Author's note
I know I said I wouldn't post anything except Sapphtember responses, but then I remembered I really wanted to get another installment of Telly Elfsona done, both to add a layer of depth to the character and to demonstrate what I meant by elves being ciphers for cultural alienation in my Deepwinter Shadows post. We'll see if I decide any other pieces are worth writing & posting before the site goes read-only!You'll also notice there are a number of translation notes throughout this piece. In short, I don't have the right combination of time, skill, and energy to introduce all the vagaries of elvish more smoothly, so I'm taking a page out of scanlated manga and trying to explain them through these notes. Hopefully I'm striking a good balance between "making it make sense for reading" and "leaving space for future installments to engage with these topics more thoroughly."
Fodhil was not exactly a small city; built in the foothills of the dwarven mountains, it was a locus of international trade and tourism. Dwarves from mine-states near and far routinely visited to gawp at exotic human architecture, and even the odd elf made the season-long journey through the mountains to take in the sights of a city built by people younger than their children. This was to say nothing of the many politicians and ambassadors routinely circulating through the streets, reinforcing the alliances between Draklair and its neighbors where everyone agreed it was most convenient.
It therefore shouldn't have surprised Telly when two elves moved in next door – shouldn't, and yet it did.
"Hey there, neighbor!" one called as she was out getting the mail. "<The landlord mentioned there was another elf on the block; I was hoping I'd catch sight of you sooner rather than later.>*"
Translation notes
*<…> = Translated from elvish.Telly did her best to cover her surprise in the day's paper junk, holding up a finger while she worked a smile onto her face. At last she turned around, strolling down the sidewalk to where the other elf stood by a half-empty truck. "Nice to meet you," she said, offering a hand. "I'm Telly, she-they."
"<Ah, I'll have to figure out a human name and pronouns too, huh?>" A hint of the elf's stress slipped through their polite mask as they shook her hand – a recent expat, then. "<For now though, I hope you don't mind if I stick to elvish. I'm> Parunni." They paused a moment, then added, "Nnthu,* < to be clear. I shouldn't make assumptions about how you read me. What's your name?>"
Translation notes
*Third-person pronouns in elvish are typically attached to other words and declined/conjugated based on a host of contextual factors. For the sake of translation, since elf gender doesn't map onto human norms, anthruinn pronouns (nnthu-based) are translated as ze/zir and antherin pronouns (uen(g)-based) are translated as ey/em based on phonetic associations with the two genders in elvish, rather than attempting to use human-equivalent declensions.Her reflexes started to shoot back, Telly – but this wasn't a human showing their ass by insisting that they definitely could speak elvish, C'mon, can't you just tell me your real name? This was an elf, trying to be polite and use a name that would fit better with the cadence of her mother tongue. She swallowed, trying to wet her suddenly-dry mouth. "Ngosetrikotelus." Despite choosing the name years ago, the syllables felt like marbles against her tongue, awkward and out of place.
"<Good name, Ngoset,>" Parunni replied. "<Anyways, I just moved in with my partner. We heard Fodhil was a great place to get away from elf culture without sticking out; no elf burrows like the mines have, y'know? Still, I'm hoping there's enough trade that we can find some groceries from back home. I'm pretty proud of my hohenn* cakes! That's for later though; for now…>" Ze trailed off as ze looked to the door of zir row home, beaming at the newcomer leaning in the doorway. "<Ah, darling!>" ze cried. "<Come meet one of our neighbors, Ngoset! I was just telling—>" Ze paused, looking at Telly. "Nnthu?"
Translation notes
*Hohenn is a staple fruit in many elven diets; it's similar to a giant strawberry with oversized seeds. In addition to eating it raw, hohenn flesh can be used as filler, binder, and/or sweetener in many dishes, while the seeds can be ground into a flour or popped like popcorn. Despite being an elvish word, it will be left unitalicized within bracketed segments since it can't be meaningfully translated at present.The affirmation stuck in Telly's throat, leaving her to nod while her nerves screamed, Fake, fake, you're a fake anthruinn and they know you're a fake. Parunni just nodded back, betraying nothing of zir inner thoughts.
"<I was just telling zir that I'm hoping I can make hohenn cakes here,>" ze continued as zir partner approached. "<I've made them for you before, right?>"
"<You have, and they were very delicious,>" the other elf answered. They turned their attention to Telly as they neared, extending a hand. Scrawled inside their forearm in black ink was a single word, kothrilmol.* "Katohno, ongi,**" ri introduced rinself, and suddenly Telly could see the archetype slot into place over Katohno and Parunni. An antherui fleeing the linguistic oppression of the Elvish Language Authority, ria cis antherinn partner following… Tale as old as time, or at least as old as social media.
Translation notes
*The title of a lesser-known poem popular among elven expats which has since become a neologism in emigrant communities; often translated as "Home Without Home."**Antherui are a nascent nonbinary identity, frequently using ongi-based elvish neopronouns. They are translated as ri/rin/ria/rias/rinself, an adaptation of Esperanto gender neutral pronouns to capture the "unelvish" nature of their declension/conjugation.
"<Nice to meet you, Katohno,>" Telly replied with a handshake.
"<Nice to meet you too.>" Ri smiled, then turned back to Parunni. "<I came down because somebody wasn't bringing up the next piece of furniture…>"
Parunni laughed, hands up in surrender. "<Right, right, moving first, relaxation after.>" Ze reached into the truck bed, tugging a side table to where ze could better lift it. "<See you around, Ngoset?>"
"Definitely, see you both later," Telly replied, returning to her own front door. "Nice meeting you!"
She managed to stop crying and get off the floor on the far side before Lily came home, too.