He is in a long room. There is a bed to the left of him. On his right is empty air: one of the long walls of the room is almost totally gone. Looking out of it, the room seems to be on the third floor. Bright noon light is coming in from it. It also seems like the floor is sloping slightly, towards the other side of the room.

On the other side of the room is a fireplace. However, the entirety of the other side of the room is ablaze.

- okay, does the window open readily or does he need to smash it.

The exit to the room is in the part of the room that is on fire.

The wall that is gone is also the only wall that had windows, so no need to smash windows!

There is intermittent screaming from below, presumably downstairs.

He'll be able to reach this floor and all the downstairs floors with Create Water from the ground. He jumps.

The ground is cobblestone road.

The building is a wide three-story tenement made of wood. The middle of it is sagging and is on fire — it seems like the whole thing could go down at any moment.

Far away from the building, there are some people gawking at the scene.

One of the front doors of the tenement opens with a woman dragging a teenage boy by his arms. He looks unconscious, and his leg is twisted.

Blai doesn't have Stabilize and it'll be a better time to channel once more people are out. He doesn't know how many are in the building. He starts Creating Water.

The woman continues dragging the boy until he's well out of the way. She then approaches Blai and starts talking frantically and pointing up at the building — it's not Chelish Taldane. It's a tonal language with few consonant clusters. It might seem like Tian, if Blai has heard it before. Though the woman doesn't look like she's from Tian Xia. She looks vaguely Garundi.

"I can't understand you, ma'am! Create Water -"

She can't understand him either! She makes a face that looks extremely annoyed, then watches him Create Water, then looks wholly mollified.

Three men exit the building, looking relatively uninjured. The woman talks to the men for a brief moment, before she runs away in one direction. It seems to be towards the city center. The three men then reenter the building from the other door.

Well that seems like a terrible idea but maybe there's someone in there they reckon they can rescue. Water water water water.

They carry two more people out. One is an unconscious man with a piece of wood sticking out his stomach, the other one a woman with a broken arm.

One of them thinks to talk to him, but hesitates when he sees him chanting and Creating Water. He seems in awe of it.

If they don't go straight back in for more rescuing Blai will pause with the water to do a channel.

They don't go in because the last person in the building is stuck beneath a beam and they're not strong enough to pull him out. They're waiting for the woman to come back with the fire brigade and pull the person out. They don't have any way to convey this, though.

When he channels, one of the three men yelp. The feeling of positive energy feels...really weird and intense. It's similar to Flowers healing, except Flowers healing typically feels...kinder? More understanding? Their expressions are a mixture of fear, anger, and surprise. The injured people are a lot better! Indeed, they look fully healed, with the man's piece of wood having removed itself. Upon seeing the injured people healed, they look relieved, though still anxious and...indignant? But mostly relieved.

...oh he hopes he's not someplace full of vampires where that was illegal. Back to creating water, they seemed happier he was doing that on the whole.

They have no objections to him creating water and continue to marvel at it!

Two minutes later, the woman comes back with another woman in half plate armor – though she doesn't seem to have any weapons on her – and a man and a woman in white robes with thin black, horizontal stripes on them. They also don't seem armed.

That is important to note probably but does not seem like it should dissuade him from putting out the fire so he goes on doing that.

The armored woman goes into the building.

The robed people attend to the formerly injured people, look over them for a minute, then talk to each other.

They proceed to go near the burning part of the building and lie down on their backs. They do it quickly and in a manner that feels practiced. In the area around them, it looks...less colorful? Where the less colorful part touches the fire, it seems to be put out. The area seems to be expanding in a sphere around them. It's been half a minute and the sphere seems to have covered the first floor, but the second and third still aren't in the sphere's volume and the rate at which it's expanding seems to get slower.

........ritual magic?? That involves lying down? Stranger things have probably happened. He concentrates the water on the upper floors.

The robed people don't seem to react to this. They are too busy lying down.

In a minute, the armored woman emerges with another man, letting him put his hand around her back. He's conscious and doesn't seem injured: when she removes her support, he can stand up on his own. Though he proceeds to walk near the other previously-injureds and sit down.

The fire seems to have been totally extinguished. Armored woman yells...something, and the Less Colorful Volume becomes normally colored again. The robed people are still lying down though.

Armored woman has already been told that the water conjuring man doesn't speak Towan, but she's bilingual. Does Blai speak the local language from upriver?

He does not, alas.

Sigh. She has no idea what is up with this man. She has no idea what sort of spell could conjure water — that must be so energetically expensive. What Way would that be? Open? Maybe he's pulling the water from elsewhere? Maybe he's one of those Geniuses who's super specialized...

She makes a sort of patting down motion with both her hands that she hopes will be understood as 'stay here' while she tries to get someone who can cast something to let them communicate, probably Telepathy. She should also probably escalate the situation...

Does Blai look like he understands what she's saying or looks like he's going to stay put if she runs off to fetch someone?

He has no comprehension of what's going on at all but he is not looking about to scarper.

Okay great. Off she goes.

The lying down people are still lying down, but they don't look dead or unconscious. They do look really tired, though.

Some of the previously-injureds are touching their healed bodies and marveling at the instant healing! They immediately start trying to talk to Blai but one of the three men who hauled some of them out seem to say something against it, and hold their arms out to block them.

Blai can't understand you, folks, sorry!

Five minutes later, the woman comes back with another person! This one seems to be wearing practical traveling clothes rather than the robes of the previous two, but isn't wearing armor. He does have a sheathed dagger around his belt.

Armored woman says a few words to the new man, then splashes water from a waterskin on the faces of the robed people lying down, grabs them by their wrists, and tries to pull them up into a sitting position. It seems to rouse them, but they seem grumpy about it.

She comes back, says a few more words to the new man, and...

The man doesn't seem to chant or move, but now Blai can feel someone trying to talk to him in his mind!

:Thank you very much for helping with the fire. I hope you are not disturbed by Telepathy — we don't seem to have anyone who shares a language with you.:

:I was not expecting it but it seems expedient. I can prepare Comprehend Languages and Share Language in the morning. Where am I?:

:I haven't heard of those workings before. Do you need spaces, implements, ingredients, or assistants for them?

You are in Samva City, in Saranam Province. Near White Lake. Closest other settlement is Kosofo.: He transmits a map of the area that says that Samva is a city near where a river feeds into a lake, that is to say, White Lake.

Wow. This person seems really lost. And confused. And confusing. Exciting! Is he potentially from the other continent...?

:Did you arrive here accidentally?:

:I only need to pray for them in the morning. I'm a cleric of Iomedae. I don't recognize any of those place names and did very much arrive here accidentally; I was attacked on the road by a monster that apparently transported me.:

...okay Armored Woman would actually like to speak to the man herself. That is why she brought you here, Kanuwa. She says something...firm...to the other man, and there's a different mind voice in his head.

Okay, okay! He was dutifully transmitting everything he heard back to her anyway.

She bows.

:Greetings. I am Concilius Raye of the city of Samva. I also would like to thank you for helping with the rescue – we'll pay you once the assessor looks at everything, which should be in a few days...: awkward pause :...the law here is to pay people who help with city matters in proportion to their help so as to encourage them to help.

I'm saddened to hear that you were attacked by a monster and were transported here. Do you need healing?: She doesn't think so given that he has no obvious injuries and just casted a bunch, but she's not going to assume.

Also she has no idea what a cleric of Iomedae is aside from the fact that Telepathy suggests it's his Way. Maybe he's a practitioner of the Way of Iomedae? She's very unpracticed with Telepathy and has no idea if this is some weird phonetic transcription that is failing to be translated or...

:No, the monster did not injure me and if it had I would have been able to heal myself.:

:I am glad. Where were you planning on going? If you plan on leaving to go there now, I can take an address and send the city help incentive money to there. If you plan on staying the night: as it's already a little past noon :I can front you some of the incentive money so you can stay at an inn.:

She doesn't know what Way grants both healing and water conjuration or transportation. Hm...Flowers is associated with rain and storms. Perhaps 'Iomedae' means Flowers?...the guy doesn't have the demeanor of a Flowers practitioner though. Very...dour. She is not going to say that.

:I was bound for the city of Westcrown in Cheliax on the continent Avistan but if these names are as unfamiliar to you as yours to me I'd like to see a map.:

She's also unfamiliar, and says so.

She doesn't have a map with her! Can Kanuwa help please.

Sure!

He will send the same map as before but zoomed out.

It seems that this world has more water than Golarion. The land is split into two large crescent shaped continents, with one northwestern and one southeastern. The northwestern continent has almost no detail in the mental map. Kanuwa marks their present location as being near the upper end of the southeastern continent. He also adds what place names he knows...none of them correspond to Westcrown, Cheliax, or Avistan. 

:I don't recognize these landmasses, so this may not be my original planet. It's called Golarion.:

Kanuwa is so intrigued!

The very helpful man is possibly crazy but he was very helpful and his demeanor and speech seems to suggest sanity.

:I didn't know there were other worlds that had people in them.: she transmits blandly.

:My apologies, I am not learned in...astronomy...in the short term, is there anything you would need? I assume you wish to return to your homeworld: though now that she thinks about it maybe she shouldn't? He did say he was traveling...perhaps he was trying to escape something. She doesn't know about harboring someone who was exiled or who is potentially a criminal trying to escape from the law, but she's not obligated to return him to wherever he was supposed to be. No extradition treaty or diplomatic relations. Not that she would be qualified to make such.

:I have a commitment on my planet but I am not powerful enough to travel interplanetary distances and certainly don't expect my situation to rate the attention of anyone who is.:

That is so sad. She is so sympathetic.

:We have a post office here but I don't think anyone there, or anyone I know, would have the power and control to transmit a message to your planet.

Given your situation, do you plan on staying here for the night, then? I believe you said that you had language granting workings that had to be done in the morning?: She has never heard of language granting workings but Flowers is related to communication. Aside from Open, Flowers is the other Way that grants the spell Telepathy. So it's not implausible to her.

:I suppose I will have little choice but to stay the night in this general area though I'm flexible on the details. I can prepare a first circle spell that will let me understand and read any language, and a second circle spell that will let me grant one person fluency in mine.:

Does Kanuwa understand what he is talking about with the circles thing.

...maybe it refers to how many circles the ritual formulation has you draw?

Okay, so he doesn't know anything.

:I see.: Raye will give predictions of what she thinks the assessor will give, and how expensive inn stays would be here. The amount she quotes would be enough for him to stay for two dozen days. She can give enough money for him for an inn stay of four to six days.

:I should note that the assessor may want to interview you before the disbursal, and that they'll request that you be under truth spell. Is that fine with you?: It's not strictly required for the assessor to want to interview him before doing so, since her testimony would be sufficient (though not necessary) for him to be given a share, but she doesn't want to demand herself that he go through with it unless she really has to. It's not a good look.

:A truth spell should be fine; I'm not allowed to lie but I don't expect you to know that just from my saying it.:

She indeed doesn't know that. She has never heard of a Flowers practitioner whose precepts precluded lying.

:I see. I have to attend to the people whose house burned down. Do you want Kanuwa to escort you to the inn? He is the one with Telepathy. Here's the silver in advance.: She takes out a coin purse and takes out the silver pieces. They're about a thumbnail in size, with a hole in the middle of each one. There's writing on them but it's local writing.

To Kanuwa, "I'll pay you to accompany the man the whole day and cast Telepathy for him. And talk to him."

He would have done it for free, but he'll take her money!

"I will!"

:Thank you, I appreciate that.:

Raye will now leave and explain things to the people what little she knows and make temporary arrangements. And also have them be looked at by a doctor to confirm that they were fully healed by the mysterious man's healing and that they didn't get cancer over it.

:So there are three inns here. What sort of considerations do you think about when selecting one? Do you want a fancy one or a cheap one?:

:Cheap is probably fine but if one has laundry service that would be useful.:

Valid. :The one I'm staying at is the cheapest per night, but you can pay extra for laundry. No food though. We can go there and see if it's fine with you?: 

:Please lead the way. I have Create Food and Water prepared; it's how I was paying my way on my trip.:

:Wow, I have never heard of such a working! It just. Creates food? I only know of workings that improve crop growth and workings that stop you from needing food.: He looks so interested!

:Sadly, I don't think any of the inns here would accept food in lieu of coin.:

He will start walking towards the inn. The city has buildings several floors tall. On average three, but a few go up to six. The inn they're going to seems to be on the outskirts of the city.

:I wouldn't expect it to work at an inn, I was sleeping in farmhouses I passed.: This is a tall city.

Makes more sense.

Blai will also see that the stores and buildings make more use of glass — there are very few windows that don't use it. And that there's way more writing everywhere. People look at the two of them in passing but their gazes don't linger. The majority of the buildings seem to be made with brick, a few with stone, and the rest with wood.

:Raye thought you were a Flowers practitioner. Is that what you meant by you being a cleric of Iomedae? Is that the name for that Way where you're from?:

:I don't know what a Flowers practitioner is. Iomedae is my goddess.:

Right, different planet.

:I don't know what a goddess is.

Practitioners are those who can cast workings on their own. Each Practitioner is associated with a Way. There are six of these: the Way of Flowers, the Way of Tranquility, the Way of the Open Door, the Way of the True Self, the Way of Fire, and the Way of the Perfect Self.

I'm a practitioner of the Way of the Open Door, and Raye is a practitioner of the Way of Tranquility.:

His system is going to be totally different from this, isn't it.

:That's an interesting system but it's not how it works on Golarion at all, anywhere I've heard about - though I have not heard about all parts of the world there. A god is a very powerful entity resident in another plane but capable of projecting power into the Material with miracle working or, more routinely, by empowering people like me with spells and other abilities such as my healing.:

What a horrifying and eldritch system, Kanuwa is so fascinated!

:There's debate among scholars here as to whether practitioners draw energy from themselves or from the environment, and whether the Ways are sapient or sentient — though the consensus seems to be that they aren't.

So, Iomedae doesn't like it when you lie? And will only give you spells if you don't? It sounds very Perfect...does she have other precepts?:

:I'm actually uncertain if I'm permitted any leeway in the lying thing, for complicated reasons I've had little contact with other Iomedaeans and am basing my understanding of the rules on exposure to a different sort of empowered person whose rules may be stricter than those for clerics. Iomedae is Lawful Good and is the goddess of victory over evil, or, in more difficult times, triage. I have her holy book with me but I don't know how well your telepathy spell would work if I were to 'read it to you'.:

Huh, so a Genius of Iomedae, if he hasn't had any contact with others.

:What is...oh, sorry, we're here now.:

The inn is a three floor building with a large painted sign out at the front with numbers. Kanuwa enters.

Inside is someone sweeping the floor, who greets them. Kanuwa talks to her for a bit.

:They have a room available. Cheaper if you stay for a long time, but I'm not sure if you'd want to do that. No food, but yes laundry. It's costs extra. Do you want to look at the room before deciding?:

:All right.: It's hard to imagine what could be wrong with an inn room that it wouldn't be okay but he's on another planet and should not rely on his imagination. What's the room look like?

Kanuwa says something and the person brings them to the second floor and down a corridor.

There's a rope bed with a bedtick of wool. There's a small writing desk and chair. 

There's a smaller room inside the room. Inside, there's a porcelain chair with a big hole in it, and a porcelain bowl attached to the wall with a small hole in it. There's a metal tube with knobs attached on top of the porcelain bowl. There's also empty space to the right of the porcelain chair with a similar metal tube and knobs.

:Oh, sorry, I forgot to say that they ask people to do deposits here. The deposit is 5sp.:

:What is that?: Blai asks, trying to mentally indicate the porcelain-and-tubes situation.

Right. :This is a sink. You can use it to wash your hands. You turn the knob here...: and water starts coming out. :It's delivered here via pipes. This thing is a toilet. It's like a chamber pot, but if you press the lever, it flushes.: He does so, and water flushes the bottom of it.

:This is another spout that works similar to the sink.: He demonstrates it again. :There should be a bucket here so you can collect water...I'll ask for it. You can ask for a bucket of water to be heated up for you for free. No bathtub though. The water that comes out of the sink or the spout here is fine for drinking.:

:What a cunning setup. This room looks good to me.: Silver shall change hands now.

:Yeah, it's really great. I'm really glad for the Sanitary Society.:

The innkeeper will accept 2sp from Blai and 5sp as a deposit!

:You should know that Raye paid me for me to accompany you for the rest of the day, so if you want to go out to buy food or do something, I can interpret for you. Alternatively, or in addition, we can talk more. I can also shut up if you're annoyed by me, or ask me to come back at a specific time.

The clock tower rings once per hour here. Right now it's almost one hour past noon.: 

:Does it ring at night too?:

:It rings for twelve hours, which means it rings at night if it's winter. Right now, it's summer. The inn has its own clock you can refer to, though. It's downstairs.:

Blai nods. :I don't usually need to know very exactly what time it is, it just seemed like it might wake up someone who wasn't used to it if it rang at night.:

:Ah, I see. No need to worry about that, then.

I take it you don't have piped water where you're from? I couldn't go back once I experienced it. It's too good.:

:I would expect it to be very useful for most people but I almost always have Create Water prepared, that's what I was using to put out the fire.:

:Actually, do you mind if I write things down? I also want to ask you if you mind me archiving what I do write — I'm a collector for the Society for the Preservation of All that Exists. Less pompously known as the Archivists Society.

You're not obligated to agree and I won't stop interpreting for you if you refuse.:

:Please go right ahead on both counts.:

He takes out a fountain pen and a notebook and starts writing.

:Alright. You mentioned earlier that you were a cleric of Iomedae: transliterated as 'Ayomedei' :the Lawful Good goddess: 'powerful otherworldly entity' :of victory over evil or triage.:

:I'm familiar with triage, but I'm not familiar with evil. What do you mean by that?:

:...well, just like Iomedae is Good, some entities... are... evil? Do you not have the concept at all or just not in a form such that you'd expect 'victory over' to be a coherent concept?:

:Um. Telepathy is suggesting that the concept is related to badness...we do have the concept of something being bad and undesirable. So the former, I think.:

:...right. Uh. You know, if you've just managed to arrange that an entire planet not have any major Evil on it somehow I'm not sure I actually should explain.:

:I can talk about what I know of our world's history?:

:Please.:

:There are many stories about how the world was created, but none of them are very reliable and they're probably fictional or metaphorical. As for recorded history...broadly speaking there were many countries who each followed a subset of the six Ways. Practitioners are materially powerful, and so tended to also be politically powerful, and many ways that the Ways could express themselves were contrary to each other. So, countries tended to disenfranchise and marginalize the Ways that were inimical to the Ways that they followed.

This came to a head about 50 nanca ago, where the tensions between the countries of the Old Continent – the one we're on right now – boiled over and precipitated the Great War. Powerful workings also change the weather, see, and the resulting storms and earthquakes and crop failures were also terrible. Estimates say that about a fifth of all people died. The Federation came about from the ashes and unified all the peoples of the Old Continent and put in place various laws to try to balance the Ways to prevent any one from eclipsing the others, or starting another Great War.

It's worked so far! I haven't experienced war in my lifetime.

Contact still hasn't been recovered with the New Continent. Passing through the Antarctic requires braving freezing cold and monsters, and the water and winds of the Inner Ocean are still too turbulent to sail to it.:

:Okay, but, in - moderation, in peacetime, in balance - none of the Ways are themselves - awful to practice, to have one's neighbors practice...?:

:I guess? There are more and less upsetting paths or practices of each Way. Like, Fire is associated with slavery, but the Federation banned involuntary and heritable bondage and broke up the slaver societies. Flowers is associated with rape, Perfect with tyranny...my neighbors might find living with me awful because I'm very curious and nosy and one of my precepts is the gathering and preservation of knowledge.

Hm, maybe it would be more helpful if I asked what Iomedae does in your world? What her job is, described more concretely, or what she asks you to do? If you feel it's fine and safe to tell me:

:Slavery, rape, and tyranny are all evil but I don't know what exactly 'associated with' cashes out to. Uh, when she was a mortal woman hundreds of years ago, Iomedae did a lot of fighting monsters, including intelligent monsters who formed armies and magically enslaved new entrants and meant to go on until the entire world was under their thrall. Her followers today continue to fight monsters like those and also other kinds... honestly if you are generous enough with the definition of 'monster' you could just say that She's about fighting monsters, defeating them and making places that are safe from them and rescuing people from their enchantments and influences.:

:Huh! She became immortal? So, is she pleased if you kill monsters? Does she give you more power when you do that?: What a violent entity. Very Fire. Being against geasa is very True.

:So, each Way is tied to...concepts, and practitioners of a Way grow stronger by embodying those concepts more, or more of those concepts, and they tend to get powers associated with those concepts.

As an example, the Open Door is associated with communication, transmission; opening, removal of blockages and locks; travel, transportation. So, an Open practitioner could be like me, and work for the Archivist's Society. But they could also be like, a burglar, or an assassin — the Open Door is associated with hemophilia and nonhealing of wounds, as wound healing and blood clotting represent closure. The most common Open profession is mail transmission. I used to work as a mail transmitter.:

:I will get more powerful if I kill monsters but it's not Her doing that, that's how everyone works on Golarion even if they are empowered by relatively pacifist deities. She will mostly not give me more power under any circumstances where I haven't earned it by, centrally, killing monsters, except under the vanishingly unlikely circumstance of needing to communicate something with me with great urgency that she could get across that way and not in any other way.

It sounds like possibly the Ways are themselves neutral and have both Good potentials that they can be used towards and Evil failure modes that they encourage.:

That is so weird. :Practitioners can become stronger in their Way by killing monsters if their precepts are about, say, killing things, or protecting others, but not otherwise.

So Evil is acting in a way that has negative externalities? Is that what it means? Or, no, it's also about...coercion, or violence. And Good is about being opposed to that?:

:Coercion is a good short word for what Evil is about. Cruelty, destructive selfishness. 'Negative externalities' sound like the kind of thing an Abadaran would say and Abadar is Neutral, so I don't think it's probably a good summation, but that's a guess. And Good is about helping people, supporting their - growth and flourishing - and in areas like most of my planet where there are a lot of monsters at work, doing that involves killing the monsters if they can't be stopped in some other way as efficiently:

:I see! I think I still don't understand fully but for now I can work with that.: So, annoying your neighbors by being nosy does not seem to be Evil.

:I'm sad to hear your planet has a monster problem. We did too – the weather was caused by all of the energy being put out by the casting which also warped flora and fauna – but it's a lot better now.

There are other extraplanar deities aside from Iomedae, then. Is it possible to contact them? Or talk to them? Is it possible to send mail to them, or Telepathy talk? Or attract them to here?:

:Deities in general can be spoken to - this is called 'prayer' - but find it costly to respond. The most ordinary thing for them to do is make people clerics; that's potentially a lot of information if you note the timing and what was going on in the person's life around when they were clericed but it's not conversational.:

:I could try seeing if casting Telepathy in ritual form, Voice across the Void, would work to contact them, but I don't have the means to do it right now.: And it also seems inadvisable for several reasons but it's very tempting...

:I'm really tempted to try contacting your world's deities but it seems that some of them are not good to talk to. And that making them aware of this place might not be good for us. I'm still really tempted though.:

:Some of them are not good to talk to but I'm not planning to advertise the existence of those ones! There are plenty of Good and benign Neutral deities worth knowing about.:

Super valid. :That is wise of you. I'm getting kind of hungry, do you want to come along to buy food? I can have you come along, or stay here and I can transmit my senses to you — I have enough range and fidelity to transmit sight and smell qualia at once. You can also describe what you feel like eating and I can buy that.:

:If I don't use my spell that creates food it will be wasted, so I was planning to use that to eat and it makes far more than I can get through alone so I'd be happy to share, though I can turn the spell into more injury-healing if that would be a better use of it?:

On the one hand, the conjured magic food could be poisoned. Or poisonous. On the other hand, he gets to eat conjured magic food.

:I guess you could go to the doctor's offices and see if anyone needs healing? But um, I'm not sure if they would be trusting of you. Because your magic is unfamiliar and no one knows you.

What kind of food can the spell create? And...it's a spell, not a ritual?: Telepathy suggests that spells are instant and typically don't require foci or material components, and rituals are longer and have more trappings.

:I can choose what kind of food I get but it reliably comes out needing salt. ...I think the distinction you have in mind isn't quite mine; I would call it a spell and not a ritual but this one in particular takes ten minutes to cast. I have other spells that require foci and some spells require materials that are destroyed in the casting.:

What an odd spell. It can create food but the food requires salt??? Okay.

:I can buy salt. 'Create Food and Water' does sound like a spell name; I really should have known.:

:I have salt! I brought some with me specifically because I was expecting to subsist on this spell and exchange it for hospitality for weeks while I traveled.:

:Wonderful! How much will you charge for the food? And what food is it going to be?: Presumably the food will be foreign food from wherever he's from. Exciting!

:If we can find half a dozen people who all want some I might start thinking about charging but if it's you it would be silly to charge, it will disappear in a day if it's not eaten. - it doesn't disappear if you eat it, it works normally if you eat it.:

That makes NO SENSE how does that even WORK.

:Does Iomedae eat the food that is uneaten?:

:No, gods don't eat, the conjuration just... can't go on by itself.:

:Oh. Our workings don't work like that.

Would it bother you if I recorded the experience of you casting and of the food itself?:

:I see nothing to object to about that.:

Then he will write while Blai casts the spell! He doesn't bother to clarify more about what the food will be like because Blai is sharing for free.

Blai doesn't start yet! :Are there more of you - I mean, of your - Way? - who might want to partake? Usually when I was staying at a farmhouse and they didn't have a lot of livestock I'd suggest they invite their neighbors and I understand most people here will be suspicious but maybe there are people predictably you-like?:

:Yes, the mail transmitter here is also Open. I suppose I could ask him? He's not of my Society, though.

Oh, do you mean like, you'd prefer to not waste the food and potentially make money off of it? I could try asking acquaintances in this city if they want to try alien conjured food.:

:I don't object to making money off it, but that's not my primary concern, it just seems a waste to let a third-circle spell go mostly to waste in a city.:

:I see. It's so unusual that your workings are so...discrete...and can expire.

We could donate the rest of the food to a soup kitchen. I know there's one in the city center. I think Society of Solace runs it, beside the clinic they have here. That would be a good opportunity to see if someone needs urgent healing too. Do you want to go there?:

:That sounds like a good idea!:

They can go there! It's about a ten minute walk. Does Blai seem interested in Kanuwa talking about how local casting works.

He will listen attentively!

Great!

Kanuwa will explain that casting is based on energy, which is continuous and not discrete. Energy is gained passively from existing, and also from meditation, and also from doing things related to your Way or your precepts. So, an Open practitioner whose precepts were about knowledge would gain energy from learning, a Flowers practitioner whose precepts were about sensation would gain energy from sensation, etc. Each person has a maximum amount of energy that they can store — it's almost always more than what they could generate in a day.

Rituals are the most basal and most common type of casting. Rituals involve trappings, or components that are used to make the energy do what you want. These include words, movements, times, places, ingredients, and tools. Spells are a compressed version of rituals that are typically way less efficient, but let you dispense with many of the trappings. Typically, they are also shorter. Most rituals have spell versions and vice versa.

Rituals and spells typically cause instantaneous or limited duration effects. It's possible to place an effect that is self sustaining, or has a very long duration. These are called enchantments, for people — though this is ambiguous between mind affecting effects, so there's been a movement to rename them to something else like 'augmentation' — artifice for portable objects, and consecrations for places and buildings. Kanuwa doesn't know how to cast any of them, though. He only knows spells and rituals.

He stops himself from talking about the effects each Way can cause, because they're on the street the soup kitchen is at and they're almost there.

:There are places on Golarion that are reputed to have ritual magic traditions but I don't know much else about them. Most of our spells have temporary effects but we have magic items that can use those effects - sometimes only a few times a day but sometimes in a continuous way. It's a specialist skill I don't have, making magic items.:

That's too bad. Many people would pay dearly to be able to learn otherworldly artificing traditions!

Anyway, they're here.

:If you're able to translate by telepathy while speaking to people about the matter I'll start working on picking up the language.:

In the distance, the clock tower rings once.

The soup kitchen, and the clinic that is next to them, have the symbol of the Society of Solace on them: a square drawn with thick lines, with four black horizontal lines of the same width inside. The clinic is enclosed but the soup kitchen is totally open to the street. There's writing and signs but Kanuwa doesn't bother to transmit their meanings unless Blai asks.

There's a line of about two dozen people at the soup kitchen since it's near lunchtime. The place smells of cooking oil and pepper. People seem to be getting a bowl of rice and a spoon, and some sort of lentil and leafy vegetable soup ladled into the same bowl. There are long tables with benches for people to eat on.

:Oh, that makes sense. I can do that!:

He's going to approach the person at the counter. "Hello. Is there anyone I can talk to to arrange food donations?"

"Yes, you can talk to Sanat. I'll fetch him." She smiles and goes into the back room, then fetches a guy.

"My acquaintance has a spell that creates food, but the spell has to be used today or it will be wasted. Could we donate the rest of the food to you?"

He then looks at Blai if he has anything he wants to add or object to.

:It can be whatever they'd like as long as it's not too complicated and I know what it is.:

"We typically don't serve meat here, since the Society of Solace's precepts go against that, but we will still use meat that is donated in food and simply serve it separately. More specifically, we don't use animal products that require that the animal dies. So, eggs and dairy and honey are fine. Aside from that...I thought that you would just give us the leftovers of the spell? Do you want me to solicit opinions about what food is good?" He has never in his life seen a spell that could just create food but like, Golden Fields of Grain is a ritual. So.

Some people are listening intently and are trying not to seem like they are listening intently, and are doing badly at this.

:...the food is conjured, if there's meat in it it will not have come from an animal any more than if there's spinach in it that will have come from a plant. I can make a variety of food with one casting, so if I'm making myself and Kanuwa dinner I can still make about two dozen other people dinner, or ingredients that will stretch an existing dinner farther, and it doesn't all have to be the same.:

"I'm unclear on whether meat that doesn't require the killing of an animal is permissible to eat for us, though that's irrelevant for the purposes of food donation. Many people do like to eat meat and, hm, fruits, so food that has a lot of that would be desirable for people."

"Oh, the conjured food will disappear if it's not eaten, by the way. So, I don't think it's a good idea to prioritize shelf stable foods."

...Sanat is concerned upon hearing this but maybe they can have a Tranquil practitioner with a blessing of incorrupt body eat a little of the food before they serve it. He knows the clinic's healer has it.

"Let's see...we already have lots of grain and pulses. Good foods to conjure might be steaks, meat pies, fritters, stews...Also fruits like lychee, jackfruit, mangoes, guavas..." Deficiency diseases were recently discovered and he should probably think more carefully about what food he should ask for to prevent these but for now he's just trying for variety.

:I don't recognize those fruits, are fruits from my planet all right?:

"Sorry, I don't know what your planet's fruits are like."

:Can you think them at me? You can send sight and taste and smell and touch too. Then I'll pass it along.:

.....the entire concept of apples?? And pears? And grapes, and peaches.

"Those seem fine. We do have grapes, though the others are unfamiliar. When do you plan on casting the spell?"

:I can start once I know where you'd like the food to appear. Ten minute casting time.:

"Could you transmit the food you are planning to conjure so that I can prepare plates and such appropriate to the food that would be conjured?"

He has the following mental image that will firm up over the casting time of a stack of steaks and spread of pies and fruits.

Alright, so no liquidy things!

"A related thing: some people, in doing charity, prefer that they are anonymous or concealed so that they do not need to interact with grateful people. However, other people desire that and prefer to be public so as to be praised and gain social status. If you prefer to be the former, I can bring you to the kitchen before you start casting."

:I don't desire praise and social status but I do mean to act openly and nonsecretively, and if people have questions for me about the food or the spell or myself or the goddess I serve I mean to be available to answer those.:

Sanat is kind of interested in learning more about this guy's dom who is ordering him to donate food via casting. But that's not very professional.

"Okay, I'll put the plates on the tables." He and the woman do so, putting more than enough plates for steaks and fruits and whatever Blai might conjure. He's going to write something on a slate and prop it up.

"What's your name? I'll write it on the slate."

:I'm Select Blai Artigas.:

It will get transliterated as "Selekat Balai Artigas" because of the limitations of the language's phonology and writing system. He's curious about him only having three names, but it's obviously going to be the case that someone foreign will have different naming conventions.

There's a bigger slate outside used for announcements that he will write the same message on with chalk, explaining that Selekat Balai Artigas is using a working to create food, and that this will be distributed to people in an orderly manner and that they should queue and not cut in line, etc. or they will be banned from receiving food here. It explains that people can ask Selekat about the food or his spells or 'who he serves'. Sanat is using the word used for servants and slaves, not the kind used for civil 'servants' or people in charitable Societies.

The people who were previously queueing are watching with great interest. Someone asks if they can still eat of the conjured food even if they've already eaten the lentil soup.

    "Yes, but only a quarter portion," Sanat says.

Okay, understandable. There will still be some silent grumbling.

Kanuwa will translate the words being written as well as miscellaneous conversation that Kanuwa hears and pays attention to unless Blai wants to talk to someone or someone wants to talk to him.

:Select isn't a name, it's a title, it's appropriate to translate it.: Cast cast cast.

Kanuwa will convey this to Senat, who changes the word to literally mean 'picked', with the declension for namified-regular-words used for titles.

What does the casting look like? Blai does seem to be chanting and they recognize a ritual being cast when they see hear one. They will stay well away and keep quiet.

Kanuwa is very interested to see him cast! He'll open up all his energetic senses, even though he doesn't expect his sensitive-to-Open-energy-only senses to pick it up. There are Open practitioners who have the blessing of energysense. He is not one of those people. And he doesn't have the trappings or situation to do a ritual for sensing. Oh well.

Blai is murmuring softly and repetitively and moving his hands in repetitive but less-repetitive motions over the space in which the food is to appear.

Definitely a working. Some people get bored and start to murmur among each other only to be shushed by other people.

Kanuwa is thinking of ways to rope Blai into going into a work room and having visualization effects put on him and seeing him cast.

Ten minutes later: food!

Clapping and cheering!

Senat repeats the words on the announcement out loud, and the woman who was previously manning the counter brings extra plates and cutlery and starts cutting and portioning out the food.

Most of the people immediately line up to have some of the steak and fruits, though a few are Very Suspicious and don't want to touch it. Other people walking in the street look in to see what the commotion is about.

Senat will give out the appropriate portions to people. The enthusiastic people are too full of food to talk to Blai right now, and the suspicious people are too suspicious to talk to him.

Kanuwa will take a portion of the steak, and a quarter slice of an apple, pear, and peach each.

Counter woman starts cutting into the peach and discovers that it has a pit. She removes it, then asks Blai, "Do we need to peel the fruits? Or is the skin edible? I assume that the pit isn't."

The steak and grapes are familiar and so don't need explaining. Senat is not going to bother deseeding the grapes though.

:The skins of all the fruits are edible.:

Lovely! She will still continue to quarter all the fruits and remove the seeds for easier eating.

"Thank you very much for your donation. Do you anticipate doing this on a more regular basis — prediction, not commitment — or is this a one-time thing?" she asks.

:It trades off with other things that are probably more valuable in a city, like curing blindness.:

She is so shook!

"Yes, that would indeed be very valuable...are you a healer? Would you rather talk to the Society of Solace healer stationed here? Though she's working with someone right now...um, I can set an appointment for you to meet?" She has the look of someone really hoping for him to agree but also really doesn't want to pressure him and is trying her best.

:Cleric magic is very useful for healing, yes. I should probably have an appointment with the local healing infrastructure to find out how I'm best deployed.:

"I'll go do that now!"

She goes into the building, and comes out a few minutes later.

"Does tomorrow at fourth bell work?"

:That's the fourth time the bell will ring.: Or 10am.

:The inn will want you to leave before fifth bell if you don't pay to stay extra nights tomorrow.:

:That time should be fine, yes.:

She is smiling widely. "Will you be eating with us? Sanat said you planned on also eating the food from the spell?"

:That's my plan, yes.: He will take a steak and a pie and an apple.

She will bring out pitchers of water and glasses to distribute to others and herself before sitting down to eat, herself.

Also: people have questions for Blai!

"Where does the food come from?"

"Is your mistress monogamous?"

"Why does one of the fruits have lanugo. It's very unsettling."

Kanuwa will strain himself to interpret the questions as they come, but makes placating noises and gestures to get them to slow down.

:The food is conjured; it didn't exist before. I don't... have a mistress... It's normal for peaches to be like that but you wouldn't be alone in preferring to avoid the skin.:

Conjuration asker makes a thinking noise but doesn't say anything.

"Oh, sorry for assuming. Your master, then."

That makes sense! She'll ask for a paring knife to remove the rest of the peach skin from her peach quarter. Sanat gives her one.

:I also d- do you mean my goddess? It's not a - it is absolutely not like that.:

"...in what way is it not like that, I'm confused."

:She's - uh - She's a person but in terms of my relationship to Her she's more like a Way?:

The local language does not have a word for 'goddess' and Kanuwa's telepathy is transmitting something along the lines of 'powerful feminine entity that someone pleads to and obeys'.

The person is thinking that this is some really elaborate LARP or that the person is deluded. He draws his lips into a line. It feels kind of bad to think of the person helping you as deluded but deluded people can be charitable too.

"In what ways is your relationship with her like a Way?"

:Uh, if I don't do as Her precepts indicate She'll withdraw the magic, but none of the precepts are... personal... in the way you're thinking, they're things like not lying and operating openly and doing good in the world.:

"Huh. So, she doesn't have sex with you? What an unusual dom, to be asexual and so prosocial." He's less interested in meeting her now for the purposes of becoming a sub but still interested in her for the novelty. "I've never heard of any effect that could bestow casting ability on another, but I'm not learned in that."

:Your model of the situation is INCORRECT. My inability to explain it in a way that makes better sense to you DOES NOT MAKE IT CORRECT.:

Kanuwa looks incredibly uncomfortable.

"Okay. I'm sorry." He is going to disengage from the conversation now.

:I should really have anticipated that it would look...like that...when you said Iomedae was a person...and explained that to you. Relationships that have asymmetric dynamics like that are common here.: He should also probably think better on how to transmit the concepts across the ontological gap.

:If you have a suggestion for how to explain without giving anyone a mistaken impression I would gladly entertain it.:

:Hmm, I'll have to think about that. One of the things is that we don't have the concept of deities or gods that you do. And when I try to translate it...I think people think I'm talking about something metaphorical, or something like a term of endearment. Like calling your romantic loved one 'sugar'.

I would suggest refraining from saying that Iomedae is a person, and saying that 'Iomedae' is the name of a foreign Way, but I don't know if that falls afoul of your 'not lying' precept. It's not false, but not...maximally accurate.:

Oh no, did they offend the foreign person in some way. Senat is Very Concerned. He doesn't seem to be leaving though, so it can't be that bad?

He is also Very Concerned that he forgot to ask the healer to come and sample the food before he served it. What a terrible mistake. He's going to quickly get a little of each one and bring it to the clinic.

The food is completely fine.

:I could - preferentially refer to my religion rather than my deity and say that it is like a foreign Way, pending another way to describe it.:

:That seems wise. Or...you said that Iomedae used to be human. Is it possible for you to say that Iomedae was a paragon of the Way of Iomedae, such that it became named after her, in your country? Paragons are...people who embody a Way very strongly in some specific aspect, and become famous for this. Like Sarata and Maye the Roadbuilders, who built the Old Roads and made the Roadbuilders Society, or Shuku the Librarian, who created the Archivists Society.:

:Well, actually in life she was herself empowered by a different god. Who died about a hundred years ago. So that would be a - complicated - assertion.:

:Oh. How complicated. Um...oh! I do know that certain places meditate by visualizing their Ways as people, often though not necessarily as paragons who have been confirmed to actually exist. It's not popular in this region. I could say that people where you're from relate to Ways like that? And you have...a more fine division of the ways than us, and that you relate to your Way as though a person.

Ugh, that doesn't fully fix things though, because there are lots of people that do this and relate to the visualized persons in a sexual way, or find them sexually attractive. Especially Flowers practitioners. But it does avoid people thinking that you're in a romantic or sexual relationship with Iomedae. We could avoid it if Iomedae valued chastity or something and you could attest to that. That's often a Perfect precept, sometimes Tranquil or True.:

:The Acts don't specify if she vowed celibacy but it is not uncommon for paladins so she might have and she definitely wasn't married.:

:...sorry, I'm running out of ideas. I'm struggling to think of a concise and accurate way to convey the fact that Iomedae is a person, in the sense of being a sapient entity with values, while also not being a concrete entity that exists in this plane. And that she can bestow spells on people who act in a way in accordance with her precepts, as though a Way. The Ways as we understand them are not people, so there's kind of a bind, there. I'll have to think about it a bit more.

What's a paladin?:

:There's no shortage of entities who exist in other planes! I can summon some of them! She's just an unusually powerful and influential example of those who passed through being a human first. A paladin is - for your purposes a paladin is a lot like a cleric, really, with different powers but also empowered by a god to carry out that god's will. They have to be Lawful Good in particular and can only be empowered by gods within one step of that alignment, unlike clerics, who can be all over the alignment chart as long as they're within one step of their god specifically. Iomedae is I think alone among gods in empowering more paladins than clerics; paladins of anyone else eligible to choose them are rare.:

:Wow, we don't have any summoning workings like that here. None that I know of. Some other Open practitioners — who are richer than me — might pay for you to cast one for them. For the novelty of it.

Hmm...I'll have to think more about how to approach the Iomedae PR problem. I'm not the most charismatic person.

Unrelatedly, I realize that Raye probably forgot something — we should get you a legal identity. So that you can make sworn statements and such. I think she'll be willing to reimburse you for the expense. She's super busy so it makes sense that she'd forget. Or maybe there's already a file on you and this is unnecessary, though I doubt that. Do you have identification documents yourself?:

:I have... letters addressed to me...?:

:I mean things that you have that let you say, legibly, that you are you and aren't an impersonator or this other guy with a similar spoken name who's a criminal or whatever. I don't have mine on me, but it looks like...: and he sends a vision of a square plate of wood, about six by six inches, with his legal name on it — it's a bunch of random syllables? the vision implies that they aren't meant to be 'meaningful' — plus his 'spoken names', which include 'Kanuwa', and has his date of birth and place of birth and the fact that he's an Open practitioner signaled by the symbol on it: two concentric circle with the diameter of the bigger circle arranged vertically. The plate has a True effect that emanates from it which is keyed to him and the True practitioner that produced the artifact.

The vision implies that it can be made of different materials in other places like paper, but all of them contain the same information.

:The assessor would prefer that you present this before you make sworn statements to them, though it's not required, since they can just fold in the statements you'd need to swear to the casting. It will just require a little more energy.:

:I am almost certainly the only third circle cleric of Iomedae with my name but I don't have a document asserting that and wouldn't expect being verified to have cast a third circle spell to be a thing that would contribute usefully to this process.:

:Oh, that part is separate. The legal identity simply allows you to be visible in the eyes of the state and allow you to make contracts and vote and such. Actually I'm not sure if you'd be able to vote, I think no? Not for ten years I think. Afterwards you can make sworn statements and proofs about what you are and how you are what you claim you are, which people would most likely want to see before they believe what you say. I agree that casting a third circle spell won't help because we don't look at spells in terms of circles, so it would be a concept from your ontology. Typically people get theirs registered when they're born, or near so.

Oh, there's also the adulthood examination certificate, but I'm unsure if you'll need it...it can also be used as an identification document. It looks like...: basically the same thing but instead saying that they passed, and at what center they did the exam in. :I think no one would contest your adulthood, though it is the case that you're illiterate in our language.:

:I'll be able to read but not write it if I have Comprehend Languages active.:

He purses his lips and unpurses them, making thinking noises. :I'm not sure that's enough for legal purposes though I'm not sure how important it is. I think they could special case you. See, typically you need the adulthood certification to be able to join Societies or get apprenticeships and vote. Actually, I might have misspoke – I forget whether you need the adulthood certificate or just the birth certificate to be able to make contracts...I'm not being a very good guide right now. Sorry about that.:

:I'm wondering whether, legislatively, they'll use the structure of Societies for Golarion gods, or whether they'll create a new type of legal entity. Or whether they'll allow them in the first place. I don't think it's politically feasible to censor people from learning about them or from you from talking about them, though, because many people would throw a fit if the Federation imposed censorship laws. Including yours truly. But I think they could ban their worship or accepting clericships or paladinships from them as engaging in unlicensed foreign diplomacy. Uh, stop me if this idle speculation is uninteresting to you.: The tone implies that this question is brought to Blai by long suffering experience.

:It is very important that I be legally allowed to worship Iomedae. If other people aren't that would be a disappointing thing to learn about a government and I'd want to leave for a friendlier jurisdiction as soon as possible but if I'm not then I have a very serious problem.:

:Um, well, the Federation's territory extends throughout the whole continent. There's another continent but you'd have to pass through the unclaimed southern lands, which are very cold, or travel by sea to it. Except that hasn't been possible since the Cataclysm, because of the monsters and whirlpools and storms that are common in the open sea. If this was to come to pass, I think traveling to the unclaimed lands south is the best bet. We're very far away from it though.

I think if they don't totally ban the worship of Golarion gods, they'll permit Iomedae. My money is on them not totally banning it — it seems that the gods could cleric anyone who comprehends their nature sufficiently well and whose shape is suited to them, quite similar to spontaneous Awakening, really, and since censorship is very politically fraught, they'd want to ally with the agreeable gods so as to shield themselves from the deleterious effects of the bad ones. I might go to the casino and gamble about it, now that I think about it.:

The twisting clauseful sentence is more comprehensible through Telepathy since it doesn't have to be linear.

:There's a spell that will let me travel through very cold or hot environments unharmed; that plus creating water and food should make it possible for me to hike to the other continent if I must. Is there someone I should be talking to about getting Iomedae and Her allies permitted?:

:Probably Raye. Law and negotiation and dealing with legislators is her thing. I can ask her what time she's free so she can meet with you — at the limit she'll definitely be available when the assessor comes to collect testimony. Which will be in a few days.:

Also, that is so convenient. I would love to be able to just conjure water and food while traveling. I think lots of True practitioners would too. I'm so greedy*!:

*Sixwaysians use the term 'greedy' when you want something that someone has, but you don't begrudge them having it, in contrast to 'envious'.

:Create Water is very useful, yes, I prepare it almost every day.:

Meanwhile, Kanuwa will contact Raye about her schedule.

Raye is upset that Kanuwa is just contacting him like this and interrupting her but she doesn't show it, because it could be important. What is it?

:Blai wants to meet with you to discuss the legality of worshipping Iomedae because it might fall afoul of foreign diplomacy laws. When can you talk to him about it?:

:Tomorrow noon, at my office.: Also, can you contact her secretary next time please, here's what she looks like. 

Yes, he can do that.

Kanuwa will inform Blai! Not about Raye's secretary, just about the time.

:That sounds doable. How many of Share Language do you think I'm likely to want, I could see 'zero' because of your assistance, or one or two.:

:Part of me wants to say 'zero', since again, I'm here, but I'm tempted to say 'one' in case Raye wants to ask about your gods and she has trouble understanding because it has to pass through me and my own understandings and interpretations. I'd rather not have a repeat of the awkward incident earlier. You only have a limited number of workings, er, spells that you can have a day, right? What does preparing one or more Shares of Language trade off against?:

:It's second circle; it would displace - well, at any circle I'm accustomed to preparing a lot of combat spells, but in this less dangerous situation it'd displace things like Owl's Wisdom or Zone of Truth or Lesser Restoration or Lay of the Land. I can displace any freely-chosen prepared spell for a Cure of the same circle if I want to, on the spot.:

:Hm...I think people would be reluctant to accept spells from a person whose workings they don't understand. That the soup kitchen accepted your conjured food is because the poor and hungry are more tolerant of risk. I'm assuming that you would want to spend spells like Lesser Restoration, if I understand the spell and you correctly, on charity if you didn't personally need it and it would be 'wasted'. 

I would recommend preparing one Share Language. It's not as important for me to get it, as excited as I might be to suddenly develop fluency in another language.

And yes, it's safe inside the city walls. Or, well, safer. It's possible there might be a large monster attack. The chance of that is rare, though.:

:Most of the spells I can't freely choose are combat-applicable, so I won't be caught completely without options if a monster does get in.:

:That's good. Relatedly, you don't have any obligation to participate in defense if one such occurs, though I don't know whether you'd be obligated to as a follower of the monster fighting god. The government will pay you if you do, though. Similar to how they pay you for helping put out the fire.:

:I'm not specifically obligated to participate by fighting, if it would make more sense to have me evacuating civilians or putting out fires or something, but it'd be the way to bet.:

:I didn't know that! I thought all of you had to be fighters.:

Someone wearing the horizontal pinstripe robes approaches their table and asks Kanuwa something. Kanuwa asks a few questions in return and she answers it.

:She's asking if you're free to answer questions about your healing and medicine. Specifically, the healer at the clinic is curious about your instant wide range healing effect, among other things.:

:Certainly. The basic concept is that everyone within thirty feet of me - it's spherical, you can design a building to pack more people in than you can in an open floor but it's still quite a lot in an open floor - will be healed some amount of their injuries. It's not effective on disease or poison, nor old poorly healed damage, but for acute trauma it's just the thing. The strength of the effect varies quite a bit - I'd compare it to Cure spells but you don't have those - on a normal person who's a normal amount of vulnerable to injury in the first place it will usually restore them to full health, but someone who's tougher to start out like me might require more than one application if sufficiently battered. I get two channels per day.:

Write that down, write that down! She is going to mail this later to the mountain temple so they can make calculations about whether or not they should try to court Blai to working for the Society.

"The main healer would be interested in setting up an appointment to discuss healing lore and how your abilities could be used for the mission of the Society — if you are interested in further working with us, that is."

:I'd be happy to make such an appointment provided it doesn't conflict with the other one I have.:

"What time is good for you to meet?" This is high enough priority that the main healer is willing to push other nonemergent obligations to meet! Though the messenger won't say that. Not right now, at least.

:I can do nearly any other time except for the hour immediately following dawn and also noon until - I'm not actually sure how long the other appointment is likely to run.: