Distance units used

Bio-about 4.5 ft

Kio-1,000 bios, or .85 miles

Mio-1,000 kios, or 850 miles

Prefixes used

Av- Light

Ta- Fire

Ga- Water

Ko- Ice

Le- Air

Po- Stone

Onu- Earth

Types of speech

"Normal talking"

"Rahi"

Thoughts

Telepathy

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except OCs.

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Over the next few weeks, Vhisola noticed a change come over Shadalaine. She had always been quiet, but now she seemed to have completely drawn away from everyone. She removed herself from several classes, she rarely came to play Kolhii with Vhisola any more, and Vhisola hardly ever saw her anywhere in Ga-metru in her free time.

Shadalaine didn't even notice that she had become a recluse. As far as she was concerned, the rahi, who she named Diamond, was so time-consuming that Shadalaine could barely scrape the time to go to class, let alone see her friends. Diamond was a round-the-clock challenge, constantly needing feeding, washing, and other care. The rahi was also growing quickly, and soon got high enough that Shadalaine went to a Po-matoran friend of hers named Atewa and paid him to enlarge her door. By this point, Diamond was taller than she was, and well on her way to being taller than Naho.

Even as the rahi grew taller, the bond between her and Shadalaine grew stronger. One of the first things that Shadalaine did was make a collar so that everyone would know that Diamond was tame. However, this was not really necessary; Diamond hardly went anywhere without Shadalaine. At first, this thoroughly startled the other Ga-matoran, but as the weeks went by, they became used to sight of the two walking together, and Diamond grew to be a regular sight in the Metru.

Diamond repaid the debt that she owed by teaching Shadalaine her language. This began completely by accident, and grew to be one of the best things that ever happened to the matoran. She was delayed getting home one day, and Diamond was hungry. The young rahi gave a sharp whistle-chirp.

Shadalaine paused. The noise was the same as the one that the rahi had made the last time dinner was late.

She had already established that Diamond could understand her. The rahi had been trained to nod, shake her head, and perform several other commonly understood movements, but she was smart enough to

"Does that noise mean, 'food'?" she asked, curious.

Diamond nodded.

Excited, Shadalaine sat down across from the rahi.

"Could you make it again?"

Diamond repeated the sound, and Shadalaine tried to mimic it. The results were less than optimal.

By that point, Diamond had realized what Shadalaine was driving at, and spent the next hour naming common household items. The next day, the two spent an hour together learning rahi words.

Shadalaine soon proved herself to be a very quick learner. In less than six months, she had a rahi vocabulary of over five thousand words, and knew enough grammar to speak reasonably well with any rahi. Of course, this was only the land dialect, and had a water rahi attacked the matoran would have been helpless. Also, communicating with any land rahi would be difficult simply because the rahi would most likely not listen.

That changed several months later.

Shadalaine was coming home from a class late, and it was beginning to get dark. Diamond was hurrying along beside her, no more comfortable with the situation than the matoran. The rahi had, by this point, grown to the height of a toa's shoulder, and could bear Shadalaine sometimes.

The pair were just turning onto the street which led to their home when Diamond stopped and yowled sharply. An answering yowl sounded, and before Shadalaine could say anything, a big Muaka tiger slipped out of the shadows and approached them, hissing softly.

Shadalaine didn't know what to do. Muaka were both ferocious and nasty, and she had no desire to get in the way of one. Unfortunately, this one had apparently decided that it wanted to get into her way.

"What do you want?" Diamond asked, snarling to warn the Muaka off.

The rahi circled them slowly, eying Shadalaine.

"I wished to know why a matoran scented so much of our kind," it responded. "Now I see. You stay with her?"

"Yes," Diamond replied, warily. "She is—" she paused, glancing at the matoran, "she is my dam."

The Muaka hissed long and low.

"Not possible."

Shadalaine decided that it was time she spoke up.

"Her dam left her on my doorstep," Shdalaine said, stepping carefully away from the bigger rahi. "I chose to take care of her when she could not do it herself."

The Muaka regarded her for a long moment, and Shadalaine thought that she might have to run. Then, to her relief, the tiger stepped back and sat on its haunches.

"You are an intelligent matoran, and I hail you for taking this one as your own. No self-respecting dam should ever abandon her children. Great Spirit knows that I would not. Have you a name?"

"The best translation of her name to our language is Shadowstar," Diamond broke in, relaxing.

"It is a good name. I am Mistwalker."

As she said this, the Muaka got back to her feet and yawned. Shadalaine blinked suddenly.

"Your leg. Is that natural?"

Mistwalker glanced down at her forepaw, which had a seventy degree twist in it, and nodded.

"I was brought forth this way, and for that reason my dam abandoned me." Before Shadalaine could answer, Mistwalker nosed her from head to toe.

"Do you speak any of our other tongues?" she demanded.

Shadalaine shook her head.

"All I know is what Diamond speaks."

"Hmmph. Come to the rock outcropping shaped like the paw of a tall matoran on the next sunset, and I shall see about instructing you further. I know some words of the bone-skinned kind, and you can start from there."

And with that, the Muaka was gone, leaving two very startled being behind her.

Shadalaine glanced at Diamond.

"Do you know which rocks she is talking about?"

"Yes, I know. And by boneskinned she mean the little scuttling ones and their larger relatives."

Shadalaine thought for a moment.

"Insects?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's go tomorrow and see how things go. I wouldn't mind being able to speak to a Nui-Jaga sometime."

"If anyone saw you, they would be startled out of their masks. But I wouldn't mind being able to understand them either."

Regular update time!

Like I said before, if anyone is willing to act as beta reader, please contact me.