Challenge #02305-F115: What's in a Name?
There is an old myth among the Edge folk that the only thing that could stop an overly enthusiastic human from causing unwanted destruction is to command them using their full names. But in order to do so you must first find their secret name. Their "Middle" name!
And it must be true or why else would they have it hidden? -- AmberFox
Tyroq had seen it happen. The young Humans were causing trouble in a public zone. Climbing structures that should not be climbed, throwing things at each other, and racing around slower cogniscents in a hunting game that involved too much shrieking.
Their parental unit tripped their final nerve and barked, "Thelis Jaime Marsden, Allie Rys Marsden, you stop that nonsense right now!"
Like a miracle, they did. They walked sedately back to their parental, much more subdued than they had been a few mere moments ago. They remained docile - even for humans - for the remainder of their time in the public zone.
Tyroq was so astonished, ze forgot to document it. Nevertheless, it stuck in hir memory for years. Therefore, when they were stationed on a vessel with a Ship's Human, the first thing ze did was take the opportunity for a rude question.
"Is it true that your whole and complete name has power over you?" ze asked.
Human Zare answered, "Well. Yeah. When your pripa uses your entire name, you know you're in deep dung. You gotta use it on official documents, like the super-official ones, and all that jazz. Gotta sign your whole name on them, too."
That... was an interesting concept. Humans had 'nick' names, first names, family names... and now they had a secret name. Their middle name. To be given it was an exercise in trust, and to use it offensively was a violation of that trust tantamount to stabbing them in their back.
Tyroq had spent more time around Humans than many others. Ze understood. They were peculiar creatures, these hairless mammals, but they were honourable in their own way. Trust like that was never something ze used lightly. Which was, interestingly, one among the many reasons why the Humans trusted hir so easily.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / PixelRobot]
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