Hands of the Sun

Hands of the Sun is the sol'Aeldvaren sign language, which has remained largely unchanged (albeit expanded) over the milennia. It is strongly related to Hands of the Moon, the lun'Aeldvaren sign language; they share many core signs, but vastly differ on the expressions, body language, and movements made while signing. As a result, people who sign with Hands of the Sun can roughly communicate with people using Hands of the Moon, but most of the social context and etiquette is lost in translation.
Like sol'Aeldvari themselves, Hands of the Sun is dynamic, enthusiastic, and loud. Expressions are critical in combination with most signs, and conversations are often full-body affairs with broad gestures. Unless someone is physically wounded or otherwise restricted, a flat demeanor or an impassive expression will quickly shut down most casual conversations, as the signer is interpreted as busy, uninterested, or too sarcastic to trust. (In contrast, Hands of the Moon use many more individual signs and much more subtle body language and facial inflection; being as dramatic as Sun signers are is taken as absolute rudeness or even aggression by a Moon signer.)

“If I sign ‘watch me’, it’s the sign for ‘watch’ moving from you to me.” Honn demonstrated, bringing her hands from a foot in front of her chest to nestle close to her solar plexus. “If I say I’m watching you, it’s the same sign, but…” She reversed the motion, lifting her hands up and away from herself.
“Oh. We have signs for ‘from’ and ‘to’ and similar words.”
“Eye above, what a waste of movement.” Honn rolled her eyes. “Okay, here’s the breakdown. You refer to another person higher in the air than you do yourself. In front of you, if it’s someone you’re speaking with. Off to either side if it’s a third party. Whatever word you’re signing should move between quadrants as appropriate. If I tell you to watch Bell…” She formed the word WATCH with one hand and flicked it from in front of her chest to the side. “Or Halariel.” She repeated the sign to the other side. “Third parties are usually a little lower than your conversational partner but still higher than your you-signs.”
Thalurias nodded slowly. “That makes sense. I admit, I had assumed such movements were to bridge the vocabulary gaps between our respective Hands.”
Kiandriel smiled to himself and interjected. “I think Hands of the Moon is more verbose on the mainland, as well. Sol’Aeldvari are more dynamic and direct in their communication. Lun’Aeldvari take more time and sign with more elegance.”
“I’ve seen Hands of the Moon while I was still a moon elf and it irritated me then, too,” Honn muttered. “It’s useless if you can’t communicate as quickly and effectively as one can speak. Might as well write it down, otherwise.”
Halariel cleared her throat gently. When Thalurias glanced to her, she gave him an encouraging smile. REMEMBER SIGN UP TO OTHER PEOPLE, she signed slowly. OTHER PEOPLE’S HEIGHTS DON’T MATTER. DON’T SIGN DOWN.
OKAY. Thalurias paused, lips pursing. SIGNING DOWN IS … RUDE?
“Yeah,” Honn answered. “Originally, the height of someone else’s quadrant compared to yours was a direct reflection of social status. Now, though, moon elf courtesy has infected sun elf attitudes on hierarchy, and we sign from a position of default humility.”
“By ‘now’, she means ‘in the past several millennia’,” Kiandriel clarified wryly. “Sol’Aeldvari did not survive in a cultural vacuum for long.”
THANK YOU-- Thalurias frowned and repeated himself, sweeping the sign up and outwards instead of keeping it level. THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING.
GOOD! Honn grinned. GOOD PRACTICE. “Most of us moon elves don’t do this, but technically, Hands of the Sun use the thumb to indicate oneself and the first two fingers to indicate anyone else. Combine for ‘we’ and ‘us’ signs. Down-to-up sweep for ‘everyone’.” She demonstrated as she spoke.
“Some signs can be done one-handed,” Kiandriel added, “but it’s considered discourteous to do so unless your other hand is unavailable.”
TRUE, Honn signed, one hand dropping lazily to her lap. I DO IT TO BOTHER HIM. She grinned as Kiandriel rolled his eyes.
“How do you do verb tenses?” Thalurias asked, gracefully ignoring the banter. “In Hands of the Moon, we use forward and backward motion, but that indicates pronouns in Hands of the Sun…”
Honn snorted. “We, uh, we adapted that one from the traditional Hands. Straight up for future tense, down and back for past.” She swept one hand from her solar plexus to the side, towards her hip.
“The original uses cardinal directions based on where the sun rises and sets,” Kiandriel explained wryly. “It was deemed… unnecessarily complex for our use as voy’Aeldvari.”
“I notice you use good body language when you sign,” Honn commented, leaning back and eyeing Thalurias speculatively. “But no facial expressions. Facial expressions are the equivalent of tone of voice. Not using any can come across as… well, sarcastic.”