Title: Giving Him The Moon November 2001 1/1

Author: Peasant

Feedback: childeagrestis@yahoo.co.uk

Archives: Lists yes, otherwise please ask first.

Summary: Spike said that he happened to speak Fyarl, he never said he spoke
it well.

Spoilers: None.

Content: Aus/Will. Violence. Strong language.

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: It's no good, they belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and just
about everybody else on the planet except me. I'm not that daft, I know
this.

Canon: post Fool for Love.

Thanks: In a bitter and twisted way to the people who taught me German for
five years without ever once finding out that I didn't realise that the verb
goes at the end of the sentence. And in an entirely genuine way, to Jess,
for a superb beta.

Notes: One does have to wonder how a race whose conversation mainly
consisted of 'Like to crush. Crush now,' had the words to allow Giles to say
things like: 'You're just a little overwrought,' and 'it's perfectly
serviceable.' Mind you, I have never known a language, however barbaric,
that the person trying to get you to like it didn't claim was the most
beautiful and poetic tongue on the planet.





GIVING HIM THE MOON

~:~:~



"I happen to speak Fyarl." Spike; A New Man.



~:~:~





'Very well, William, we will start again. I suggest you try to concentrate
this time.'

Will stared at the carpet as if hoping inspiration would spring from the
depths of its woollen pattern.

'What does Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah mean?' Angelus folded his arms and
waited.

'Go to... go to the barn?' Will said uncertainly.

Angelus pursed his lips. 'Go?'

'Gasash - the verb to Go.'

'No! Very much not the verb to Go. How on earth could it be? And if you must
pull it to pieces like that, then Gasaaash is from the noun War. Why is it
that you spent an hour supposedly learning this tonight and you still seem
to know no more than when we started?'

Because it's a stupid language, Will wanted to say, and it makes no sense,
and why do I have to learn Fyarl anyway? 'I am *trying*, Angelus, but I just
can't make any sense of it.'

Angelus simply looked at him for a long moment. 'The reason you are not
getting anywhere is that your one thought is to stop and go and do something
you would find more enjoyable. Only that is not going to happen tonight, my
boy, nor any night soon if I do not see some sign of improvement.' Will
glared down once more. If looks could kill the carpet would be in need of an
epitaph. 'Now you asked to do it this way, so I am doing it this way. And I
have told you ten times - the inflection carries the verb with the qualifier
in the middle. Have you got that clear now?'

'Yeh. The inflection has the verb and the qualifier's in the middle.'

'Exactly. So - Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah?'

War, Will thought furiously, something to do with war. 'He fights in the
war?'

'No.'

'But it is something to do with fighting?'

'This is not a parlour game, boy.'

The tip of Will's lip curled with a suggestion of a snarl. 'Well what does
Aky-ah mean?' he asked curtly.

'Akooah? Akooah doesn't mean anything of course. That is why I keep telling
you - you have to listen to the whole sentence, not try to deconstruct it in
this ridiculous fashion.'

'Oh well, that's really helpful, Angelus! How am I going to learn this
rubbish if you don't tell me what half the words mean? I don't see why I
have to learn Fyarl anyway. It's all just babbling gibberish; I'm quite
happy to leave you with the honour of speaking it.'

'You are within inches, boy - inches - of me losing my temper.' The two
vampires glowered at each other. Angelus started to prowl towards his
fledgling. 'I, William, had to learn Fyarl with someone standing over me
with a whip and using it every time I got anything wrong; and I am becoming
sorely tempted to find out if that would be the best way to focus your mind
tonight.'

Will casually scratched his nose and looked away as if there was something
suddenly very intriguing in the corner of the room.

Angelus stopped and appraised him for a long moment. 'Hmm,' he said,
seemingly mollified. 'Now think. You have already been told everything you
need to know and I would have thought you, of all people, would appreciate
this one. Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah?'

Will shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. Me, why me?
Because of something it's about? War, war... if I could just find the stupid
bloody verb. But it's not to fight. What else could you do with a war? Win
it or lose it presumably. 'To Win?' he suggested cautiously.

'Yes.' Angelus looked slightly more pleased. 'So?'

'So somebody wins the war?'

'The vampires, boy! The vampires!'

'Oh. The vampires win the war.'

'Won. Nang - past tense. Won.'

'The vampires won the war.'

'Finally!' Angelus walked over and flung himself back into his chair. 'The
vampires won the war. Say it.'

'Aky-oah-gasash-nong-baah.'

Angelus gave him a look that spoke volumes about his pronunciation, then
picked a book off the desk and handed it to him. 'You have a quarter of an
hour, then we will try again.' Will took the proffered book and reluctantly
found his place. Angelus watched him suspiciously for a second then picked
up a pen and started to write.

Will tried to make some sense of the Fyarl alphabet and the translation in a
strange sixteenth century typeface beside each line. The words were more or
less there, once he'd found them: Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah - The vampires won
the war. And Gasaaash was War, Nang was Won and Akooah, rather inexplicably,
meant nothing at all. So Beaah was presumably Vampires. But the next line
was as incomprehensible as ever. A cloud of uninformed silence descended
over Will's bent head.

After a while his eye started to stray towards the window. The moon rose at
seven tonight, he thought. So if it's over that tree then it must be about
three now, and the card game at Benny's usually goes on until six, so...

'How old are you now?'

'Eh?' Will's head shot up. 'Six. Nearly seven.' He knew better than to
mention the other twenty-seven years he had spent on the earth. Angelus was
over a hundred and had made it perfectly clear at an early stage of Will's
fledglinghood, that human years were not allowed to count.

'I would have thought that, by seven, you would have learnt to stand still
for two minutes.'

Will looked curiously at his feet, as if expecting to see them dancing about
of their own accord. 'Perhaps I should sit down?'

'You were sitting down, William. We started off sitting down. Whereupon you
thought you might do better if you were allowed to stand up, so you can damn
well stay standing.'

'Oh.'

'Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah?'

'The vampires won the war.'

'Hmm. Carry on. And try not to fidget.' Angelus returned to his letter.

After what seemed an eternity, but still not long enough for Will to grasp
any of the demonic tongue, Angelus set down his pen with a precise gesture
and sat back in his chair, steepleing his hands. 'Put the book down.'

Will did so, trying to snatch a last few seconds glance as he did.

'The vampires won the war?' Angelus intoned.

'Acky... acky...' Will panicked. The words seemed to have flown straight out
of his head. He screwed his eyes shut and tried to concentrate. It's a
sentence, he told himself. It's a perfectly ordinary sentence in a perfectly
simple demon tongue. Baby Fyarl can speak it, so can I.

'Aky gash...'

Angelus slammed his palm on the desk making Will jump.
'Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah, boy!'

Angelus was standing up again. 'Yes Sire,' Will babbled frantically.
'Aker... something. Er, Gasash - War. Beah - Vampires. I've got it now.'

'No you have not!' He glared at him. 'I would not have thought it possible
but you actually seem to know *less* than you did yesterday. Now, what does
Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah mean?'

'The vampires won the war, Sire.'

'Yes. So since you delight in deconstructing sentences, what is the Fyarl
for vampire?'

'Beah.'

'NO!'

Will took an alarmed pace back and Angelus shut his eyes, clearly fighting
with his temper. He took a deep breath. 'The Fyarl for Vampire is Akoobh.
Repeat that.'

'Akybar. But...'

'Let us at least get the pronunciation of that one word right, first.
Akoobh.'

'Akybar.'

'Akoobh.'

'Akeebur.'

'That, I have a horrible feeling, is as good as I am going to get. Thus we
get Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah.'

'But you said...'

'Do I gather from all the shouting that he is struggling with something?'

Will stiffened; there was only one person who would walk into Angelus's
study without knocking, and he most certainly did not want Darla around when
he was making a fool of himself. Angelus sighed and came round from behind
the desk. 'I sometimes don't know why I bother.'

'Well, Angelus, you certainly take a vast amount of time about not
bothering. What have you been failing to learn this time, William?'

'Fyarl,' he said. And after a pause just long enough for her not to
mistakenly think it was unintentional, 'Madam.' Angelus immediately clouted
him across the back of his head.

She ignored the provocation. 'Still Fyarl? You seem to be having a great
deal of trouble with that.'

He didn't answer. She looked at him coldly for a little longer and he
started to fidget under her gaze.

'Keep still, boy. Did you want something, my love?'

'I simply wished to point out the time, Angelus. Or do you intend to spend
the entire night on him?'

'I intend to get one sentence into this boy's skull tonight, even if I have
to do it by writing it on a piece of paper, drilling a hole and then
hammering it in.' He turned to his sulky looking childe.
'Akooahgasaaashnangbeaah?'

'The vampires won the war.'

'Angelus, you have been getting nowhere trying to teach him this for weeks
now. How much longer?'

'At this rate - about seventy years. It's no good, Darla, I want him to
learn this.' She snorted and Angelus quickly took her arm and steered her
away. 'He's a fledgling, my love. He *needs* my attention sometimes,' he
muttered.

'What you mean is you enjoy believing he does,' she hissed back.

'Not at all,' he said a little too quickly, then looked at Will, who was
trying not to make it too obvious that he was listening. 'Vampire, boy?' he
snapped.

'Akybar, Sire.'

Darla pursed her lips and left.

'But if it's that then what does Beah mean?' Will asked in confusion.

'Beah? Beah? Think!'

Will tried as much thought as seemed possible with an irate master vampire
glaring down his neck, but didn't get anywhere very useful. 'I don't
understand,' he said helplessly.

'Oh, get out. Go on, go to bed. Let's see if one night without six pints of
beer swilling around in your guts will do something for your wits tomorrow.'

'Can't I go out?'

'No.'

Will immediately turned to go.

'Wait!' Angelus drummed his fingers on the desk, considering. 'My bed today,
I think, William.'

Will took in Angelus's look and dug his nails into his palms behind
his back, trying to look pleased. 'Thank you, Sire.'

'What's the matter, William? Surely you weren't thinking of sneaking out
after I've said you mayn't?'

Will set his face into an unreadable mask.

Angelus gave him a thin smile. 'I will be up shortly. I expect you to be in
bed.'

'Yes Sire.'

Angelus sat back down and watched Will's retreating back. When the door had
shut the master vampire caught the book up with an easy gesture and flipped
forward a few pages, then settled back, his eyes flicking rapidly over the
text with every sign of enjoyment.





~:~:~
Continued