There's a rather surprised woman - perhaps in her late twenties - standing a bit before her. She's in what probably used to be a forest, that has since burned down and is only now starting to grow back. The ground curves a bit oddly, and there's a deep gash through the hill a few hundred feet to her right. 

The strange woman has her hand on a sword. "Who are you?" she questions sharply. "How did you get here?"

She broadens and reinforces shields, in as much as she currently can. Does not take a fighting stance, but takes one that can easily be turned into one at need. Does the work for translation.

(Once she is returned, she may need to submit something complementary about Reynan mage imprisonment standards.)

"I apologize, might you repeat that? I was not able to understand you the first time."

"Who are you and how did you get here?"

She directs some awareness more particularly. Is the woman a mage (or, at any rate, a mage and not hiding it well enough for her to not detect)? What kind of magic properties does the sword have, if any?

The language she does not recognize.

"What form of identification are you looking for, exactly? And, I'm not entirely certain, at the moment - would you happen to be willing to tell me where 'here' might be? That might somewhat help me determine."

She isn't a mage - but she isn't not a mage, either. There's something especially odd about her life-force. The sword isn't quite magical, but - it's like it could be magical.

"Your name and clan is enough. This is what used to be the Land of Fire, near the capital of Kakyo."

Magical senses to the world are also reading - unusually.

She considers whether to answer according to her actual considerations. But if they had an existing undesirable policy for interdimentional appearances, the woman is likely to have reacted differently. And she is not particularly likely to be able to effectively pretend to be something else.

"At the moment, I suspect I've been transported between dimensions. Is the country Reyna familiar to you? 

I do not have a clan."

"Not in the slightest, though things have gotten - more international, of late. Have you heard of Kaguya?"

"I have not."

"Then you're definitely not from this dimension. She's - the reason I'm hesitant to try to just send you straight back, there's a large risk that if I did she'd notice and attack your dimension."

"Yes, that is definitely not familiar. And that sounds like an undesirable outcome. Can you generally send people between dimensions?

"...It's a slightly experimental ability, and more of an 'opening portals' thing, but Kaguya knows when and where I've done it, and she's faster than me."

"Ah, that was not a request - I'm sure my dimension will figure out how to follow me and do so, at some point, and I was not in the middle of anything particularly urgent. Only interest. Are you in contact with other dimensions?"

"No. Haven't had the time - it's just me on our side with the ability to move around, though I think the Uzumaki clan could figure something out if I died. I've been to other, empty dimensions, though, if that counts."

"It continues to be interesting. In the dimension I am from we do not generally have that as an available capacity."

"Wasn't available here until - very recently." She tilts her head as if listening to something, then nods. "C'mon, it's not entirely safe here, let's get moving. How fast can you go?"

This sounds like it would be a story, though not one to ask about at the moment.

She checks her current constraints. She can teleport within visual distance, with time spacing. Well, not particularly surprising.

"Shall I run?"

"Sure. I'll keep up."

"Would it be helpful to have more concealment?"

She can't do full invisibility but she can do some.

"Probably not so much if Zetsu, Kaguya's little spy, has already noticed us. How does your concealment work?"

"The form I was thinking of bends light-rays around the target. I can't currently do it in full but I can do considerably lowered visibility. If it would help at all I can also do that and then teleport us within my visual distance. I can consider others, if that method specifically is less useful in this case."

She considers this for a few moments. "Zetsu doesn't track by sight," she says after a bit, "Though that might help against other humans. How often and how quickly can you use your teleport?"

"Do you know what it is they track by?" Concealment wards are unlikely to work well at the moment, but the information is useful nonetheless. "I am somewhat restricted at the moment. In general the main limitation is distance - one can only go so far, and one cannot avoid that by sequencing multiple teleports rather than one. I am not certain what exactly the current time restrictions are."

"Sensing chakra, I think. Hm... I think just running there would be better for now, there's not really any good sight-lines."

"Chakra?"

She waits for an indication of which way to go.

She starts walking. "It's - life force. What you use for techniques... Might be different in your world, though."

She matches her. 

A different magic system might account for the odd earlier indications.

"Can everyone do it?"

"Theoretically? I mean, it's possible there's some disability that'd stop you, but most people can mold chakra. Though it might be hard to learn as an adult, we start out learning as kids."

"Are some more powerful or skilled than others?"

"Yeah. The Uzumaki are known for having a high capacity, and some people naturally have better control. There's also bloodline powers... Though a big factor in skill level is how much time you put into training."

"I see. Uzumaki, is that your family?"

"Nope. I'm from the Uchiha clan. ...I realized I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Uchiha Rian. And I still don't have something to call you."

"Is there a form by which it would be most polite to address you, or to refer to you?

I can be called Lee."

"Just Rian works. Nice to meet you, Lee."

"Likewise. Rian."

"What's your dimension like?"

"Mostly on one planet, that I am aware of. Perhaps there's others far away but we've not met them. Various countries. Magic system's different."

"Different how so?"

"Less evenly distributed. We also have life force but seems like it's different than yours. Most people can't really do magic. Some people are born mages, and they're the ones who can. Power level varies. Some people aren't mages but have specific powers. And you can do a few things with your life force but it's not a good idea and is generally fatal or at least very harmful."

"Most people don't - well, didn't - know how to use chakra, it was really limited to the clans. Nowadays... Most everyone we've gotten free can use chakra, or is learning now."

"Ah, I had understood clans to be your family structure; is that not accurate then?

In the dimension I am from a non-mage cannot do magic, it does not matter if they study it. It is like attempting to learn to fly with wings one does not have. One can learn the principles, but not put them into effect.

Free?"

"Most people aren't from a proper clan, no. I'm not actually sure what civilians do for family structure, the clans are the fighters and nobility. ...When Kaguya first emerged, she trapped nearly everyone in an illusion. She's able to feed off their chakra while they're under. We've been breaking a few people out as we can, but we don't have the resources to get everyone, so we've been prioritizing people who can help fight back."

"Ah.

I see.

How does one break someone out?"

"You cut them free from the God Tree she has them tied to, then you disrupt their chakra - that's the easy part, if you know how to use chakra at all - and then you run like mad because she notices when you do that."

"I see.

God Tree?"

"It's - hard to explain. Theoretically it's where chakra came from originally, but that doesn't sound - right. It's a massive tree, taller than a mountain, and its roots are spread over the world by now. Supposedly Kaguya got her powers in the first place by eating its fruit."

"Ah.

And I suppose that is not a reproducible process?"

"We have no idea. The tree doesn't currently have fruit."

She gestures her understanding of this as well.

Well. This is certainly an interesting world. 

Anything new in the surroundings thus far?

The forest recovers after a while, apparently out of the zone of destruction. They're coming up on a wide cliff that's barely visible through the trees. They have to navigate over a few rivers - Rian's able to simply walk across the water - and a some of them have downed trees or other aids to get across, but not all.

Once they're past the last river (which Rian identifies wistfully as the Naka - "My clan used to live along here, farther downstream,"), Rian says, "We're nearly there. The hide-out's in those cliffs."

"Condolences."

(At full power she could probably manage walking on water in such a manner, though it would not be particularly efficient. She certainly can't now. She makes use of aids where available; translocates where they are not. Her current - allowance - suffices, fortunately.)

"Home sweet home," she mutters when they reach the cliff's base, then - "I'm not actually sure how to get up this the regular way, but there's a small ledge halfway up, I can walk to it and you can - teleport or something?"

"You have very interesting powers.

I need some way to locate it."

"Thanks. I'll head up, and stop on the ledge, then you can follow after me."

And she blurs, moving faster than the unaided eye can see, running up the cliff and coming to a halt on a small ledge. She waves to Lee from her perch; there's enough room next to her for another person.

Very interesting powers.

She translocates.

Rian nods at her, then turns to the cliff-face - just as a section of rock shimmers and then moves inward, swinging up. There's a red-headed woman standing beyond. Rian smiles at her. 

"Mariko! I'd have thought you were too busy to play door guard."

"Not when I heard we have an interdimensional visitor, I'm not. Come on in, I don't sense Zetsu anywhere near." And she steps to the side and back.

Once they are finished with guard protocols and the like, she will need to enquire about their communication method.

And that positioning seems to be an indication that guard protocols take place after entry. Likely not desirable to keep the entrance open long. She steps in.

The guard - Mariko - looks evenly at Lee once the door closes. There's no one else visible in the entryway, though there's a closed door at the end of the hall.

"I'd like you to answer a few questions, if you don't mind. I will know if you're lying, or otherwise trying to deceive me. To the best of your knowledge, you appeared in front of Rian in an interdimensional travel accident? Before coming here, did you know of Kaguya or Zetsu? And do you have any ill intentions towards the inhabitants of this mountain?"

She looks evenly back. 

"No to the second.

To the best of my knowledge I appeared in front of Rian due to being transported between dimensions through no intent of my own.

No to the third."

(This is clearly not the time for inquiries and compare contrasts of truth magic approaches, though she is curious.)

"Before Rian, have you had contact with anyone from this dimension?"

"Not to my knowledge."

To Rian, "Telling the truth, far as I can sense. And her chakra's - off. Not quite like people from this world, which supports her story." To Lee - "Is there anything you need urgently?"

"Not that I'm aware of.

You're welcome to ask some control questions if you would like more certainty your method works correctly on me."

"Hm. Did you tell Rian to call you Lee? And lie on this one: what color is the sky?"

"I told Rian that I can be called Lee. The sky is green with purple spirals."

"Registering normally. Do you have any questions for us?"

"Yes, of course."

"Why don't we head somewhere more comfortable? I'll call someone else up to watch the door."

She will follow.

The 'somewhere more comfortable' is a room off the next hallway, with mats piled on the floor and a low table in the middle. Mariko splits off from them for a bit, presumably to talk to the next guard.

Rian sits at the table and turns to Lee. "Do you have any questions for us?" she asks.

They have not yet indicated they have particular expectations of formality. She also sits.

"Yes, of course."

Rian doesn't seem to notice any breach of formality. 

"What are they?"

"More thorough information about the current situation, preferably with permission to use a truth spell for confirmation. That which is relevant to myself personally - you've been very trusting and welcoming of an utter stranger and while I of course personally appreciate it I am curious about your approach and about what if anything you might desire me here for. Your powers system - it seems that you have both long-distance communication and truth detection of your own, and I'm curious how they operate. 

That seems to be the immediate level, for the present."

"Okay. Is the truth spell non-invasive? I have secrets I'd rather keep."

"It informs one whether what is being communicated is true according to the speaker's knowledge. It does not compel either truth or speech."

"Alright. You have my permission."

"Would you like to also see it? It won't convey as detailed readings as it will to me, but if it might be reassuring to an extend regardless."

"Sure. That'd certainly be interesting."

She casts a truth spell with an additional simple visual feedback. Explains it briefly - this color is truth, this color is a lie, this color is the collapsed category of everything else for which the more detailed readings will be nonvisual. 

Indicates readiness.

She listens in interest, then: "Alright. The current situation is... Complex. Some background: our society is split into nobles, samurai, shinobi, and civilians - mostly peasants. Samurai and shinobi are the ones with the 'powers,' though we have different approaches, and some civilian sages have powers, too. About ten years ago, someone started trapping all of the tailed beasts - a sort of incredibly powerful monster - and recruiting clanless shinobi. Two years ago, they succeeded in combining the tailed beasts into a powerful weapon. They targeted anyone who opposed them - which was approaching the entire world - and leveled several cities. After three days of fighting, the weapon transformed into the God Tree, and an illusion fell over the world, trapping most of those still living. Zetsu, who had been helping them fight the world, betrayed his allies, and tricked them into summoning Kaguya.

"My sister, brother, and I were among the very few not trapped by the illusion. My sister and I hid. My brother didn't, and died for his efforts. We started breaking people out of the illusion once Kaguya's attention turned elsewhere, and started an underground resistance. We eventually had a... philosophical disagreement, and split up. We've had very little luck fighting Kaguya - fighting her up-close is a crapshoot, and we don't have much good for ranged. Our main hope is to seal her, or hold out long enough - my nephew and one other boy are sort of destined to have a chance at beating her, but they're currently small children. And I'd rather not rely on them.

"Quite frankly, our default assumption is that everyone who isn't on Kaguya's side is our ally. Even my sister, despite disagreements. Immediately, I desire that you not die or be trapped, because no one deserves that. It'd be great if you and your strange magic could help us, but that's not required. 

"Our powers system works on manipulating chakra - mostly our own - to have effects on ourselves or the world. There's... An awful lot that's possible, but most people stop at enhancing themselves physically, manipulating the elements, and placing or breaking illusions. The Uzumaki clan have also been insisting we all learn more sealing - it's math-based, I'm not very good at it, but you can do everything from sealing things in a scroll to teleportation with it. The long-distance communication is an ability of the Yamanaka clan - they have mind-affecting techniques, that with the right tools and preparation can be generalized into telepathy. The truth-detection is mostly a Mariko thing, she can sense chakra fairly finely and tell from changes when someone's lying or telling the truth."

"If you want to learn how to use chakra, we're currently teaching the children, you could sit in on their classes."

"My condolences. And thank you.

Is the original set of enemies still around? Do you know what their original goal was?

What is 'sort of destined'?

Mind affecting techniques?" (She has mind wards up already, of course, but detail is often very helpful, in addition to interesting.)

"I see. I would certainly love to sit in and learn more, though I would wish to be careful about attempting."

"Thank you. And you're welcome."

"They're not still around, no. We're not sure what they were aiming for."

"The boys are - reincarnations of Kaguya's grandchildren. We think. Supposedly, they fought over their father's inheritance, kicking off a thousand-year-long series of wars, and are reincarnated into their own lines where each time they choose to either continue the war or end it."

"I don't know the details on the Yamanaka, mostly only how to fight them - their main offensive technique is possession, though they can also do mind-reading if they have someone captured."

"The techniques aren't dangerous to learn, as long as you don't overdo it, and 'how not to overdo it' is part of the lesson."

"I see.

Is reincarnation common, in this world? Is Kaguya also one?

Ah, are they your enemies? And I would be interested in details, if they are available. Do you have protection methods?

I image that information such as 'not dangerous' has generally been obtained from effects on people of this dimension."

"Reincarnation's fairly common, but it's usually harder to identify. Kaguya isn't one; she was sealed away last time, and has survived the intervening years. We're not sure if she would reincarnate, she's not native to this world."

"The Yamanaka were, along with just about everyone else. Only good thing Kaguya's done is given us all a reason to stop fighting... We don't have many protection methods beyond 'don't get caught,' though that doesn't mean they don't exist."

"Good point."

"I don't suppose there are any around to experiment with?

Ah, you have had interworld travelers before?"

She is interested in more information about reincarnation. 

(She'll ask questions about what's already been said, now and then, rephrases and angles and various other general truth spell practices. Assuming no one's trying to trick her it won't be more than confirmation.)

"The Yamanaka? I can introduce you to one, you'll have to ask them."

"Only Kaguya, that we know of for sure. Possibly some of her clan. She came here nearly a thousand years ago, if the records are accurate."

"I see."

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, but I'm a researcher, I will have questions for quite a long time. And I do not wish to keep you from work you must have. What is living here imagined to look like for me? Do you have questions for me? Is there reading material I can access that might let me receive information without needing to take quite so much of your time?"

"I actually have relatively little work, I mostly sit around on-call for emergencies. Though I've somehow ended up judging disputes, too..."

"I'd imagine that you'd spend most of your time in this complex, probably learning our language and techniques. There's plenty of chores to help with, too, if you want something to do. You might also want to talk to someone - like Mariko or Tetsuma, our teacher - to figure out if there's any way your world's magic and ours can interact interestingly. There's... Some reading material, not much. It's not like anyone's sat down to write a singular accurate history, most shinobi history's oral, and we didn't really go through the civilian areas for books and scrolls. Though I think Tetsuma's been writing some things down."

"Questions for you... What's your world like? Is it peaceful?"

"Ah, I see. In that case I will continue to enjoy talking to those who might have the time for it. 

Well, we don't have the problem you do. Last more-or-less world-spanning war was a few decades before I was born. There've been some smaller ones since, some in my lifetime. Most places are generally peaceful, in the not-war sense. Vary a bit in other senses."

"That sounds nice. Even before Kaguya, things were pretty bad here, children fighting and dying in wars, disease everywhere... Most people who weren't the nobility didn't live much past forty. Maybe your world can help set an example for ours when it's time to rebuild. What about the place you're from?"

"Condolences. 

Your magic does not sufficiently help against the diseases in question? Or is it an organizational problem?

I'm from a few places. Not very fond of the one I was born in. Reyna - that's where I was when I showed up here - 's a - good example, in my opinion. Schools, science, government." Generally nice prison accommodations. She does not share that part, obviously.

"Well, very few people know the magic, and of those even fewer are trained as medics in the first place, and it's very specialized towards healing acute injuries. Currently the total of our medical knowledge is me and Tetsuma, and neither of us is a specialist."

"We don't really have schools, either. There were bureaucratic academies for the elite, but that's about it."

"Ah.

I'm not fully specialized in it, but I have both skills and experience at healing, should this be needed.

How many people do you have?" 

"Can you teach others?"

"We have a few hundred by now, I think Emi has slightly lower numbers. Mostly people who weren't caught in the initial illusion and managed to hide. There's also scattered other groups, we think."

"I'm mostly versed in the magic sort, which I imagine they couldn't do, but I can see if there's something non-magical I might know that you do not. I have thorough biological and magio-biological knowledge, which might be helpful, but I do not know how similar in those respects you might be."

Is anyone currently in need?"

"I might want to sit down and talk biology with you at some point. But no one's currently in need. Thankfully we've avoided disease so far..."

"I would be very interested.

I can attempt some wards against disease, if that is a concern, though it would probably be more effective with more knowledge."

"I don't know how likely disease is to be a problem, but that'd be greatly appreciated."

"What might be an effective way for me to learn about your diseases, in that case?

In our world, diseases can divide into two types, very broadly - the merely biological tend to be fairly simple to handle magically, the magical or also magical ones can be less so, though we have recourse for most of the known ones at this point, and systems for working on improvements and being prepared for new one when they make themselves known."

"...I think all of our diseases are purely biological? Shinobi don't get sick as often so I haven't really had experience..."

"I don't know where good information is. Tetsuma might, or there might be literature in the city I can grab next time I'm out scouting."

"I will be glad to look at literature or speak to someone with knowledge.

If this seems an advantageous area to begin in quickly, I might do a few examinations of people, if there are any willing, for the basic biology. Then - do you have minor illnesses? Colds and the like? That someone perhaps might have and this would not be remarkable. And do you have illnesses people recover from? Especially if they then do not get them again. I'd want to examine those people, there's likely information to be gained from it."

"If you'd like. And - yes and yes. I can ask around. ...Thank you."

"You're quite welcome."

There's a lull, and then Mariko knocks on the door and enters. 

"Got the guard situation sorted out. Lee, are you staying with us?"

(She does not currently have the highest opinion of local leadership, but that is also not currently something to remark on.)

She looks at Mariko when she comes in, then at Rian in response to the question.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."

"Thank you. I appreciate your hospitality.

May I ask what your leadership structure is like? I have gotten the impression that you are in a position of authority -."

"It's no problem.

"It's - a bit ad hoc. We used to have the daimyo ruling the countries, and the clan heads ruling the shinobi clans. I'm considered the authority on fighting Kaguya, and I've ended up being the main organizer for everyday things just by virtue of being interested. The civilians usually come to me for arbitration, and as the most powerful person around the shinobi at least respect me enough that I can break up fights, but... Well. We haven't really had enough non-crisis time to sit down and work out a formal leadership system, and for now what's left of the clans probably wouldn't agree on one."

"Understood." She is quite competent at handling both frustrations and temptations, and does not expect them to produce problems, externally nor internally overmuch. 

She shrugs uncomfortable. "So... I'm guessing you might be hungry?"

She notices.

"My apologies, have I done something to distress you?

I would certainly appreciate guidance as to how obtaining meals is organized here, yes."

"Nothing really. I'm still not used to my position. Or to being the one hosting guests."

"C'mon, the kitchens are this way. We usually all eat in the cafeteria, but a lot of the shinobi have irregular hours, so there's always food to be found, even if it isn't always hot. You're also allowed to cook during non-main-meal times, long as you clean up after yourself."

"I see. My sympathy." 

She follows.

"You did not hold such a position before the war, then?"

"Nope. I was the daughter of the clan head - my mother - but I was the middle child. Growing up, the position was supposed to go to either my sister or my brother - my sister if my mother decided to go with the eldest, my brother if she decided to follow tradition and name a son as her heir. Ultimately my brother became clan head. I mostly spent my time on the battlefield."

She decides to let some response to the 'tradition' show in her body language.

"This was battles with other clans?"

Rian doesn't really show much of her own opinion of the tradition. 

"Yeah."

She gives conversational acknowledgement.

She observes the areas they're walking through.

It's pretty much yet more stone hallways, mostly lit by what looks like glowing calligraphy, forming the symbol for 'light', surrounded by untranslatable squiggles. There's signs, luckily, pointing the way to major points of interest: the dorms, the exits, the cafeteria, the school rooms. 

The cafeteria itself is the largest room yet, and looks like it probably echoes horribly when full. The kitchen's decently well designed, though the stocks lack variety - mostly meat and wild-growing plants that're easy to harvest quickly.

She concentrates to attempt to read the writing; succeeds.  Notes maps in her head.

Variety is not a concern, though she'll need to look into nutritional completeness. As well as whether this food is consumeable for her to begin with.

"I'd like to attempt a test if I'm to try to eat, being in a different world. If that is not a problem. The food will not be harmed by it."

"Go ahead."

Magical investigation of the present food.

She watches with interest.

(Lee might notice her eyes flashing red.)

The food is edible - lean venison, various fruits, a bit of rice left over, nuts, tubers, mushrooms.

She does notice. She shields her working as default standard; she can consider later if not to do that at some point.

"Food should be fine for me, thank you."

She's mostly looking to see the flow of energy, and if Lee's using anything like chakra to power it; she doesn't expect to get much of anything, though.

"Alright. Do you want to cook, or there should be room-temperature food available."

She cannot conceal that thoroughly at the moment, even if it wouldn't be rather pointless given that she already said she would be doing this.

(And if this is something Rian can sense somehow: she is a mage; she draws her power from inside herself and then directs it. She does not draw from her life-force, of course. This is not a shaped spell, just exploration with power.)

"I think I will eat what is available, for the moment."

"Alright. It's over this way."

She can't get quite that much detail, unfortunately for her curiosity. It's interesting that magic exists that doesn't use chakra, even external chakra, though.

It is very interesting that a different form of magic exists, yes.

She goes over.

The food selection's pretty much jerky and rice packed into balls, some of it with various fillings - pickled plum, kelp, fish prepared in various ways, and others, mostly salty or sour. Rian points out what's what, and grabs rice with pickled plum for herself. 

"There's a wider variety available during proper mealtimes," she says apologetically.

She considers nutritional analysis and makes selections.

"It's not a problem. And I would hardly expect it to be your priority in wartime."

"We'll be out of rice, too, soon enough. It's too resource-intensive to harvest right now, and we're running down our stocks."

She is not sure whether to offer condolences on this as well.

"Is it replaceable, or is this likely to be a shortage problem?"

"It'll be replaceable once we beat Kaguya, but for now - mostly a shortage problem. We still have over a year left of supplies, though, a few of the daimyo were pretty stringent about keeping enough rice in reserve in case of a famine. Some of the reserves got destroyed, but we were able to salvage others."

She had not gotten the impression that beating Kaguya was at this moment at the stage where this was safe to consider sufficient. She refrains from mentioning this, at this point.

"Does your magic help with crops?"

"Usually only indirectly. Like, it can help with watering and irrigation, or with plowing. There's one person who can directly make plants grow, but it tires them out."

"Ah, what does it do for those elements?"

"Mostly just directly moving the water or earth, through elemental manipulation."

"Ah, I see.

If you decide it might be a good use of my time, I can see if there is anything I might do? Plants are not my specialty but there might be elements I can reproduce at least in part. We don't generally have that kind of elemental manipulation, but we can sometimes make faster growing or stronger plants, larger or more fruit, more nutritional value, repelling pests and disease, some amount of growing plants under the ground..."

"Of those, growing plants underground would be the best help, since going above ground's dangerous. But I'd still like you to sit down with someone to figure out if there's something else you can do, especially given knowledge of our resources. I can explain the basics of our magic if you'd like - ?"

"If the correct conditions can be present, that one can be fairly simple. Otherwise could be complicated to impossible, depending. I am very able to take a look and determine.

Yes, of course." Well, it's something if they're going to get to it, she supposes.

I would be very interested."

"We'll do our best to make sure the circumstances line up."

"Hm, for a primer... Techniques require chakra, which flows within every living being - and arguably within the non-living, too. There are four main types of techniques - sealing, illusions, bodily techniques, and everything else. Sealing requires drawing or imagining seals - the shapes of which are determined mathematically, I'm not sure how - and powering those seals with chakra. Illusions are fairly broad, but usually require using your own chakra to interfere with someone else's. Bodily techniques generally deal with enhancing the body and fighting hand to hand or with weapons. 'Everything else' mostly includes things like the body flicker - what I used to move fast earlier - and walking up walls and across water, as well as elemental manipulation and medical techniques."

"Thank you, that is a very good beginning explanation." (This is fully sincere.) (She is interested in more, of course, but that should likely wait for more convenient time and place and perhaps someone with more knowledge of some elements, if available (she is quite interested in this 'determined mathematically').)

(And ah, illusions working in that way is likely relevant to the illusion trap mentioned earlier.)

"Would you like one in return or are we waiting for someone?"

"The people who'd be better than me at this are mostly busier, so a basic one for now would be good if you don't mind. I can also explain some of it more in depth if you'd like - ? I mostly specialize in weapons, illusions, medicine, and elemental manipulation - mostly fire and wind."

"I don't mind, though this type of explanation is very much not my specialty so it may not be as ideal as one might like.

And I am very interested in learning more.

The world I'm from has a few types of powers. I seem to be the only one here at least that we've met so far" (...she should look into that, and should have also thought of this earlier...) "so I'll keep to mine for the moment. I'm a mage. Power relevant to doing magic is inside me and I work by calling it up to use. Power can be - shaped to have certain effects on the world, and this can be deployed in an immediate way for an immediate effect or - set in place - for a more long-term effect.

In a somewhat more freeform sense it can also be used to - interface with the world, the way that you might investigate something with your hand and then manipulate it. The very latter is what I did when testing the food - I sent my power into it to find information. The very former is how one teleports. The second is what I might attempt to do with the plants. Somewhat in between the first and second is how I do translation.

Magical power and its use are part of the world for these purposes - I could set a spell over a certain area to prevent someone from translocating, say, or if I was in my world someone might notice what I'd done with some plants and attempt to interfere with it."

"That's really interesting. Are there limits to what you can do? Are there things some mages can do that others can't?"

"Yes, on both counts. The elements relevant to both are power and - ability, one might say, as well as strength and endurance. Ability works as it does with most things - some people can do more math than others, learn more math than others, learn math more easily than other, but most people can improve to some extent by learning and work. One can also be more talented or more trained in one area than another. Working with magic is the same.

Power is a matter of magnitude. One can only call up as much power at a time as one has. There is a person in history who was said to be able to translocate to the moon, if she wanted. I cannot do that, because that would require more power than I have available. However, both she and I could translocate across your river. 

Ah - a common misconception I remember can arise - power is not used up when one uses it, it is a tool not a consumable resource. Though it can be in use in a given moment, or 'exhausted'. Again, could be somewhat compared to your hand. 

Strength and endurance can also be compared to the physical ones. Various parts of using magic are strenuous to some extent - calling up high magnitudes of power and using it is more strenuous, some more difficult tasks are more strenuous, opposing other active power is more strenuous, and so on. Some people can apply more to this than others.

Other limits - freeform working is well, freeform, but generally limited in what one can effectively do with it, and comparatively expensive and inefficient - if I called up enough power I could also walk on water for some amount of time, but it would be like, hm, constantly operating a complex array of levers to lift a heavy item all of whose weight you would have to bear the entire time. And it takes comparatively less in a task for the - lever system - to become simply too complex to operate, or for the weight to become to heavy. 

Shaped workings, in contrast, have to be invented. Compare, say, finding a method to tie said levers together such that one can pull one string and everything moves as one wishes. Allows more capabilities, but if I don't know how to do it it needs to be invented or I can't. There's all sorts of areas where the situation is a question of 'potentially we cannot do this, but potentially we have not invented the way to do it yet'. There's researchers who work in this, the same as there are researchers who work in non-magical technology.

Constraints we work with include complexity, magnitude of power needed, attributes of the world - 'natural laws' and such -, this requiring of invention and general things about invention such as cost-benefit.

I might be forgetting some limits that are background of the world enough to me that I did not think to mention, please let me know if you have specific ones I might answer about.

And for yours?"

"It's a lot like a stance for a particular fighting style, in that you can build up muscle memory for complex tasks - walking on water's decently hard, you have to match your chakra flow to the movement of the water, but once you get used to it it's like balancing on a tree branch. Instinctual. And that goes for everything - we usually use hand-signs to mold chakra a specific way, memorize that, then just memorize the hand-signs for a technique as a shortcut to memorizing the whole thing, though again if you practice your body keeps track of it for you. Chakra can run out - I think it's more like the energy you use for muscles than the muscles themselves - and when it does, people usually experience shutdown of internal organs. You can use chakra to manipulate yourself, the world around you, or other people, by moving it in specific patterns. Chakra flows internally within coils, that mostly follow major blood vessels but not always, and exits the body at pressure points. There's three hundred and sixty one total, though most people can only use the handful in their hands and feet."

"And it is making use of it that uses it up? Can one tell how much one has left? I presume it regenerates in some way?

Does one always cause it to exit in order to use it, or can it be used internally as well? Does it get used up in both ways, if so?

Can one assist someone who has critically used theirs up, perhaps by loaning some?" (She is rather curious to see what that state looks like, though she will keep that to herself, currently.)

"Using chakra to do techniques uses it up, yeah. There's sort of - a feeling. Initially you just start feeling tired, like you were working out a lot, but as you practice you can get a better gauge for how much you have left exactly. It does regenerate, usually through eating and sleeping.

"It can be used internally, typically to enhance speed and muscle strength - that uses it up, too, unfortunately. 

"Medics can alleviate the symptoms of chakra exhaustion, but can't usually loan someone chakra. It's theoretically possible, just requires a lot of control, or a very unoffensive chakra type - chakra transfusions are finicky, and people's coils usually try to reject foreign chakra."

"Ah, are there different types?"

"There aren't really distinct categories as far as we know, unless you count affinity, but people's chakra has different qualities - mostly thanks to its balance of yin and yang chakra. Yin relates to spiritual energy, yang to physical energy."

"Affinity?

Do the qualities affect what they might be better at doing?"

"Elemental affinity," she clarifies, "Most people have an easier time learning techniques from one of the elemental types - there're five: fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water. I have a fire affinity, so fire techniques are easy for me."

"Somewhat? It's more - if you exercise your mind a lot, you develop larger yin reserves, and yin chakra is used in illusions, which are entirely mental techniques. If you exercise your body a lot, you develop larger yang reserves, and yang chakra is used in physical techniques. Most other techniques use a mixture of both types."

"Typically, people who lean yang have more chakra and poorer control, while people who lean yin have less chakra and better control, but that doesn't always bear out. Philosophies differ on whether it's better to maintain a balance of yin and yang chakra or to specialize in one."

"Ah, I see.

How do the elemental types sort?

And one's reserves can be increased, then? How quickly? Is there an upper limit? Do people tend to start with varying amounts?"

"Fire beats wind usually - wind makes it stronger, they synergize nicely - and wind beats lightning. Lightning beats earth, which beats water, which in turn beats fire. Assuming equally strong techniques, of course, you can always overpower something."

"Reserves can be increased! If there's an actual upper limit, we haven't noticed it, but there's often a practical upper limit in how much you can train. People do start with varying amounts. How quickly you can increase it depends on how much time you spend training, your age, how effectively you train, and some personal factors, but, hm... I was able to double my capacity over the course of a year, doing nothing but training, and I was born with a fairly high capacity."

"Ah, I intended to ask what determines what element a technique belongs to. Though that is also interesting." She wonders if they have a more education version of the children's game based on a similar conceit.

My compliments, that is impressive.

Age?" 

"What they use? Most techniques aren't elemental. If they use water, they're water techniques. Though it's incredibly difficult to use two or more elements in the same technique if you don't have a bloodline for it, and bloodlines do allow new elements from combining two or three others. Like, wood manipulation is water and earth."

"Ah, thanks..." she says, feeling awkward over the compliment. "Anyways, the older you are, the easier it is to increase your capacity. There's a fairly dramatic improvement from childhood to puberty, then things improve more slowly after that."

She nods. "What are the other element combinations?

You mentioned the non-nobility earlier; how long does your nobility tend to live?"

"Hm... Off the top of my head: ice, explosion, steam, lava, and magnet. There's also dust - which uses three different elements - and a bunch of others I'm forgetting."

"Around sixty, seventy years? Assuming no one assassinates them, or they don't fall in battle. Which is usually what happens."

She shrugs. "Anyways, do you want to go find somewhere to stay while you're here?"

"Steam is - fire and air? What are the others?

What causes such a large difference, do you know?

Yes, thank you."

"Ice - water and wind, explosion - earth and lightning, lava - fire and earth, magnet - I'm not sure."

"Nobles tend to have physicians and eat better, is I think a lot of it."

"C'mon, this way."

She leads Lee down another set of hallways, to one long and branched hallway with rough-hewn doors leading off of it. She walks to the end of the hallway, where there's a blank space, says, "Looks like there's no rooms readily available," and then forms a few quick handsigns and slams her palms against the rock. A room opens up, then slowly forms rough recesses - probably shelves and in-wall seating.

"You'll have to ask the store rooms for a door, bedding, table, and floor mats," she says apologetically. "We really should have more rooms prepared, I'll have to talk to the hall coordinator about that. I'll also get one of the sealing apprentices down here to add some lighting and heat, plus mark your room."

Yes that would rather do it. 

"Your power is very impressive." It is. She sees no reason to conceal this from the rest of her body language either. "And you are a very kind host."

Mark? And, how would I navigate stores?"

"Um, thanks."

"The mark will say that your room's occupied, and give it a unique number so you can find it again. Optionally you can have it say your name, too, but a lot of people want to keep where they sleep not common knowledge, so that's not required."

"I can show you the way to the store room? There's also signs from here, too. It's fairly close to the dorms."

"Ah, useful. Yes, I think avoiding my name would be best. And that is a form of sealing, then?

How does one obtain things from stores? I don't have currency, if your world uses it. Or is it by permission from you?"

"The labeling's usually done so the letters glow, to make them easier to read when it's dim. Also can optionally alert you if someone not keyed in crosses the threshold."

"We sort of have currency - as in, people still use it among themselves when trading - but the store-rooms distribute common, basic goods based on need. If you need more of something than's allotted you'll have to convince the store master."

"Also useful. Could you clarify the connection to sealing? I feel I may have missed it."

What kind of goods are considered basic?"

"Sealing's what makes the glowing letters, and you use it for barriers - an alert's pretty basic, but we don't have enough masters to do a proper barrier on every room."

"Hm... Food staples - though those you get from the cafeteria - plain furniture, simple clothing, basic weapons. There's a separate store room for each. There's also water spigots in a few places. The water's unrestricted, we're above a pretty large aquifer."

She acknowledges.

Weapons. Well.

"It would be useful for me to have some tools for working, would that be something that's possible?"

"Depends on the tools, probably. What do you need?"

She lists some various carving tools and the like. "It doesn't have to be exactly that, if yours are different. If there's somewhere I could look at what you have, I could likely find what I could use."

"Hm... You'd probably want to talk to Tetsuma or someone else who works with wood, I'm sure someone has carving tools, but I don't think there's any in the store rooms."

"Would that be the best way to get a look at other tools as well? Stone, metal, and the like?"

"Finding someone? Probably. If no one has a certain tool, or if they're not willing to share, let me know, and I'll see what can be done. I should be able to make most tools with earth techniques, at least crudely..."

"Thank you. Am I to be formally introduced to people?"

"I'll introduce you to Tetsuma, if you want, but I don't see the reason for a wider announcement."

She acknowledges.

She will see if Rian will give some indication of planning to accompany her to stores vs planning to go elsewhere and leave her to her own devices vs planning to do something else with respect to her.

"I can point the way to the storerooms, or accompany you, if you want."

"Whatever you prefer. I should not want keep you if you have other work."

"I'll go with you to let the manager know who you are, how about? Then after that I do have work to do."

"Of course."

She points out the way to the store rooms, and then heads there. The rooms are all clustered together around one central room. Rian introduces Lee to the manager there, and asks him to help her get the things she needs, then turns to Lee. "Is there anything else you'd like assistance with?" she asks.

"Not that has not already been mentioned, that I am currently aware of."

"Alright. I'm usually in the arbitration office - it's marked - or out on patrol. Tetsuma or Mariko can also help you - Tetsuma's usually somewhere around the school rooms, Mariko's either guarding or in the library."

"Thank you."

"No problem. I hope you settle in well." And she departs.

Well. What do these storerooms have.

Pretty much what Rian described. Low tables, cushions for sitting on, mats, futon mattresses, bedding and blankets, lamps, candles, a few braziers with seals for heat, two plain folding screens, a few plain chests, that sort of thing. There's also weapons - mostly various knives and throwing stars, a small collection of arrows - and clothing, which is a combination of 'plain and rough' and 'probably scavenged,' but all very practical.

Will anyone stop her if she takes some knives and such? (Is there anything like batons?)

No one will stop her, no.

There's something similar, though in small quantities than the knives.

She does not need especially many.

The store room manager keeps half an eye on her, but doesn't seem to be particularly concerned.

"Need any help getting things back to your room?" he asks when she seems to have finished picking things out.

Then she will obtain weaponry in addition to selecting room accessories. (What is the clothing like?)

She had been wondering how one was expected to transport furniture.

"Yes, thank you."

The clothing is mostly in browns and whites, unembroidered, primarily long tops designed to wrap around the body and loose pants that cinch closed with a drawstring. 

The manager forms a few handsigns, then rough copies of him rise from the ground. They barely have faces, and they're all over the color of the dirt. The manager frowns at them, then shrugs, and directs them to start helping move things. (Everything except the table's pretty easy, though).

"Don't have a single knack for sealing, unfortunately, and this isn't something to be wasting paper on, otherwise it'd be easier," he says.

If the tops also have long sleeves she will obtain some clothing.

"Oh?

I am not very familiar with your magic," she adds.

Most have long sleeves, yes.

"Well," he says, scratching his head, "I don't know much about it. Just weapon techniques, and a few earth techniques. What'd'ya wanna know?"

"How would sealing be easier? And I assume the paper limit is because one would have to draw symbols on it?"

"If you put things into a seal, all you gotta carry's the paper it's on. It's much lighter, doesn't require multiple hands. Uses less chakra than clones, too. And, yeah, the paper's used up, unless you're really good."

"Ah. So one could seal the furniture into the paper, and then unseal it at one's destination?"

(She is very curious if there is some way by which she would be able to use this dimension's magic.)

"Yeah. That."

Does she need to lead the clones to her room? Does the store manager come along?

They do need to be led. 

The manager stays behind, resuming his place at his seat.

The clones... Aren't very intelligent. They can sort of follow simple commands, and that's about it.

That is even more impressive than she had thought (with no other knowledge she would have assumed they were puppets controlled by the manager).

She will have them arrange the furniture and such. Will they go back and/or dissipate on their own after that? (While they are at the traveling and arranging, she will reach out with magic senses. What are they like.)

They sink into the floor when dismissed, chakra dissipating.

They're constructs of earth, with their creator's chakra signature applied like a mismatched stamp over the earth's essence. They have barely any chakra, just enough to keep them animated. The chakra is entirely self-contained; they're not connected at all to the manager.

Is that ground chakra or the creator's chakra in them? Can she tell?

Interesting. 

The creator's chakra, mostly.

Yes she can, then. That is very useful.

She notes the feeling of all of it. She examines the room for any more chakra work.

The seals, definitely. Nothing else active.

She will examine the seals.

There's chakra contained in varying patterns, all from one person. There's a feeling of - not quite potential. Something like tightly coiled energy, almost like a boulder poised at the top of a cliff, or a gear about to move. The chakra moves within the ink, confined by something within it.

It's fascinating.

Rian had mentioned sealing being math-based. She checks if she can detect anything she will notice as mathematical.

It's highly geometrical - the angles are precise, though that's harder to tease out since they vary between seals. All of them have some sort of symmetry, usually radial. Several of them form fractals. And - the chakra's not moving flatly, there's hints of more in its flow, as it shifts between dimensions not entirely comprehensible to a human brain.

She notes the shapes. (She'll wait on extensive analysis until she has more data, and also until she's seen if she can just get the information from someone who already has it.)

She has plenty of experience with things in the general category of 'not entirely comprehensible to a human brain'. She notes those parts too.

Is anything currently urgently demanding her attention?

Not really. She might be getting hungry soon, but it's still a bit until the next meal time.

She will be perfectly fine on having eaten in the kitchen.

She considers ordering of plans. Looking for a tool combines with seeing more of the hideout and meeting more people. If she does not find what she needs soon enough she will attempt to use one of the throwing stars.

Talking to people is likely currently the best first prioritized path towards exploring the magic system (though she will continue looking, as well). If someone wants her for something she will wait for them to seek her out, for now. 

She considers if to change clothing. Being more clearly from elsewhere is likely preferable at the moment, but may still not be worth the tradeoff of the spells on her current clothing, even not particularly active as they are. She considers for a moment, then redresses, folding her old clothing away.

Weapons, next. She should likely have asked about etiquette. Were the people's she's already seen being here armed?

Most of them are, yes, with a variety of weapons.

She will carry hers visibly, then.

She heads out. Did the clones install a door? Does she need to do something to it upon leaving?

There's a door! A bit of experimentation will reveal that it seals automatically, and unseals when she goes to open it.

Convenient.

Does it give some interface-like indication of being sealed or it it just detectable magically?

If this seal was not one she would have seen from inside she will examine it too.

When it's shut, the seal forms along the seam and glows briefly. That it remains sealed is mostly detectable magically, though it's possible someone with more familiarity with seals would be able to tease out more. 

It definitely exists in multiple dimensions, though it's only 'on' when the door is shut and the two halves are touching. Some poking will reveal that an arc of chakra extends between the halves even when disconnected, hard to see because it's not within standard three dimensional space. This seal feels less complete than the others, like it has room to expand or be changed - in comparison, the others were very self-contained and purposeful.

She is certainly poking.

She notes the difference as another element to pay attention to.

Can she tell anything more specific than 'not within standard three dimensional space'?

It's hard, but - there's a total of six dimensions, one seeming to mirror each of the standard three.

Is this the 'folded up/folded on themselves and into things or such so that one doesn't generally run into them' type of extra dimensions, or the 'going somewhere else, like to another universe' type, or something else?

'Going somewhere else', but still within this universe - it's more that they're additional ways of moving, analogous to 'up/down' if she was working only with 'left/right' and 'forward/back'. 

She sees. (She notes this as something to ask about.)

She looks at the hallway for directions to other locations and/or for more magic.

There's similar seals on most of the doors, and a few seem more complete. 

The signs here point to the store rooms, the cafeteria, the school rooms, the work rooms, and the exit.

She will examine the seals for other variations or consistencies, and attempt to notice the difference with the more complete ones.

There's minor variations, but it's difficult to spot a pattern.

The more complete seals are definitely doing more - a common pattern sends a loop of chakra around the door frame, and a thin shield over where the door rests. Some have - not quite tendrils, but paths like an empty riverbed extending outwards, occasionally moving.

Ah. So the less-completeness likely means it can be added to.

She notes the new forms.

And she will go see what 'work rooms' entail. 

There's a small variety, and the corridors around them are much more crowded. Most of them seem to be rooms where people are writing, or reading through thick tomes. There's a few people working on other things - mostly various textile crafts - while chatting with their neighbors. A few people are complaining about having only scavenged or ramshackle tools.

And - there's someone carving fine details into a wooden block, a man about Rian's age but with bright silver hair. He's sitting off on his own, only occasionally talking to the people around him. 

She considers. Is there anyone working in metal, or evidence that anyone does?

(Do the tomes have titles?)

None here, at least. There's some evidence that someone in the past has worked with metal in some capacity - there's certainly metal fixtures, and some people are working with metal tools, not to mention all the weapons - but from here it's unclear where.

And not that she can see - many of them are open, or only the unlabeled spine is visible. 

Well, larger metalworking likely requires... a forge, if she has the technology level right. Though perhaps their magic means they do something different. 

If she walks up to the woodcarver, will he react to her?

He looks up at her when she gets close, though he continues carving. Occasionally he'll brush his fingers over a spot and it'll smooth out. It's difficult to tell from an angle, but it seems to be an illustration of a scene.

"Can I help you?" he asks.

If she reaches out, will she find that to be chakra work?

She is not familiar with local greeting etiquette, and substitutes the Reynan one, slightly more than ducking one's head, less then a bow. 

"Hello. I'm newly arrived, in a manner of speaking. I am looking for some tools; I was told interpersonal acquaintance was the likely way to do so."

Yup, it's chakra work. 

"You're a woodworker?"

And what does this one look like?

Rian did not seem to have in mind her being a secret, and she is likely to learn more through at least limited openness.

"No, I'm a mage. I sometimes work with physical anchors."

It's fleeting, and - more like he's simply reaching into the wood and running over it, the little swirls and eddies of chakra coaxing the wood into shape. There's nothing left behind in the wood itself when he withdraws his fingers.

"A mage?"

This system is certainly relevant to the field of magic theory. Among other things.

She tries to consider for something in the intersection of things that had not been mentioned as basic parts of their magic system and things she can do (and immediately so). Doesn't think she has enough information. 

She briefly turns partially invisible, then turns back (they can likely do that with illusions, but.)

"Yes."

He startles! Then looks fairly intently at her. "Huh. You didn't go anywhere, so invisibility, and not an illusion. Is that all mages can do, or just an example? Can you teach people?"

Well, from that response she predicts she may be pleased to have met him.

"Ah, does an illusion cause one to go somewhere? 

Yes, that was invisibility. And an example. It is much more likely that I can't teach anyone here than that I can, but I could prospectively make items others could use.

By all current indicators I was transported here from a different dimension. Rian saw me arrive and invited me here." 

"She's helpful like that. Kinda surprising, from an Uchiha, they're usually more - focused only on their individual loved ones," he says. "Illusions just twist the minds of the people who're experiencing them. I more meant you didn't teleport halfway somewhere else, I would've sensed that. What sorts of items? Chakra techniques only really make seals and chakra conducting or reactive items, and you have to be trained to use those."

"Usually?

Ah, interesting. That is not how our illusions work." She can't do convincing illusions right now, but she can do an obvious one, projects an image of a rice ball from the kitchen over her hand before dismissing it. 

"Nor can we teleport halfway; is that also something your magic allows, then?"

Well, that's useful information, though requiring of more details.

"Quite a variety. Warding jewelry, clothes spelled for warmth, greater strength into physical items. Translocation relays, repellants for various pests, food preservation. And so on."

"Well, now that there's just two of them, Rian's probably about as usual as any, but most Uchiha I've met wouldn't go out of their way to help a stranger. Though we were enemies, that could've colored things."

He looks with interest at the illusion. "So it's just twisting the light directly? Or is it doing something else?"

"And I haven't really seen halfway teleportation, but it wouldn't surprise me."

"Interesting. I think you could do some of that with seals, but not all of it efficiently. What does the warding do?"

"Two of them?

Yes, this version works on light. 

Oh?

Wards are for protection. Magical, physical, mental..."

"Rian and her sister, Emi. Emi isn't... Fully on our side anymore. I'm not entirely sure what happened there, but some of our people split off to join her.

"It's a good rule of thumb to not rule out what chakra can do. Someone somewhere always has a surprising bloodline.

"Yeah, that's probably better than the seals we have now."

This system really presents as needing some research attention.

"Rian mentioned bloodlines briefly.

What kind of protection do seals do?"

"Protection seals mostly come in the form of barrier seals. You can do things like make cloth stronger, I think, with embroidered seals - I've seen a few of those - but something that physically wards you from danger when it's just worn doesn't really exist yet. Though I don't know that much about seals, they aren't my specialty."

"And barrier seals could not be put on something worn?"

He shakes his head. "They're not mobile, at least not the designs I've seen."

She acknowledges.

"What is your specialty then, if I might ask? Also, I don't believe you've mentioned what I might call you?"

"Oh - yeah, sorry. I'm Senju Tetsuma, though I'm fine with just Tetsuma. Shinobi aren't that formal... I forgot to ask your name, too.

"My specialty's mostly elemental manipulation, some physical techniques. I've been trying to put together a proper teaching program for the children."

"I told Rian I could be called Lee, for the moment. And ah, she mentioned you several times. Said she could introduce us, though it seems I've preempted that.

That would be what you were doing with the wood?

And, Rian in fact mentioned you might be the one to ask about tools?"

"Well, this is a lucky meeting, then, Lee. Elemental manipulation is what I'm doing with the wood, although that particular element's a bloodline. And, yeah, though I guess that depends on which tools you're looking for. I'm the main one doing any sort of woodworking."

"Is there someone who does small metalwork?" 

"Hm, depends on what sort you're looking at? I know we have people working on weapons and tools, I'm not sure we'd have the tools for, like, goldsmithing."

"Most specifically a small saw and engraving tools."

"Like a hacksaw? Someone should have something like that. I'm not sure about the engraving tools, though, but again I suspect they could be made if you found something to trade. You'll have to ask around the smithy and metal work shops - they're further up, to make ventilation easier."

"Yes, something like that should be fine. 

Thank you." She does another Reynan acknowledgement.

She goes to find the metalwork shops.

They're exactly where Tetsuma said they'd be.

There's fewer people here - mostly a smith and a few apprentices - but there are a few people working on other projects in side rooms.

She is not looking for smithing. Fine metalwork? Tools?

Somebody is carefully engraving the circular guard of a sword, and there's a rack of tools, including a metal saw.

If they're the only person here, she'll look around and such until they 'have a moment'.

Only one here at the moment.

After a bit they do look up. "Need something?" they ask.

She does a Reynan acknowledgement again.

"Hello. I've recently arrived here and am looking for some tools?"

"Which ones?"

Metal saw, cutters, various engraving tools...

They have the saw and the cutters, some engraving tools - slightly different ones than what she's used to, but clearly meant for the same basic task.

Well, she's seen a variety herself (and she's not surprised they don't have any electric ones.) That will be fine. Do they only have one of each or are there duplicates?

Duplicates of the saw and cutters, and two of a few of the more commonly used engraving tools, but some of the ones for fine detail or more specialized tasks are their only tool.

Understood. Could she take the ones with duplicates back to her rooms for a while?

Sure. Long as she brings it back. What's her name?

She will. She can be called Lee. 

Okay then. How long does she want it for?

She's not sure. At least a few weeks, probably longer. But she can arrange things in such a way that others can also use them, or can bring them back regularly, if that is preferred?

Yeah, not monopolizing them's preferred. If she needs them long term for large stretches like that, she might want to look into commissioning her own set from the smith.

How might she do that?

She can approach one of the smiths and ask - probably one of the apprentices, the tools aren't exactly hard to make he doesn't think. She'll need something to trade for the time and materials.

This is going to delay her but likely worth it to have the tools be accepted as hers and more convenient and dependable accordingly. (That part she's thinking, not saying). 

Could they recommend/direct her to some suitable smiths and/or apprentices? What kinds of things tend to be traded here?

Sure. One of the apprentices, Sayuri, made their tools. For Sayuri's work, they just promised her an engraving; suitable enough, since they were commissioning engraving tools.

She thanks them. Where might she find Sayuri?

This time of day, probably working, in one of the side rooms. He gives her the number of the one Sayuri's usually in.

What would be other places to try? How could she recognize Sayuri?

And then she will go see if Sayuri can in fact be found there. 

Hm. The main smithing room, or the cafeteria, or her rooms, probably. She's got short blue-green hair, not too many people with odd hair colors like that around. Usually wears something grey and brown. 

Sayuri can be found there. She isn't the only one in the room, but she does match the engraver's description of her.

Reynan acknowledgement. Explanation of being referred to her. 

"I have time, sure. What're you offering in return?"

What kinds of things might she like?

"Well, I make something for you, you make something for me, is pretty standard."

Yes, thank you, very informative. (That is not said).

"Of course. The one who referred me to you mentioned that they had done engravings. That is not my skillset. I've not met you before and do not know what other things you might desire out of a trade. If you suggest some, I can see if any are in my skillsets. Alternatively I could make some offers first."

"I don't know your skillset at all," she points out. "I'm interested in most art, especially geometric things, and in anything utilitarian."

One might think someone using a barter system would be less incompetent at specifics. She doesn't display this assessment.

"I could make an article of your clothing resist fire?"

"Oh, that'd be very useful. I'd definitely trade a set of tools for fire-resistant work clothes."

Good. Deal. Shall they agree on timing and the like? And she will need said clothing, to work on.

"It might be as much as a week, for me, since I have other work. I can definitely provide you with the clothes."

That is reasonable. She can complete her side in a week as well.

"Sounds good, then. I need to go back to work, but I can get the clothes to you this evening? And then we can sit down and discuss exactly what you want."

When would 'this evening' be? Should they meet in a specific place?

Dinner, or just after, which is in a few hours. She doesn't mind meeting in the cafeteria.

She can be there. She thanks her.

"Welcome. Good talking to you."

She considers next procedures. Becoming familiar with the base seems advantageous. She will attempt to go walk through it, personally see what is there. Keep her senses out for information she might gain that way. Note places of interest (more magic), but not stop to investigate in detail for the moment.

There's a lot that doesn't seem to be in active use, or that's been taken over for storage. There's plenty of rooms for sparring in, the school rooms, what's probably offices, a few rooms full of scrolls and people working on writing that practically radiate magic, and a couple of other sets of barracks. 

There aren't many people here at all, and it's entirely possible to go a while without running into anyone. The people don't seem to be from any one ethnic group, too - there's a tremendous variety in skin, eye, and hair colors, including one very tall person with outright blue skin and a grin that reveals sharp teeth.

Well. How does this person read to her? (Local human with unusual magic? Different in the way species differ?)

She notes down everyone's basic sense of presence. Is there systematic variation in other things? Rian has mentioned nobles, samurai, shinobi, civilians, daimyo as some categories of people. Anything that looks like it would map? Who if anyone has jewelry, or embroidery on clothes, or finer clothes in general? Who does and doesn't have weapons, and do they vary? Do they move aside as she walks through, do they expect she will do so? Do they look at her or ignore her? How do they carry themselves? She's seen Rian and Tetsuma, both apparently established chakra users. Can she read anything that might map to that?

How many people does she see? Rian had mentioned having a few hundred. What fraction does she run into? Is there any indication of locations the rest might be? (Closed doors and the like).

How many offices are there? How are they identified as offices? Do they give any indication of who works there? What rooms are and aren't locked like the barracks?

Mostly local human with unusual magic. Just, very unusual. 

Pretty much everyone seems to be the same type of magic user as Rian and Tetsuma, although most of them have less of a - presence - that probably corresponds to capacity or something. There's a few people who have barely any presence, who seem to be mostly specialists. Almost no one has any sort of decoration on them; wealth seems to be expressed in durability of clothes and quality of armor pieces. A few women have brooches or hair pieces, or are wearing nicer clothes, but they still have that same sense of presence. Some people have a symbol somewhere on their clothes, including a cluster of blonds who all look an awful lot alike and have the same symbol. Most people have weapons somewhere on their body - a few are wearing swords or other large weapons openly, though most only have knives. 

Most people seem to expect that both people approaching each other will subtly veer to put distance between them, and just about everyone either carries themselves confidently or like they're trying to escape notice. They tend to look at her, occasionally seeming to be sizing her up; there's one boy with hair as red as Mariko's who stares at her a bit longer. 

She'll see perhaps less than a hundred people, even if she swings by the cafeteria. There's plenty of closed doors. 

The handful of offices are usually labeled with what's probably a person's name. A few office doors are open, showing someone at a desk that looks to have been hewn directly from the stone by the same process Rian made her room. Most rooms aren't locked, though some of the rooms on the office stretch are.

Interesting. She makes special note of their sense of presence and magical impression and such.

She notes all of this, including the symbols.

(She does not perceive the brooches-and-so-on-and-also-magic-presence to be something in any way odd or notable, though she notes the skewed distribution of jewelry and, added to Rian's earlier mention of 'tradition', has somewhat of an internal eyeroll of sorts. Given that, the previous thing is somewhat of a 'well, at least', she supposes.)

Any other systematic difference between the 'confidently's' and the 'trying to escape notice'?

She doesn't react in any particular way to the sizing-up or staring. Occasionally gives an acknowledgment. 

She does swing by; she is through and the cafeteria is of clear importance. 

How are the age distributions?

The confident people usually have a larger presence, but not always, and are more likely to have a symbol prominently displayed. They're likely to either be fairly young and brash or relatively old. More women are trying to escape notice than men.

The ages skew heavily towards late teens and twenties, with a few in their thirties, and a small handful of children and people in their early teens. There's very, very few people in their forties or older, and the ones that are have high capacities and carry themselves extremely confidently.

She notes all this as well.

And is that everything?

Pretty much.

If that is everything then she can proceed to more depth. Was anyone sparring in any of the sparring rooms?

(If that isn't actually everything she will continue until it is.)

There were some people in the sparring rooms, mostly working either on their own or in pairs on purely physical techniques, using chakra only internally. A handful showed off the rapid movement Rian had used earlier.

She will watch a few. 

There's very clearly formal rules and rituals around sparring. The level of skill being shown is usually 'extremely good swordsman,' only occasionally going past that to 'clearly supernatural'. Most of the people sparring either look similar to each other or have the same symbol on their clothes.

Is everyone using swords? Anyone doing unarmed?

Any less skilled/experienced people practicing?

(Are the sparring rooms all near each other on in various places? Do they seem to be just a case of the same kind of thing happening in multiple rooms, or do the different rooms vary somehow?)

Mostly a variety of swords, some polearms, some knives, more than a few unarmed. There are less skilled people, who mostly look in the younger range.

(Most are near each other, though there's some spread of clusters, and are clearly intended for this purpose, though they're mostly similar. A few've been decorated with wall hangings.)

She will watch for a while to observe things like fighting styles.

There's a tremendous variety, though usually people with the same symbol will use similar styles.

She considers and analyzes and notes in memory and the like.

She should likely wait to practice in public herself until she has more depth and breadth of magic available, and possibly until she's better acquainted. She'll do some exercises suited to space constraints in her room, until then. Conveniently she knows quite many.

And now for the scroll rooms.

They're quieter, certainly, and there's open desks. 

Since there are multiple rooms again, do different ones seems to specialize, or is it just a matter of needing more rooms? If she can tell.

What was this about radiating magic?

It's unclear.

The writing that's radiating magic seems to be similar to the seals on her room.

Similar but not exactly the same?

And, does that mean it is different from more regular writing?

More of 'same class of thing, different application.' Like shades of the same color.

It's mostly individual words - almost always single kanji - surrounded by smaller writing and symbols, often with specific motifs incorporated that seem to vary between groups of people. A few are more geometric in design, including one person who's carefully creating an incredibly intricate flower-like mandala with a large blank space in the middle.

She observes them. 

(Is anyone doing more regular writing?)

A few.

If she's going to be reading more she should put in the investment for a properly addressed spell, but if she puts in the effort the current one stretches to reading.

What sorts of things are they writing?

Some descriptions of seals filled with technical jargon, a lot of calculations, some on what's probably inventories.

Well the first one is certainly relevant to interests.

Are there scrolls not being currently worked on? Are they organized somehow?

There are.

There seems to be some sort of organization based on the color of the scroll's outer edge. It's not obvious what the colors mean.

Are the people using the scrolls using some sort of obvious protection like gloves or magic she can sense?

The ones handling more fragile looking scrolls are wearing thin gloves, but otherwise, no.

If she walks up to some scrolls (she will avoid fragile-looking ones) and looks like she's about to take one, will anyone look like they're about to take issue?

Nope.

Do people tend to have only one scroll out at a time, or does several seem normal enough?

Several seems normal enough.

Then she will take a few, not all the same color, and sit at an occupied desk with them and take a look.

The plain ones are blank. The green ones seem to mostly be references for equations, formulas, and 'this has been solved a thousand times, here's the shortcut' type situations. They seem to all be written by the same person. The blue ones are probably esoteric theory, though it's hard to decipher - they're full of vague allusions and obscure jargon. The black ones are mostly medical wood-cut pictures with some captions (again mostly jargon). The red ones are full of archaic kanji that she can't read.

What colors, if any, were the previously-seen seals, descriptions of seals, calculations, and inventories?

Calculations were mostly on the plain ones. Or scribbled in the margins of other in-progress scrolls. The descriptions go into blue scrolls. The seals are usually yellow (which isn't represented on the shelves) or plain. The inventories are plain, in their own room that doesn't have other things.

All useful to know. It would be interesting to see what gets done with the seal-scrolls when they're put away, but she can wait on that until she can more usefully spend her time here. She considers for a moment, then puts the scrolls away again and heads back to stores.

She imagines they don't have jewelry. Do they have hairties or the like?

Things for tying hair up, sure, though not elastic hair ties.

Good. She'll take a few; head back to her room. 

Her room is still there.

Convenient. 

She sits at the table and lays out one of the hairties. She could hold this spell in her head too, but it's over the threshold where she'd prefer the other way. So. 

There's advantages to having physical signs for the spell-anchoring, but she doesn't have either the technological facilitations she might use where she came from or a scriber handy, and it's not worth it to her to embroider them or something herself, at the moment. She works in magic, draws signs with her mind and occasionally her finger. She can't do something as high-strength as she might like at the moment, but this should do for a lot. 

When she's done she fastens the tie into her hair. 

While she's on the topic here, did people she saw around have designs on their clothes? Was that embroidery, or something else? How were those symbols generally made?

Most people had one of the previously mentioned shared symbols of some kind, which were usually embroidered on, sometimes sewn on as a patch, once apparently painted, but purely decorative designs don't seem to be common. A few people had lightly patterned pants or jackets, the design apparently woven in. Usually nature or abstract motifs. There was one person in armor with painted on designs of some kind of serpent, with an ornate sword at his waist, but he seems to have been an aberration. 

So she might be able to find someone better at embroidery and such than she is if she really needs it, but not as certainly as she might in different circumstances.

And meanwhile on second thought she will go look at the schoolrooms now.

They're very clearly focused on martial arts - there's racks of practice weapons - but there's also a room with maps and a scattering of books and scrolls. It looks like the supplies were haphazardly gathered.

School isn't currently in session, but there's two boys in one of the practice rooms, sparring. They're probably about seven or eight. A younger white-haired boy sits off to the side, switching between reading and watching the other two with narrowed eyes.

Hm. Readjustments on default-meaning-mapping of 'school', here.

Closer examination of the maps, books, and scrolls, if possible.

(How do the children react to her presence?)

Handwritten, mostly by the same person. The books and scrolls are primarily theory on 'how to use ninja techniques', with some history, botany, zoology, anatomy, sociology, and geography (a catalog of clans, their publicly known techniques, and their symbols is one of the notable books). 

The two sparring boys keep trying to hit each other, while the reading boy turns to look at her and quietly closes his book.

Theory on how to use ninja technique is not currently her priority (unless this is the magical sort?)

The others seem useful, and 'in a schoolroom' might be used as a selection method for material to reasonably look at first. About how much material is there here, altogether?

She will nod an acknowledgement.

Some of it is, yes, though not much. There's enough books and scrolls to keep her entertained for at least a while.

"Who're you?" the white-haired boy asks, getting up.

The spar winds to a close, and the two boys link fingers. One, a darker skinned boy who somewhat resembles the white-haired boy, smiles, while the other one (pale, with spiky black hair and a distinct resemblance to Rian) rolls his eyes.

For planning purposes she would like a more specific estimate.

"New arrival. And you?"

The number of books is hard to count at a glance; it's probably in the high hundreds or very low thousands.

He crosses his arms and doesn't answer.

"He's Tobirama," says the darker skinned boy. "I'm Hashirama, and this's Madara. Were you the one Miss Rian found?"

(Approximate average length of book or variation thereof? Are they already organized somehow?)

She wasn't particularly curious about his name (though she notes them, given that they said them) and is hardly going to be offended (though she notes the interaction dynamics). "I am."

(Mostly thin, a hundred pages at most, usually much less than that. They're organized loosely, but mostly by where they came from, not by subject. There's been some attempt at imposing a more transparent organization system, but it hasn't gotten far).

"What's your name?"

Alright. She will look at the system as far as it's gone and then note subjects herself, form organization in mind; has the mental structure to do it without needing to physically rearrange them. 

"I can be called Lee."

"Where're you from?"

"Most likely an alternate dimension."

Tobirama perks up at that. "How'd you get here, then?" he asks.

"My world has some magic with a habit of doing odd things."

"Does the magic do things on its own, then?"

"In approximately the way the weather 'does things on its own', yes. Ongoing debate on human origination or lack or magnitude thereof. I take it yours does not?"

"It's not really magic because we know how it works, but not really? Chakra's always doing something - keeping you warm, reinforcing your body - but it does the same things unless you direct it. ...I suppose nature chakra might be doing things on its own."

"Magic here is when you don't know how it works?"

"Magic is made up stuff that doesn't run on scientific principles."

"I see. That is not how it works in my world." And seems either absurd or rather significantly important to mention.

"Maybe it's a language difference," he concedes. 

"What are some examples of magic in your world?"

"Well, the superstitions usually involve the spirits - no one's proven they exist - " Tobirama starts.

"Little brother, you're going to annoy some spirit or another with that attitude, you know," Hashirama interjects.

Tobirama just rolls his eyes, and continues, louder, with: "There's the amulets and talismans, that're supposed to grant minor wishes or protect the home or ward off bad luck. That sort of stuff. The kuda-shou say they catch pipe foxes and use them for divinations and spells, but that's never saved them from ninja."

"I see." If what they have said is accurate her general conclusion would be a lower opinion of these people's approach with 'science'. But of course children are not generally a reliable source of world information.

"What does your magic do?" Madara asks. "Can it be shared?"

"Quite a lot. No, but items made with it can be."

"That's not an answer," Madara replies huffily. 

"That was not a very specific question."

"I could list things for what chakra does. Tobirama could give you all the fancy definitions. So what are some of the specific things your magic does?"

She makes an illusion of one of the throwing stars she has, then dissipates it. "Also how I'm speaking your language." (Not generally an effective use of her time, this, but it is useful to have more of an idea of various people here, and possibly of how information spreads.) 

"Huh. Chakra doesn't do language, though the Yamanaka might be able to skip that," Tobirama says.

Madara's eyes went red at her illusion. "...I couldn't see through that," he says uneasily.

"It makes sense that magic illusions would work differently than our illusion techniques. Guess your eyes aren't everything, Uchiha," Tobirama says somewhat frostily.

"Can you generally see through illusions?" (If she extends senses, can she detect anything about his eyes?)

Slow nod. (His eyes have a significant concentration of chakra in them.)

"Ah. How so? And I have been earlier informed that the illusions in this world work differently." (Anything more detailed?)

Hard to say. The flow's definitely active, and subsides once his eyes go back to their normal color, but doesn't cut out entirely.

"You're not an Uchiha. I'm not telling you that," Madara says.

She notes this to inquire about later. Notes the apparently sociological feature.

Are they continuing to talk to her after that?

They seem to be getting bored with the conversation, though Tobirama's less bored and more frustrated.