Witches' Thralls - Chapter 11

“Now, let us run through it,” the Cowl barked. “In review, and in Demonic: what is the First Koda?”

Nidrah, having seen Lori’s enthusiasm for learning but feeling it greatly misdirected, had taken matters into her own hands. As she held the reins guiding the beasts at the wagon’s front, the Cowl had begun trying to teach both of her captive companions some fundamentals of the Demonic tongue, and nothing was more fundamental to a Karnan than the First Law.

Lori’s brow furrowed as she strained in thought, following the inquiry largely through Lyselle’s efforts to translate, though even that was at best partial. In spite of the language barrier, she was trying her best, even without the visual associations she clearly preferred in her own self-motivated learning.

“Ne… kohda…. jakel?”

“Ne Koda’Jrake vit Kegi,”  Lyselle instructed. “‘The First Law is Self.’ I don’t know how to explain that to her, though.”

“Bah,” Nidrah scoffed. “It is not an easy thing, explaining. I say it one way, I say it another, does this matter? It is Kegi. Ke’. The right of the Self. Or, what you called it, the, ah…?”

“Autonomy,” the Terran offered. “That’s how it was translated in everything I read. ‘The First Law is Autonomy.’”

Lori began resorting to simply mimicking whatever she heard, even if she still couldn’t follow along. “Aw-tahn-oh…me? Me! Lori!”

Lys laughed and scruffed Lori’s hair. “Well, I suppose that’s close enough to the idea for now.”

Nidrah huffed. “‘Autonomy.’ Such a long word for something so simple. Is this really your way of saying Ke’?” She turned to glance at the girls sitting in the wagon behind her. “Describe this to me. What does it mean, precisely?”

“Ah, well…”

Lys thought quietly for a moment, though the cool mountain air was not left silent thanks to Lori’s chanting of “awtonomy, awtonomy” in the interim.

“Autonomy is… your ability to decide and act for yourself; what you do, how you do it, who you do it with.” She paused, a strange look crossing over her face for the briefest moment. “Where you go.”

The demoness hummed in thought. “Very well. I suppose this is close enough to Ke’. At least, I cannot describe it any better for you. This will do.” She snapped her head back towards the pair, immediately pivoting to her next inquiry. “Second Law?”

“A ton of me, ‘kay,” Lori practically sang. “Alton oh bee! ‘Kay!”

Nidrah huffed. “She is not even trying…”

Lyselle laughed. “She’s just having fun, Nidrah. That’s her choice, for now. What, should we break the First Law just to push her?”

The Abyssal’s eyes narrowed as her gaze shifted back to the trail ahead. “You are too good at the learning, keski.”

Hey. It's been a while.

This one might hurt.

FULL VERSION UPDATE NOTES:
Several of the earlier chapters have been released publicly on Scribblehub. Changes made for the public release are reflected in the full version download, including footnotes for Camazan and Demonic translations. Though several edits have been made for consistency and my evolving taste, the core content is still the same.