FFM 2026 6: Mafkani’ormzyelfenaa

This one is a continuation to FFM 2026 5: Borrowed Time.

Important etymology to explain: Mafkani’ormzyelfena (Idiom): Lit. “Battle scar” (figurative). Most commonly used of damage to one’s equipment’s paintjob from conflict (in other words, a sign of surviving said conflict), although it also sees (mainly poetic) use in the context of positive and neutral psychological marks left by heavily influential experiences (most common example in Eskel-Zai literature uses this idiom to refer to nostalgia over a long career that’s been left behind (usually by retiring from it)).

Additional etymology and vocabulary trivia for those who are interested: ormzyelfena, the figurative word for scar, has its etymology in the words ormo — tool and zyelfena — wound, making it essentially “tool-wound“. The word for a bodily or psychological scar (both of which Eskel-Zai consider marks of having survived damage to oneself, hence the same word for both) is femenazyelfana, which literally translates to healed-wound, which has etymology in the word femen — to heal rather than ormo.

It looks like the floodgates have opened because this one was 1042 words in the first draft (lol).

---

Steirdrar focused on only two things: the humid air going in and out of his lungs and the lukewarm mug in his hands.

That is, until that specific type of snickers started in the background. That was when he opened his eyes and turned his head enough to see the entrance. When he recognized the Eskel-Zai approaching his desk, he set his mug down and turned to face her, taking stock of the vertical scratches on her armor.

“Hey,” Beyari greeted when she reached his desk. “Am I interrupting?”

Steirdrar shook his head. “I’m on break.”

Beyari’s smile turned rueful. “Well, sorry to bring you more work during your break.” She set the box she was carrying on the desk. “I stole stuff from a former colleague of yours and the inventory people figured someone who’s properly familiar with IRS Enforcer equipment should check these and say if we can use them as more than just spare parts.”

Steirdrar raised an eyebrow at the contents of the box. “This almost looks like you emptied their entire utility belt.”

That observation turned Beyari’s expression smug. “I stole the entire belt, made it easy to carry all that stuff. The inventory people already took the weapons and anything else they knew we can use. The belt itself is in my workspace for now; I wanna see if I can make use of it.”

“With all the trackers neutralized?” Steirdrar asked just in case.

“Naturally.”

“Good.” Steirdrar took the tablet from the box. “Have these gone through Engineering yet?”

“No. I was just told to take these to you.”

Steirdrar set the tablet aside and looked through the items to find the rest of the electronics with wireless connection capabilities. “Then these need to go there first…” He looked up. “How soon does Logistics want these sorted out?”

“It’s low priority. Your actual work,” Beyari nodded at the blank screen, “comes first.”

“Right.” Technically, since Steirdrar was on break, he should not be working on this right now. “Well, everything else can wait, but these ones should have gone straight to Engineering so I’ll take them there right away.”

“No need. I’ve got business there so I might as well take them with me.” Beyari grabbed the electronics before Steirdrar had the chance to protest. “‘Sides, you are still on break.”

Steirdrar huffed out a little laugh. “Fair enough. Thank you.”

“No problem. See you after your shift?”

Steirdrar nodded. “See you then.”

Beyari nodded in acknowledgment and left.

Steirdrar failed to resist the temptation to properly check the equipment already anyway. It was nostalgic to handle them, what with them having been such an integral part of a majority of his life.

As much as he did not want to admit it, a part of him missed some of the fieldwork he used to do. Maybe it was just the fact that he was in his element there, doing what he had primarily been trained for. Now, he was mostly an Auditor, if he allowed himself to use IRS titles to word his current job, and an insufficient attempt at being a Codeweaver whenever he was consulted on the IR’s encryption algorithms.

…Maybe it was just the confidence that being properly equipped for his job had given him that he was missing now.

No matter. His break was about to be over. He would have to shelve that thought for now.

He set the box on the floor and got back to work.

~~~

Steirdrar noticed two things when he found Beyari waiting outside the office at the end of his shift: One: she was in a great mood. Two: she had polished her armorplates, accentuating the parts where the paint had been scraped off. The cobalt blue streaks actually looked good with the green paintjob.

Steirdrar gave the armor an obvious once-over and quirked an eyebrow in a silent question.

Beyari grinned. “Mafkani’ormzyelfenaa. Battle scars. I’ll repaint only once I have to.”

“I see.” Steirdrar started leading the way to the mess hall. “Do I have the clearance to know how you acquired these battle scars?”

“I fell inside my ship during exfiltration. The artificial gravity did the rest.”

“Daring.”

“Not as daring as running through a maze of forcefields while a creepy IRS Enforcer tries to shoot you with the experimental weapon you’re there to steal.”

Steirdrar looked at her in shock.

“Yeah, that happened.”

“Any idea who that Enforcer was?”

Beyari shrugged. “A Kolton with a Major’s insignia. Probably doesn’t narrow down much.”

“It doesn’t, no. Plenty high-ranking creepy Koltons in there.”

“Figures.”

“A success, though? At least you apparently came back in one piece.”

“A resounding one. Got the weapon and some extra stuff and didn’t get injuries. Actually got praise from General Stickuptheirarse for once.”

Only years of training let Steirdrar keep a straight face. “That’s great to hear.”

Beyari smirked, knowing full well how much restraint it took for him not to react to the moniker. “So, how’ve thing been here, aside from me adding to your already endless workload?”

“An addition I already worked through while I waited for an informant to respond,” Steirdrar noted. “I ended up getting dragged into one of those team firefight training sessions the other day. It could have gone better. Or worse.”

Beyari grimaced. “I can imagine. Some buckethead’s ego got the best of ’em?”

“More like suspicion of me,” Steirdrar sighed. “And it was three bucketheads.”

Beyari cringed.

“My squad leader and the instructor were good, though, so it wasn’t all bad. We just got our asses thoroughly kicked.”

“At least something good… Who was the instructor?”

“Zafate.” Steirdrar frowned when Beyari snorted.

“I know them.” Beyari chuckled. “Not their real name, by the way. They use that name only during training.”

“And that name means?”

“Featherbrain.”

“Oh… Now I get why a couple people looked at them weird.”

Beyari laughed. “The more you know, huh?”

“The more you know,” Steirdrar echoed, smiling easier than in a while.

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Me: I’ll just make up this one two-word idiom and its etymology (probably at most two additional words) for today’s story. It’ll be quick and easy
Also me: goes three levels deep into the etymology lineage and makes some other more or less relevant words, totaling in 12 new words added to the dictionary

Also, I am planning on writing that firefight training session, but it’s highly likely not going to fit into the flashfic form factor, so that’ll be exclusive to the next Full Collection(s).