The Diary of Miss Aidyn Hall,
author and mentor
July 26
The
Mysteries of the Jadeite Language
Wildflower
loved her diary as much as I thought she would. She opened and closed the front
cover over and over again, beholding the image of the regal peacock and the extravagantly-decorated
pages. “Do you know what bird that is?” I asked her. When she shook her head, I
said, “It’s called a peacock, and the peacock is going to guard your writing
for you. You can write anything you want to the peacock, and he’ll be sure to
listen and keep it safe.”
“Thank you, Aidyn!” Wildflower cried, giving
the diary a fond hug. “Thank you…I love you, Aidyn!” I glanced at her mother
and saw that she smiled at me in approval. My heart melted.
My
job today was to pick blue and yellow flowers for Apple Blossom to put in
several little nosegays. Crystalline’s birthday was approaching, and Apple
Blossom had given herself the task of decorating for the party. Blue and
yellow, she told me, are Crystalline’s favorite colors, and so every decoration
from the flowers to the ribbons to the banner followed suit. “Tell Crystalline
that I wish her a happy birthday,” I said.
Apple
Blossom sighed. “I wish you could come to the party.”
“I
wish I could too,” I said, “but you don’t need to have me around to have fun.
And you can tell me all about it afterwards.”
As
I picked and made idle conversation with Apple Blossom—about the party, her
gift for Crystalline (a blue and yellow jeweled necklace, with beads shaped
like little frogs), what Apple Blossom had been up to lately, and other
subjects—a private corner of my mind still wondered how the Jadeites were so
fluent in the English language. I figured now was as good a time to ask as any.
Apple Blossom’s eyes widened and she let out a
little gasp. “Why, I had been wondering all this time how you knew our language!”
“It’s
called the English language,” I told her.
“We
call it the Common language,” she replied, “but I think that what you call it
makes it sound prettier—English.” She
said the word a few times, as if savoring the sound.
“The
Common language,” I repeated. “Do all Jadeites speak it, then?”
“I
wouldn’t know,” said Apple Blossom. “I’ve never met any other Jadeites outside
of my Greenwood
“A
princess must excel at handling interpersonal relationships with the outside
world,” I told her seriously. “It’s essential to becoming a good queen.”
“I
suppose my mother and father take care of all that,” said Apple Blossom, and
then I spotted a roadblock: there was no way that I would be able get any
information out of the king and queen. They were still entirely closed off to
me, and my little sticky-fingers act hadn’t done a thing to help that. Still, I
wasn’t daunted. “Do you have a library anywhere?” I asked.
Apple
Blossom nodded. “There’s the Grand Greenwood Library, and there’s also the
royal family’s private collection. Which one would you prefer?”
This
was perfect! “Would I be allowed into your private library?” I asked, though I
was sure I already knew the answer. As I expected, Apple Blossom said, “You are
if you’re with me.”
“Will
you let me go home and get my notepad first?” I asked. “I like to write down
the things I find when I’m in a library.” She nodded. One of these days I’ll
remember to bring it with me whenever I go into the Greenwood
“It
was no problem. I had a lot of fun collecting them,” I said truthfully. Then,
after she dropped the nosegays off with a servant woman, the two of us headed
back to the magnolia archway. The soldiers trailed behind us until we reached
the bridge. I ran home to fetch my notepad, and returned to find Apple Blossom
waiting patiently for me, swaying back and forth on her toes. She skipped along
behind me as I made my way back to the bridge. We met up with the soldiers
again, and Apple Blossom said, “I am taking Aidyn to see the royal literary
archives.”
“I’m
sorry, Princess, but that will not be allowed,” said one of the soldiers.”
“It
will be allowed,” Apple Blossom insisted. “I am allowing it!”
“We
cannot allow an outsider to access the royal literary archives, especially not
a human. There is too much sensitive
information located within. You may only
bring her to the Grand Greenwood Library. The royal archives are off limits.”
Apple
Blossom must have forgotten that I still had a reputation as a thief. She must
also have forgotten that she isn’t a queen yet, because she put her hands on
her hips, pushed out her chin, and said with a queenly scowl, “I order you to
allow Aidyn into the royal literary archives.”
“The
orders of your mother and father surpass yours, I’m afraid,” said the soldier.
“It is not to be permitted, and that’s the end of that!” Apple Blossom opened
her mouth to say something else, but I spoke up: “Then perhaps you can tell me
where else I can get the information I’m looking for?”
“Why
would you need any information?” the
soldier asked rather nastily. I could tell that Apple Blossom didn’t appreciate
his tone, but before she could say anything I rushed on: “Well, if a human is
going to be frolicking around in your world at all, wouldn’t you prefer that
human to be appropriately knowledgeable about it, so that they may show the
proper respects? Or would you rather have a completely ignorant outsider just
bumbling around the place?”
“I’d
rather ensure that certain information remains safely in our hands,” said the
stubborn soldier, “and doesn’t just get passed along to any outsider we decide
to invite in. I ask you again, what kind of information would you possibly need?”
“Well,
as you can hear right now, the two of us happen to speak the same language,” I
said. “I’d like to read up on why that’s the case—the history and origins of
the Jadeite language, and its relation to the languages of outsiders. Now, how
dangerous could information like that really be?”
“You
don’t need to get into the royal archives to find information like that,” said
the soldier, softening a little. “The Grand Greenwood should be just fine. If
it isn’t, then I don’t really know what to tell you.” “That will be fine,” I
conceded, “so long as I can find what I’m looking for. Thank you for clearing
all of that up, sir.” I nodded to him and took Apple Blossom’s hand. “If it
isn’t,” Apple Blossom said to the soldier, “then we’ll have to go into the royal archives. I want to know too!”
I
looked at her. “You do?” She nodded. “Why do you want to know?” I asked.
“I
just do,” she answered, but her eyes darted from place to place. There was
something that she wasn’t telling me, and I think the reason for that was that
she didn’t want the soldiers to hear. I nodded to show that I understood. “Show
me the way to the library, then.”
“It’s
this way,” she said, letting go of my hand. “Follow me!” She darted ahead like
a fox; she wanted to get away from the soldiers. I did my best to keep up with
her, calling “Hey! Slow down!” to keep the soldiers from growing suspicious. I
knew she wouldn’t really slow down. We ran and ran until we made it out of the
soldiers’ sight. Apple Blossom took both of my hands, stood up on tiptoe, and
whispered to me. “I can’t tell you everything until we get to the library,” she
said. “It will be easier for us to talk privately then. But…” She looked around
to make sure that the soldiers had not yet caught up. “I’ve always wondered
if…if perhaps the Jadeites and humans have some sort of connection.” “What kind of connection?” I asked, but she wouldn’t
tell me more. The sound of heavy footsteps indicated that the soldiers were
catching up to us. She took my hand again, and we walked the rest of the way to
the library. She was silent, and I decided to follow suit. The soldiers’
emerald-green helmets hid whatever reaction they may have had to Apple
Blossom’s impulsive little run.
I
expected the Grand Greenwood Library to be a towering, sprawling compound
carved out of the same jade stone as the palace. What it really was, though,
was a tall but very plain box carved out of thick tree bark. Moss grew on the
roof and at the little cubbyholes that were meant to be windows. Fat grey
mushrooms grew on both sides of the bark door. It seemed anything but grand,
but still I was filled with anticipation. My plentiful experience with
libraries told me that the tiniest, dinkiest, plainest libraries so often held
the most wonderful collections of books you could find. Apple Blossom led me
inside and the soldiers took their places by the entrance. It was a relief to
me that they wouldn’t be following us inside, even if they would be peering
into the windows to keep tabs on me.
I
was right! The Grand Greenwood Library was one amazing wall-to-wall maze of
books of every size, color, and thickness; books bound in snakeskin dyed red
and green and blue, books with covers made from polished tree bark, books tied
together with jade-colored ribbons, tiny books written on the delicate petals
of flowers. It was paradise, and my only disappointment was that they were all
written in a language that I couldn’t read. “You’re going to have to be my
translator,” I told Apple Blossom.
“I
will,” she said, “but I want us to talk first.” She took my hand and led me over
to a table. We sat down, and she leaned in to whisper to me. “I’ve always
wondered if the Jadeites and humans were connected somehow,” she said, “but all
I knew about humans was what I learned from the stories: that they were tall,
thick-bodied creatures with two big legs and two long arms and hair on the tops
of their heads like we have. I’ve seen several drawings and illustrations that
went along with those stories, and they showed that humans have five long fingers
(she wiggled her fingers then), wear clothes made out of colored fabrics, they have
two coin-sized eyes, long, dark hair, and two pink, rosebud-shaped lips—those
drawings looked so much like larger, dark-haired Jadeites!
“And
then I met you, Aidyn. I had been longing to meet a human, because I wanted to
see what they were really like, and if we were as similar as the pictures made
us out to be. The taggers told my father that they had found and tagged a human
near the gates, and I was so excited to think that I had finally gotten my
wish! At the same time, I was scared, because I knew the stories and I didn’t
know you would turn out to be so kind and friendly. In fact, I never could have
anticipated that! But then I finally got to meet you, and you were just as
similar to my people as I had thought! Not only that, but you knew our language!
I knew then that I had to be right; the humans are Jadeites really are
connected!” She folded her arms on the table. “The fact that you feel the same
way means we have similar minds, too, and that’s another sign that we’re
connected. So, now we’re going to be a team. Together, the two of us are going
to find out just what that connection is!”
So
there was the real reason Apple Blossom was so attached to me. The two of us
are alike, much more alike than any of her people would be willing to admit,
and Apple Blossom had looked beyond the preconceived notions of the Jadeites to
be able to see that. I had seen it too, and it had made me wonder, but it
wasn’t until now that the wonder had increased to the point that I just had to know. I have to know!
“When
do we start?” I asked.
“We
start right now!”
Apple
Blossom led me through the maze of books and read off the titles of any that
sounded important: “The Tree Elf Alphabet” (there were at least ten of these,
but we only took three), “Tree Elves, Their Origins, and Their Ways,” “The Era
of the Early Jadeites,” “A Tree Elf Dictionary,” and more. We returned to the
table with ever-growing piles of books, and I realized that there was just no
way that two of us to do this on our own. “What we need,” I said, as I stared
down the mini mountain of books, “is a good research team.”
“What
do you mean?” asked Apple Blossom.
“It
would take eons to read all of these books by ourselves,” I said, “and that’s
without all the note-taking, fact-checking, collecting, investigating, sorting,
filing, reviewing, revising, and further reading. Research isn’t just reading
books, Apple Blossom. Researching a topic takes a lot of work, time, and
patience, especially if it’s a topic that’s never really been covered before,
or is covered very rarely.”
“Oh.”
Apple Blossom rested her cheek against the palm of her hand. “We’ve really got
our work cut out for us, then.”
“Yes
we do,” I said. “That’s why we need to organize a group, so we can split the
work up and give everybody a share of tasks to do.” I tapped my pen against my
chin. “Do you think that your friends would want to help us out?”
“Of
course they would!” Apple Blossom chirped, jumping out of her seat (though
still remembering to use her quiet library voice). “They would love to! In
fact, we can go ask them right now!”
“We
can ask them tomorrow,” I said. “For now, let’s put all these books back where
we found them.”
“I’d
like to take a few of them,” said Apple Blossom. “I want to start doing some
reading on my own.”
“Suit
yourself.” I gathered up an armful.
“Do
I have to take notes?” she asked.
“You
don’t have to,” I told her, “but it would help you remember what you learned
and what you thought was most important.”
She
nodded and selected four books from the mini mountain, which was then promptly
dismantled and returned to the shelves. Unfortunately, we couldn’t remember the
exact shelf locations for every book. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for the
librarians to rearrange them all.
We
stayed at the library for the rest of the day, while Apple Blossom picked out
some choice Jadeite myths, fables, and fairy tales to read to me (the story of
the wish-granting “shekrumseh,” which means “little wish giver” in the tree elf
language, was one of them). I noticed that she had chosen to leave out any
stories about humans…
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