[Breq's hands at her sides curl a little in frustration, but her voice is level.]
Maybe I could have once. Do you...actually remember how to read your first language, since you woke up here?
[She knows she's not speaking Radchaii - forms of address in this new common tongue aren't intuitive to her. She knows she was conversant in hundreds of languages from dozens of planets. But she can't access any of that. She finds that more terrifying than their physical environment, really.]
MONOLITHS
Maybe I could have once. Do you...actually remember how to read your first language, since you woke up here?
[She knows she's not speaking Radchaii - forms of address in this new common tongue aren't intuitive to her. She knows she was conversant in hundreds of languages from dozens of planets. But she can't access any of that. She finds that more terrifying than their physical environment, really.]