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The more you seemed to sign at her, the more her nerves calmed. By the time you were done signing Rosetta had a small smile on her face.
The rest of the group, however, was more mixed. The red-head had been trying to mirror your movements (to no avail past the handshake) and seemed disappointed. The brown-headed child seemed more sad than anything. The darkest-haired one... seemed to immediately understand, and gave you a dangerous expression.
He butted in to begin signing himself. It was a little hard to make out.
It began with a dramatic point at you, then at the exit. The kid shuffled in front of Rosetta and glared at you... but did nothing.
The message was clear, yet didn't align with the action.
You pointed at your badge yet again, this time tapping the cooling metal twice. The kid only relented slightly.
Mary was now moving to protect you. Her light shone just brightly enough that you noticed a slight... <span class="mu-i">flicker</span> in the boy's face when her tail briefly swooshed by him.
Those questions had to be asked later. You had to get Rosetta back first. The reality of her friends could wait until you were certain that the most-real child was safe.
You pointed to the boy and mimed the same flapping noise they'd made before. (It stood for speech, didn't it?) The same finger was redirected to Rosetta, who was now smiling from ear to ear.
She shook her head with vigor and tried to clarify-- another flapping of the hand was followed by a full-body X with her arms. Soon after, she repeated the motion she'd made when she'd greeted you. A finger to her elbow, slowly moved up the forearm to her chin.
Was that the term she used for her language?
You had to hope so.
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Only God knew how long you spent in that clearing, sat in a circle with your legs crossed, trying to communicate with a group of people who couldn't speak English (let alone any other language) and almost seemed to take offense whenever you did. Figuring out specific signs, repeating them, integrating them into sentences. You asked so, so many questions.
Names were given. Explanations followed. The pack of children lived here and had taken Rosetta in as one of their own after she taught them her language. One of them couldn't sign, but he was a great fighter and seemed to be some kind of hunter for the group. You noticed that they never referred to this "mute" one-- the scruffy dog-- as anything other than another kid.
As time flew by and you began to realize just how long it had been since you'd first found the group, you felt it reasonable to start explaining why you were here and that Rosetta had to go.
