He tries to move outside of the circle, and finds he can't. Confusion turns to a bit of worry! He asks another question, in the same foreign language.
The pale one - she also looks a little older than her friend - finds what she's looking for, and studies the page. She describes a gesture in the air with her free hand, and speaks several crisp syllables.
"Did it work?" inquires the brown one in perfectly intelligble - essence-of-native-language.
"I can understand you, yes. Now please explain what's going on?" he says, confused and somewhat unnerved.
"And just why did you summon me?" demands the man. "I'm not a zoo animal, to parade around to your friends."
"You just said another- world. World? You just casually- There should be at least six of you, if not more," he muses, mostly to himself. "... What's your bloodline? Do you have one?"
"Your magic is so common that you don't need to- co-cast? With six," he states, flatly, stumbling a little over the foreign word that doesn't fit into his language.
Then, he needs to sit down. He does so. Taking a deep breath, he manages, "I do believe that I am very far from home. You don't need a bloodline to do- magic, yes? Is what I'm hearing correct? There's no error in recording them, or- or something?"
"All you need to be a wizard is a channeling capacity and everybody's got one, big or small," says Saasnil, sounding like she's paraphrasing somebody. "Oh, and you need hands, and the ability to speak, or at least they think you have to be able to speak but there might be something else you could do instead that would work, but the three established traditions of wizardry all involve it."
He needs a minute, just to think. Then, he's plotting. Adarin isn't sure what any of this is, but he's going to try and use it.
"Do I have a channeling capacity?" inquires Adarin.
"Probably not," Saasnil tells him. "Since you're not from our world."
"False vision, come forth in light," he whispers, holding out his hands. A little dragon-as-he-knows-it appears on the floor next to him. He's in the habit of keeping his incantations in another language, to make counter-spelling difficult.
He looks at Korulen. "This is how I know dragons. It seemed polite to show you."
The light-dragon pokes its nose against the barrier, and makes no more headway than Adarin did. A subtle test, to see if his magic could get out, if he could defend himself. Since the answer's no, he's going to be a very nice visitor.
"There are some kinds of magic that aren't wizardry that you have to be the right species to do," says Korulen. "I have a few of the things dragons can do because of Mom, just not most of them. I think merfolk have a couple of kinds only they do. And vampires. Wolfriders, I guess, you could argue whether to count them..."
"I see. Then- I suppose I am the first partial-Fae you've ever met. I do hope I've made a good impression," deadpans Adarin. "Are you planning to show me off to all of your friends?"
There's a hint of bitterness in that statement, he can't help it. He doesn't like being treated like a show animal.
He waves at his illusionary not-the-right-kind-of-dragon, and it disappears. Adarin fixes Korulen with a somewhat judgmental look.
"Tell me. Is it common to summon 'random people' to show off to your peers?"
Adarin inclines his head. Parental figures are good, and this one doesn't seem to have the same insanity his own mother caught.
"Will I be returned home in the same condition I left it?" he asks, reasonably. He's just a little bit nervous.
"Yes - and it didn't hit us in the face, either, we were careful -" begins Korulen.
"Did your teacher somehow omit to mention that you cannot co-cast a reversal?" snaps the older elf.
Korulen shrinks. Saasnil sits down, hard, on her bed.
It seemed reasonable, even if he didn't understand all the rules at play. The spell might send one of them into mana deprivation, but that honestly wasn't his problem. They should have thought of that before they summoned a poor, unsuspecting random person.
The elf is joined by a human woman with jade-green hair, who gives the appearance of already knowing the situation.
"Hi, Mom," says Korulen quietly.
"Please let me out of this circle. My magic might suffice," he says, reasonably. Trans-dimensional magic is something he does possess.
Of course, it required a knowledge of where he was in the planarscape, and how far it was away from his home. Too far, and it would either send him into mana deprivation or kill him. Cheerful thought.
He will be on his very best behavior. Oh yes.
Tentatively, he touches where the barrier used to be, and finds it's not there anymore. He steps forward, looking around.
"Thank you. Now - do you mind if I attempt to see if I can get home through my own power?" asks Adarin, reasonably.
Exhaling, he begins the incantation! It's way more complicated than the last, and the translation spell honestly butchers what he's saying. It names out pivotal points in the known 'map' of planes. Keo might be able to make sense of it, but no one else in the room would have a clue.
He finishes the spell, and looks at the mirror. He stares, for just a minute. Then he blinks, very, very slowly.
In a distant voice, quiet and rather frightened, "I do not believe I could get home under my own power."
"Am I expelled?" whimpers Saasnil.
"No," says the green-haired woman. "But only because if Korulen getting a familiar doesn't net her sufficient channeling capacity, you being able to do so is the next available way to send this gentleman home."
The answer is, quite random. It would take him several lifetimes, just to get home. Several of his lifetimes, to get home, if he never stopped for a break between plane-hopping, if he never got tired, if he jumped as far as his magic would let him every time. He is very, very far away from home.
"Is there some place I could stay in the meanwhile?" asks Adarin, in a small voice.
"Can you- send letters, to where I came from?" he asks, suddenly, thinking of the fallout back at home. Another of his family, disappearing without a trace? All of his work would go up in smoke in an instant.
Lenora was the obvious candidate to summon, though to be honest he didn't want to put up with the annoying woman. Maybe a couple letters would suffice. His sister, though - she was much more difficult to send a letter to. He would have to have her summoned, just to explain the situation.
"I do believe that I'll need visitors from my world. At least one," he explains. "She isn't known to answer letters."
He sounds very tired, like there's some bad-blood between him and his mysterious sister. A sad look's come over his face, like he wishes there was a better way.
"Am I gonna be arrested?" whimpers Saasnil.
"Probably not. Certainly not in a way that renders you unable to make up for what you've done as best you can," says the woman.
He rubs his face, a bit. Then he looks at the green-haired woman, then her husband. "I do apologize for the bad introduction. My name is Adarin. It would be a pleasure to meet you both, under different circumstances. You seem like pleasant people."
He pauses. "Aside from the fact that you are a dragon? I... Don't understand how that works, I'm afraid. You don't look like a dragon. Er- no offense."
His magic has something like that, but it was only used by some back-water offshoot of the first bloodline. Extremely painful, unable to change the amount of mass in an object or person, and had the high chance of going horrifically wrong. It fell out of style very, very quickly. Adarin knows of its existence, but little else about it.
"I've been away from my world before, but the same rules applied. I suppose that's why the scry said I was such a long way away," he muses, mostly to himself. Do his rules of magic apply here, to his magic? He's going to have to test that out.
"... Ahem. Yes. Unpleasant? I was under the impression that your magic was painless," says the man trying not to look like he nearly fell over. "Or it wouldn't be used so casually?"
He's wondering if he doesn't need to have his fortune summoned at all, if he could just... Make portals for people for pocket money. Not the most pleasant job, but it's better than going without another set of clothes.
"That would be fantastic, thank you," he says, smiling a little. "It gives me something to do, though I might have to find someone to question about your magic's workings to see if there are any other things I could do with it that you can't do yourself. I wouldn't have thought that you would have issue creating portals. I might be mistaken about other things, as well."
He's pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the powerful dragon-woman that could break his mind with a mere thought. Perhaps he can calm down a bit, now. This entire adventure could be turned around to be a good thing, if portal creation is that lucrative - if the money's transferable, it's more to throw around at home.
"The lift will take you to the library or Ataan Hall or the cafeteria if you just tell it those locations," Keo says. "If you need anything else, just think my name clearly and firmly and I'll answer. Korulen's going to escort you into town for a cursory shopping trip at her and Saasnil's expense, since this room obviously doesn't have sheets or a change of clothes or whatever. At your convenience; just let me know and I'll send her to you."
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."
"Hello again," he says, not sounding cross with her.
"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.
"It can be, but it can also get tiring. It's supposed to be a time of forgiveness towards enemies, new renewals, new chances - and so on. But the parties do grate after a while. Usually everyone's glad when it's over and they can just relax for a little while," explains Adarin, following after her. He has no idea where the shops are, so he's happy to follow her.
"Honestly? Most of them would probably get together and then proceed to try to take over a country," explains Adarin. This is maybe a problem he's dealing with at home! Yay. "Not all of them, mind you, but many. They're in something of a desperate place right now and anything looks better than where they are."
"Ah, right. It's a way of teleporting from one place to another. You can see through to the other side, and just walk through with no trouble at all at any time. The further the distance you travel the more difficult it is to cast, but I have an easier time of it than this world seems to do with your version," explains Adarin. "Shape of the portal isn't as big of a deal as the distance, so if I wanted to make a really big one on both sides it wouldn't matter much."
They're approaching the border of the city at this point. It doesn't slope up with small buildings on the outskirts shading into denser, taller ones; it goes from grassland to four and ten and twenty-story buildings. The flagstone path flows into a network of cobbled streets. "What do you need besides clothes and sheets?"
"Toiletries, things for personal hygiene and the like. Probably a mirror pair, for easy communication - nothing fancy, just something small. Oh, and if the cafeteria doesn't serve tea, I'd like some," he says, looking at the buildings curiously. They're much, much taller than he's used to, but he doesn't comment. "For non-necessities I'd like to pay you back in the future, after I've started making portals. It seems wrong otherwise."
"The shops I've seen at home weren't named that uncreatively, they just lean towards what they do in the name. For example, there's a clothing and tailoring shop that's called Snips and Stiches. I don't think that pun translated, but it's... Clever, in my language," he explains. "That kind of thing."
They reach the clothes store, the function of which is somewhat more obvious when they're close enough to see through the glass storefront. "Okay, tell me what kind of things you like, is what you're wearing a good place to start or was it - I don't know, something your grandmother bought you that you had to wear because she was going to visit?"
Shopping trip for clothes ensues. Clothes are picked out, and then bought. It's all very exciting and the two of them will probably be able to shop reasonably well together. Korulen knows fashion in Elcenia better than Adarin would, but of course he has a good idea of his own taste.
The end result is a modest wardrobe, with culture-appropriate looking clothes. Adarin tends towards the practical in basic clothing, but likes somewhat fancier jackets. These kinds of things are bought, though he does very obviously avoid bankrupting Korulen. He can always come back later and buy more things once his portal-empire has taken root.
Soon enough, clothes shopping would be finished. A sense of accomplishment is felt by all.
Sheets and toiletries are bought. The sense of accomplishment would strengthen, along with the load of things they're carrying.
And then they locate his pair of mirrors, and then they go to a grocery store where there is a variety of tea to select from. (The same store will also supply a 'hot waterspout', which will conjure water when twisted open in a state of hot, rather than water in a state of cold, as is typical for waterspouts. This water can be used to make tea.)
He is quietly making plans of buying fifty waterspouts and then making even more money back home with them. He's not even sure what he'd even do with all of this potential money, but he's certain he'll think of something. Eventually. As soon as he's stopped being incredibly charmed by self-heating water conjurers.
Them heading back to the school occurs. On the way back, Adarin asks for an explanation of how dragons work, in more depth. He's curious.
"It can be any species. Well, any single species - most dragons can't turn into half-human half-elves. But it can't be any number of things. They pick things permanently. For most dragons they get five learned shapes after their natural form and they don't get to pick exactly what it looks like, except it's predictable in some ways - Mom in human form looks exactly like Grandma in human form, for instance."
It comes as a relief to hear that not all dragons could break his mind easily. Not much of one in that there is someone in the world that could break his mind, and he knows her personally, but every little thing counts.
Subject change from Korulen's scary, scary mother is necessary. Adarin gets to making that happen.
"I'm not sure if you'd like to learn more about how my magic works or not. Would you like me to tell you about it?"
"If I ever have children, they're overwhelmingly likely to have the same type of magic I do. It dilutes, though, so there's... Less magic in them as bloodlines continue."
"Huh. There's nothing here that quite works like that. Dragons don't so much dilute as they do have an entire separate sort of dragon-like thing that they can produce if they have half-dragon kids. Thudias like me. But my sister's a parunia, which just means that she is exactly and entirely a dragon even though her dad is an elf."
"Ah. Well, that part does sound incredibly problematic," he says with a wince. It seems to be a rather sad thing that a little sister will stay that way for years and years while her older sister ages and becomes an adult. Not that either option's a bad thing, it's just together it seems unfortunate.