“Well, I do. And I know them all. Listen”

Then, placing her finger on each symbol in turn, she begins to recite in a high, clear voice.

“Da, Ga, Ka, La, Ma, Na . . .” she reads. Reads! That is it, isn’t it? As she continues, my mouth is shaping what she is saying silently. But what is it that she is saying? It doesn’t make any sense. I look up at my father and he looks back at me with one eyebrow raised, a look that means think.

I try to do that. Every sound she makes seems as recognizable to me as the call of a familiar bird. Then I realize—just as I should have realized from the start—what she is doing. Ahyokah is not saying words.

My sister is reading the sounds of the Tsalagi language.

Sequoyah sees the look of understanding that has come over my face and nods his head.

As Ahyokah continues to read I am counting the different sounds. Five, six . . . she finishes one column, begins the next, and then the next. Fifteen, sixteen . . . on and on. Fifty, fifty-one . . . more and more. Eighty-three, eighty-four . . . Finally she speaks the last two symbols, the one that resembles an English number six, “Wu,” and the one I have seen before that looked like a capital B, “Yu.” Eighty-six markings. Eighty-six sounds.

So many! I’m amazed. I think she has just read every sound in our Tsalagi language.

My little sister looks up at me and smiles. “You see?” she says.

I am so excited that it takes all my effort to breathe and make my mouth move. “Yes,” I say. “I do see. I do.”

And that is true. Though my father has not yet explained it completely to me, I believe I understand what can be done with these symbols that represent all the sounds of Tsalagi. If you put them together in the right order you can do more than say anything.

You can also write anything.

It is like magic. But it is not really magic of any kind, neither black nor white. It is no more magic than the writing of the Aniyonega. But it is powerful. It is power.

I look over at my father for permission to take that paper from Ahyokah’s hands. He nods at me. I hold my hand out toward my little sister.

“Here, brother,” she says, handing me the sheet without any hesitation. My hand is trembling as I reach out. Ahyokah’s eyes meet mine as I grasp that sheet of paper. I read the question in her expression.

Are we in this together now?

I bite my lip and nod back at her.

I feel as if everything, everything in my life is going to be different from this moment on.