The Scholar 2

The Scholar fell in love with the 'Dicshunari' immediately.

"How does this thing work? Is it magic? I thought you did not have access to it?"

Even in his infatuation, he had enough ability to think critically.

"It isn't magic, but I suppose it could be classified as something similar if you were to think about it a certain way."

Already he was tapping away, from the locations he was pressing on, it looked like he was looking up the word classified. Satisfied with the information, he nodded in pleasure.

"This is one of those things that I don't have enough of an understanding of to give you an adequate explanation, and chances are there are concepts involved that you would struggle to come to understand without years of study."

"What makes you say that? I will have you know I am known as the Scholar for a reason." He seemed slightly insulted at the off hand comment, not at all intended to disparage him.

"Allow me to clarify, as I feel you have misunderstood. It is not that I doubt your intelligence. As a matter of fact, just from our short time talking together I have come to understand that you pick up very quickly on new concepts and information. However you have to understand that this does not come from your lack of ability, but from the shear volume of information that is a prerequisite."

A frown and tilt of the head seemed to suggest he still did not understand.

"Let me put it this way, how confident are you in your ability to fight?"

He looked down at his markedly uneven profile. "Not very."

"What of your ability to sculpt a masterpiece?"

"The same."

"Then what makes you think that you will be able to learn what is essentially a similar skill without the requisite effort, time, and talent? I am positive your Captain is a genius in the field of leadership, but he did not reach his position in a day. You may be good at your studies and memorizing information, but did you just wake up one day and have that happen?"

"No, I worked very hard to get here."

"This type of information is the same. The path to understanding them is so convoluted and full of walls that requires skills that in turn take years to learn to climb over that none of our people could truly ever be able to learn it all. Do not be so simple minded as to think that you would be able to understand everything we learned and created without setting forth a commensurate amount of time and effort. You are smart, extremely intelligent, but my people know from experience that omniscience is an impossibility."

Diana did not mean for it to come off as a scolding, but she couldn't help but feel like she had been talking down to him. He didn't seem to have taken it personally though.

"I am sorry. It was presumptuous of me to think that I would be able to immediately understand everything about your culture when I can barely communicate as you do."

His enthusiasm seemed to have dampened a bit, which was slightly depressing to Diana, but this would no doubt make the conversation much smoother. Still, she should probably offer the carrot after using the stick...

"Your first priority should be to learn our language. I think it will prove beneficial to your efforts to understand separate facets of our lives. Even more than speaking, you need to be able to read it, fluently, to the point where you can process what you have read faster than it would be to speak. There are only two of us left, and all of our historical and cultural records have been preserved primarily in writing. If you wish to see them, you need to be able to understand them."

His constantly changing eyes lit up at this prospect. He was nowhere near his previous high mind you, but the spark was definitely there. Clearly he was extremely passionate about such cultural artefacts.

"You are very wise, lady Diana."

It was a comment out of the blue, one she did not at all agree with.

"No Scholar, I am not wise. I have not lived long enough to be considered that. I am desperate, and afraid. I need friends," she moved her hands to cover Donovan's right. "WE, need friends. We are alone in a place we are wholly unfamiliar with. We have no place to call home anymore, and we have no clue what our future holds in store.

Truth be told, Scholar, we are only barely adults by our laws, and we have been burdened with the fate of our species. By all rights I should be sat down on a couch, gossiping with friends about who the hottest boy in our class is, or what dress goes best with a certain pair of shoes. I should be eating dinner with my grandfather, watching movies with him as he sunsets in his old age.

He was wise. My grandfather was the wise one. He led the project which would give us a chance at a future.

I consider myself lucky, Scholar, lucky that you and everyone else on this ship is at minimum not hostile to us. With Donovan asleep like this, I am not sure I would be able to escape death if it came for me.

For us this is a massive risk, Scholar. Everything humanity has done for the past ten years has been for the sake of a gamble that put literally everything on the line. We weren't even sure if we could trust you, we still aren't, and even if we can we still have to play our cards extremely carefully or else it will all come burning down in flames."

Diana was finally starting to break, bursting at the seams with stress and fear. She was capable, but in the face of total annihilation she was only just a girl.

"I have trained for half of my life in how to be a proper diplomat. How to communicate, resolve problems peacefully, negotiate, learn, understand, but without anything backing my words or actions, I can do nothing. So no, Scholar, I am not wise."

She looked at the sympathetic face of the Scholar, and felt a twinge of regret for going on a tirade against him not once, but twice. Taking a breath to recollect her emotions, she continued.

"Now. With that out of the way, let us start with the most important topic, how is the food onboard the Oberlux?"