Tu Shanshu

[ Amon comes into view; he sits at a cherry wood desk that is an elegant piece with waving designs carved into the wood. So faddish that it appeared to enjoy a pride of place against his otherwise spartan suite. On it before him are two glasses. In one glass is crystal clear water catching the light coming in from an unseen window, and in the other is a murky sludge with black sediment at the bottom.

With no preamble Amon opens proceeds to delve right into the matter at hand. ]

Efforts are being made to clean the water that suffered the worst of the pollution in the Water Sector. I bring this to your attention because I'll be seeing to it that there is water safe for consumption made available to the clinic I work at in the Earth Sector, and in any homes here in the Water Sector as it never hurts to have an emergency supply on hand should rationing start up again. Or should you wish to have water on hand when making the trip off the turtle now that another landfall is on the horizon.

That still leaves the deplorable state of public waterways here, but we're doing what we can. You have one Namorita Prentiss to thank for spearheading the initiative; I am merely playing my part.

[ There is a brief lull as Amon shifts in his seat. The only movement he's made throughout his little spiel as the mask obviously obscured any facial expressions. ]

Something else I wanted to touch on that is unrelated to recent events. It occurs to me that, among the foreigners, English is the dominant language. For someone whose native language is far removed from English, specifically Mandarin Chinese, I find text posts and anything written to be an obvious challenge. [ If this confession is an embarrassment for him it doesn't show, not even in his tone of voice. ]

I find it in our best interests to be on common ground in any possible respect, and that includes communication. If there are any native English speakers willing to take on a student I would be forever indebted to them.

Also, I invite others who share my problem to consider my proposal of broadening their grasp of written English. Might come in handy down the road as this place is quick to remind us that nothing is for certain. One of these days we could very well be faced with another crisis, and one that impinges on our ability to communicate.

( encrypted 30% private to Tarrlok )