"And Faessaya and the Pit are run by terrible people and proud of being terrible, respectively?"

"Something like that."

"And I'm sure the Dragonlands have something to be proud of but I have no idea what," says Sunpatch.

She nods, thoughtfully.

"Have you done a lot of traveling?" she asks Starshine.

"Some. More than usual for a Sylvan."

Annaveth nods again. "Will the translation spell, ah. Work outside of the Forest, or with different languages?"

"Yes, but it won't last as long outside the Forest - I'd give it a year, maybe, if you left right now, and if you stayed it'd be more like two."

"That's interesting. The Forest helps maintain it, then?"

"Sort of! Living spells last longer when they're around other living spells a lot, and the Forest is full of them."

She supposes that makes sense. Probably.

"Are there things that could make living spells expire faster?"

"...well, yes... taking care of living spells is kind of a complicated subject. It'll be fine if you just ignore it. You can move it around if you need to, but you should be gentle with it. And if you leave it alone outdoors it might float off somewhere and abandon you, but if you put it in a container to make sure it doesn't do that the container should be something see-through, it'll get lonely otherwise."

How incredibly... no, don't finish that sentence, and for that matter stop circling back around to that line of thought. It's going to get her in trouble and she's going to end up eating her words.

Instead she gives the little blue knot on her shoulder a measured look, and gently pats it with her index finger. Like she's petting an extremely delicate flower, or a newborn kitten.

"All right," she says. "Thank you. Anything else I should know for my first day in another world?"

The spell makes the teeniest tiniest little humming noise imaginable and snuggles mistily against her finger.

"Aww," says Starshine. "I'm not sure! I've never advised anyone about how to handle their first day in another world before!"

"Me neither," agrees Sunpatch.

The spell is adorable and she already loves it unconditionally. It may have another gentle pat, just because it's so cute.

"Well, let's hope this trend continues. If I may, which way is it to your home?"

"This way!"

Back the way she came originally, it turns out. The road continues to be magic. Starshine seems able to zoom along it just as well as Sunpatch even though her feet have not once touched the ground this entire time.

The road is still super weird, and she is not comfortable interacting with it. She'd like to get off it as soon as possible, but it is rather convenient so she'll tolerate it for now. As a bonus, she even doesn't fall over on it. So she has that going for her.

Sunpatch and Starshine are very patient with her lack of road experience.

She's ever so grateful. And manages not to embarrass herself. Just. Augh. She does not like being on this road, it's moving her while she walks and it is incredibly unsettling. This is clearly a category reserved for boats, and only boats. As is right and proper.

Eventually, her road based purgatory must end. Right? It clearly must end at some point. They're not going in a giant loop just to make her quietly miserable?