At times, he pondered about his master's sense of humor.

Nemesis was a fickle beast and had cruel humor but he believed the lord to being a tad too far this time. He was aware of Angela's inability to write and read common, opting for Arriese, her home language instead. That in itself proved to be problematic for a different number of reasons. Most of all being that whatever she would send out would have to be translated, perhaps more than once to make sure that the translation went smoothly, especially if the receiving party was that of the Chruch of Dusk. It just took a few grammar errors to change the weight behind the meaning of the parchments. Then again, for a being that had lived as long as she had, Maalik couldn’t fathom why she hadn’t spent the time to actually learn common. Nemesis was just as confused and an idea had been running through his head for some time now.

To this end, he went to Sularia and asked one of her sisters to aid him in his plan.

Descending upon Elysia, the raven shifted into human form and looked behind him as his traveling companion was a bit away. He had been instructed to follow him until he addressed the goddess and wait until it was time for the big reveal. Honestly, he wasn’t looking forward to this conversation but also knew that Nemesis would likely be tapping into him to watch the show. A deep breath slipped out before he ventured into the temple and requested her location from one of the servants. Once he found her, Maalik held a seldom look onto his face.

“Lady Angela, do remember that I am merely a messenger. Nemesis had thought that it would be a good idea that you…finally learn the common language. He has found a suitable tutor…” He grimaced a little before signaling the man to come around the corner with a pair of fingers.

The man was revealed to be an elf with golden locks and vivid green eyes. He looked young but had a few hundreds of years under his belt. Coming around the corner, he stood by Maalik's place and bowed. “My lady, it is an honor to meet you. I have heard several things about…well..” He tried to piece together the correct word for what had been described to him, according to the sister of hers. “Your aliment, I suppose would be the right call. Not too sure as Lady Toya had more, rude remarks about it. Might have been the alcohol talking. But aside, I am Noel and it is a pleasure to be helping a goddess with this task. I will make certain that you will understand the language as easily as anything else.”

All the while Maalik could only hold his face and shake his head refutably. In the back of his head, he swore he could hear his master chuckling a little.

“Hello, Maalik can this wait a second?” Angela cut him off as she waved a stack of papers. “RAINE!”

Raine came in and she stalled herself to look at Maalik. She jumped on him causing him to spin her around so he didn’t fall. “MAALIIIK! You called me to see Maalik?!” She was so happy and Angela gave a look.

“No,” Angela waved the stack of papers. “I need this to be translated into five different languages.”

“What ones?” Raine took them and looked them over.

“The areas are Mamlak, Vilpamolan, Sihajja, Mo’Mey, and Endapano. Can you make sure to use any slang or anything identifying for their language in the churches that are there please?”

“Is this formal or informal?”

“Formal. No mistakes. Mistakes cost us.”

“I AM YOUR PEN!” Raine skipped off with the stack of papers.

“Okay, now that the field reviews are done for the season… FINALLY,” she took a sigh and put her glasses down. “How can I help you and why might I murder you for what’s about to come out of your mouth?” She gave a sweet smile.

Once she knew what it was about she grimaced. “That fucking sister of mine…” Angela made a face. “Listen, it is the springtime can’t scolding my education wait? I don’t have a week to master a language.”

With the tutor in she just glared at Maalik, “I see Nemesis does things without my permission. ANEMONE,” Angela shouted and Anemone came around the corner. She did a little bow to the visitors. “Can you send Arcus to Sularia with a letter? Please tell my son I request a public flogging of one Toya Rose-Wintercrest. Don’t make me come over there and do it myself.” Once more it was that pretty smile she had.

Anemone looked at Maalik and bowed, “At once.” She ran off and wasn’t about to defy her goddess.

“I think you are failing to understand that I just don’t have the time to commit to reading a new language or writing it. I speak it just fine.” She stood up. “But fine if my husband wishes to play games I’ll learn the language in three days and then make him eat dirt. However, the tutor comes with me on all my expeditions and there will be fees paid for putting him in danger.” Angela gave a coy smile.

“Do we have an understanding Maalik? Also, as you are the messenger…” She reached up and grabbed a glove. “Please take this back to my husband and slap him with it.” She put it in Maalik’s hand.

Angela wasn’t making things easy for him to start. Time was ticking with each passing second as she was distracted by her usual illness- work. Raine wasn’t helping either, aside from nearly causing him to get dizzy as he caught her. “Unfortunately I’m here for “business”, Raine” If one could call this ploy as such. He placed her back down and she went to seek her mistress’ work done.

It took them a bit to get from underneath the chaos before he was to state his business. And it didn’t take look for her happy demeanor to go south. Just as he expected, while Noel looked on, slightly more confused than before. “A week? My lady, I can’t believe that it would only take that long to properly prepare you for such…”

Maalik held up his hands, almost as if he was throwing in the towel. Nemesis could survive whatever hell she’d put him through; his avatar was a fairly different matter. Still, he could easily hear Nemesis amused by his wife’s temper. “And there goes Toya…”, he muttered as her sentence was thrown into the mix. Lucian was going to have his hands full and the lad wouldn’t even know why. Just caught in-between a sibling rivalry between two people that should know better by now.

“My apologies, my lady. It was just that Lord Nemesis was highly convincing that you needed to. That and the impression your sister gave…” Noel took a deep swallow and Maalik just sighed. “Toya’s just a foul mouth that reeks of booze and profanities. These two don’t get along and I’ve seen what happened on the wedding day to prove it. Don’t worry yourself over this- it was a half-joke going too far.” But either way, the challenge had been accepted, and even yet, she was adamant in conquering this meager task. “Three…days?”, Noel spoke, his eyes wide with shock over the proclamation.

“Fine. If that’s what to come, then so be it”, Maalik replied. He’d hoped that would be the end of it, but unfortunately, it was not. Looking at the glove now in his hand, he gave her a look. [n]“I think one of you will be the death of me someday. But fine, he’s already aware of it since my mind went quiet without his laughter.” He took his left and waved at Noel as he did so. “You are hers now until she’s done with you.”

The elf waved back at him and then turned to her. “I still can’t believe any of this, but I know one thing- that I have a job to do here. Even if it’s just three days.” Which he still thought was madness.