Weiss comes through last, saying, "-Big opportunities, like I said. But the big thing is going to be stabilizing the rift."

"Rifts just are not stable. Though we have never actually tried to stabilize one, historically they're all either too remote, too brief, or go to places that we don't want a connection to..."

"We've arrived, ladies, let's greet our hosts?"

They didn't know exactly when Weiss was going to be back, so the kitsunes are greeted by an elderly woman sitting in a chair in the Bank's lobby and knitting a pair of socks. They're bright purple with orange spots, and very fuzzy.

Perhaps more relevantly, as soon as they appear she taps a button on her phone and stands to greet them.

"Hello!" she says. "Welcome to Central River City; the diplomat is on the way to greet you properly."

Her Notal is accented, but her command of the language is otherwise quite good.

"Hi. I'm here to be paid a lot of money for magic?"

(Megi lightly swats her arm, for being rude. Sinnah just rolls her eyes.)

"Ma'am if anyone - who can get here - knows what to do with the rift, Sinnah does. Best wizard I know."

She's a little confused about why Megi would swat Sinnah. Maybe they just have that kind of relationship.

"That's good news!" Xolkensa cheerfully responds. "And yes, we will pay a lot of money for magic. I know we want to stabilize the rift so we can trade more, and also buy lessons in doing magic. I don't know the exact amount, but the diplomat will. She will probably offer you a — offer you all the money at once, for certain, or an amount that depends on trade through the rift over time."

"Oh, yes, everyone involved in this is going to be so rich even if they don't want to reach for it. We're going to need a lot of diamonds. And paper and ink- The good ink. Oil based."

"It's very exciting. I'm delighted to meet you- Is this a bank? I go by Megi, this is Sinnah, and you already know Weiss..."

She taps out a message to dispatch on her phone.

"It's good to meet you too," she agrees. "I'm Xolkensa."

She says it with an initial sound like the last sound in 'Bach'.

"And yes, this is a bank! Or, it was — I think they've already retrieved the secret keys from the vault, and are considering plans to turn it into a permanent transport facility once the rift is stabilized. They didn't want to mess with it too much before that in case that destabilized things."

"You should see the computers- Notal doesn't really have an equivalent word, I think we're just going to loanword it- I bet they can help with your more experimental things."

(Sinnah 'hm's. She's still holding her scroll and wand in a relaxed but ready kind of way.)

"I'm a priestess, has Weiss explained...?"

"She gave us a book about the light gods. It's — we've had stories about magic beings before, but they were just stories, so we don't really have priestesses," Xolkensa explains apologetically. "I think we understand, but it's foreign to us."

"It must be quite unbelievable. I've known about magic and gods as far back as I can remember. I'm happy to explain what I can about the Light Gods, and demonstrate or offer proof in ways you arrange- So that you can trust them more."

"That's kind of you," Xolkensa responds. "I'm sure we would like some more demonstrations. But we do already believe in magic; Weiss used illusions, and I just saw you appear."

"Anyway, would you like any—"

She cuts herself off as she spots a figure through the glass doors of the bank.

"Ah, here comes the diplomat," she says, pointing.

Tatenika is wearing a different floor-length purple dress than yesterday; this one is a pale lavender. She makes her way through the doors with a smile at everyone.

"Good morning. I am Tatenika," she says. Her command of Notal has also noticeably improved in Weiss's absence. "And I'm so happy to meet all of you. We'll have good paper and ink here in a few minutes, but diamonds will take longer, since they're only really used in industrial applications. Do you need particular sizes, purities, or amounts?"

"Diamonds are used for magic item crafting. Various sizes and clarities. Diamond dust too. Quartz can be used for low power applications in a pinch. Who am I teaching, what am I making? Good wizards are good at a mental motion that it's hard to find mundane correlates for. I can make testers that shine light if you are exerting will correctly. They are also good at geometry and mental timing."

Ah, Tatenika is thoroughly familiar with this kind of person.

"It sounds like those testers will be a good thing to make initially," Tatenika remarks. "After that, our priorities for magic include stabilizing the rift, and then a great number of experimental designs to find the limits of and applications for magic. We are unlikely to want to commission bulk goods from a master wizard — better to train our own people up for that. I have a preliminary list of experiments that have been proposed, but you might find it more productive to talk through the list with one of our professional-discoverers of material properties and making things."

"Are there any attributes other than geometry aptitude and timing that are important?" she questions. "If not, I can have an initial class drawn from the population of the city ready for an introductory lesson in a few hours. Otherwise, designing an aptitude test and getting students may take time. How many people are you willing to teach at once?"

... and the other two Kitsune look like this discussion is hitting them wrong, for some reason. Unfortunately, she really thinks Sinnah and Weiss require very different approaches.

"Mediator, perhaps you would like to take our other guests outside to talk about some of the preparations we've made from them while I go over logistical concerns with Sinnah? I believe we have some refreshments they will find suitable."

She subtly signs I'm Xolkensa with one hand, turning to address Megi and Weiss.

"If that's alright with you, we can talk a bit more about being a priestess?" she says.

"Exerting will is the most important skill for general magical aptitude but you can perform design and theory work without it, technically. Timing is important for using scrolls, which are stored single-use magics, and free casting, which is doing magic- Not without tools, but without specific magical preparations beforehand, I would say. Like this."

She draws a perfect circle in the air with her hand and there is a little burst of wind for exactly two seconds. 

"Geometry aptitude and to a lesser extent general intelligence is important for design, preparation, crafting, and so on. I'm fine with teaching but I would want more pay than the same time spent on mid-high level crafting because crafting is very simple to me and students sometimes aren't."

"That's fine by us. As Weiss would say, Sinnah is very Sinnah and I can tell the conversation is going to be two hours of magic theory- Not my hobby if a perfectly valid one!"

"I'm looking forward to what I presume are the results of the baking contest!"

"Yes!" she agrees. "The baking contest, and also we have made a bunch of these!"

She digs around in her bag, and comes up with a pair of fake fox ears on a headband, which she slips on. Then she hands a pair of headbands that don't have ears to Weiss and Megi. The earless headbands are designed to be a little flexible, and have cutouts that will let them subtly curve around the base of their ears.

"Tails are harder, but we also thought they're probably easier for you to hide under skirts or jackets," she adds.

"Oh, interesting! So we don't stand out quite so much? That's a lovely idea. I suppose I can do my best to hold them still... It's like not scratching an itch sometimes, though. And yes, we usually hide tails under skirts and jackets. Ummm... Weiss was very excited about something called 'computers', but I don't think I really understand...?"