Excerpt
Indura smiled at Coruscar's bewilderment. "You are experiencing . . . Azura, what form would that be?"
Azura considered. She had not been consciously trying to use a specific debate form. This unfortunately made the post-debate classification rather more tricky than it needed to be. "I am not certain. It started as three geese in flight, but changed to fox and hare."
"Ha! Two geese and a fox covered in feathers?"
"Two geese and a tiger in feathers."
Indura nodded, taking another sip of tea. "Tiger and bird. I like it."
Azura frowned. "Did that form not already exist?"
"Oh, I am sure it already exists."
Azura felt herself smirk. "That is good. I would hate to think that I explore new realms of arguing with people."
Indura coughed slightly; he had been in the middle of a sip of tea. He pointed out, "You are debating a Westerner."
Coruscar looked between the two of them. The look on his face suggested that he may have stopped being able to follow their conversation after a certain point. It was the sort of look he would have worn, had they both suddenly started baying at the moon. "Okay, I understand the words you're saying, but I have no idea what you're talking about."
Indura smiled at him again; softer, this time. "My apologies; it is Solandan humor. You would not have the background to understand it."
He said, suspiciously nonchalant, "Uh, okay. That's fine then. As long as I'm not supposed to understand, I'm good."
Azura cleared her throat. He was right, they were being rude. "Solandans are taught how to debate as part of their . . . schooling, as it were. This involves different debate forms that teach us, in essence, how to deal with varying situations and present them successfully." Azura sipped her tea, and then went on, "A popular Solandan pastime is to participate in mock debates on various topics."
"Huh! Well, you could warn a person, you know."
"You require a warning? This man carries a knife, this man carries the ability to think for himself?"