Dialogue: Inaiss

- Arc 3 -

***> Chapter 36:***

- I'm awake, Dad!

Little Inaiss goes down the stairs one step at a time, in no hurry to get down to the kitchen, where her father is. She has no answer, but she knows that her father hates to speak in a loud voice, so it is normal that he does not say anything. When she comes down the last step, she heads to the kitchen and greets her father again.

- Hello, Inaiss. How did you sleep?

- I slept well, and you?

- I've had worse, I've had better.

With a small smile, he answers her honestly and Inaiss looks at his eyes: it is obvious that he had trouble sleeping. She sits down on the chair beside him and gently bends her head to the right.

- Were you in pain today? ?

- ... How about I answer you with the pod you gave me, hmm?

Her father offers this idea as he rubs her hair. She nods with a big smile and while forgetting her hunger, she goes to get the pod she created especially for her father. It has several pages and is quite thick, but she knows it by heart: it is herself who made it, after all! She puts it down in front of her father and he, with a sweet smile, asks her:

- What do you want to tell me, then?

On the podium in front of him, many illustrations can be seen. The drawings are simple, unworthy of a great artist; but that is precisely the point. The drawings are clear enough for the user to understand directly what they mean without being disturbed by too many details. Her father tilts his head to the right, so Inaiss turns the pod so that only the right-hand options are valid. Her father gently tilts his head forward, which shows which illustration he has chosen.

- Page 17...

There are a total of 35 pages in this pod; but the one Inaiss uses when she travels is more than 50. Some may say that this is too much, but they don't know how much there is to say, especially for someone who can't express herself well... Inaiss turns the pages until she gets there and lets her father show her again. He doesn't need a pod to express himself, but it makes him emotional to see his daughter doing the same work as him; and she's even the one who created this pod, so he can even say she's already surpassed it. He turns his head to let Inaiss know which choice he wants to make, and when he does, Inaiss looks at the illustration.

- Leg. Okay, let's do it again.

She's not saying this because her father got the illustrations wrong: it's just to continue what he wants to mean. You don't necessarily ask for whole sentences when talking to someone who is having trouble communicating. For example, after three times, Inaiss' father chose the words "Legs - Pain - Sleep". She turns the pages again to go back to the beginning and asks her father for the next word, but he nods to tell her that he is done. With those three words, she understands what he means. She looks at him with a slightly saddened expression.

- Did your leg hurt yesterday?

He nods with a big smile. She approaches him and starts to caress his hair, smiling in turn.

- Everything is going to be okay, Daddy Love.

Even though he has lost the use of his leg, sometimes he still feels pain in it; we call it phantom pain. Her father looks at his daughter's pod and can't hold back his tears.

- A-Are you okay, d-

- I'm so proud of you, Inaiss.

He takes her in his arms and lays her head on his shoulder.

- You are the best daughter I could have hoped for... Thank you...

Inaiss pats her shoulder with a beautiful smile, one that even reaches the sky.

- Hm, you are the best dad in the world. Thanks to you.

**>>>CHAPTER 37<<<**