The Raven and the Reindeer

by T. Kingfisher

Janna poked her head up through the tunnel entrance beside Gerta. “I can understand them…” she said wonderingly. The otters seized on this immediately. “Of course you can. “We speak human very well.” “We speak several human languages.” “Suohtas duinna deaivvadit.” “Hyvää huomenta!” “Sprichst du auch Deutsch?” “Diné bizaadísh dinitsʼaʼ?” Gerta looked at Janna helplessly. Janna shook her head. “Maybe if you spoke a lot slower…” she said. “Oh, never mind.” “We speak this one fine.” “We learned a lot of languages.” “It’s not like Herself was going to learn our language.” “She said it was undignified. Just because there was chittering.” “And smells.” “Musk is very expressive.” “Some people don’t appreciate musk nearly enough.” “So we learned her language.” “Not that we had much choice.”