"Always good to sprinkle some flavor," she says. "Where were we... you were at the return to Izril, and Khelt hired you a boat, is that right? Was the journey smooth?"

"Yes. It was actually my first time on a boat and it was much smoother and pleasanter than I expected."

"Was it a fancy one, with enchantments and everything? I say that, but I've never been on a boat either, only carriages." And some other questions to fill in the flavor.

He does think it was probably a fancy enchanted boat.

And he disembarked in Zeres, right? "How did you find it?" The readers know what Zeres is, some of them have been there; she's interested in an outsider's perspective on the Walled City.

"I didn't spend long there and what time I did spend there I didn't use to explore. They appeared to have some reason to think that Voyager Silverfang might have been involved with a prison break and wanted to talk to me about my connection with her, but I didn't remember any obviously germane facts."

"Keisha Silverfang? Oh dear. That must have been what Krshia was so worked up about. Never would have thought it of her! Who would she even break out of prison, in Zeres?"

"They didn't tell me."

"I'm certainly not going to blame you for getting there as fast as you can! Whew... not that I know anything bad about Zeres or its law, just wouldn't want to get caught up in any nasty business." She looks rather disquieted. "Anyway... did you get a ride back to Liscor, then?"

"Yes, my escort and I got clear of the city and I called Xrn for pickup and she teleported me back here, it was very generous of her."

"...As in she... summoned you from Zeres to Liscor?"

"No, she came to pick me up from the outskirts of Zeres. ...this would be a very normal way for teleportation to work on Golarion but I don't know what the standard is here."

"No, that makes more sense—magically, I think—"

"I get the impression that teleportation is more difficult somehow here. It's a rare skill on Golarion but very much sought-after."

"Fissival runs a goods teleportation network, but it's expensive and unreliable—items lost and damaged in transit. Uh, enchantment-based, or whatever it's called, through magic installations, not by individual mages with [Teleport]. I don't really hear of magical teleportation cheap and powerful enough in real life that it's used for travel; you just take an expensive magic carriage with a high-level [Driver] like your boat, if you have coin to waste. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Wistram could do it, and X... Xrn is in the vein, I guess, I know she's a very powerful [Mage] but don't know how she compares to an actual Archmage of Wistram? I'm probably making too much out of nothing."

Shrug. "I couldn't say. On Golarion a wizard learns to teleport at fifth circle. They sometimes land in the wrong place and that can be damaging, but this happens very seldom if they're accustomed to their destination."

Yep, the comparative arcana is definitely the part she was concerned about.

"I don't know enough about [Mages] to comment, really. That brings you to Liscor, then?"

"That's right."

Then she'll finish up with some non-sensitive questions about rebuilding and getting back in business.

"I needed to reconstruct the main channeling area anyway because I wasn't expecting, when I gave the original specifications, to have my channel radius affected by leveling," and that's really the most interesting thing there is to say about that.

"I did notice that the building looked different, but I wasn't sure it wasn't just a design choice."

Taking some final notes, then:

"Do you want to read the draft once I have something written up? I think I'll try get it published as an article, first, and someone might take up writing a longer novelization, maybe with the names changed if you prefer."

"I'd appreciate a chance to look it over first, yes."

In four days, there'll be a rough draft in his mail. It sticks to the facts, though it deploys plenty of setting flavor drawn from his descriptions and possibly other sources? There are a few minor corrections needed where they misunderstood what he said, or filled in a gap incorrectly, but there's nothing objectionable.

It's a little eager about contrasting the macabre labor force and frightening lich-king of Khelt with the wealth and peace of the kingdom, but not in a way that decries or lauds their necromantic practices in particular. Politically inoffensive to all parties involved, on the net, and definitely giving a wide berth to the elephant in the room of the King of Destruction.

His temporary detainment in Zeres does feature, but the matter of Keisha's alleged prison break is circumlocuted to avoid naming or implicating individuals. The involvement of the Antinium at the start and end are described but not delved into beyond noting its unusualness.

Gods and clerics do not significantly feature except as a plot device for Various Adventures, though it's also one of the areas with the most casual errors.

He marks it up appropriately for factual errors - he has no expertise in this style - and sends it back.

In the meantime, the year turns. Winter has been on its way out for a while now, and with the new year comes the spring rains. It starts on the third day of the first month, with a light drizzle in the afternoon, but it only gets worse from there. And it doesn't let up. Soon, you can't go out without boots and a cloak anymore, and on the streets you can barely hear yourself over the downpour and the roar of the storm drains. 

It's been a little over 180 days since Blai came to this world.

The price of food goes up. Of wood, as well, and various perishables. The city announces the dungeon closed until summer, and the streets—and Blai's channeling room—are a little bit more empty.

In the second week of the new year, Blai gets mailed an advance issue of the travelers' newsletter where his article will be published. It contains no surprises.