[for bagoas]

[more_flexible]

Jack had been fortunate enough to get a few books in Persian, as well as some historical texts on military movements of Persian troops. It certainly wouldn't be the most stimulating conversation for a first...what was this, anyhow? Not a date, not a lesson...not that it mattered anyhow. Jack hated quaint little labels for things.

So, he'd brushed up and grabbed a bottle of pineapple wine and two cups and stopped at Bagoas's hut to see if he'd like to go enjoy the evening with him and have some fun with other tongues.

Comments

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

The promise of pineapple wine and hearing my own language spoken was perhaps the most enticing thing I had yet encountered on the island. Mimi had recovered reasonably and was being looked after by Toshiko, so I was alone at the hut when Jack arrived. "Would you like to come in?" I asked, glad to see him. "Or go somewhere else?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Let's go outside. We can watch the sun go down while I slaughter your language," Jack smiled, nodding off to a distant path.

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

"I do not think that is what will happen," I said, falling into step beside him. But the sunset over the water was one of the things I liked most about this island, and I had seen far too much of my own walls as it was.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He chuckled, sauntering along at an easy pace. "You have a lot more confidence in my memory than I do," he said, leading the way through a tangle of undergrowth and holding it back for Bagoas.

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

I ducked beneath the branches, flashing him a smile. "Even not speaking a language for a while," I said, "does not mean it is gone forever. It will come back."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I think that's true for most everything," Jack said, his heart skipping lightly at the brightness of Bagoas's smile. "I've been reading up. It was easier to remember once I'd gotten through some history."

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

"History," I said. Persians, all Persians, are enamoured of it, and some Greeks as well. "Alexander was fond of Kallisthenes."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I always enjoyed Xenophon, and Strabo was good for understanding the troops," he said, then fell silent for a moment before continuing in Persian.

"The Persian right-wing cavalry matched the Greek allied and Thessalian cavalry, while the Greeks and kardakes matched the phalanx - six 2,000-man taxeis, plus 2,000 or 3,000 hypaspists, drawn up eight deep. The Persian peltasts to the left of their hoplite-phalanx were probably opposite Alexander’s Companions. Their left-wing troops outreached his right." This sort of thing was always the easiest. Numbers and left and right...simple. And probably boring as hell.

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it shuld have been dull, but it was not. His accent was far from perfect, harsher than it should have been, more like a Macedonian than a true Persian. But it was my native tongue, and I rejoiced in the hearing of it.

But my stomach twisted, too, for it was not just any battle that he was describing. It was one I knew. For a moment I was quiet.

"Xenophon wrote of that."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"He would have write it correct if he was in the battle, and not to watch the battle," Jack replied, wincing as he spoke, knowing how badly he was conjugating. It was awful enough that he stopped walking and rubbed his eyes for a moment. "That wasn't right."

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

"No," I said, unsure of what I meant. "And I do not mean he was wrong. Only that I remember it."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Yes, yes," Jack agreed, shaking his head. "You will be patient. Conversation is hard more than military and sex," he said slowly, trying hard to get the words right.

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

"It is all right," I assured him. It was true, in any case; fighting and sex seem to be the most universal, primal urges of men. Talking was far secondary. "I am glad to hear you speak it."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Maybe some wine helps," he chuckled, finally finding the path opening up and becomming more sandy as the beach came into sight. "And in time for the sunset, too. Come on," Jack smiled.

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

I could not help but smile at that. "I do not think wine has ever hindered conversation," I teased him, "only what words are actually said." We reached the beach then, long pale sand stretching out to both sides against the darkening blue of the sea and the sky above it. Although I had seen sand in my time in plenty, the sea was still something incredible to me, something that stirred my heart and made me wonder what lay beyond it, what more my lord could have taken. It was breathtaking.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'd have to agree," Jack laughed, laying a hand lightly on Bagoas's shoulder. "Should we sit over there?"

[hiseromenos.livejournal.com]

"Yes," I said, turning up to glance at him before starting that way.