She's finished handing back graded exams when a snake with a mirror for a mouth barrels through the door. The skeleton she's animating to sweep the floor whacks it with the broom, and she tries to have the snake's skeleton form spikes through its vital organs, but she isn't fast enough to avoid going through the mirror.

Now she's in someone else's lair. (She looks like a young human woman, maybe in her mid-to-late teens, maybe Mwangi. She wears a vivid red coat with brass buttons and buckles over a frilly white shirt, brown pants, and black boots. Her similarly red top hat is taller than her head and has a pair of goggles stored on it.)

They've just got to the really funny bit, when a Person just arrived out of nowhere, blocking Lady Eriape's view of the Proceedings. 

"Hey I was Watching That! Down in Front Please."

She can get out of the way of the projector.

…It's a skull projector, how strange. She'll do a quick Sending so as to not interrupt the show. «I'm sorry, I just got teleported here without meaning to.»

[Message: That's Interesting! It seems the Badgers like the Show, so let's Talk like This. Usually this Lair has Teleports Blocked. You must be Very Powerful!]

She'll try out the new spell for replying. A successful Academic witch always studies new spells. [Message reply: I actually don't do Portals myself at all yet! A monster sent me here.]

Projected in the air, above the still-fascinated badgers, the punch-and-judy show is coming to an end.

["Gosh! Which Kind!"]

She will Send a telepathic image of a portalsnake, which is a rank-zero Divination that almost any witch can do, so it shouldn't be very surprising to receive.

"Oh, I've see one of Those Before! I was trying to Summon the Eternal Badger, and instead I got Little Children, and Snakes with Mirrors, and all Kinds of Things. It was Very Pecuilar, Really."

Eriape shakes her head.

"Then Much Later I found out that the Eternal Badger couldn't be summoned Without a Lost Artifact.  So it Goes."

The show has ended, but there's a New Show right the Lair. Summonings are always Fun.

"Who is This?"

Eriape un-dims the lights. 

"I don't Know? Hello, I am Eriape! These are my Badger Friends. Who are You?"

“I’m Coriander. Would you like to meet my familiar Mango?”

"Yes! I am Clarabella. I am the Senior Badger."

“You can speak? Nice.” That implies Familiarity 4.

Coriander makes a bowl with her arms.

Which now contains a black chicken.

"Gosh! Hello, Mango! Can you Fly?"

He doesn’t seem to understand the question.

“He can for a short distance. I could ask him to demonstrate if you’d like.”

Clarabella's head droops in embarrassment. "Oh. Mango Cannot Talk?"

"I can Fly!"

"Yes Haria can [Fly] too."

“If Eriape can help you talk, I’d expect her to be able to understand him? He doesn’t talk on his own, that takes a pretty advanced witch. And he just flies with his wings, or on my broomstick.”

She looks at Eriape. “Did you find a way to have multiple familiars?”

"The Kind of Wizard that I am can't have Useful Familiars because of our Heavy Specialization in the Obverse Power! Instead All of my Badger Friends were Awakened through the means of a Very Powerful Spell!"

“How interesting. Are you a Naturalist, then? I’m not yet familiar with the Obverse Power.”

"I have Heard them called Druids more Frequently, but Great Question! The Spell is Originally from a 'Naturalist', but I have Skillfully managed to make it Stabilize on an Arcane Scaffold!"

“Sorry, arcane as opposed to what?”

"Divine! Druids count as Divine. I'm Not Entirely Sure of Why, probably Something to do with the Fey Kingdom Rigamarole."

"Huh! The typical naturalist I would expect to meet would be a sorceress, and wouldn't necessarily have any connection to Alfheimr. Warlocks don't generally have any particular affinity for naturalism."

"I have certainly seen Sorceresses who are Naturalists, but mostly due to their Bloodlines Coinciding. I don't think I know the Warlock type of Spellcaster. What do they Do?"

“They’re the kind of witch who develops by taking quests for their patron, which might be a god or archangel or archdemon or something stranger. They tend to have relics bonded to their soul the way normal witches just have their clothes and rod, and are known for skill with curses, necromancy, transmutation, divination and so on.”

"Sounds like what we call Witches. They have Familiars too, and their Familiars trade spells with Each Other. Does yours Do that?"

“If he does, he hasn’t told me!” She pats Mango and giggles.

Eriape makes a laughing kind of sound. "Fair Enough! You seem to be a Reasonable Sort, Where are You From, Exactly?"

"I came here from Arcadia, where I teach, but I was born in the United States."

"Arcadia is certainly Far Away! I have never heard of United States! Which Continent is the United States on?"

"North America on Earth. If you haven't heard of Earth you shouldn't go there without studying it first, you're not supposed to do any visible magic around humans there."

"I do magic in front of Humans all the Time, but you may be from Another Planet. Don't worry It Happens a Lot. Let's look at the Map."

She walks over to a wall with a map of Golarion posted on it. There's several gold enamel badger pins all across the map.

She has a look. “I’ve never been here before. New planet for me, I guess. I’m going to need someone’s help to get home.”

She gets out a small rectangular item with a black glassy face that lights up when touched and aims it at the map.

"I am Sure we will be Able to Manage. Which Gods do you Have on Earth?

She stops aiming her item. Nothing seems to have happened to the map. Any badger who gets a look before she pockets her item again may notice that it briefly showed a glowing picture of the map.

"That's a very reasonable question which I cannot give you a high-quality and concise answer to."

She's lecturing, now.

"The most popular religions are Christianity and Islam, both of which worship an unnamed creator deity most known for his communications with, in order of increasing disputedness, Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammad. I don't know if any of these actually happened. The creator deity may or may not correspond with the leader of the celestials, who is sometimes referred to as 'the One'. I've seen summoned celestials but they never comment on this, they're always very coy, all 'we cannot comment on potential ongoing operations'. There aren't warlocks of the One that I've met, but there are warlocks of powerful celestials."

"There's a lot of other gods, if you can name one there might well be a warlock of them around. The ones with warlocks on Earth haven't all necessarily themselves been to Earth, though. Powerful demons are effectively godlike. I don't know the full power of the Far Gods of the Outsiders, or the exact scale of Far God incursions on Earth."

"Far Gods and Outsiders are hostis magi generis and infohazardous. If you summon or accept power from one I am obligated to try to kill you."

"I probably couldn't, you're a lich and thus almost certainly a much better combatant than I am. Sorry, I'm sure you've heard this lecture a million times and probably given it yourself, admin just really wants to make sure everyone's clear on Outsiders."

"We don't Have any of Jesus or Mohammed. What are their Alignments? My last God Died before I went Underground, and so I don't have one Right Now. We have Urgathoa, who represents Undead, and is Evil, and Boring, Abadar, who represents Money and is Lawful and Boring, Sarenrae who represents Good and is Good and is Boring, and Calistria who represents Whores and is Anarchic but at least Isn't Boring. And some Other Ones. The Far Gods sound like Tapestry Gods, who are Banned here Too."

"The Celestials mostly support good acts but seem vaguely connected to a weird number of holy wars given that. Demons are sometimes evil but sometimes mostly want to have food or rest or sex or trinkets. I wouldn't trust any of the powerful demons but Mammon is mostly known for buying goods at low prices and selling them to summoners at high prices. Prices in cash or mana or other normal goods, not living sacrifices. Other gods vary, there aren't any that I know of as being particularly lawful? Is there something evil about undead, or lawful about money, or anarchic about selling sex? And I'm glad we're on the same page about Far Gods."

"I am Not Sure why Whores are Anarchic, it's Just how it is Here. It has something to do with the Afterlife I Think. We have an Afterlife System designed by a God who is very Keen on injecting her idea about Two Axis Morality into Everything."

"And she succeeds?"

"Yes, she Made this Universe. She keeps Tapestry Gods out, but doesn't Like Undeath. Some of her ideas are Nice and some are Stupid."

"Huh. If I'm in another universe I might have to die and get my card drawn at home, portals that far are a big hassle. …I don't actually bind souls to bodies much, briefly animating animals without minds seems to work well enough for me. I can probably abstain while I'm here, keeping Far Gods out is pretty important. Do you know why the creator doesn't like it? Do you dislike her? Would you be interested in being restored to life, if your phylactery has an inconvenient location I understand not wanting to regenerate there but I expect I could put you in touch with a powerful Curatives vendor."

"No, being Undead is Useful for Me and the Badgers, due to Extending Life. All of us would have Died without Undeath. I am Sure we can Send you Home Somehow- there are some People with Ninth-Circle Spells around and they can Mostly Do Anything."

"Would a curative interfere with your phylactery? I know Einodia is just a skeleton but I thought that was a personal choice. And if you advance a bit more in Familiarity you can accumulate the capacity to save animal lives, I think. And the college administration keeps decks of summoning cards for any interested professors in good standing, if I die they can summon me back home with one. They'll probably get in touch with me after they're done with incident cleanup. I'm not sure what you mean by ninth-circle."

"I think it is Possible that our respective Magical Traditions impose on us a Difficulty of Mutual Understanding.  In Our Traditions, all Spellcasters go though Fixed Circles, of 1-9, that Same Number which Correlates directly to the Topological Genus of the Spell, The Power of the Spell, and Power of the Spellcaster, and the Intelligence of their Familiar 

I do not Know what Curatives or Familiarity is"

"That sounds different from what I'm familiar with. I would expect magical disciplines to typically have 'ranks' ranging from zero to five, or very occasionally six for the particularly notable witch. Nearly every witch has rank-zero magic in all disciplines which offer it. Topology isn't involved."

"Familiarity is the discipline of having a familiar. At rank 0, a witch can call one. I have rank 1, so I have an empathic bond with my familiar, she can help me cast spells, and if I had animal allergies before this would have gotten rid of them. Intelligence normally develops at familiarity rank 4, along with shapeshifting, for both the familiar and the witch."

"Curatives are a product of alchemy, which is the discipline of potion-crafting. I have rank 1 alchemy, so I could demonstrate if I had a cauldron and a heat source and some groceries or mana, but I can't do anything particularly impressive."

"We also have wild magics, which don't follow the rank structure. Some very popular ones are losing the need for sleep, creating intangible servants, and placing variable-temperature unfueled flames."

"Interesting. The Sixth Circle Limit Sounds Familiar. Do you Sing or Declaim your Spells?"

"We Have Alchemists, but they Work Similarly. They make Potions. Some of the Badgers are Alchemically Inclined"

"Not generally? Runes and alchemy take ritual, and adjusting my garments takes time, but I can just do things like this without any performance."

Mango vanishes, reappears, and vanishes again.

"So not Related to Song-Sorcerers then. Why is it Illegal to Show magic to Humans?"

"The inaccurate beliefs of humans on Earth stabilize the universe. It's … messy."

"That seems like a Bad System too. In fact, it seems like a Worse System. Do you Also have an Infinite Torture Organization for your Afterlives?"

"My understanding is that the soul may degrade eventually. …but, essentially, yes. If I advance more as a necromancer I can try to ensure people who die near me don't go there, but I'm … not actually planning on working in hospice or something."

"It seems Highly Suboptimal. I do not Intend to Die Myself. What was that Magical Construct you were Using? It appeared Slightly Transmuitive!

“Calling and dismissing Mango is just standard rank zero Familiarity…”

"No, I mean, with The Map. The Thing with the Lights."

She gets it out again. "Oh, my cell phone? It's a computer and a camera and a mobile telephone all in one. I have a few runes in it but they aren't strictly necessary."

"I don't know Those Words! Is it like a Book?"

"It contains text and pictures from books? I … am not quite sure of your background here."

She gestures towards the cyclopean skull. "Is this not just a fancy projector case?"

"It is Not! It is a Spell I Developed to Entertain the Badgers. It shows the View of a Place in Absalom where I Placed a Spy Skull. The Spy Skull Sees through its Eyeholes using the Principle of Obverse Contagion and Transmits it Here in using a Simplified Scrying Geodesic Variant. It is Better and Faster than the Average Scrying Spell."

"Huh. People usually do that nonmagically on Earth. Are you at all familiar with nondamaging uses of electricity?"

"Some People can make Spells Merciful so they Just Zap you without doing Damage. My Teacher in Magic could Do That."

"Well, then. You are missing out on a great deal of wonders which are possible without the use of magic, of which the cell phone is one. It is possible to turn the spinning of a wheel or the light of the sun into electricity, and store it, and turn electricity back into light or motion, if at a moderate loss. Mechanisms with electricity can be used to spin thread and weave fabric, to send signals great distances, and many things besides."

She pauses. "My cell phone is electric, but if you want a camera the easiest starting point is plausibly alchemy. I do have an electric aura and Metallurgy, I can demonstrate some simple principles given some spare metal."

"So there are Pictures inside the Device? If I could See a Picture of your World, then I could [Scry] It! [Scry] can Scry Anywhere!" (It's clear that [Scry] denoting the spell and Scry denoting the action are pronounced differently.)

"Oh, sure. One moment…"

The 'cell phone' is showing buildings of glass and metal and concrete. It's painted in bright colors but barely ornamented. There's some signs with text Eriape can't read, one of which also has a stylized rendering of a pointed wide-brimmed hat. The people in the picture are mostly women, and mostly walking around or riding bicycles or flying on broomsticks.

"I can contact people at home myself, to be clear, but if you want to have a look for your own sake go ahead."

"Looks like a Nice Place! Scrying takes an Hour, so I won't do it Now, but it's Good to have a [Plane Shift] Target. And you Say all of this is From Electricity! We have Broomsticks too, but Using Magic. When I go on an Outing with the Badgers I use a Flying Carpet- but they are Expensive- all that Fabric uses a Lot of Spellsilver."

"Oh, no, this is Arcadia where I teach, I'm sorry. The broomsticks are magical. The bicycles aren't actually electrical, even, they're just contraptions you power with your feet. I would need something for good tires but given a slab of metal and my books I could probably assemble a bicycle right now. If you'd like to see some pictures of Earth I also have those."

"I think it would be Hard for a Badger to Ride a Bicycle. I would Like to See your Earth!"

The first photo Coriander finds of herself in a public space on Earth is, in fact, from her recent trip to see the Giza pyramids.

She shows the image of herself and some other girls also wearing pointy hats standing in front of the ancient pyramids to Eriape, a bit awkwardly. "I promise you, there's a modern city right near here. I can keep looking for a better photo if you'd like."

"We have them too! When wizards build Pyramids they Sometimes have a Matched version Upside Down hanging from a Cave-Roof in the Darklands. Do you do that Too?

"I haven't built any pyramids myself, and I don't know anyone who's done that, but I wouldn't rule it out."

She swipes through images on the rectangle before finding another. "Okay, here we are."

This one is indoors, in a massive building. The photo is centered around an ancient statue that's over 30 feet tall, standing on a platform surrounded by a shallow fountain. The walls and ceiling feature a lot of glass and some metal, as well as what's probably either concrete or stone. Coriander's standing in front of the fountain, with the same other girls that were near the pyramids. There's people, milling about in the background, and some lights that may not be coming through the ceiling.

She points at the lights. "Okay, these are electric. And over here, in the background, you see this person? He's also using a cell phone, and probably not a magical one. These are turnstiles, they're machines that don't let people through unless they have tickets, and those are probably also electric. Behind there is I think an escalator, which is an electric moving staircase. The fountain is probably also kept clean with electric pumps. I can prestidigitate this picture onto a surface, if you'd like to trace it."

"No, it is Enough that I have Seen It, then I can Scry it Later! Say! Would you like to See our Pyramids? We could Teleport to Osirion, and make it an Outing for the Badgers! Undead are Legal There!"

"That might be nice? I'd like to know more about where we are, first, and since I don't have any big plans for the next few months I'm tempted to try getting some industry going over here. …and before any of that I would like food and water, but I don't know if you have any around."

"We have Seven Preserved Onions that I use in my Preservation Research. Three of them are apparently Poisonous, but I am Never Sure Which Ones. We also have Water that came from the Roof. I think I would Recommend we Teleport somewhere there is Human Food."

“A reasonable recommendation. Where would you suggest? And what is your budget like? Rune and potion production often takes groceries as input, and you seem potentially interested. If I can make enough weight runes, say, I might be able to support a lot of badgers on my broom.”

"Well Upstairs from Here there is a country that Likes Torture. Next to That is another country that Likes Torture. Human Countries hereabouts are Obsessed with Torture, either Promoting it or Opposing it. Wierd if you Ask Me! I recommend we go to Osirion, Geb, Absalom or Andoran. They have the Least Torture."

"Why do you live below a country that likes torture? And what are the legal situations like? You mentioned undead being legal in Osirion, are they illegal other places because the creator doesn't like it?"

"Undead are Legal in Geb and Osirion and Illegal in Absalom and Andoran, so when I go I use a Secret Disguise! The Badgers have to be Disguised as Dogs and Can't Talk Much."

"I have been Living here for a Long Time. A while back the People Hereabouts got really Interested in Torture and Slavery, and Ever Since then it's all They think About! They even have Various Boring and Evil Gods who Like Torture!" 

"So Really I was here First, and They should Leave."

“Is this even an unusually good piece of land, aside from the current neighbors? Are you doing anything to make them want to leave?”

"I have not yet Managed to Summon the Eternal Badger! If I had, I would Most Certainly have Asked them to Leave! I was Born Here! Well, upstairs. But Still Here!"

"But you don't have the artifact for summoning the Eternal Badger. It kind of sounds like you're inflicting annoying neighbors on yourself and hoping this will hurt them somehow."

"That is Very Insightful!"

"Yes."

"You're Saying I should Move?"

"If you Feel Like It!"

"Yes."

Eriape looks at Coriander, this is all your fault. "It is a Good Point. You are Smart."

She catches Eriape's look. "I do try. If I'm invited to move with you, I can also help you pack your things into solid bone crates I can move telekinetically."

"That is a Nice Offer! So shall We get You some Human Food and Water?"

"That would be lovely, thank you. We should probably go somewhere undead are legal, if it's all equally convenient otherwise."

"Okay! Badgers! I'm going Out! I'm bringing Haria Today! Clarabella's is my Representative for any Business that May Come Up. Have Fun, and Don't make a Ruckus!"

Eriape crouches and takes Haria's paw, and holds out her black-nailed greyish hand to Coriander. "Teleport?"

"Sounds good to me! The three of us can take my broomstick afterwards if you'd like."

She'll take Eriape's hand. (Her hand is warm and brownish with fairly translucent nails.)

And they are....elsewhere. It is very bright, after the near-twilight in Eriape's lair, and quite hot. 

There's a streetside cafe, sitting on a hill, with a view in one direction towards a mountain-sized beetle (plainly very dead). A slight rainbow shimmer runs across the gleaming black chitin shell in the bright sunlight. In the other direction is a view down into the lower city. 

It's nice that her Garment is suitable for any temperature.

She photographs the giant beetle shell, then looks to Eriape. "Want one with us?"

"It is an Instant Painting? Yes, if Haria can be in the Picture Too! She can Levitate if Needed."

"It adds it to my collection of pictures! I can't currently print it but I do like to have them."

She will use the front facing camera and start herding everyone into frame. (Eriape and Harià can see a live preview.)

Haria hovers a bit over their heads

Eriape grins even wider than usual, and makes the sparks of arcane fire in her eyes glow brighter than usual, bright enough to be seen in the intense sunlight.

Coriander smiles for the camera and takes the picture. Her phone plays a clicky noise emulating a device Eriape has never seen.

"There we go!"

"Excellent! Now, for the Human Refreshments." Then she spots someone peeking around the doorframe. "Merytamu! I am Back!"

His first instinct is to hide, to pretend not to be open. But it's not the first time the- creature- has come here. Sometimes it looks different. Sometimes it has humans with it. Sometimes it pays in gold. Sometimes it haggles. Sometimes it demands fresh moles. 

But it must be very powerful, and It has never hurt him or his family. 

"Honored Eriape."

She doesn't understand him. Aside from Eriape's name. When Eriape doesn't immediately say anything, she looks a bit concerned.

"I speak fluent English. Yo hablo un poquito Español."

It doesn't seem to ring a bell for anyone here.

Oh well, introductions time. Point to Eriape. "Eriape." Point to him. "Merytamu." Point to herself. "Coriander."

Adventurers never know the local language. He points to a bucket. He points to a nearby coffee cup, left on a table. He points to his stomach. He points to Coriander

"Eriape, we have A Spell for Languages."

"Yes, Fun as Charades Is, I can Prepare a Spell for This. In the Meantime, Coriander, if you Tell me what you Want, I can Have Merytamu Bring you What you Desire.."

There are pictures. She's pretty sure that this one is showing a bean and bread dish, which sounds reasonable. …the water here might not be safe.

She'll point at the dish. "I'd like this, and something to drink. Do you know if the water here is safe for humans?"

"They have a Cleric Come By in the Morning and Purify It. It is Fine. He Saw me Once but he is Abadaran and I Paid him to Talk to Me."

"She'll have that."

"Is this the kind of place where they give you water with the food by default?"

"Yes and Also Bread and Some White Stuff I think is Salt! It is a Fancy Place because of the Views!"

"Salt is useful. I use a lot of it for crafting runes."

"Neat! I Rarely Use it Because I am Undead and I have spells to Preserve the Things I need. One Moment Please."

Eriape pulls a spare Spellbook out of her Purse, and begins to hang the spell on her scaffold. She's quite quick, and not more than a minute later, she turns to Coriander. "Do you Want the Language Spell? It will Last for Four Hours." 

“Can it wait until after I eat? I’m not sure how it interacts with Sending and eating occupies the mouth.”

"Yes it Can!"

Food is made. There's some discussion about who wants to deliver it- Merytamu's son would like to see the dangerous wierdos-  but eventually Merytamu comes out again with a plate and a carafe and a mug, all well-thrown and glazed in a consistent light blue.

Coriander smiles appreciatively and takes the food.

She's partway through a mouthful of beans when she gets a Sending. This kind of thing has happened many times before and she's not particularly startled, but she does shift her expression and chew more slowly.

«Hi, this is Caitlyn with Campus Security. Are you okay?»

«I'm in another world but I'm fine.»

«Huh.»

«Right now I'm at a restaurant in their Egypt-analogue with a cool lich.» She sends the selfie along. «I will probably come back for the fall semester even if I have to die for it but if someone could figure out how to summon me without that I'd appreciate it. I might want to bring friends or souveniers.»

«I'll pass that along.»

«Did anyone else get eaten by the snake?»

«Someone ended up near our Toronto entrance but we were assuming it was a panic teleport.»

«Well. I don't teleport, and I'm here, so I'm not sure it was a panic teleport.»

«If it's important maybe someone will investigate.»

«Mm. Talk to you later?»

«I hope your unexpected trip goes well. Bye!»

Coriander refocuses on her surroundings. "So, Arcadia just contacted me."

"Okay! If they Open an Adventurer's Bounty on the Snake, I might Contribute, I am Interested in the Mirror"

Coriander blinks. "I don't think Arcadia does a lot of bounties, and I'm not sure how you'd transfer funds, but if anyone mentions one I'll let you know?"

"I would Expect that now that the Universes are Aware of each Other Sooner or Later there will be Trade Established. We have Quite a bit of Trade with the Elemental Planes."

"That would be interesting. Mostly I hear about the elemental planes in the context of opening a rift near one, and you don't need to negotiate to heat things with the Fire Proxima."

"Universities here always have Bountiful Bounties for Research Purposes. Does your Magic Creatures not provide useful Fragments of Arcane Power?"

"So, magical creature parts are useful components for some fields of advanced magic, but it's a bit more complicated than that."

"Firstly, Arcadia is primarily volunteer-run. We don't charge tuition. Our faculty consists of people with a passion for teaching or at least for staying affiliated, historic sages that pledged to serve witches, and mortals who don't demand much above room and board and the occasional spell. We thus don't actually have a lot of liquid currency on hand, per se."

"Secondly, a lot of the time expensive components can be substituted with Kisses – solid mana. Historically this has been difficult to produce, but with recent developments in Kiss Mint production, it's gotten easier, if you have a team of cooperative witches with fast charging. Arcadia has Kiss mints, and even if it's easier for some individuals to draw blood from dragon than to get together a big team, the same doesn't apply to institutions."

"Though my understanding is that Alfheimr and some comparably mature institutions* do cultivate seemingly wild regions to be particularly habitable to useful creatures, and occasionally someone has a phoenix friend or such."

* Hespatia

"I would be Interested in Investigating the potential Uses for these Kisses in Golarion Magic at the Opportune Time which is Not Now. Why don't you Charge for your Services?"

"New witches don't usually start with much wealth and having people make magically binding long-term income sharing agreements just to attend school is corrosive to a free society. Which is not to say Hawthorne shouldn't exist, to be clear, merely that it should be possible to get an education without signing a faerie contract. And Arcadia lets me live in a palatial apartment, enjoy good food, take vacations all over the world and even on the moon with their portals, and I don't need to save for retirement or such."

"How does the University efficiently allocate Resources? Presumably even Kisses are Limited! And why do you Not need to Save for Retirement?"

“Suboptimally!”

“The value of mortal currency is limited, maintaining a mortal identity as a witch can be difficult, and banking options for witches are bad. So we rely on favors and charity and social pressure. Or, well. Some of us decide to keep boards of wealth in their hats or some other less secure location, some of us do bank with Alphazon or the faeries or such, and some people join Lunabella, which is at least transparent.”

“And I don’t need to save for retirement because I don’t age.”

"Seems Wise not to Age! I myself hated it and Bought many Anti-Aging Unguents while I was Alive! I don't Know Alphazon or Lunabella. Are they Friends of Yours?"

“I am certainly not friends with Alphazon. They try to infect everything they touch and replace it with their garbage. …they’re a magic-aware originally mortal-led technology company merger.”

"Lunabella is a monarchy on Earth's moon where effectively everyone is indentured. It really seems like even the founders bound themselves to the legal code. Lunabella is objectively very impressive given how old they are but I feel like in this day and age a lot of people can do better."

"This Lunabella seems like Something Asmodeus would Love! Anyway none of those Seem like Optimal Banks! See this is Something Which this Reality can Sell to you In return for Kisses! Perfect and Just Banking services implemented by the Clerics of the God of Law which Never Fail!"

"Huh, that's intriguing. …I'm not sure you want Kisses, I feel like you'd want witch magic outputs. And mortal technology. Who's Asmodeus, anyway?"

"If you can use Kisses as Ingredients in Magic Items and Enchantments, then that would be an Economic Revolution in Wizardry. I am Sure some People will want Painting-Boxes too, but Imagine Awakening Badgers without the need for Very Expensive Unguents! It would be Vital for the Welfare of Golarion!"

"Asmodeus is One of those Torture Gods I talked About. He wants everyone to be in a Hierarchy from Top to Bottom."

"They work as ingredients in runes and potions. I'm not sure if they'd work in whatever you're thinking of. In the specific case of Awakening badgers, a Calamity-grade Naturalist could handle it without a bunch of kisses, but I'm not sure how much demand there is for that? And Lunabella has a hierarchy but I don't think they have a lot of torture, we have a portal there."

"There are Millions of Badgers that are not Yet Awakened! Plenty of Demand! Anyway do you want to Hear the Story about the Beetle?" She points. 

"I can't tell whether you're saying that un-Awakened badgers want to buy Awakening and have money for it, that existing people want to pay to create badger-people so strongly that the only real limit is the quantity of badgers, or just that you consider this an important charity thing. And yes, I'd love to hear."

"Awakening badgers is an Important Charity Thing! Anyway this Planet is a Prison created by the God Pharasma to contain a Tapestry God who Found his way In to her Creation. Sometimes when Naughty people interfere with the Seal on the Prison and it leaks a bit."

She points.

"That thing was a Leak, but it was Killed by a Wizard who lived Hereabouts. Then he became King, and built a House Inside because Incoming Magic Effects are Blocked by the Elytra. The Rulers of Osirion have been Living inside Ever Since!"

"That makes a lot of sense. It's impressive and useful."

Boots ring on flagstones for a moment, before they're visible.

And then three members of the Sothis City Guard come around the corner, and turn their way.

Why are there three of them – probably because she's with a lich.

Does she need her – no, she does not need her photo ID. It's dubiously plausible anyway and this planet doesn't have the camera.

She sets down her utensils and waves.

"Oh it's the Guard!" Eriape doesn't wave. Wizards waving their hands is usually taken the wrong way.  "Want that Spell for Speaking Osiriani now?" she says, in an aside.

"Yes, please."

Eriape turns around and casts [Extended Tongues] on Coriander.

There's still gawkers, hanging around the outside of the cafe, looking at the strange folk. This is a lawful country. THE lawful country. The guard here is lawful.

Two of them stop just over 30 feet away, and a single guardsman comes up to talk. 

"Good Morning! I am Eriape, Princess of Badgers! This is My Friend Haria, and my New Friend Coriander!"

"Hello!"

"Good morning, officer. I'm Coriander."

She hopes they didn't skip an important border checkpoint. She's skipped plenty of border checkpoints in her day but only mortal ones, and she has this feeling that Eriape might relate to a lot of laws the way Coriander relates to expectations that she both has ID and looks her age.

"Greetings. A potential concern has been reported. Where do you live, who are your responsible legal authorities, and from what source does your right of dwelling and or residence derive from?"

"I live Underneath Cheliax, and I am Legally Responsible for Myself, as a Sapient Undead Creature under the Ruby Prince's Sixth Decree on the Undead Menace. I am a Lawful Adventurer with the Capacity to Teleport and Claiming the Relevant Exemption from the Residence Laws for me and my Adventuring Party."

Harià pipes up. "I am a Third Circle Wizard and part of Lady Eriape's Adventuring Party."

This is a weird answer format but she'll do her best. "I very recently had a teleportation accident and encountered Lady Eriape. I am currently planning to join her for the next few months, but I can leave if this is necessary."

Do they want to know who they can complain to if she commits crimes? The answer there is theoretically Arcadia but that's going to be a pain. If what she says doesn't answer their questions they can ask more questions, they probably don't want her to speculate about what they mean by responsible legal authorities.

He turns to Coriander.

"How trying for you, miss. How old are you and where does your eldest male relative and or husband live?"

"I am over fifty years old. I realize this is a highly implausible claim. I'm not married. I wouldn't expect to have any relatives on the planet, is this relevant?"

Her family is mortal. She doesn't really want to drag them into this stuff, and she's not sure why gender would be relevant.

[Message: "Tell them you Have Magic Powers Sufficient to Support Yourself as a Teacher of Magic. Osirion thinks Weak Women are not Legal Adults for Some Reason."]

«Thanks.»

"Oh! And I have magic powers sufficient to support myself as a teacher thereof. I can demonstrate, if that would be useful."

"I can Pay for the Wand Charges."

"Very well." He selects one of the whistles around his neck (marked with the same glyphs Eriape uses) and blows it.

«Wand charge?»

"They are Fetching a Guy with A Wand who will See If you are Telling the Truth! It is one of the Advantages of a Lawful Abadarian State!"

One of the guys in the back grins briefly.

"Wow. Truth magic that isn't mind-reading or contracts is probably going to be really popular if trade gets going."

"Oh, Good to Know now. Keep that in your Back Pocket when we see the Prince."

Apparently that's happening. Coriander nods.

A few minutes later, a large fat man comes around the corner, puffing slightly. He has a snow cone in one hand and a wand in the other. When he sees them he hides the snow cone behind his back 

"Will you Accept and Pay for a Truth Spell?"

"I will Pay." She looks at Coriander 

"Just so we're clear, how do I accept a truth spell?"

"The spell will Rub against the Surface of your Mind, Softly, Like Fur, and you will Need to let it Do So and Retract your Mental Claws. The Spell will then Make a Symbol over Your Forehead of The God which will Vanish if you Lie."

"Okay. I think I can do that."

Almost too fast to see, the tip of Jedjet's wand touches the tip of Coriander's nose, for just a brief moment, and the spell falls over her. Then he's walking away, licking his snow cone.

Heree clears his throat.
"Uh-

• Are you a human woman not presently under any illusions?
• Are you over fifty years old?
• Are you from another planet?
• Are you a magic teacher and do you support yourself in this profession?
• Are you being kept here against your will?
• Do you have any hostile intentions towards the city, country, people, or Ruby Prince of Osirion?"

"I am a human woman not presently under any illusions." (She's not even veiled. Technically she sometimes gets called 'neutral', but that's not not human.)

"I am over fifty years old."

"I am almost certainly here from another planet."

Sheeee is not going to be able to claim to support herself as a magic teacher. "I habitually support myself as a teacher who sometimes teaches magic classes. I plan to return to my college. Right now I am accepting Lady Eriape's hospitality and not supporting myself otherwise."

"I am not being kept against my will."

"I do not have any hostile intentions towards the city, country, people, or Ruby Prince of Osirion."

"All right, Miss. It's not illegal to be from another planet, but I imagine someone from the Trade Relations is going to want to talk to you."

He stops talking, tilts his head for about the time needed to receive a sending, and then straightens up.

"Would you like to see the palace? You've been invited for a friendly trade consultation with the high priest of the good of trade."

"That does sound interesting."

She looks to Eriape. "Is now a bad time for me to go? I can let you know when I'm done so we can meet up again."

"Not at All, I will Do Some Shopping for the Badgers. Keep in Mind that the High Priest is also for Legal Reasons the Ruby Prince of Osirion. You Have to Call Him His Highness, and it is Recommended to Kowtow. They will Tell you All About it."

"Huh. I suppose I can manage."

A brougham-style carriage is summoned from a nearby shop, and a couple of guards are mounted up to escort it to the palace. It is exceedingly well sprung, and is well able to take Coriander.

It’s going to be slower than her broom, but probably more comfortable and novel. She’ll take it. And take photos of it, holding her phone with metallurgy.

Sothis, down on ground level, is poor and rich at the same time- with construction happening constantly using cranes patched together from wood and massive solid blocks of iron.

And soon enough they arrive at the great beetle, and are bought to the gates of the Inner City

"Greetings. I am Usermat, Third Rank Palace Majordomo. It is presently believed that you have been pointed out as a very significant potential trade partner by Abadar. We would like to buy up to an hour of your time. It is standard practice to in this situation to sufficiently compensate the Prince's interlocutors to ensure maximal cooperation. You may take this compensation as a separate fee notwithstanding and unrelated to any trade deal later struck. Our original offer, merely for your time, is six hundred pounds Absalom."

She was going to want to discuss this at some point anyway.

“Sure.”

"Excellent. Here is the paperwork. Now, some notes- all of this is in the paperwork as well, but:

• There is an antimagic field in the Audience Chambers. It does not affect the Prince. The king oath-commits that during a span of time directly before, during, and subsequent to this audience,
  • You will not be subject to any spells cast on you at any time in the specified span
  • You will not be detained or held for any reason as a result of any actions taken during the specified span, unless directly physically or magically attacking the prince or his representatives

We also include some notes on the customs of the royal court of Osirion:

• For legal reasons, we ask that you at all times when you need to refer to the Prince you do so as His Highness.
• When approaching the Ruby Prince, You may, depending on your religious preferences:
  • bow,
  • briefly place a coin on your heart
  • kowtow
• It is generally thought best not to speak until spoken to by the Ruby Prince, but he asks that you are reasonable in the maintenance of this tradition.
  
• It used to be the practice to not look at the Ruby Prince unless told to do so, this practice has ended by princely decree.
• Note that the Ruby Prince
  • Is the direct representative of Abadar on Osirion,
  • Has ninth circle spells
  • Has, in theory, absolute legal power in Osirion, though this power is wielded judiciously and generally in the service of Abadar. "

He hands Coriander a large scroll.

She takes it and looks at the antimagic field explanation. It still doesn't quite answer her question.

"My clothes are summoned. Will an anti-magic field dismiss them?"

This is a familiar refrain. "Permanent* effects cease, Instantaneous* effects continue.  Summoned creatures are generally abjured, but objects often not."

(*)Magic terms of art

She doesn't quite feel like "often" is good enough for not losing her clothes in front of the leader of a country that wanted to know where her oldest male relative was.

Also, she's pointing a shiny light-up rectangular object at the scroll now.

"Would it be possible for me to borrow a change of clothing? I can prestidigitate it afterwards. Also, if his Highness … do I literally need to say 'his Highness' the whole time or do I say 'your Highness' if I'm talking to him … would prefer it, I'll be able to Send to him without any limit aside from him declining to be Sent to once we meet, so if he'd rather I briefly see him from a couple hundred feet away that's also an option."

"Contact from outside the Beetle is generally blocked, but we would be glad to provide you with an appropriate court outfit. Your Highness is fine when appropriate."

One is brought rather rapidly. It is a sleeved dress in red-and-yellow silk.

She'll go get changed. She empties her pockets, revises her Garment to underwear only (she likes her jacket but she might like it less if it didn't do climate control), puts the dress on and adjusts her keyring and some keys into a necklace with a clip for her phone and a hook for her goggles. (Her phone is going to have less than a minute of power in an antimagic field, but she'd rather have a brief snippet of terrible video than not.)

She keeps the hat. She'd like to know if it gets dismissed and she's willing to risk having her goggles fall on her face.

Eriape suggested kowtowing. She … thinks she knows how to do that. She'll add a chin strap to her Hat since she's going to be in an antimagic field.

She leaves the changing room.

"The audience Chambers are down this way."

They pass an assortment of guards, art, scattered courtiers on pillows, some rather obvious adventurers, and quite a variety of other petitioners, and eventually come up to a set of double doors.

She follows along.

Usermat offered options of which Eriape suggested kowtowing, which sounded like a kind of bow and translated to a word that appears in her Wikipedia archive. (This doesn't require her to touch her phone. Technopathy hath its perks.) …there could in theory be a translation issue.

"Kowtowing is when you put your knees and forearms on the floor and face the floor, right?" She'll Send him a mental image along with this.

"You do that, then touch your forehead on the floor. It's very respectful, and the Prince likes it, though the previous generation rather frowned on it."

A woman holding a big leaf gives a signal

Usermat touches the double doors. "Ready?"

"Sure."

And Userhat opens the door. Magic withers away around her. 

The Ruby Prince sits on a floating throne, backed by what has to be either a Gate or an illusory window, wearing a rather daring long red-and-yellow dress that hangs down all the way to the floor from the hovering throne. 

The Ruby Prince wears a tiara and a light frosting of adamantine jewelry, and is carefully studying a gorgeous leather folder, and looks rather more female than has been otherwise implied.

Coriander does not totally manage to avoid glancing at … her … while in the process of getting on the floor but this is apparently fine!

(Someone good at reading people could probably tell that Coriander does not feel religious about this. She thinks this is outdated and feels a bit silly doing it but like it's not a big deal.)

Her hat is still on her head, which suggests her outfit would have been fine.

The Ruby Prince closes the folder with a metallic tick.

"Rise, and be welcome. I am Ruby Prince Khemet." The voice is a pleasant soprano. 

"Would you care for some refreshments before we begin? I have ever had planar and planetary visitors, and I have an impression of what things might be new to such."

She gets up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you–r Highness. I am interested but came here directly from lunch, so I wouldn't want to delay your Highness on my behalf."

She's not sure why this person's title isn't Ruby Princess or Ruby Queen. Maybe Eriape's translation spell isn't functioning correctly.

"Efficiency is a blessing when conducting meetings. As you might imagine, a man in my position wears many metaphorical hats."

"I'm the reigning prince of Osirion. I'm the only ninth level caster in a thousand miles. I am the chief executive of nineteen local and transplanar banks. And I am, of course, the high priest of Abadar on Golarion."

"It is in that capacity you have come to my attention, as Abadar used some of his very limited intervention budget to notify me of your existence."

"That's an interesting choice, since I was probably going to meet with his church anyway. I was told that they'd potentially be interested in providing banking services in my plane of origin."

"Prophecy has regrettably ceased functioning, so he might not have known, and either way, pointing out trading opportunities is fortunately one of Abadar's discounted interventions. I should not worry about His budget."

"It is true that we do frequently provide true banking services as part of a religious trade to Lawfully trading countries.

I would be quite interested in hearing about your home plane or planet, and what you think we might have to offer one another"

"I originate from Earth. My region is stabilized by the false belief held by most humans on Earth that magic mostly does not exist. Because of this, I advise acting with discretion on Earth. I mostly live in a demiplane."

"Like Golarion, our region is threatened by entities which I suspect would locally be called Dark Tapestry entities. Interacting with them is bad and they should be avoided or killed on sight. We don't have a Pharasma and incursions aren't rare. I personally have defense obligations, and am obligated to pass on these warnings under some circumstances."

"Onto nicer things: We have different magic, and also nonmagical technology you don't have. People on Earth don't travel by horse, much. Moderately wealthy humans tend to have carriages powered by petroleum derivatives or stored lightning. Less expensive than that are two-wheeled vehicles, powered by the rider, which are more energy-efficient than walking on a smooth enough road. A lot of people have small machines that run on stored lightning with a range of capabilities – emitting some light and sound, sending messages to other humans with the machines, storing representations of books and songs, performing calculations, sometimes recording images of their surroundings. I have one which I brought, but I altered it to not function without my personal magic, so I can't demonstrate it to you at this time. We've automated the spinning and weaving of cloth. I have access to instructions for many of these things and can telekinetically manipulate metal to produce the ones which are made of metal. There's a lot of other things in this genre."

"I don't know what your highest value exports will be. I do suspect that truth magic would be popular. The best we can manage is faerie contracts. A lot of people don't want to sign faerie contracts and most witches and faeries with the capability to produce them don't want to work as notaries."

"I should warn you that there is a desired technological growth curve that the Divine Consensus is aiming at for this planet in particular, due to its unfortunate inhabitant- most other planets are not as dangerous as this. Abadar used to be paid by the god Aroden- who represented technological development- to attempt to bend this curve upward, but this is not presently the case."

The Ruby Prince flutters their fingers. . 

"Despite this, If you have arrived from a world with higher technology- through some mechanism of your own that the gods were not aware of- the gods will likely not stop you introducing technology that you are able to introduce personally, using your own resources."

"However, if we could find sufficiently valuable nontechnological goods-" the Ruby Prince twinkles. "raw materials, for instance- it would be worth it for me to cast Gate, at least for the initial market price equalization. [Gate] provides a a twenty-foot diameter window into your world, that would last for only a minute and a bit. It is not clear to me how much goods could be transported by your vehicles during such a time. I would then sell those resources on the open market, and pay you a percentage as a finder's fee, making those your resources."

"Inhabitant? And I think we could set something up, I have ongoing communications. What goods would you say are the highest value per unit volume? Would you be interested in an exchange of visitors? Would it be possible for me to commission one for returning home in a few months?"

"There is a Tapestry God imprisoned inside the planet. The gods are not keen to have massive petards (or wishsplosions) going off on the surface.

For goods with high value per unit volume- djezet, horacalcum, spellsilver, diamonds, inubrix, mithril, powdered diamonds, gold, black onyx, siccatite, souls (buying and selling them counts as evil, human blood (doesn't). Probably most demand for spellsilver and powdered diamonds. 

Exchange of visitors- for what purpose? 

Commissioning a gate to return home would be absolutely possible. It would be expensive."

"No big explosions, got it. I'll … have to consult with some people to figure out how to avoid facilitating that."

"Regarding goods: I can probably get a ton of spellsilver, assuming you don’t care what variety. Diamond and onyx are much more expensive than spellsilver at home, are they much more valuable here? Are blood apple saplings of interest? And I don't trade in souls, or even recognize all of those goods, and we haven't industrialized mythril production."

"As for an exchange of visitors: Someone you sent would be able to get a sense of the world and maybe sell truth spells for an absurd fee. Meanwhile, if I can convince Maimonada to visit, she'll be able to set up portals herself. I'm not sure how interested she'll be in doing it but it would open more options. I suspect in the long term you'll be interested in trade with Lunabella, which actually has a mistress of portals, who of course could make all this unnecessary."

"There are, in fact, very dangerous entities and forces on this planet. How immune to mind control are you? How immune to wishes and scrying and torture? How immune are the people you intend to send? Once this gets out- and once we begin trading, this will get out- you and yours will be in significant danger."

"A ton of spellsilver would be..welcome. We have a standard contract- approved by the God of Law- for planar trade equalization agreements- which I think you should review."

"Not as good as some people are. I should probably make myself a suicide trigger of some kind, stick with the lich I came here with, maybe bother some old alumnae."

"I do expect Maimonada would immediately head home and I could brief anyone planning an extended visit. And for what it's worth, invading Arcadia would likely go badly for anyone who tries, and invading Lunabella would just be insane."

"I'll have a look at the contract."

A wave of the hand, and a contract, in the form of a book a foot wide descends. 

It begins (translated) with seven hundred parentheses, and then begins defining a set of recursive linguistic macros, which slowly build up into legal macros. The contract (at the end), is only 7 symbols long. 

That's a lot of contract.

It seems like a really obvious trap, except for how the Ruby Princess seems like an honest person.

"I'd want to review this with my calculation machine and discuss this with my organization before I could even consider signing it."

"Regrettably, my god, Abadar, is also the god of law, and as such has....standards. Especially for people who have calculation machines. We could travel to Axis, and you could have your machine sing to those of my lord in a great chorus."

The Ruby Prince smiles sheepishly.

"I hear such things are done. Things always leak."

"I don't think I need my machine to … sing to … those of your god just yet, I can help my machine read this as it is, but if you're in a hurry I would need to insist on a much shorter contract. Is this a magical contract, by the way?"

"Ah- Magical contracts are seen

- if self-enforcing (terms) as slightly gauche in current exegeses, though there's something of a training-wheels faction. 

- if self-enforcing (justness) as proper

- if information-equalizing, subject to active theological research. 

- if compelling the user in any other way, or conceal terms- as a capital sin.

This isn't any of those."

The Prince smiles prettily. 

"I'm in no hurry, as I would imagine that in nearly all plausible future timelines we have a new trading partner- it's just our job- church and state- to make sure trade happens in a good way!"

"Contract magic in this region can self-enforce justness separately from terms? Anyway, that's good to know."

This is clearly a special interest of theirs, and the Prince's smile is noticeably wider.

"It's the difference between the terms being enforced, after the fact, by the contract (through magical compulsion, or if the contract is sentient, the many other means that a man can be influenced) and the terms being just from an absolute or locally relative sense when the contract is agreed."

"Impressive. And yes, I really do expect you to get a new trading partner, it just might not be me."

"You can use my gardens, over there, for your machine deliberations. They're lit by magical sunlight, which I have had specially arranged to be good for the skin."

The Prince waves their hand vaguely behind the throne. 

"While my intelligence service is well paid, and I am very powerful, I am not a wizard, and cannot claim to be able to prevent the greatest wizards from learning about what's happening in the Dome, and so while you may certainly leave at any time you like, I recommend obtaining some protection before you again walk the streets of Sothis. Scry-teleport kidnappings of important individuals tends to happen on Golarion with some regularity."

The Prince looks a bit dejected.

"Even in Sothis."

“Do you think a friendly lich is inadequate? And thank you.”

The Prince calls after her- "Depends on the lich!"

The sky in the gardens is plainly an illusion, but it is a good one, and the sun that shines down is bright and warming. The gardens themselves are semi-formal, with wild plants carefully pruned to look their best. 

She heads into the garden with the contract. Her aura recharges her phone. She rearranges her Garment under the dress to be a more compressed version of her usual outfit, removes the dress, and re-starches her collar and pleats her tie and rounds her jacket buttons.

Is there a servant she can hand off the dress to?

It's good to be wearing her clothes. The loaner dress didn't suit her and textiles are probably annoyingly valuable around here.

She flips through the contract, Sending its pages to her phone as she goes. It can parse S-expressions better than she can, and use rainbow parentheses and indentation. She can start by reducing the linguistic macros to language she finds more readable and sees how things look.

Scanned, it's not more than thirty megabytes, and once most of the macros have been resolved, it turns into approximately six hundred megabytes of text in approximately the same format as that of a contract she's used to. It's clear that the macros are the way that Axis expresses templated content transclusions, and much of the additional text is the same cautions and boilerplate transcluded again and again. 

30MB of un-expanded text is absolutely ridiculous. War and Peace is famously long and its plain text is only 3.2MB. She is not going to sign it without a lot of consultation, none of which she can do without Sending.

She configures her phone to save power and heads back into the anti-magic field.

"My machine can assist with the more automatic steps of evaluating this contract, but can't tell me if it's fair. At this length, I can't tell either. I'm going to have to discuss it with a lawyer or a diviner or something. In the meantime, do you want to see how the contract looks on my machine? There's some neat typesetting tricks."

The Prince nods enthusiastically. 

"That would be very interesting. Let me check with upstairs first- I wouldn't want to have to retire to Axis over something small like this. Takes a few minutes?"

The Prince gestures, and a large desk that smells like a spice bazaar descends from the same place as the book did. Supplies for a spell are carefully arranged on its surface in gorgeous carved ivory boxes, and at the edge, a pair of curlicued curved bars of gold meet, at an angle, in a glorious jeweled starburst.

"Do you have any questions for my Lord Abadar?"

"I think we want to ask about the explosion risks for various topics now, do you want me to pick opaque labels for them? Also about the crops. Oh, and whether he can do warlocks now that he's seen a witch."

"Just write the questions down- maximum of sixteen- it costs Him less to reply in binary, so true-false are preferred answers- and I'll incorporate the sealed note in the rite."

"And you wanted to know whether my typesetting advice is a problem for you, right? Is that included in the sixteen?"

"Devices like yours are a common sight in some neighborhoods in Axis. I just don't want to learn any information about them I'm not supposed to have. I get seventeen questions."

"Okay. It's not about the device, it's more like saying, uh, what's a good reference, that maybe people would like books more if the letter at the start of each section was big and had drawings around it. I don't know if people really feel that way but it was popular for a while in my world."

The Prince bites her lip in some embarrassment.  

"That- might not require a full-on divine question session."

The table swoops away. "Okay, show me."

"Would you prefer to see it on the device or for me to prestidigitate a little illusion? The illusion won't work in your throne room but I can hold one right outside."

"Oh, an illusion would be lovely!"

She steps back out and illusions a brief section of the contract onto the front of the contract's cover. Subsections are indented, and each matching pair of parentheses has its own color, with inner parentheses more blue-ward than outer parentheses.

"For long enough documents you repeat the colors in a cycle. Let me know when you're done looking?"

"Oooh! That is sensible, but will require the scribes to have an assortment of extremely expensive inks."

"Right. That's too bad. Hmm. It doesn't have to be a rainbow, maybe you could do different shades of inks that are less expensive? If you dilute ink does it make a lighter color or does it just work less well, for all I know it just works less well. And sometimes you can vary the bracket shape, if there's any room to do that without it meaning different things."

"Yes, I should imagine we could do a subtle set of brown and black and red shades. We'd want to pre-mix the inks, to ensure that the starting parentheses are the same color as the ending ones. Perhaps numbering them, with a subtle tiny number on top"

"Hmm, maybe. If you're numbering them, the numbers don't have to cycle like the colors would. On the other hand it's less eye-catching."