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Sophie would like it on the record that, when she accepted the job, she didn't know that the Librarian had to do so much bloody politics. She could be out healing the sick, like Natan in his day. She would love to be out healing the sick. Instead, she's in one of the innumerable studies of Hush House, searching for a book for Hokobald, even though she wishes dearly that she could toss him out on his shiny arse. She doesn't mind helping out Yvette, or Arun, or really most of the others. It's just Hokobald in particular who should really go fuck himself. But it is her duty to remain strictly neutral, and she takes that duty seriously. So she'll find his damned book, and watch like a hawk while he reads it. And should he happen to violate that neutrality himself, well, she might have a few things in her pockets to introduce him to. (Swaddled Thunder isn't casual to make, nor the Rubywise Ruin in case of violence. But she's made them enough to feel they're replaceable, at least.)
Well, if she doesn't like all those bloody politics, how would she like to be pulled (suddenly and violently) through a confusing magical anomaly, and dropped into a small square stone room with two unconscious and badly wounded women?
Well, it's novel.
She sets about assessing their injuries. Color? Responsiveness? Is she going to need the Rubywise, or can she get away with bandages and balm?
They both have heartbeats and have some automatic responses but are pretty badly off!
This one has a bunch of huge gashes all over her body and rent through her light armor. She's bleeding all over the ground!
This one (more of a wizardy type, incidentally) looks like she got hit with some kind of horrifying flamethrower???
Sigh. Rubywise it is, drizzled over the gashes and a tot between the lips for each patient. And some Eigengrau poured over the burn victim. Winter is rarely a healing Principle, but needs must when the devil drives.
(She does not notice, at this time, that she did not have a jug of Eigengrau on her person. This is the kind of thing one can fail to notice, when one is a Librarian of the Watchman's Tree.)
As the crimson fluid soaks in, it burns, and the wounds gnarl over into gruesome-looking scabs. The Eigengrau has a gentler effect, chilling and numbing and flattening blisters, while the Rubywise entering their systems accelerates the healing process.
She spreads some Regensburg balm on the scars and the burns, after they've dried a touch. It's anesthetic, and it'll stave off infection, and moreover it'll keep those scabs from popping the second the girls sit up. She'll have Gideon's on hand for them next time they bathe. If she's still here by then.
How did she get here, anyway? Whatever happened felt a little like Knock, a little like Rose, and a lot like neither, just someone playing silly buggers with the fabric of reality.
And, now that she comes to think of it, where is here? Is there anything written on the walls? It's not guaranteed to be in a language she reads, of course, but that'd be information too.
(The healing stabilizes both of the women - they begin to stir, slowly.)
There's no obvious sign of what could have brought her here, though she probably noticed that the women arrived at the same time she did and then collapsed! (If she was attentive, she would additionally have noticed that the shorter woman had one hand raised, the younger woman was holding a scimitar, and they were holding hands before they fell.)
There's no writing on the walls! The stone is very old, and the air is dry.
Sophie is nothing if not attentive, in the sense that if she were inattentive she would be dead dozens of times over.
Probably their simultaneous arrival implies the same force playing silly buggers with all three of them, though Occam's Razor is hardly a guarantee when Hours are involved.
The younger-looking woman's eyes snap open. She springs to her feet absurdly quickly, wincing in pain, and looks around wildly.
(Ridaya, on the ground, hurt but alive. A tiny, stone room. An unfamiliar human woman, wearing unfamiliar clothing, no obvious equipment but that just could mean she's hiding it... some dragons can shapeshift)
Her eyes widen in terror. She puts herself between the still-down woman and Sophie, and is clearly eyeing her sword but afraid to reach for it.
She barks out a short sentence in a language Sophie doesn't know.
Sophie, in turn, doesn't pull Thirza's knife, despite considering it. See, she's polite.
Not knowing a language is a feeling she hasn't actually had in a while. It's sort of heady, a reminder that there are more things in heaven and earth. She tries her own languages, in approximate order of most- to least-likely.
(These include Latin, French, English, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Vak, Aramaic, Sanskrit, Mandaic, Ericapean, Sabazine, Phrygian, and, not really expecting it to work, Old Cornish.)
She doesn't seem to recognize any of those! But trying a bunch of languages in a row, for whatever reason, has her glancing at her sword less. (She's still very clearly shaken, though).
When she opens her mouth again, the language(?) she uses doesn't... exactly sound like a natural language, to someone from Earth. It's breathy, melodic, flowing, and has almost no hard consonants.
She can't quite keep herself from grinning. That does not sound like a natural language! It sounds like a supernatural language! Those are useful!
She'll parrot back the words, then cock her head. More lexemes?
Ah, yes, the situation might be too urgent for linguistic fun times. Tragic how that can happen. Hello, other woman who also probably doesn't speak any of her languages.
She drops to a crouch once the smaller woman moves and helps her up, talking rapidly in the first language.
She's clearly very distressed, and after her friend(?lover?) says something quietly, she starts crying.
She holds her companion, looking miserable. (She's giving Sophie the occasional curious glance, though.)
Unfortunate. Understandable, though; you don't get injuries like that without something bad happening. Sophie will school her expression and lament that she does not have tea and pastry to offer the distressed girls, as would ordinarily be her wont.
As the burned girl glances her way, she gives a little finger-wave.
(She gives a little nod.)
The two of them have a short but very emotionally intense conversation.
...she sits down on the floor, looking exhausted and upset, and turns away from the two of them, rather pointedly.
It is still not the best time for linguistics fun time but that looks like someone who could use a plausible distraction.
She points to herself and says "Sophie." Then she pauses a moment, points to herself again, and says "Sophie Hatter."
Point to burned girl?
It takes burned girl several seconds to figure out what Sophie wants, and when she does, more tears fall from her eyes.
She swallows, then points at Sophie.
"Sophie. Sophie Hatter."
Point at herself. "Ridaya. Ridaya Biru."
Point at the upset girl on the ground. "Luto. Luto Zils."
('Luto Zils' makes some kind resigned groan upon hearing her name, but doesn't turn to look at them.)
...she tries the phrase from earlier, cocking her head in what she hopes to be a universal gesture of uncomprehending.
Actually, wait, these people have no idea who she is or what she can do. She... says the phrase, pointing at Luto, then turns and points at herself, cupping her ear and frowning in confusion. Then she'll babble for a little while in the phonemes the phrase used, pointing at Ridaya and making time-circles with her other hand; then she'll point at herself and babble the same way.
That was utterly silly and may very well have been a complete waste of time! But if Sophie never did anything that would probably make an ass of herself, she wouldn't get out of bed in the mornings.
Ridaya looks very confused the first time she says the phrase, but after Sophie says it while pointing to Luto she seems much less lost.
She cocks her head, thinking, and then says three new sentences in the melodic language, watching Sophie curiously.