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Prompt: Write a story that begins with the title of the book you most recently read and finishes with the name of your favourite character that you've written so far.

“The Hobbit? Seriously?” Viggo said, leaning back in his chair so that he could look at Rosalind upside down. “Why are you even reading that book again? You read it less than a month ago.”

Rosalind sighed, not lifting her eyes from the creamy pages before her. “I forgot my current book and this one was still in my bag, so I’m rereading it for now.”

Viggo shook his head, playing with the worn-out seams of his lab coat. Suddenly he stilled for a moment, then snapped right into action, jumping out of his chair and causing it to accidentally roll into Rosalind’s chair.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, sorry! But, look what I found!”

Viggo held out a yellow stress ball, grinning crookedly at his discovery. Rosalind gave him a small amused smile before returning to her novel.

They sat in silence, amusing themselves as the minutes ticked by along with the whirring of the machines around them.

“So… Have you managed to translate the tablet?” Viggo asked, staring intently as he threw the ball repeatedly into the air and caught it.

“Almost… There are a few kinks in the translation that I’m working through but otherwise the bulk of it is done.”

“Nice! Can I look at the spots you’re not sure about?”

Rosalind snorted, looking back at him with disbelief. “So, you think you might have a chance of translating something that the leading translator in the country can’t work through?”

“Yeah!”

Rosalind sighed once more, grabbing the paper on her keyboard and holding it back towards Viggo. The moment his eyes lay on the page, he frowned in thought.

“So the circled parts are the ones you don’t know?”

“Well, not sure about, but yeah.”

“Then I can help you with this one.”

Rosalind put down the novel and rolled over to Viggo, leaning forward so that she could examine the paper.

“Wasn’t this set of symbols in the same order on the other tablet that was found at the same site?”

Now it was Rosalind’s turn to be a flurry of movement as she ruffled through the messy array of papers and pens on her desk, nearly knocking over her teacup.

“Yes, yes, I remember… Here! How did I forget this? It roughly means, ‘The Survivor, the Foreigner, the one who’s family has been stolen’. They must be speaking about a person. I’m pretty sure the word at the end is the person’s name.”

“Huh.”

“You know, the tablet suddenly makes much more sense. If they both speak of this person, this could be a pretty big clue into what the the tablets mean.”

Viggo nodded, frowning at the word at the end of both tablets in the pictures.

“I have no idea what that even says.”

“I can maybe sound it out, but I’m not really sure if I’m right.”

Viggo grinned and met her eyes. “Honestly, when are we ever completely right?”

“True.”

“So, what’s their name?”

Rosalind paused, staring to the side as she thought. Finally she opened her mouth and said,

“Atalan.”