"Okay, Max, you've been Minnesota nice, but I gotta go." - Said Lucas - "I can actually take cold pretty well by Brazilian standards, but, here, even with the jacket, I'm not really equipped." - She smiled, blushing.
"The way you covered yourself with the wings tipped me off, child." - Said Maxwell, chuckling - "However, I believe Robert may have noticed you were here and have something to say about that."
Lucas turned around and saw the demoness priest carrying a tray with steaming mugs.
Lucas blushed hard.
"Aww, thanks."
Robert smiled lightly.
"No problem at all, Lucas. Your halo made it pretty clear that you were here in the night. And, well, I remember the last time I saw you in chilly weather."
Lucas chuckled as she took a sip.
"I'm that bad with cold, eh? Wow. Robert, this chocolate's great..."
"You have your guaraná for the heat, Lucas, we Americans have our chocolate with marshmallows for the cold." - Said Robert, smiling.
"Nice!" - Said Lucas - "Baby's asleep, I presume?"
Robert nodded.
"Yes. Plus I really only came here to give you these."
"Not that you should worry about the baby while it's asleep." - Said Lucas, smirking.
"Lucas, one must watch babies all the time..." - Said Robert, blinking. She knew Lucas wasn't skilled at dealing with babies, but not this unskilled...
"Oh, that much I know." - Said Lucas, smiling - "However, Robert, I am pretty sure I know of one person who will not let ANYTHING bad happen to that baby while she sleeps."
"If I didn't know better, I'd think Neruite took a shine for the baby..." - Said Maxwell, chuckling.
"Suffice to say I hope you didn't have any godmother in mind, Robert." - Said Lucas.
Robert smiled.
"Well, I had you, but clearly she's better suited..."
"True that." - Said Lucas - "I was... actually telling Max something fairly big..."
"If you were anyone else, Lucas, I'd say you had taken leave of your senses." - Said Robert - "It is you, however, so I do believe you."
"When did my word become worth so much?" - Asked Lucas, sipping the last of her chocolate.
"Oh, I don't know, I'd say somewhere between the second and the third Greek deity you introduced me to?" - Said Robert, smirking lightly. She had been a bit fonder of gentle sarcasm of late - perhaps a minor result of her transformation, she thought.
"She has a point, Lucas." - Said Maxwell, chuckling.
"So... Uhm, I hope the whole 'how life came to be' thing didn't bother you..." - Said Lucas.
"I learned a lot latelt, and Maxwell aided in your explanation." - Said Robert.
"And will you tell about it to your faithful?" - Asked Lucas.
"No, for several reasons. One, to preserve you. Two, the allegory fits well enough. Three, it might cause crisis among the most zealous..." - Said Robert.
Lucas nodded.
"Good call. There is... something else. Something else that just now occurred to me..."
"Do tell." - Said Maxwell.
"The wish. The wish I heard wasn't made in English or Portuguese. Of course not, neither language even existed in anything resembling their current forms even a measly two thousand years ago. But I understood it. Why? I heard the sounds, I understood the meaning of each word. I should have no access to that. The structure... The structure was SOV, subject-object-verb. I... Why did I know???"
"I was wondering when you would ask yourself that." - Said a voice.
Lucas turned.
"Hermes... So..."
Hermes smiled lightly.
"I did not think it would be here with Maxwell and your gentle and comely friend Robert..."
Robert blushed hard. It was bad enough that she felt these... urges, but the god was not at all hard on the eyes.
"E-e-er..."
Hermes smirked.
"That, Lucas, is the language of creation. It is the one language any being on Earth will understand."
"A divine language." - Said Maxwell - "The language of God in some theological analyses."
"Precisely!" - Said Hermes - "You are a cultured man, Maxwell. I can see why both Lucas and my sister find it so much pleasurable to talk to you."
"This is too much..." - Said Lucas.
Hermes nodded.
"That bit of knowledge is mostly a curiosity. After all, you only know a sentence in the language and the words that make it up. And the language, by itself, has no power. As your sword has no power without actual will applied to it, so merely speaking the words will cause no harm." - Said Hermes.
Lucas nodded.
"Max... Bob... It may be, well, sacrilege or something. Would you like to hear it nonetheless?"
Maxwell smiled gently.
"We would not be taking the place of the Lord if we knew some words of a divine language, Lucas, if that is what worries you."
Lucas nodded and repeated it.
Robert nodded.
"Fantastic. I understood it..."
"So did I." - Said Maxwell.
"Can you..." - Lucas paused - "No. Never mind."
"I could teach you, Lucas, especially if you called in a favor, but I'm glad you just changed your mind. Not only out of concern for your livelihood should this language spread, but also due to wanting to allow languages to evolve as they would." - Said Hermes - "This has been enjoyable." - He then winked to Robert, who grew even more flustered.
"Uhm..." - Said Robert, after a while - "I'm confused. Esperanto, for instance, never took off as a language. Why would this one be different?"
"Esperanto is theoretically easier to understand by "most" people, but it's still an artificial language that isn't perfect. This one, everyone would understand with no effort at all. It's like Esperanto on steroids." - Said Lucas - "Regardless, this is too much..."
"Thank you for sharing this experience with us." - Said Maxwell.
Robert nodded.
"I thank you as well."
"You're both welcome. To be sure, this is one heck of a party trick, eh? Speaking seeming gibberish that somehow people will understand nonetheless." - Said Lucas - "Anyways. I should actually go now. It's two in the morning in Brazil, so..."
"Eleven PM here, but I understand if you're somewhat tired. Teleport lag?" - Asked Robert, smiling a bit.
"Good one." - Said Lucas - "See you guys."
She smiled and left.
