess so. It has always come intuitively to me.”
“Would you prefer we speak in it?”
“Oh, your Celestial is quite good. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“It would be nice to practice, sometimes.”
“I…I know how tiring it is to always speak in common.”
Yasha cocks her head. “So you are volunteering your third language?”
“Call it a…learning opportunity.” Caleb scratches his head. “Sorry, I do not know that word in Celestial.
“I would call it a ‘growth trial’.” Yasha turns away to hide her growing smile. “I…I thank you for the offer.”
“Of course. We are friends, ja?”
“Ja.” That gets a smile out of Caleb, too.
The rest of the watch passes in a soothing silence. Something about hearing her language, not just thinking it, has made the world brighter.