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In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.
In unison, they complete their shared spell.
Adarin in Elcenia
Adarin pauses. He realizes the obvious. He has absolutely no idea how any measurements of time work here. "Do you have a clock that could tell me the time? And how long the measurements are."
"Clock, no, time-telling abilities yes." Keo casts a quick spell, and there, floating in the air at convenient eye-level, is the time. "If you can read those numbers, Korulen used a spell that does literacy as well as spoken language," she adds. (The numbers are perfectly legible.)
"I can read them just fine," he says, pleasantly surprised. "I'll make a trip to the library in my future, then. But judging by the time... A shopping trip sooner rather than later would be best, I think."
"All right. The library has paper, for your letters," Keo adds. "And the time comes in angles, degrees, ticks, and splits - dawn is naught, noon is about sixth-and-naught, sunset about twelfth-and-same, midnight ninteenth-and-naught."
"I'll... Try to remember that, but I have another solution to help," states Adarin.
Adarin has a decent memory, but there is no way he's going to be able to remember all of that. Instead he peers at the magic time-teller, then begins a spell. A short minute later and there's a nicely decorated illusionary clock, floating on the wall, matching the time of the time-teller. It has a pleasant little background to it that has a very basic illusion of the weather and time outside.
"There. That should work," he says, rather pleased with himself. Even if the time-telling spell is dismissed, the clock will tell time as normal. "I'll put off my portal-creation a little while to make sure I'm comfortable."
Adarin has a decent memory, but there is no way he's going to be able to remember all of that. Instead he peers at the magic time-teller, then begins a spell. A short minute later and there's a nicely decorated illusionary clock, floating on the wall, matching the time of the time-teller. It has a pleasant little background to it that has a very basic illusion of the weather and time outside.
"There. That should work," he says, rather pleased with himself. Even if the time-telling spell is dismissed, the clock will tell time as normal. "I'll put off my portal-creation a little while to make sure I'm comfortable."
Keo dismisses her illusion of the time when she sees it's been made redundant. "All right. Do you need anything else from me right now?"
"Yes. They could take a while; I have a bit of explaining to do, and since I'm on a timetable to have more shops open..." says Adarin, then he shrugs. "I can have time to think and organize what I'll say while looking at sheets."
"All right." Keo tilts her head, and says, "Korulen's on her way."
Off she goes.
Korulen emerges from the lift door a half-degree later, looking nervous.
Off she goes.
Korulen emerges from the lift door a half-degree later, looking nervous.
Adarin attempts a little smile at her. He is still firmly on the side of 'Be as friendly as possible and prevent horrific mind-trauma,' but this falls more on the side of general courtesy. Obviously the girl regrets it, and realized the gravity of the situation fairly quickly. Her companion, he might take more offense to, though.
"Hello again," he says, not sounding cross with her.
"Hello again," he says, not sounding cross with her.
"...Hi. I'm supposed to take you into Paraasilan and buy you sheets and clothes and whatever else you need."
"I'm... fine. Saasnil's not really old enough to wander around town unsupervised - by someone who knows the world, I mean - anyway."
"True, but- I'm trying very hard not to assume? I don't know how any of your various species and pointy ears affect your lifespans. She could just look young and be a hundred years old," points out Adarin. "I, for example, am 46. Most people think I'm 18 or 19."
"Oh, no, Saasnil's a human, she's twelve," Korulen says. "I'm forty-two, but that's fourteen in human equivalency."
"Aha. Then humans are a convenient measuring point," replies Adarin. He's starting to get something of a hang of this world! Sort of. "But you see, that's the sort of thing that I wouldn't have known. I wouldn't have guessed you were nearly my age."
"That would depend on which of 'my' two worlds you're speaking of. The original that we still measure by is about four-hundred days long. Four-hundred and thirteen, if you want to be truly specific. The other, we're still not entirely sure. We have yet to measure even how long a day is."
"Ours are four hundred twelve days. Do you have a sense of how long a day here is?" Korulen asks, heading for the lift.
"I haven't the slightest idea. I made a clock, but I haven't spent long enough studying it in order to know how long each measurement is," he replies, following. He's only a little wary about the lift, and moves to put a hand on the wall for bracing. He is determined to not almost fall over again.
"Front hall," Korulen tells the lift. It moves backwards. "Our years are broken up into eight months," she adds.
"We have sixteen. Weeks are measured in fives. The thirteen extra days technically don't fall under a month and are a time all of their own. It's customary to throw huge, lavish parties during this time," he explains, smiling a little. He's surprised when the lift moves backwards, but he handles it reasonably well enough. These people seriously need stairs.
"We have seven-day weeks. And eight days that aren't in months but are in weeks, between each pair of months. They're sort of low-level holidays, but not huge lavish party type holidays." The lift descends.
Adarin snickers, just a little. "Apparently someone on my world decided not to break up the parties. They wanted all of them, all at once."