Tez turned to the girl, addressing her. "Mikö, ze ulaue schuil a zi." The girl looked confused. "Shuil? Zei schuil.. Zer ua schuil.. Zefalen vibra? Zefalen gifes?"
Rowan's eyes darted between them as they spoke before something seemed to click and he nodded. "Mikö? Teaure... teaure sein?" His accent was strangely garbled and he seemed hesitant, but he squinted at the girl, trying to make himself understood.
Both of the sirens looked at him strangely, their brows furrowed. Mikö nodded stiffly. "Zuaure sein."
He relaxed slowly, nodding to himself. His translations were choppy but understandable. "Great. This is Lark," he said, gesturing to the other elf. "She's our..." He hesitated, struggling to find the right word in the language. "Oldest? Biggest? She's our scientist looking at the sick that you have. She's going to look at you and do some..." He frowned, slipping back into English. "What's the word for test? Octopi don't have that one."
"Your languages are close," he said with a frown. "It's not a personal comment. Octopi are very advanced species." He addressed the girl again, and his voice wasn't unkind. "A couple trevali. Don't worry. They won't hurt. She's just going to do a few."
A strange expression crossed his face before he sighed and shook his head before speaking to Lark in Elvish. "Mierclo, vida? Eolla relo devense."
Lark also looked a little shocked, but she nodded slowly. "Piro. Piro. Zendita meirina Wren? Ondo norla?" He squinted at her before sighing. "Nem'deh. Perdina estendo cevendela. Nem." Lark sighed before coming around and reaching for Mikö's hand. "Come on, sweetie," she said kindly. "I'll take you to the back room, okay?"
Lark smiled warmly before bringing her behind the desk and leading her to a door, talking gently to her. Rowan watched them go with a frown on his face, shaking his head.
He glanced, his lips pursed. There was a moment of silence before he sighed and sat on the countertop. "Do you want my optimistic answer or my honest answer?"
"We haven't found a cure yet," he said bluntly. "We don't know what it is, and your friend is the largest organism we've seen that's experienced this, so that adds another layer of uncertainty."
He hesitated before sighing, standing up. "But," he said, his tone minutely gentler, "your friend is also the only living organism we've had so far. So that changes things considerably."
He hesitated, feeling reluctant to offer a solution. "Well... do you want to stay here? Would you feel bad going home like this?"
