"-Uh. If you try that you'll probably regret it. Fuck! You really have to check don't you though, you can't just accept me going, no don't worry they're definitely all irredeemably evil! Galasa's courage..."

Shavolhan nods gravely.

"We must check, yes. We don't must be careless, but we must check."

They put a hand to their chin and think for a moment.

"If a —" they hesitate momentarily as they try to recall the word that was in her book "— if we send an adventuring party, to try to talk to the cryptids, is this probably okay with Tirra?"

"-I mean. It might not be okay with any specific polity but I don't think Tirra-par-Tirra would... Object... Otherworlders are exciting. The inquisition will be really nervous about trying to talk to cryptids because historically sometimes people do that, decide cryptids are maybe okay and the cryptids use that as a trick to kill a city later, or decide that if the cryptid hurts those guys over there it's not hurting us... There are a lot of things you shouldn't trust on Tirra. Almost all kitsunes are mostly nice-ish or at least not very mean, more 'steal bread' or 'haha I tripped you' than 'I'm going to kill someone'. But a few of my sisters are very bad, cruel, lying and saying things that hurt and doing magic that changes people's minds, makes people attracted to them..." she taps her head, "...I don't know why Tamamo tolerates them. But it is absolutely reasonable to verify things."

"I'm glad you agree," Shavolhan tells her. "You are ..."

They don't know a good equivalent of the SCOL word 'honorable'.

"... good to trade with, and I want us to be just as good to trade with for you. I will send my notes," they say, gesturing with the notebook, "to the Body, and they will think about how to make it safe for people here, and also fair to everyone, and how to verify this."

She sighs and rubs her forehead.

"Doing the right thing is annoying. And tiring. And apparently your job. You're going to want magic things in addition to technological tools if you send an adventuring party to Tirra. I know a kitsune named Sinnah whose best life involves sitting in a room forever making magic things and being paid a lot of money for it. I bet she'd love this place for the chance to do that alone."

And rubbing the rest of her face now too.

"I like my job because — someone has to do it. Someone has to say, we cannot agree on all these things, but we can agree on a few things, and we can do those things well," Shavolhan tells her. "But it is hard, sometimes. It's okay; we have time to do meeting Tirra well. You are helping."

"I'll drink to that," she says, slightly muffled by her hands. "Except, that usually means alcohol and I don't like alcohol so I won't, actually, drink to that. I think we're done here? For now? And someone else would be better for my next questions?"

"Yes, I think we are done," Shavolhan replies. "Thank you again."

They poke experimentally at her sound baffle.

She dissolves it, then looks around for the Diplomat or anyone color-coded precisely like her.

Đorvat is still here, and presumably still tasked with assisting her.

Down the hall, however, she can spot someone in a long purple dress walking by.

Hovering indecisively near noticing range sounds AAAH so she will find a corner and listen to the rolling babble of conversation and try to pick out sentences or words in this language.

Đorvat will hang around nearby, just in case.

But otherwise people seem content to let her stand in the tent and listen, if that's what she wants to do. She can hear the low voices of dispatchers coordinating over the phone, and slightly further away a more casual conversation between some people who are off duty but still on-site because of the quarantine. After a moment, she picks up Diplomat Tatenika's voice coming from the other direction, although she seems to be talking to herself because there's no responding voice.

?? Why

No

She is a fox now

A red-wearing fox

And going back in the warehouse

And hanging out there following individual voices and trying to understand words

Well, they definitely aren't going to bother her in that case.

Over time, she can gradually pick up more words and get the cadence of the language. It doesn't help that things seem to conjugate by formality, and also that half the speakers are signing, but she can make some progress on learning it.

If she stays in there long enough, some of the people will wonder if they offended her somehow, and Tatenika will end up back at the table in the street with a tablet, in case that helps. But as long as she stays red, nobody is going to try and approach her.

Ughhhhhhhhhhh whyyyyyy is she liiiiiiike thiiiiiiiiis.

Because being found out as a kitsune has, historically, not been a prelude to a good time for her?

Because the attention of a whole city usually involves suspicious stares and whispers?

Because she can practically FEEL how thousands are shifting subtly in response to everything she does and UGH?

Normally she would go hang out with sisters or just go nap in the woods about this kind of spiral. THIS TIME she is wondering if the locals will WORRY if she vanishes for days. Is it unfair to them? So many hopes and dreams riding on this... But... And she's still mad about the silver coin. It's stupid. She doesn't endorse it, it's just a few ecu, but, she's mad.

She wants a hug. But she doesn't KNOW these people except the cop and Tatenika a little bit and it'd be weird. They'd get someone to brush her tail but she can't just ASK someone to BRUSH HER TAIL what if they have more important things to do. And it'd still be a little weird if less so.

She's still inside, but a little fairy-light ball that's linked to an illusory screen in front of her (another of her long list of tricks) will go float to Tatenika and say in Notal, "I'm anxiety spiraling. Also I'm irrationally upset about those centimes and ecu I sold. And want a hug but it would be weird. There's too many people. It's less weird if there's... If it's... If I know if it's weird to you? Is there someone who's - a hair person, who could brush my fur and it not be weird?"

Tatenika considers this.

"Well — I almost don't know what you mean by 'weird to me'. This is not what I usually do? I usually lead discussions and parties. Today has been a weird day," she answers. "For the centimes and ecu — now that we know they are foreign coins, and they have ... history ... the shop is probably willing to give you more money, to be fair."

Left unstated is that Tatenika will absolutely put pressure on them to make it up to the friendly alien if necessary.

"For the hair person — do you want a person who is paid to brush hair? Or a person who wants to brush you but isn't paid to do that?"

"A deal is a deal and it would be unfair to demand more but my emotions don't believe that, and also I feel stupid and greedy for being stuck on it. Don't bother the guy please. I'm... Not sure about the brushing. I don't like upsetting people who haven't done anything wrong, and people will be upset by upsetting me but I don't know how to not be upset and it's a negative feedback loop. I think people who work with hair and get paid for it are less bothered by - quiet - and people who want to brush me might want to talk to me and that might be good or bad bad bad. Also making everything here about my worries instead of - country things- I should talk about magic or the Kingdom of Notal or something instead..."

"We do want to talk about magic," Tatenika admits. "But — there's a SCOL saying: 'You cannot ask the water not to run out.' It means ... you can only do what you can do, you can't do what you can't do. Sometimes you don't know what you can't do, and trying is good. Sometimes you know what you can't do, and trying is like asking a cup not to empty of water. You have helped. Let me find a hair person until you can help again."

She sends for a hairdresser.

"Talking about things that aren't about me might be easier... But later..." (And then the wisp winks out.)

She de-reds her outfit (her fox shape usually wears a neutral black/brown/red highlights sort of cape-robe-thing that doesn't get in the way of motion but still looks somewhat classy) and produces her favorite brush from her tail of holding and curls up on either the street or a convenient table with it sitting nearby. Her tail is almost as big as her torso, rather floofy, orange with a white tip that sways slowly even as the rest of her radiates slight discomfort.

And, in a few minutes, a hairdresser arrives and begins brushing out her coat with practiced strokes and a calm demeanor.

The rest of þereminia is not being calm.

The first priority for a lot of people was using Weiss's books to learn Notal, but that did unavoidably mean reading what those books said, and what they said is fairly wild, by þereminian sensibilities. There's a good deal of uncertainty around how much of Parables of the Light Gods is fictional — a set of morality tales, perhaps — and how much is meant to be taken literally. Smaller Continent Emergency Services put out a press release reminding people that it's still early days, as far as learning about their dimensional neighbors go, but that hasn't stopped some people from jumping into the books with both feet.

So, in reading these books, they find:

(She briefly tints her paws, face, haunches, and the base of her tail red, to indicate which areas should be Not Touched.)

The Parables of the Light Gods is... Full of short stories, some with incredibly obvious moral lessons, some with much more subtlety. The stories themselves range from a few paragraphs each to one that's ten thousand words long- "Farmer's Requiem". 

Each one is prefaced by a short description of where it was sourced from, who told the story, sometimes a personal message from said storyteller, and context about the people or region that is probably supposed to be informative to a native. Each one is mostly peppered with references to a specific Light God. Each one has, after it, a somewhat rambling philosophical essay by Lineaus, who gathered the anthology, of what he thinks the intended moral lesson was, and some notes on common variations of the story. He always ends the essays with a question. There are clearly many layers of references and meaning present that are hard to grasp with a tentative understanding of the language. In particular, the Light Gods are interchangeably referred to by name and by association with a symbol or a description of their most common associated virtues.

Some notable ones include: 

Farmer's Requiem- A simple farmer sees many travelers passing by on an important road over the years. Kings and nobles, heroes and magic-users, merchants and craftsmen, fellow farmers, people of all species and races. They each pass by, have a brief conversation with the farmer, and the text shows the farmer's impression of the visitor, and then they vanish from the story never to return. The farmer never thinks of anyone as 'bad', even when they are shockingly rude. 

Lineaus says: The Requiem is usually shorter, I have included more visitors than usual. The most common read is that 'we should be kind and understanding to everyone, even those considered less worthy'. I disagree- I do not think the story is about how the visitors treat the farmer, but rather what the farmer thinks of his visitors. His guileless optimism leaves no room for resentment or depression. Is he wise or is he a fool for it?

Marching Drums- A young man of age sixteen sees the Army marching past. Their bright uniforms inspire him; Surely if he becomes a soldier, he would not feel sad anymore. He joins the Army but is still miserable. He fights monsters but is terrified. Then he has a divine vision telling him to quit the Army, and he does so, goes home, learns carpentry from a neighbor, and marries someone he knew growing up, and slowly becomes happy.

Lineaus says: This is one of Otena's, saying that glory and appearance is hollow, and connection with others is better than chasing status. Not all are suited to standing in defense of others. Is this at odds with the comet's call, which inspires us to stand firm in adversity? I say not, but will leave the question of why not to the reader.

The Blighted Fields, The Three Masons, and The Tower which Weiss picked out to tell short versions of. The lessons he claims are: To be kind to others, to do hard work now that pays off later, and not to bite the hand that feeds you. Lineaus asks: Which Light God is most present in this story? Does the lazy mason deserve his fate? What do you think Tamamo's reasons for helping the sorceress as she died and not sooner are?

Some short ones:

A little boy finds innocent joy and wonder in mundane moments during an ordinary day in town. Appreciating the little things is good, Ragni's blessings upon you.

An official desperately wants more money but resists the urge to engage in petty corruption even thinking he'd never get caught. Erius nods in approval.

A man commits murder and hides it. Years later he returns to his home town and confesses, feeling guilty. A local priestess says it's not okay to kill, but she forgives him anyway. Illumine means things can get better.

A village welcomes visiting strangers. One of the strangers is a kitsune and engages in a prank spree, making some laugh and some scowl. Tamamo laughs and cries at misfortune and fun, both.

A beautiful parade float that people spent a whole year working on was lost due to one little girl's moment of jealousy and a torch. Alteri tsk's and shakes his head. Creation is always more difficult than destruction.

A lengthy poem about how people are born, grow up, grow old, and die, then are born again, just like the seasons are a cycle, just like the moon is a cycle. Isara's dance continues forever.

The traits of the gods that can be gleaned from all this, roughly, are:

• Galasa, the comet, the call to action and duty and war, the traditional Youngster's Journey, bravery
• Illumine, the cloud, hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow, the feeling that things can be okay, healing
• Alteri, the wind, practical concerns for a practical deity, the satisfaction of well-done work, calmness and inspiration
• Otena, the aurora, family-marriage-love-friends, empathy and sex and the connection to others, relationships
• Tamamo, the empty space between the stars, the moon's lover, the fox goddess, the thin line between brilliance and insanity, between good and evil, between joy and sorrow. The most mercurial goddess. Prayed to for luck. Ascended ancient kitsune.
• Isara, the moon, quiet reflection and consideration, great and small cycles, the seasons/life and death, funerals and spirits
• Hekosi, the eclipse, god of festivals, holidays, the culmination of eons of effort, turning points and choices, prayed to for large projects
• Erius, the bird, cooperation and the social contract, doing good, trade and travel, knowing the costs and values of things
• Ragni, the sun, joy and contentment and living in the moment, the harvest, fertility, protection from disease

With an entire world's worth of people reading these things and reacting (even if only 0.1 of people are excited enough to read them in the original Notal instead of waiting for a good translation), there are a variety of different responses. Some of the most common are:

Why are some of these stories glorifying war? I mean — okay, I guess it's different if they're all fighting monsters. It's really more like an ecological management action than a war. Are you sure you have this word translated correctly? What's the etymology?

Oh boy! A nine-category universal schema to sort people and things into! I'm totally an Isara person, don't you think? Which one are you?

... okay, but is Lineaus being metaphorical with this part or not? Because clearly he treats the story as made up, but he's talking about Tamamo as though she's real?

Ultimately, most of the stories make sense as morality tales ­— which says good things about how likely they are to be able to cooperate with their newly discovered neighbors. But there are enough things that don't make sense to more or less dominate various discussion forums.

Real scholars are mostly working from the much more practical camping and navigation manual in order to extrapolate things carefully. But many people find discussing the "light gods" a lot more immediately interesting.

And, for a few people, they find the idea not only interesting, but distinctly appealing.

Lharmis is perpetually lonely. Not because she lacks friends, or because she doesn't have time to see them, because she does. She's a sterling member of her community, and everyone in her apartment building knows they can always stop by her place to chat. She is a face-recognizer, and almost never gets tushot. She surrounds herself with lovely people, and she loves them.

She's lonely because — well, there's a technical term for it, but she's not a psychologist, and to her it has just always felt as though the "you are alone" button in her brain is stuck on. She will be having a deep, meaningful conversation with one of her friends, and then some biochemical switch flips, and she feels fundamentally and profoundly alone.

It's not a crippling affliction. She lives with it, and takes some pills that help, and she treasures every moment that she can spend with her friends and loved ones all the more for the contrast. She loves hard and deeply.

When she was a child, she was fascinated with Marnesi mythology, particularly stories about the Other People. The idea that there could be a world hidden beyond sight, where helpful spirits would constantly watch over you and do their best to protect you, or even just witness your struggles — it helped her get through some dark times. She knows that they're probably not real. She's not scientifically illiterate. But the thought comforted her then and now.

... and, you know, aliens weren't supposed to slip through rifts between solar systems either.

Maybe there's nothing out there — but maybe there is.

It's her day off, and she reads through Parables of the Light Gods with the hastily assembled reference dictionary open beside it on her computer, and she imagines what it would be like to know that she was never truly alone — that she need only direct her thoughts to a god, a strange magical being, and she would always be seen.

She talks with some of her friends on her mythology forum about the best translation for the Notal word "prayer" is, and eventually settles on the right kind of awareness meditation.

She sits crosslegged on her bed, blinds drawn and lights turned down low, and she focuses her mind on the truth that she knows to the core of her being: that there is nothing more precious or more wonderful than truly knowing another person.

Otena, she thinks, I don't know if you're real. But if you are, I so, so badly want to know you.