Use the following words: scoured, never, remember, walked, deserving, voice
"Where angels never walked?"
"Feared. Feared to tread."
"Angels don't fear anything though, do they?"
The apprentice's voice was whiny, and Shelka took a deep breath. "That's the point."
"Oh. Where angels fear to walk, that is very bad."
He would never remember, and Shelka wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to be here. And yet here he was, misquoting and misremembering everything. Nobody could be so obtuse; it had to be a test of some sort, one that scoured her patience raw and left her wanting to shout at him. She took another deep breath.
"So many words to mean the same thing."
"That's the language for you."
"My translator does not distinguish." The apprentice tapped his ear. "I hear you say 'tread' and 'walk', and the translation is the same for both, it is 'walk' only."
Write about observing someone without their knowing
After the session was over, Shelka collapsed into her chair. "Why do you test me so," she muttered, then sat up and turned to her next task, still muttering. "Always with the translator. No such word. Two words the same that are obviously different."
She started preparing for the next lesson. At least these ones were capable of remembering the difference between 'walk' and 'tread'.
There was a soft knock on the door, and her superior entered. "Shelka, we need to talk about your apprentices."
"Yes?" She sighed.
"It appears you and our, er, visitor, are not compatible."
Write about a friend you haven't seen for a while.
Shelka's lips twisted a few different ways as she chewed on the insides. "I find his lack of progress disheartening," she finally said.
"He has been progressing well, in our opinion."
"He doesn't understand anything!"
"He mixes up words of very similar meaning, and takes metaphors literally until they are explained, but he understands many things."
"That's one way to describe it."
"I have watched your sessions, and spoken with him."
"Have you." Shelka frowned. Her friend would never have done that. Her one-time friend, promoted and changed into this officious administrator who now sat in front of her, would never have gone behind her back to speak ill of her with her apprentice. Her lost friend, not seen now in years, since a month after the promotion.
"Your focus on the specific words masks the meanings behind them, and those meanings are the core of what we teach. Those meanings are what our visitor is here to learn. The words are merely a vehicle."
