For ![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anke‘s prompt. A tien and a vieg are two units of currency, roughly a penny and a dollar (A vieg is worth a loaf of bread).
“Rub a coin.” Gettar passed over a tien coin to Polla. “Rub a coin, and toss it in the holy fountain.”
His little sister rubbed the coin between two fingers until the metal and the inlain stone were warm to the touch, despite the cooling days. “Why?”
“If you rub it while thinking of something good, the stone holds the thought, and takes it to the gods.” He rubbed his, his lips moving in the way they did. Cantya. Polla knew he was thinking of Cantya, the tanner’s daughter with the eyes like coal. She was all he ever thought about, lately.
Talgya. She mouthed the word as she rubbed the coin warm, and again as she tossed the coin into the fountain. Talgya. It might work.
~
The kids were throwing tien coins and pieces of bone into the fountain, their faces twisted in concentration.
“Rub a coin.” Polla passed the vieg to Talgya. “Something my brother taught me, when I was under-goat tall. “Think of your wish, and the sira in the coin will send it to the gods.”
“Does it work?” The veteran took the vieg, pinching it between two fingers of the hand she had left. Polla knew what she was thinking, like she’d always know who was on Gettar’s mind. It was easy. Gettar. Bring him back to us.
She pinched her own vieg. Getta. Senan. Attorora. Bring them back to us. Bring them home.
She tossed the coin into the fountain, high over the heads of the children. “It brought you home, every time.”
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I am a little confused by the choice of names in the second section, given the names in the first section. Are these the same Polla and Talgya?
Yes. Hrm. How can I un-confuse?
Gettar and Polla are brother and sister. In the first part, Gettar is interested in Cantya as a prospective girlfriend. In the first part, Polla is … concerned about Talgya? My default reading about that was that Polla was similarly interested in Talgya, but the second part doesn’t really carry that through. Or does she want her big brother to pay attention to a different girl? In the second part, Talgya is home from soldiering, injured; possibly this changes my read of what Polla was wishing for in the first part to her friend coming home safely. (But then I’m confused about their relative ages.) In the second part, Talgya is thinking about Gettar. This is where I get more confused: what relationship do Talgya and Gettar have? What happened to Cantya? (Did Polla wish for things that turned out in her favor, and Gettar not?) Who are Senan and Attorora?
The second part was intended to counter the impression given by the first part, that Polla was romantically interested in Talgya. (I haven’t yet figured out how Reiassan feels about homosexuality) Hrrm. The intended meaning was – “please bring these people home safe from war, the way that my wish brought Talgya home safe.” Talgya is romantically interested in the younger but not horribly-so Gettar, who is off at war/
That Gettar was off soldiering I was pretty clear on. So Gettar and Cantya didn’t work out?
Nope!
That is a neat tradition. I like little bits of culture like that.