Thank you. Without illusions?

"One reason for doing business outside is so people can scry it. It's a way to show that you have nothing to hide. There's reasons to run a business from inside a building and some of them are legitimate, but if you don't know enough to tell, just avoiding hidden business is a way to show that you don't think you're doing anything bad. You won't always be able to tell but most knowledge mages will know and if they're avoiding someone then other people will notice and usually avoid them too. And there are legitimate businesses that aren't very popular but if you can't tell..."

Oh, interesting!

Ah, without the knowledge mage blocking illusions?

"Yeah, guess that wouldn't be obvious, don't avoid a shopkeeper just for having blue fur or anything."

She was thinking of some sort of decorative illusions on the surroundings, though she doesn't know if those are discernible from not-illusions. She's still not sure how the knowledge mage blocking illusions work, exactly.

Understood, thank you.

"The important thing is whether the business is scryable. Doesn't matter if ten feet of ground around the stall are illusioned to look like you're floating in the starry void beyond the world, it just matters if a knowledge mage can hear you say 'yeah I'll take twelve of those for eight rings' and see you hand over your rings and get what you're buying."

That makes sense. (And she already understood that part just fine, but she's not saying that.)

Does he know how the knowledge mage blocking illusions work?

"I'm not an illusion mage or a knowledge mage. Iri?"

"I'm not an illusion mage, I just know what they look like."

They look like something?

"Yeah, to me they look like blind spots, like a spot of... nothing... in the middle of everything. Just when I use magic to see them, they don't look like anything to my eyes."

Understood.

Speaking of magic, what should she do with the door if she goes out?

"...Don't stay out long and come back fast, I guess. Maybe don't get into a routine, if people don't know when you'll get back that's better."

Understood.

She thanks him again.  

Oh, can she get a map somewhere, of what's around here? If not, could he draw her one?

He draws her a map of Thelm Ret and its surroundings from memory. It's not a very good map. It may not even be accurate. It's almost certainly not to scale. He marks east and west.

She would not expect to-scale maps when drawn by random people, nor entirely accurate ones. She thanks him. Carrying a map draws attention; she memorizes it.

And the next time she is left alone, she goes out.

There is the same city as last time she went out.

Some information she needs:

-General locations and arrangements of things. Are there more and less expensive areas? Other kinds of orientation information?

-Can she successfully wander around without running into trouble?

-How expensive is food?

-Is anyone hiring for menial labor, and if so how does it pay?

-If she needed to find things like 'people who might pay her for math' and 'people she might sell technology to' on her own, can she figure out how she would do that?

There's an illusion mage with a notice board who charges a fee to add someone's ad to it for a period of time. There are a handful up right now.

Nesa - erel - freelance medical structure mage - I have treated hair loss, fatigue - kept a human with diabetes alive 2 years - find me at home at the brown building on Chestnut Street, 2nd floor, apartment 2

Want to learn Lexori? Isava the belul teaches it. Find me at the market or in the woods, I have free time to teach in the late morning and evening

Hari-Devin translation by Hanu the agerah - find me at market most mornings, in my house at the corner of Chestnut and Rain most noons. Telvik Haryi yo Devini, ager Hanuvi - segithet en karthani serverasan, niswi eni etyi Chestnut yo Rain detverasan.

She doesn't seem to have run into trouble yet.

Someone negotiates with the thwilit to visit them and pick up four pounds of honey for ninety rings.

Ad boards and medical structure mages are of interest. She notes down Nesa's information. (She doesn't know a few of the words, including 'diabetes'; she notes those down too.)

How much is food in the sense of food she can go eat? How much money does she have from Valanda right now? Do people seem to be getting drinking water from anywhere (aside from within the apartments)? Public restrooms? It would be easier to tell at night but are there people who seem to sleep in the streets around?

There definitely aren't any people currently asleep in the streets visible right now from where she's standing.

There's no public water fountain near the market. If there are public restrooms they're not visible from the street. She has sixteen rings: two fours, three twos, two ones. She could get some apples or a couple ounces of pecans.

Yes, but 'people who sleep in the streets' is a thing one can notice without actually seeing them sleeping at that precise moment.

She isn't planning on doing that. Though, since she's not sure if Valanda will want the money back if she doesn't spend it - anyone selling better writing utensils, and can she afford them?

If she steps into the stationery store she'll find there are lots of inventions available if she'd like to use her paws to write! This thing is so easy to grip with paws! This kit for fingerpainting probably works just as well with fingers. This kit for tail-tip painting might just be a novelty. Available in the genre of human-hand-sized pencils: a few charcoal sticks tucked in a corner.

If there are people going in and out of the stationery store, she will step in.

Ah, so that's the problem. Well, a charcoal stick is already available at the moment. She leaves and keeps looking around.

What other kinds of stores rather than market-things are there?

A smith, a library, a publicly funded outpatient clinic that's always open. A nice sit-down restaurant for people who want to sit on the floor and eat trail mix. Someone is selling blankets, pillows, bolts of fabric, things that are arguably clothing, curtains.

Is the library free or does it charge?

Can she learn anything more about the outpatient clinic?