"Spirit world does some weird stuff according to the legends. And it looks like it dumped me into a third world, not the spirit world or the one I know. I think that qualifies as weird, yeah?"

"Very much so!" says the wolf. "Do you want to try learning our language? Terry's not super good at languages, but not bad, so he can try learning yours, too."

"I know southern water dialect, but I imagine a whole new language is going to be harder. Probably better for me to learn yours, since everyone here will know it."

"Reasonable. Do you want to stay with us? We're... Nearish people."

"I'd appreciate it! I could just camp if this were the arctic, but it, uh, isn't. I could probably do some work and find an inn if you get tired of me."

"Hm. What sort of society are you used to? We really don't have inns anymore, or at least not what that word implies - there's motels, which are close maybe, and hotels, which are sort of very large inns, but most don't let you work for a room. Couchsurfing - staying at someone's house - would be closest."

"I'm not sure how to answer that? I've spent a lot of time away from the water tribe, because I was with the warband a lot, so I know things are different in the earth kingdoms, and probably different still here. In the earth kingdoms someone might ask me to chop firewood or bend a lot of water into a storage tank or help clean a building or work on their fishing boat for a few coins. In the water tribe we don't do coins as much and I'd go hunting sealbear and bring it back with a hunting band, and then we cut them up and give the parts to craftspeople and cooks and things, and then if we need a new coat or something we just go ask and we probably get it without arguing because we feed everyone."

"We have societies like that, yeah. Here, everything is - well, we only use coins for small amounts of money, we have paper money backed by the government for larger purchases. Small chores in exchange for money are difficult to find, though not impossible. Direct barter is more common out in rural areas? So Terry could find someone's homestead - not by walking up to their door, but most likely by sending out an offer through me  - and offer to trade a night's stay for chores. I would talk to the other Ancestor gods, and see which family needs what help, and then I would vouch for Terry's reliability. People would be hesitant to trust a stranger without an Ancestor to speak for them. You'd have trouble trading chores for anything in a city without a steady job, but it's not impossible. Hm. If you're at a tribal level - does your world have electricity? Or cars and trains? Those are very common inventions, here, the later for getting around, the former for... Making everything more convenient, really."

"Can't say I have ever heard of those things. We use boats to get around. Or skis."

"They're very recent and very odd inventions! Make everything much faster. They do make an awful amount of noise, though. Hm. We should probably try finding someone who knows anything at all about dimensions, or else a very old god."

"Would it help if I told you what I know about the Spirit World?"

"That sounds like it might, yes."

"The spirit world and the physical world are separate but affect each other. A great fire in the physical world will cause plants in the spirit world to sicken and die. In certain places the connection is particularly strong. Some spirits can visit the physical world. They - have a lot of different goals, depending on who they are? And then there's the Avatar. They- Hmm. They're the living bridge between the physical world and the spirit world. They can learn all four types of bending, as if the ocean and moon and sun and earth and sky all gave them their blessing. Their job is to maintain peace and balance, both in the physical world itself, and between the physical world and the spirit world... Angering spirits is very dangerous, especially in the spirit world... And that's all I know about it."

"You've mentioned bending a few times. Is that the water magic you used?"

"Yep. There's four kinds of bending. Air, Water, Earth, Fire... Well, the airbenders might be gone now, but still."

"We don't have magic like that, not that I know of. Here... Humans don't get magic, unless you count the ways they can interact with gods. Gods have a domain, which is usually very small, and they have powers related to that domain. Item and place gods are really common, they're tied to a certain thing or location, and they keep it safe and maintained. Ancestor gods like me are also everywhere, we watch over our humans and can do things like always find them. Service gods have chosen to help a human with tasks, like if a human is blind a seeing-eye god will help them navigate the world. Concept gods are rarer, and can be a bit more powerful sometimes since similar concept gods tend to all work together as one. There's a couple other types. You don't want to anger a place or item god, that's a really bad idea, but you do that by threatening their domain, and they're usually very vocal about something being their domain. Other gods are harder to anger, and rarely have offensive powers. If you threatened Terry, I could do anything an immortal, indestructible wolf could do, or I could throw you back with a burst of magic - I'm actually not sure most Ancestors can do that though - or use the same ability to trip you or throw something at you, but that's limited range."

"...Very, very, very, very lost." He sighs loudly. He munches nuts and sips water. "I kind of suspect I'm not going home soon. I'd better figure out how to get work around here sooner or later. But for now I kind of want to sleep somewhere. Didn't let myself, much, in the spirit world."

"There's a shelter nearby. Relatively basic, but it has walls and keeps the rain off. We only have the one sleeping bag, but Terry says he doesn't mind you using his," the wolf says after a brief exchange with Terry.

"I could totally sleep on the ground, you know. Use my coat as a pillow. But thanks. Mind if I head there now, instead of staying and talking? Food's helping, but I feel like I'm going to fall asleep standing up soon."

"Of course, let's go now. It's nearby."

They lead him, which does involve a bit of backtracking on their part. The shelter is indeed rather nice, wooden construction with a patio with metal bolted onto dense wooden countertops for small-scale cooking, a decent-sized open area under the peaked roof, and two levels of platforms for sleeping on, a ladder leading up to the top.

(Terry provides his sleeping bag.)