She's not alone any more. There's a hyperventilating young woman in foreign clothes right over there.

She knows the faces of everyone who tends to visit the altar, and she's never seen her before. That is unusual.

"Who are you?" she asks, in a calm, dignified voice.

"My name is Bella Swan. Where am I, please?"

"Moonlight Altar plateau, west Liurnia, ..."

She looks at Bella's clothing, and adds "...The Lands Between, are you from beyond the fog?"

"I... am from the Magisterian Imperium? It is not... principally described in relation to any fog..."

"That would be beyond the fog, yes, though I have never heard of someone passing through without knowing their destination, nor appearing so suddenly."

She points to the horizon, where an endless expands of water vanishes into dense fog. "The Sea of Fog surrounds the Lands Between, sometimes pilgrims from distand lands sail in."

"I stumbled into some kind of magic project that teleported me here. Is the pilgrim situation how you learned Pax?"

"Pax?"

"...the language?"

"Language... Right, I think I understand. I think, it is the effect of the Golden Order, that all in these lands can understand each other."

"What's the Golden Order?"

"You ask deeper questions than most people care to think about. Let me think... Golden Order is... a set of princples that define how the world is? It is the will of Queen Marika the Eternal, and all of the Lands Between are shaped by its light." She points at...

A great golden tree, towering over the land.

"I'm... not really trying to ask deep questions, I just didn't recognize the phrase."

"I apologize, I have never actually spoken with any pilgrims before. It must be hard, not knowing what the world around you is."

"I... don't think that it makes anything about anything obviously easier to have seen the tree...?"

"The Erdtree is the heart of the Golden Order, giver of life. I suppose that it doesn't help much when I explain it like this, in parts. My father was better at describing it in a way that made it all make sense..." she sighs wistfully, gazing at the Full Moon in the sky. 

"Okay, uh... is there a good way for me to get home from here? The university might pay for it, or some of it, though I don't know the exact terms of what they're legally obliged to do to retrieve students that get teleported in a magical accident."

"You can find a boat and cross the fog, though I don't know how you'd find your home, there are many lands across the fog."

She pauses, looking at the sky. 

"I think, there might be a sorcerous way to do it, too. Take the basic structure of a sending gate, finding the destination is still tricky, but should not be impossible..."

"Where do the boats put people off at? Or - actually do you just have a mirror I can borrow to call the school, maybe they know where this is relative to the Imperium."

"I'm haven't actually heard about anyone who left the Lands Between to go across the fog, and then decided to come back. People leave quite rarely..." 

"A mirror? There's mirrors in the manor, but I don't believe they can be... used for communication? They just reflect light."

"I mean a magic mirror? One that can call other... mirrors...? You don't have any here at all? ...when you said I could take a boat you didn't mean that there are ship routes that take passengers, is that right, you meant something more like I could try to buy a canoe and row?"

"I have never heard of a mirror enchanted like this."

"No, there's nothing like that. Well, the church occasionally sends emissaries beyond the fog, to spread their words, but they also don't sail to any specific destination."

"And what church is this?"

"Church of the Two Fingers." she says, with a carefully concealed bitterness. 

"The Fingers are envoys to Greater Will, the source of all life. Queen Marika is their chosen, carrier of the vision, vessel of the Order." she recites, dryly. 

"Well, I've never heard of them, so they maybe haven't made it to the Imperium. Or I guess the Emperor banned them and they're not getting very far with the evangelism but I'm leaning that they do not go to the Imperium."

"It is quite possible. It isn't known how many lands across the fog there are, we only learn of them when a pilgrim driven by the church's words comes seeking this place."

"I wouldn't really describe myself as a pilgrim, since I didn't want to be here."

"I believe you are unique in that. Though perhaps I have never heard of others like you."

"Well, what would you recommend I do about that."

"I am not sure. The pilgrims would go to the church, but that is less applicable in your situation. Though they'll still help you if you ask, but I doubt they'll be able to get you home. You can go the capital, and ask audience with the Queen. You can come with me to the Caria Manor, and be our guest."

"I guess I need somewhere to stay. That's very kind of you to offer."

"I would be glad to have you as a guest. I found this conversation pleasant in its novelty."

That makes one of them! "There's more where that came from. Uh, I guess eventually I'm going to need a job, I was majoring in subtle arts for therapy but don't know if that's a practice here at all."

"Subtle arts?"

"I'm a telepath. - I am a continent and polite telepath."

"It is not something that is known around here. What can you do with it?"

"I can talk to people, which would be more useful if there weren't a translation effect. I can read people's emotions and thoughts, if they want to invite me to do that, because again continent and polite. I can... make people feel a little more awake temporarily. I can do synaesthesia. In principle I can do a lot more things but those are the things I'm really sure I wouldn't mess up."

"Interesting. There's a sorcery that does awakeness, but I have no idea how to even approach the other things..."

"Well, I guess I hope there's demand for recreational synaesthesia, then."

"I am sure somebody would find it fascinating. Shall we go to the manor?"

"Sure, thank you, sorry to have interrupted."

"Not a problem. Come, there's a sending gate between the altar and the manor."

She leads to a building, containing a small archway, with a palm-sized opening, in which light swirls. 

On the way, a man with a wolf's head joins them. 

To Bella - "This is Blaidd, my stepbrother."

To Blaidd - "Bella Swan, from beyond the fog, yet not by church's guidance."

"Hello," she says, after some rather restrained blinking at the wolf-head situation.

"Hello, Bella."

"Just put your hand in the gate, it will take you to the manor."

Sure. Hand meet portal.

It's slightly weird sensation, as if being carried by wind, but not exactly, and she's now in a well-decorated room. 

Ranni and Blaidd appear a few moments later. 

"Blaidd, can you go and inform Rellana that Bella will be my guest? She's unlikely to care, but it would be polite."

"Of course." he says, as he disappears into the corridor.

"We can go find you a guest room to stay? The manor has quite enough."

"That sounds like it would be next, yeah, thank you."

The manor is composed of several stone buildings, and the way to the guest rooms takes them through the couryard. People pass by them, some in knightly armor, some in robes of various elaborateness. 

The guest room is large and comfortable, and all hers. 

"Do you need anything else for now?"

"...if anyone bothers you, tell them that you are a guest of Lady Ranni."

"Lady Ranni, got it. Uh, I'm not hungry right now but what should I do when I get that way?"

"If you want food, you can ask a page in the hallway."

"Okay. Uh, what time is it here?"

"Past midnight, it'll be a while before dawn. Most here at the manor will not be asleep, the night sky is important to us."

"You're nocturnal?"

"We don't sleep through nights. When we want sleep, we do usually do so at night, just not the whole of it."

"Okay. So you stay up late but not till dawn. I should try to adjust to that as long as I'm going to be here."

"If you prefer to sleep more than we do, that is understandable. It is a Carian tradition, to spend the nights under our moons, beneath the stars. Even sorcerers prefer to sleep nights, practicing astrologers are rare these days."

"What's an astrologer?"

"Those who study the stars, the fate written in them, and the magic that flows between them. It was astrologers who discovered sorcery, drawing on the stars' power. My family descends from those first sorcerers, and we keep the practices, even if sorcerers today barely know the night sky."

"Huh. I think sorcerers back home might be different but I'm not one myself."

"Perhaps they are."

"I don't mean to keep you if you've got other stuff to be doing."

"If you have everything you need, I will leave for now, but you are not imposing on my time."

"I think I'll keep for the time being."

"Very well. Ask for me if you need anything that a page won't provide."

And she leaves, to find Iji and Blaidd, leaving Bella to herself. 

Bella doesn't really have anything to do, but she wasn't looking likely to acquire something to do by making small talk. She sits there. Eventually she gets out a notebook and does some writing in it and then puts it away again. She looks out the window.

The night is clear and bright with the glow of the Erdtree. The stars are shining, birghter than the ones back home. There is one moon visible, dark and leaden, though full. 

The land is covered in low fog, though looking down from cliffs on which the manor is built, vast forests and large structures can be seen - towers, towns, and a large complex rising high above the surroundings, linked by bridges to the cliffs on the far side of the land from her. 

It's kind of weird that the stars are so visible when the Erdtree's glowing so bright but that seems like the kind of thing you're not supposed to think about too hard.

Eventually she starts reading a textbook for lack of anything better to do.

She's four chapters in before she realizes that it should really feel like lunch at this point, and being stressed out from the spontaneous teleportation accident explains some delay but not four chapters' worth. Maybe it's one of those times where she'll be abruptly ravenous if she takes one bite.

She'll step into the hall to look for a page.

There's a man sitting in the hallway, with fine but not extravagant clothing. 

"Do you need anything, milady?"

"I was starting to wonder about getting something to eat?"

"Of course. What do you desire to eat?"

"...I don't know what you have here. I'm not picky. If you're going to pull exactly whatever I suggest out of a magic kitchen appliance I guess I want a roast beef sandwich with pickles."

"I'll see to it."

He leaves, and comes back after a short while. 'sandwich' part is clearly improvised, but it is as requested. 

"Thanks."

She retreats to her room to eat her sandwich.

It's a sandwich, in a sense that it's roast beef put between pieces of bread, but it's clear that the components weren't originally made to go together. It's good though.

She doesn't become ravenous when she takes a bite but she can chomp her way through the sandwich on general principle and then go back to reading by the window.

Eventually, the sun rises over the horizon. The stars fade away, but not completely, still slightly visible even in daytime. The dark moon hangs there, stationary. 

She's not really tired, it's probably not bedtime yet in her time zone, but when she notices the sun coming up she'll pull the curtains shut and try to sleep to get closer on that front. For all the copious socializing she's doing. Yeah.

She can fall asleep easily, and sleep for as long as she wants.

After a few hours, there's light knock on the door, if she wants to wake up for it. 

She gets up. She's still in her clothes, so she just goes straight to the door, running a hand through her hair to get it more or less all going in the same direction, and opens it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Bella. Are you settling in well?"

"I've been comfortable, thank you. What time is it? I had a bit of a nap to try to get closer to the local schedule and now I don't know."

"A quater of the way through the day."

"If you are not occupied, Ranni wanted to introduce you to some of our friends."

"Sure, where?"

"In the courtyard, just outside, you can follow me."

She follows.

Blaidd leads her to a small outdoors forge, where a number of people have gathered. 

One of them is a giant, sitting behind the anvil and reading a book. 

There's also a person dressed in formal robes, with a big hat, and a mask that completely covers their face. 

And, of course, Ranni.

"Hello, Bella. I am glad to see you again."

"Good morning."

"I wanted you to meet my friends here - Iji and Miriam."

"Welcome, Bella. I am Iji, blacksmith to the Carian family. I heard that you are from beyond the fog? It is always interesting to meet someone from a new land."

"I am likewise pleased to meet you." says a woman's voice, slightly distorted by the mask. 

"I am Miriam, preceptor in the sorcerous arts. Ranni told me you wished to find a way home?"

"I would, yes, my parents won't know what's become of me."

"Unfortunately, sorcery familiar to me would not be capable of that. Waygates cannot cross the fog, it was actually tried once. But I had a thought. Are there moons present in your land?"

"Um, my planet has one moon."

"Moons dwell in the cosmos, and as such, their influence should cover many lands."

"There is, however, a complication in that. There is but one person who understands the depths of lunar sorcery - Lady Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. And she has been... distant."

"...distant in what way?" Not responding to birthday party invitations? No one has seen her in five years? She is on the moon in the fucking sky?

"Mother has stayed in the Grand Library ever since Father has left. She barely speaks to anyone who visits her."

"And... won't say why?"

"It was quite a shock when Lord Radagon cast Lady Rennala aside. Their love was always the strongest of bonds, strong enough to end wars. And then, one day, he simply left, to become consort to Queen Marika, the Eternal."

"I can see why that would be a shock. How long ago was this?"

"Thousands of days."

"You say 'thousands of days' and not 'years'?"

"A year is - a count of days? Why would we?"

"On my planet we have years, they're - do you have seasons?"

"I think we do not."

"Oh. Well, we have a - routine weather cycle that takes a few hundred days to go around all the way and that's a year. But if you don't have those then I guess 'thousands of days' is a fine way to mark time."

"Indeed."

"...but I digress, it's probably not important."

"Mother has been this way for some time now, yes. And she does not appear to be getting better..."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Has she tried therapy at all?"