She sits down, and tries to not be obviously weirded out by what just happened.

"So, how have things been treating you?"

"I'm getting old, but you can tell that. I am content. Money makes many things more comfortable, does it not? And how has our quiet English countryside been treating you? No trouble, I hope."

"Everything's easier with money.

It's been nice and quiet, and the people have been very helpful, which I'm thankful for."

"That's good to hear. Our country is full of hardworking and kind people. Well, aside from the Welsh. Oh, a word of advice - I don't know how it is in your homeland, but while we are largely free here compared to our continental neighbors, the Crown is very keen on its taxes. Especially lately, with the Neuroi wrecking things in Karlsland and us sending so much over there to help."

"My homeland was pretty keen on tax too, I'll make sure to chip in. I'm assuming the Crown has collectors?" Who I can avoid?, Marena doesn't say.

"Yes. I'm sure you'll be able to recognize them. You can smell bureaucrats a mile away, metaphorically speaking."

A small girl dressed in a demure black and white dress exits the house, puts down a silver tray containing a plate of warm crumpets and two steaming fragrant cups of tea, bows, and leaves without a word. "Thank you, Mary," Elizabeth says as she leaves.

"The tea is a black, grown in the Americas. I prefer Indian but it's not really available lately. Cream and sugar?"

"I'm sure sneaky bureaucrats exist, but I've never met any."

Who has tea with sugar? Or cream?

"No, thank you. Has something happened in India?"

"Oh, no, it's the trade routes, you see. Neuroi make the Suez, Turkey, and eastern Europa dangerous where they don't outright control it, so any goods from India must travel a lot farther. And tea from India is not really very urgent compared to weapons and food and so on for the soldiers."

She adds a bit of cream to her tea and sips it.

Yay, vague geographical knowledge!

"The prioritisation makes sense, but still, I imagine it's a little annoying."

"I don't harbor any illusions I'm suffering more than... Quite a lot of other people. Other witches, fighting witches, too, not just the magic-less people. But yes, it is, a bit."

"Just because other people have it worse, that's no reason not to grumble.

Have you heard any news from the front?"

"I don't really have military connections, you know. I just sell them a bit of mana now and then." She indicates the ring. "No more than a trickle really, but every bit counts, apparently."

Okay, so they have mana (instead of essence, presumably), you can sell it(?) and rings are involved. Somehow.  And the war effort really wants it.

...that's not nothing.

"I should probably donate some to the war effort, when I get a chance.

Did you specialise in anything before you retired, if you don't mind me asking?" (Hopefully she'll say what she did before she asks Marena, so she can come up with a plausible lie. Don't want to claim that she's a shapechanger, find out that's not a thing, then have to turn into a fox and have it be a whole malarky.)

"Messages. You saw me talk to Mary - That's my special magic. In my prime I could speak across the whole of the continent, and merchants and kings will pay a lot for fast secure communication. Not as flashy as some, but I liked it. Have you worked out yours? I would assume so, at your age, but it doesn't always work that way."

"That's very useful!"

And here's hoping that her powers aren't uber-weird: "I'm mostly a shapeshifter."

"Interesting! That sounds remarkably versatile. Mostly?"

"It is pretty versatile. I can do a few other things --a bit of defensive magic, that sort of thing-- but it's mostly applied shapeshifting."

"Oh, of course. Shields and brooms. I was just surprised - it sounded like your special wasn't limited to one category for a second."

Shields and brooms? Okay, quick, pretend you know what that means in this context.

"Yeah, it's more like-- Even if it is just one general power, shapeshifting lets me do a fairly wide variety of things. Like, I can become much stronger by turning into a bear, which on one level is shapeshifting, but could also be seen as strengthboosting magic."

"Hmm. Well, it sounds like you're probably going to make out well for yourself, whatever you end up doing. I wish you luck in ceasing to be lost."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you to say."

And Marena  heads off, kills some time, and meets back up with George.

George is sitting at a table in the inn, having dinner and apparently a beer. He grins at her.

"Welcome back! All went well, wherever you went off to?"

"Yeah, worked out what was going on. Turned out to be nothing concerning."

"Oh, that's good. If a witch finds something concerning it's bad news for the rest of us, eh?"

"Ehh, but some witches turn out to be a lil' prone to false alarms." She winks.