"At five, then?"

"I can be there at five."

The crowd will disperse after a while.

"I think that went well," Dross says.

"Oh good, I'm not sure of my ability to read people when none of them are species I'm familiar with."

"Have you met a lot of species?"

Dross will start walking towards the Mage's Guild.

"Several, though my own is the commonest in areas I've been." Walk walk.

"So what's this research thing you're doing with the Mage 's Guild?"

"There was a thing I was trying to explain to a person from the Watch and it - gave him a headache or something - and this seems worth some kind of investigation."

Not the same kind of headache as when his mom tries to explain to him her accounts, he assumes.

"Yeesh, say no more."

The Mage's Guild will register him when he gets there and direct him down a corridor into a sitting room to wait.

He has no idea how long a wait is expected so he whips up some chess pieces. If Dross is waiting with him they could at least start a game.

:0

"How are you doing that?"

"I learned a little bit of a very popular wizard spell from back home. Most people use the same spell for laundry but I can't do that at all, just this. I don't have my real chess set any more, so I usually just make fake pieces instead."

"Most people are wizards where you're from!?"

"- no, no, most people hire wizards to do their laundry, with this spell."

"...is that easier than hiring a [Launderer]? Don't you have to be real smart to be a wizard?"

"You do have to be unusually smart but one wizard can easily cover a hundred people's laundry or more. I don't know what Launderers here are doing or if it's faster or easier to learn."

"I think that's more than the average [Launderer] can do, so if you have a commonplace spell for that it makes sense, I guess. I was just assuming wizards have cooler things to do. I don't think our [Launderers] do anything special; they just... you know, wash clothes. With water and soap, or lye."

"I think that's what people who don't live near a wizard have to do. Higher circle wizards have cooler things to do but first circle wizards usually do some combination of copying books and laundry for their primary income."

"Oh, like..." Fissival dropouts, he's about to say, and then he remembers that the Mage's Guild is half staffed by Fissival dropouts who don't very much like being reminded of this fact. "Yeah, makes sense."

The door to an office opens. "Appointment at 3 for a Select Blai Artigas?"

Blai dismisses the chess pieces. "That's me, and this is my translator."

(Dross translates.)

"Alright, come in, please."

The office is furnished in hardwood and cushioned chairs, and lit by magic lights bobbing gently in open housings in the wall. A Drake in a smart jacket stands up from his desk to shake Blai's hand. His secretary(?) who invited them in takes a seat to the side with a pen and clipboard in arm.

"I understand you are seeking our intermediary services for your unique healing Skills?"

"- maybe, if you can improve on what I've set up for today, but I was actually hoping for help with - sussing out some of the ways my world, which I departed in a teleportation accident, differs from this one. I would want to give you my language magically so Dross could go out of the room, since the last time I tried to discuss it it seemed to give the person I was talking to a headache; I was hoping that this would be interesting enough to you to be worth the risk."

"...There must have been some miscommunication as a desk," says the Drake, with a pained look. "Our deepest apologies. I understand that you have rented a training ground over west, yes? We can certainly improve on that. We have a selection of sites across the city that may be to your liking, in addition to our excellent sales network and assistant staff.

"For the topic of research, however, I am the wrong Drake. Do you prefer to continue with this meeting on business and make a separate appointment on your problem, or reschedule and have Isidth bring you to the House of Magisters now? The [Magisters] will be interested in a human from another... world?"

The Drake curls a claw around his chin.

"I was very limited in my communication ability yesterday. I am also interested in more efficient ways to distribute healing if that's the best use of this appointment. I can try the House of Magisters tomorrow..." Is it on this map?

It is not!

"As you wish. Isidth can make arrangements for you at the end of the meeting. Will you be casting your language Skill... spell? on me, or will this young Drake be translating?"