Inyoninko closed her eyes, whispering "According to the Recollection of Shtenamuunin." She cocked her head as if listening. "Of course. Amitirzh cried. Why else not? If I don't say it, how are we to know that it's true. Maluurzh scoffed. True, they quipped, You are Amitirzh, not Jakirtei. Whatever truths you spin have married their lies. Truth can only be subjective when you speak."
She opened her eyes and peeked over at Eshuumina. "Very well, Amitirzh said. They were not in the slightest miffed by their other face's rebuttal. So there may be as much or as little truth in my words when they are said, but if I don't say it, then there can be no agreement on truth at all. What you believe, what I believe, you and I know that we differ. So how are we to speak if we do not agree?"
Lifting her head, she was no longer glaring. The challenge in her eyes was gone. She stared at the green-haired woman standing in front of the class and for a moment, she took in the sight of this woman, of her clothes and accessories but neither of these interested her as much as the skin a shade between gold and bronze, rhinestones and glitter surrounding dark blue irises and full lips painted nude but lined with rhinestones along the edge of an upper lip. She waited but Eshuumina was silent.
So she continued. "Maluurzh looked at Amitirzh and shook their head, smiling at their foolish other half. One can speak, they said, Just as you do regardless whether I or any other listen. And speaking is but a mortal thing. Words are little more than memories torn apart and shredded for the convenience of interaction and recognition. When you say bird, you mean the creature that sings and flies in arcs about the air. When I say bird, I mean a slave trained to entertain and supply the whims of the wealthy and entitled. What are even these notions of wealth, entertainment or creature?"
She took another step down, four left to the front area where Eshuumina stood. Those glittering blue irises never strayed from her and she could feel her body responding to them.
"Amitirzh stared at their other face and nodded slowly. What a mortal thing indeed, they admitted softly. And we who are immortal, who know all and see all of one another's being, why is it that we speak? Maluurzh glared at Amitirzh but their lips were sealed for it was in this question that Amitirzh had won. And so from here, Amitirzh would look to the Divine One and say."
She stopped, legs shoulder-width apart, hands still in pockets and peered over at Eshuumina. "What did Amitirzh say?"
Eyes narrowed at her. "It is we," Eshuumina said slowly, "Who give our words their meaning." It seemed she was trying to think ahead of her. "But. It is through us. That words are made."
Inyoninko tilted her head and smiled, red eyes urging Eshuumina to keep going.
"When you left us."
She resumed advancing down the rest of the steps.
"All the words we had given to you. Were abandoned. You have learned."
Inyoninko reached the front.
"New things. And. Seen in ways we cannot. So what words you use. "
She began circling. Eshuumina backed to avoid her.
"Have no meaning. No form to us."
They started to circle each other slowly, staring one another down.
"Should you seek our forgiveness, it is not a matter of using our words. Cause."
When she smirked, Eshuumina stiffened.
"Cause you have lost them."
Inyoninko chuckled under her breath.
"If. You wish. To be forgiven. You must make. A new us. We will meet you half-way, because."
Her smile, she knew, was unnerving. But her eyes should be too, so she thought.
"Even as we have been. Spurned and rejected. The love we have. Is a word taking our whole being to say. We love you."
She did not comment but Eshuumina missed a line and was skipping words.
"But to blame and forgive. We need words that see the you that you have become."
She stopped, remembering the time she had first read those words as a child.
"So that we can see ourselves through your eyes and know you still love us in return."
She stared at Eshuumina. "Then Amitirzh gazed at her beloved," she stated, purposely breaking from the script. Red stared at blue. "She smiled with great bliss, offered her hand. Do you love me?"
They watched each other closesly, even as she stepped towards Eshuumina. "You said someone told you to apologize. But you don't know my words or ways and I don't know yours. So what's the use of listening if we can't understand each other?"
Eshuumina clenched her jaw. She smirked. "But I can forgive you." She bowed her head. "If you love me."
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