I Just Want To Be Average

Lunch was quiet. And long.

Afterward, Catarina and Nisha took over the table, listing the long arc for registering with CURA.S.S. And I had the kitchen counter.

There were three scenes I was very interested about. Accolade reading the heavens with his dark eyes. The heavenly court holding the marriage ceremony of Iyjuis and Alambra. And lastly, Iyjuis dressed in armour, heading for battle. As beautiful as they were in Vikari, I was certain they would be even better in Nashi.

The twins agreed. Didn't take long. And it was as expected, so much more beautiful in Nashi. We were admiring the scenes for a considerably long time, when I had the question.

"What about parallelism?"

"What about it?" Dia asked.

"How do you handle it?"

"So, how do you handle it in Vikari?" Pratt asked.

"Similes. Metaphors. Vikari is linguistic."

"That's true. Not much different in Nashi. Or Vyaraishi. Or any pictorial runes, for that matter. There's more room, actually. Contrast is used as well, to draw parallel. Can't use antonyms in Vikari, can you?"

"Agreed."

"So, why the question?"

"I'm just wondering. Faery is essentially elemental as well as sub-linguistic. What if, they're drawing parallels between the two types?"

"What would that achieve?"

"I'm not sure. But really, is it possible to know before we've deciphered entirely?"

"So, you're saying, we branch out?"

"That's actually an interesting idea too. What I was suggesting was keeping an open mind."

"Screw that. Branching out is more real. The temple, right? That's where we start?"

"Yeah. The very best place to start at. And it's a temple of the sun."

"So, we'll brush up too. About the temple. Let's take tonight. We'll start tomorrow. When we have some idea about what exactly this branching out means."

"Sounds good."

And that was the plan.

The twins had one more thing to share before ending the call.

"You're friend, Morgan, isn't it? She's quite persistent. She was outside the gate morning and evening, asking about you. So, you've got a fan," Pratt teased.

"Although, she does seem strange," Dia added.

"So, be careful. Some."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said.

They grinned, and left.

I was still thinking about branching, when Catarina came over.

"What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I answered, not entirely truthful.

"Alright," Catarina said, without doubt. "You're not satisfied. Are you?"

I needed a minute to understand that she was talking about the tablets.

"No, I'm definitely not. We can't stop halfway. We need to complete the story."

"Agreed. But how do we solve the problem of the incomplete tablets?"

"I don't know. I'm sure there is a way."

"You're right. There is. It's a debated process. But we're not striving for academic acceptance, are we? Not entirely."

"No, we're not."

"It's something we came up with, borrowing the expertise of the design engineers at our sister college. Have you heard of vector tracing and rendering?"

She looked at me for a moment before continuing.

"It's supposedly got to do with image processing. A very ancient model too. We load jpg's into the program which traces vectors on the jpg's. This vector image can be extended to complete an incomplete image. In the case of the broken tablets, we can complete them through vector rendering. I'll show you."

Nisha was waiting by the table, wearing an excited look. My expectations were rising. Maybe the program was as fun to watch as it was boring to listen.

"Here goes," Catarina said.

She pressed a button and the program began. The program didn't take even a second to complete. The broken tablets on the tabletop were gone, replaced with completed vector renderings.

"And here we have the remaining tablets, in the same almost complete condition."

It was certainly not exciting. What were Catarina and Nisha so excited for?

Catarina saw my disappointment.

"Not everyone has the same appetite for everything vector. What you must remember, though, is that vector tracing and rendering is a technique that has wide application in runic archaeology. Especially for someone like you. You'll understand in the future. Anyway, here are your tablets. What are you waiting for?"

She was right about that. Here were my tablets. Ready to be read.