Chapter Thirty Nine
For a moment, Justin felt embarrassed for stating something so obvious. Anyone who saw Art and Sigmund in the same room together would have zero doubt that they were twins. He could feel his face start to heat up until his eyes caught on the creature standing behind Sigmund.
He didn't know what he was expecting, maybe an old, wisened creature with a long, grey beard and a pointy hat. But if that was the case, he would be incredibly wrong. The creature came up to Sigmund's belly button. His hair was a deep black and came down to his shoulders like a curtain. He had a pointy nose that resembled a mouse's. His skin was a rich amber color, and his eyes matched his hair. His cheeks were slightly puffy like a squirrel who had stored nuts to eat later. His lips were large and a deep pink, and he appeared well-muscled, although the layers of clothing he wore made it difficult to be sure.
His clothes might have been the oddest thing about him. He had on multiple garments, and none of them seemed to match. There was no rhyme or reason for what he was wearing, although all of the material looked extremely clean and soft.
Justin took his time taking in the small creature. When Art cleared his throat, Justin once again felt embarrassed for gawking at the gnome without so much as saying a word of greeting to him.
"Sorry, I apologize. This is the first time... What I mean to say is... I have never... It is nice to meet you sir. My name is Justin White." Justin held out his hand to the gnome and took a small step forward in greeting. The gnome drew closer to Sigmund and buried his head in his hands.
"What did I say? Didn't he know he would be talking to a human?" Sigmund looked at his brother for a long moment before a slow smile slipped onto his face. "You didn't do anything, Master Justin. In the gnomish culture, trying to shake a gnome's hand is akin to invading their personal space. Gnomes only like to touch those that they are familiar with. I believe he thought you would force the handshake on him whether he wanted to or not."
Justin felt his stomach fall to his feet. His very first interaction with a gnome, and he botched it horribly. His discouragement was written all over his face, but he didn't have the desire or motivation to try to laugh off his mistake.
"Don't worry, if you will just give me a moment, I will explain the situation to our friend." Sigmund's words brought a fraction of relief to Justin's heart as he hoped he had not destroyed the interaction completely.
Sigmund turned to the gnome and tapped him gently on the shoulder until he lowered his hands. Kneeling in front of him, Sigmund spoke to the creature in strange clicks and grunts. Justin knew that the gnome had learned some of Sigmund's language, but he had no idea that Sigmund had also learned some of the gnomes.
The more that Sigmund talked to the gnome, the more relaxed the creature became. By the time he was done and back on his feet, the gnome was looking at Justin expectantly. After an unsure pause, the gnome tentatively reached out his hand toward Justin.
Justin froze in place at the gesture. "Well, isn't this what you wanted? Go shake his hand." Art's words were commanding, but not unkind." They did the trick in pulling him out of his stance, and he came forward and tentatively shook the gnome's hand.
His hand was the size of a child's, and when he gripped it, he felt small tuffs of coarse hair across his knuckles. When he looked closer, he could see that the coarse hair was also on his wrist and more than likely continued up his arms.
When he stepped back from the greeting, Justin's attention immediately went to Sigmund. "Can you tell me his name? Or can you tell me how to ask him his name?" Sigmund gave Justin an appraising look. "Yes, I think asking his name and giving your own in his language would go a long way in him being willing to help you.
After asking the gnome to wait there, Sigmund pulled Justin aside out of earshot of the gnome. They found themselves in an alcove of the library that Justin had never seen before. He would have been wholly focused on exploring the alcove if a gnome hadn't been waiting to talk to him. It is amazing how his priorities could change so fast.
"Let me see, the first thing you need to do is to remember that I will be with you to smooth over any mistakes you make, so try not to worry about being perfect. That being said, you also want to show the gnome the respect he deserves, so you will need to do your best to get this right." Justin wasn't sure if Sigmund was trying to be helpful with his words, but they had the opposite effect on him.
"Right. So where do we start?" His words came out uneasy to his own ears, but he hoped the smile he put on his face looked genuine enough.
Sigmund didn't seem to notice his unease as he jumped right into demonstrating the sounds that Justin would have to make to ask the gnome his name. It sounded ridiculously animalistic to Justin's ears. Then he realized that gnomes were probably more closely related to natural animals than humans. Just because they resembled humans in a lot of ways didn't mean they had the intellect to speak like one. He immediately felt bad for thinking that the gnome might be dumb. That was no way to warm the gnome up to work for him.
After what felt like an hour, but was probably only fifteen minutes, they made their way back to the group. The gnome stood patiently next to Art, who was showing him a picture of a landscape scene from the wall.
"I believe our friend recognizes the place in the painting. He keeps pointing at it. I am afraid I do not know where it is located. Do you? Sigmund shook his head. A look of curiosity and sadness matched his brother's.
Standing in front of the gnome, Justin knelt down, being sure to stay a foot or two further back than Sigmund did. After taking 5 deep breaths, he made eye contact with the gnome and began to speak.
While he spoke, Justin only had a passing thought of what he must have looked like. He hoped it would not be too ridiculous. Most of his thoughts were centered on how surreal all of this felt. In that moment, he was living his lifelong dream of conversing with mythical creatures. He was talking to a gnome.
After he spoke what he had been taught, he leaned back on his heels and waited. The gnome blinked two times at Justin and then spit out a torrent of clicks and grunts. Justin had no idea what he had said, but the smile on the gnome's face at least gave him hope that he had not offended the creature in any way.
Unsure what to do, Justin nodded once towards the gnome and stood back up, looking expectantly at Sigmund. "Well, did I say it correctly? What did he say? What is his name?"
Sigmund smiled broadly at Justin. "You spoke it perfectly. You may be a natural. I think our friend was pleased too. He gave you quite the gnomish welcome just then. And his name is Fred."