#I mentioned before that Beleth had a lot of knowledge of lore and so was mainly responsible for teaching Hadorian Taliska

[outofangband]

9: cross-cultural misunderstandings and morwen!

from this world building prompt list! still accepting them

thank you for the ask in case anyone was unaware I love Morwen so so much and I feel sad because I feel I have not written her well lately

here are some headcanons and also a snippet of writing

I have so many thoughts and feelings about the fact that Morwen at such a young age has to learn a new language, culture and geography, all in the afterlife of catastrophic destruction and grief and trauma. Like, it's not just that she's in a new place with new people, it's that her home and people and culture are lost. She was the last generation of Bëorian children to be born in Ladros, who would grow up at least partly within her culture! It kills me! And obviously aspects of Bëorian culture survive! But aspects and isolated customs shouldn't have had to be all that remained.

And this grief encompasses so so much, way too much for any kid (or adult of course) to have to deal with. It lives in so many small differences and changes, all of which mean the same to young Morwen; there is no going back, it is done and gone

Here is an incomplete list of some of the small differences in Hithlum that trouble young Morwen. I hope this is an ok use of the prompt!

Note: we have so little information about either Bëorian or Hadorian Taliska, that I more or less feel justified in inventing some of my own language differences! We know they are two distinct languages , though more related to each other than to the language of the Haladin. I have a few posts about Morwen's thoughts and feelings on learning Hadorian Taliska and more generally in the tag houseless for exiles.

Eating together at a table at a designated time is more common and more important to Hadrian culture. Depending on the status, work, and structure of families, they will try to have at least one sit down meal together per day though some have more. In Ladros, eating together is considered important but the time and place of meals is less so and formal meals are a much rarer event. Morwen highly dislikes having to attend these. The tradition is new, the conversation is confusing, the food unfamiliar, and the people often largely strangers.

Dark/deep red has different cultural meanings in Hithlum. The Bëorians associate it primarily with red madder which is essential in dying ceremonial fabrics and thus it is highly associated with Bëorian leaders and nobility. For the Hadorians it is associated primarily with well, blood. Also red madder is not cultivated in Hithlum, at least not among the humans there. Likewise, the common patterns Morwen grew up with are not often used in Hadorian art and clothing and she wasn't yet at an age where she could replicate it with the accuracy she'd want.

Hadorian culture is very related to their horses and due to the geography of Ladros, very few horses are kept by the Bëorians (some are kept in the highlands by the elves there and by some of the human soldiers but not where Morwen grew up). Many Hadorian expressions and phrases and sayings reference horses and their keeping. Many stories and songs involve them. Many rites of passage involve skill in riding and work with horses. Morwen has almost no experience with horses and knows very little about them, and also, even at this age, has an intense discomfort and dislike of asking for help or aid.

Even the names for flora and fauna that she recognizes are different. Names that had been precious to her, all the names she took pride in knowing. It feels meaningless now.

Greetings, farewells, inquiries, it's not just the words that are different but the customs and expectations around them. Morwen has had difficulty in the social customs she grew up in. Those in an entirely new place and language are even more difficult. Gendered roles and expectations are also somewhat different. Styles of arguments and understandings about when, why and how you challenge someone are different.

Burial practices are different in Hithlum but that hardly matters. Many died on the journey there and most of them cannot be buried and there is no time or energy to mourn them. I think that any of the comfort and familiarity Morwen might found in these tradition and rites prior to this is probably lost. She develops a sense of futility far beyond her years. 

(I won't go too much into this because otherwise I will ramble for paragraphs but when it comes to this I inevitably think about the potential for othering Morwen experiences in Hithlum even as a child and how that connects with the much more blatant and violent shunning and persecution she suffers later; elvenfair/elfsheen becoming witchwife and elf-friend, etc etc)

She braids Rían's hair as her mother braided hers until one day, one of the older women has done Rían’s hair differently. Her cousin seems not to notice, content to play with the new children and uncaring what her braids look like. Morwen does not play with the others, even when she has finished her tasks and chores. A few of them have tried to befriend her and she has spurned all of them. Most do not try again.

She spends her evenings in stubborn silence as her aunt tries to each her the new tongue, refusing to speak the words to practice. It is only after two moons have passed that she accepts that Beleth will not stop. She speaks the words then harshly, quickly, and finally the lessons end. She ignores most further corrections from the older woman and they speak less frequently from then on.