Xolkensa thinks about how to explain, while leading the way down the street and around the block to the Emergency Services staging area.

"Computers are ... a kind of thing that can manipulate numbers very fast. At first, they were useful for keeping track of money, but it turns out lots of things can be modeled with numbers. Now, they form a Network that lets anyone on the world talk to anyone else instantly, access all of our books, play games, write, and things like that," she explains.

She holds up her phone and shows the screen to them.

"See? Here is my message that I sent to dispatch about you three arriving."

She flips to her reader app.

"Here is the book I am reading."

She flips to her pattern book.

"Here is the pattern for the socks I am making. Computers are very useful."

"Trust me, computers are amazing. I want to learn a computer language..."

"The Network... Like the postal system they have in the north? But automated?"

She is putting the headband on, frowning thoughtfully. 

"Machines speaking to each other very quickly with low-colored light, Weiss tried to explain... They seem quite useful, but I think the first things I would import personally would be the cloth machines and farming machines."

Xolkensa nods.

"Yes, of course," she agrees. "But the cloth machines actually were the thing that led to inventing computers. The first computer-like things were for controlling cloth machines to make different patterns. Modern computers are made of parts, and the same kind of parts go into modern cloth machines."

She leads them to a tent, and holds open the flap for them to come inside. Inside, there's a long table that a young worker in a purple tunic over green pants is uncovering and tidying up containing a large number of baked goods.

"Actually the most important machine to share is the machine that turns air into fertilizer. About half of our food is grown with fertilizer from it."

"...I'd like to learn more about that. There is a lot that goes into farming, magic and labor and technique, it gets quite complicated. Ooh, these look lovely."

"Warm buttery bread! Sugar! Chocolate! I told you it'd be worth it, right? And can you smell it-"

Megi takes a deep breath. "I can! Made with care."

"I figure a few of these are roughly... What do you think, half?"

"We'll just have to experiment and see how much energy we get out of it."

They can literally smell how much care went into things?

... that is very cool, and probably has applications to quality assurance.

"Please let us know which ones are best — the people are looking forward to knowing who won."

They sample things! Clearly having a great time about it. Weiss diligently gives everything a first impression score. And then goes back and gives them a second impression score and sometimes a short review- "I think the almonds were kind of a last minute addition?" "It's so simple, but there was so much love put into it, that's what makes it good" "The crunchy fried texture is the best part of this one, I don't mind the mess"

"Ragni smiles upon this hour!"

Another person dutifully writes down the baked good reviews.

Xolkensa gets out her knitting and watches, but Megi's comment drives her to ask:

"Like ... metaphorically? Or do you have some way to actually tell that this makes Ragni happy?"

"Hmm... Mostly metaphorically? The usual understanding is that priestesses, though they can feel emotional feedback when praying sometimes, are most of the time tapping into a sort of impression or nature of the God they channel- A remembered personality, like using your mental model of someone else for empathy. Ragni likes it when people enjoy things and show mindful appreciation, and this is such a moment. I feel the reflection of appreciation just a bit more viscerally than, for example, I know a certain friend would hate feeling pressured to make a fast decision. I'm not in communication with Ragni at this time."

This is ... fairly awkward. Because that sounds a lot like ancestor-echos, hero-channeling, or the fair ones.

Or rather, in modern terms, multiple cohabiting identities, with the exact identities people pick up being partially culturally mediated.

But they have indisputable evidence that magic is real, and that it interacts with people's brains at least well enough that whether someone is watching an illusion affects how it is recorded by cameras. So the idea that there are entities made of magic that communicate on a mental level is ... not nearly as implausible as it was before Weiss came here.

Luckily, one does not become a mediator without a tolerance for occasional awkwardness — nor without the ability to avoid insulting people's deeply-held beliefs to their face.

"I see. Is there any way to tell actual priestesses apart from people who just form impressions of people strongly? Or is there not a difference?"

"Priestesses can do rituals that call upon the essence of the gods they are connected to. It may not be as dramatic as Sinnah's spells, but it is quite real. Most of them are subtle, they affect the mind, or grant information, or do something with monsters which are not here, or do things that are hard to see immediately like prevent wounds from growing infected or help crops grow."

Xolkensa nods. If there are verifiable effects and it doesn't turn out to match up with the experience of wizard spell-casting, then probably this is just a case of reality being stranger than it first appears. Either way, they'll be able to find out eventually.

"I know that Weiss was looking forward to seeing more of the city," she says, changing the topic, "but are there particular things that you're interested in doing here, while you're our visitor?"

"Do you have temples and shrines here?"

"... not in the way you mean, I don't think. We have some historical sites, some places that are used for holiday rituals, and we have community centers," she offers. "But those aren't the same places as each other, and none of them are places to pray specifically. Oh! We do also have beautiful places for thinking quietly and trying to become better, which might be similar enough. Are any of those things that you would like to see?"

"I think it's not quite...? I'm trying to think of... Well, my ideal day is spent somewhere comfortable and in good company. I'd like to meet people and see if we can be friends? Oh, I have healing magic- It's not a priestess trait but a kitsune one. It's, mm, quite expensive, but I make a point of offering. It works best on critical trauma. It can alleviate disease symptoms but not cure them."

"We have disease-fighting specialists," she assures her. "We are pretty good at fighting disease now. But if you want to work healing people, I can check what our healers are paid for trauma cases, and you can see if that's enough money for you?" she offers.

"As for being somewhere comfortable and meeting people — probably you want an event space? A place where community things happen, and lots of people come through to do different activities. Like playing games, or discussing books, or things like that."

"Mhm, that does sound fun. And, well..." She looks around surreptitiously to see how many people can hear. Weiss's ears flick when she notices this and Weiss seems to hold in a slight sigh. "Sinnah will break the news in the bluntest way possible I'm sure but I want to be a bit more delicate about a certain kitsune- Not necessarily need, but common desire at the least. If I'm to be healing I'll need it, anyway."

Xolkensa arranges her face and body language in a posture of open, nonjudgemental receptivity — another core skill for mediators.

"I'm sure we can work to accommodate you; what is it?"

She gives a slight nod to cover up her own internal firming-up.

"Most kitsunes have a lot of sex with non-kitsune men. In addition to being fun, it's quite nourishing - it feels good on a primal level over and above how I hear humans experience it. Obviously, preferences and the social scripts around it vary. Weiss is not interested in this. Sinnah surely is. And I am a tad more romantic than most kitsunes. I don't think there is any particular rush."

"Oh!"

Xolkensa leans back and returns to her knitting.

"There will be a lot of people who want to have sex with you," she promises. "You can use a computer to find people, or ask us to find people, or try and make friends in the city, or hire a sex worker. If you need sex to do healing, the hospital can probably arrange sex workers for that. Do you like hurting people during sex, being hurt during sex, or do you not care? And why men specifically, though? All Kitsune just like men?"