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bury my heart here in this dirt
a handful of browns in Naruto
Permalink Mark Unread

In a world of gods and heroes, a wizard and a cleric prepare to test the wizard's latest invention.

A little later, in a world of power and strife, a robot begs for escape for herself and her master.

A little later again, a world of warriors and dreamers receives four visitors.

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They're on a path through a forest, worn smooth by traffic but not paved. The trees are large and widely spaced, thrumming with magic. It's warm and humid, and the midday sun flicks through the shifting leaves. There is a child walking with a friend, who until they appeared was attempting to serenade random birds and having only middling success getting them to sing back.

She squeaks when the strangers appear, falling into a clumsy defensive stance between them and her friend.

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The dark-skinned man much shorter than either girl ducks behind his normal-sized companion, who holds up his hands good-naturedly. "Sorry to startle you, miss." He turns to the metal woman next to him, who's carrying a taller woman draped over her shoulder and a large black bag, and asks her a question in an incomprehensible language, and then says something about her reply to the short man in a different, equally incomprehensible language. "May we speak to your friend?"

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"Why? I don't recognize any of you." Desuka doesn't have a bloodline so Ryousei has no idea why anyone's looking for her - especially foreigners.

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"No, we're not from around here - we had an accident with some magic. We're not going to hurt anyone."

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"Why her, then?"

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"We were trying to use the magic to get to Ertan's cousin Isscal," he gestures at the short man, "and we think it brought us to people like her, instead. We found Deskyl," the flopped woman, who hasn't moved at all the entire time they've been talking, "first, but it wasn't safe to stay there."

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"People like her?" She sends an uncertain look back at her friend.

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"Mmhmm. They look the same, a little, and we think their personalities are close, too." He talks to the metal woman and helps shift Deskyl so that the girls can see her face; there's a clear resemblance, even with the racial difference.

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Desuka scoots around Ryousei to get a closer look, clearly concerned.

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Ryousei bites her lip. She knows reincarnation exists, so she guesses the same people repeating isn't too weird -

"Is she gonna be okay?" she asks for Desuka.

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"We think so. I might be able to heal her with magic, but her friend thinks she'll recover eventually even if I can't."

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"I'm gonna be a healer when I'm bigger. But you might get in big trouble if you're caught appearing here, people're supposed to go through the main gates 'less they're enemies."

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"We can probably do that, but they might try to stop us anyway if they're worried about enemies. What do you think?" he directs at Desuka.

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She squeezes Deskyl's hand - the woman stirs slightly at the touch - and then takes Raafi's, tugging him down the path toward her house.

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And someone - perhaps familiar to Desuka and Ryousei as Senju Tobirama, one of the village's administrators and greatest fighters - appears in their path, one hand resting near his sheathed sword, a stern look on his face.

(Raafi might have been able to catch the blur as he dropped from the trees above.)

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"Hello."

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"What is your business here?" It's somewhat of a situational advantage, to pretend he wasn't spying on their conversation with the children, after all.

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"We've had a magical accident; we weren't intending to come here in particular."

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"Where were you intending to go?"

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"We were originally intending to visit Ertan's cousin; the first casting of the spell brought us to DZ and Deskyl, instead, and the second casting brought us here. Unfortunately that's all Ertan can cast today."

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"What do you intend to do now that you're here?"

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"We're hoping for a place we can rest, where Ertan can figure out what went wrong with his spell so that we can get home; we also have Deskyl, who's suffering from a magical injury that I haven't been able to diagnose yet, and it'd be convenient to have another healer look at her. But if we need to move on, we can do that tomorrow morning."

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Desuka makes a quiet unhappy noise at the prospect of them leaving so soon.

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He considers them for a few long moments.

His brother's wife Mito is more accurate than him at sensing emotions -

But they don't feel hostile to his own sensing ability.

"We'll want to screen you for hostile intent," he says, evenly, "But we have healers." Besides, people with strange magical abilities from far away lands seems like someone to get on their side - and possibly keep in sight. Tobirama suspects he could defeat the man, through ambush if nothing else, but he's unsure about 'all of them,' nor the risks of such a fight inside the village. Still, between him, Hashirama, Madara, and Mito... "If you want to stay longer than a day, we'll expect a trade, in favors if nothing else."

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He nods. "Do you have anything in particular in mind? Ertan is primarily an illusionist, and I'm a cleric of Fharlanghn; I can cast spells up to eighth tier."

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"None of those terms are familiar to me; knowledge is most valuable," especially if they don't know the value of secrets, "but I don't know what else you can trade."

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"We must be very far from home, then. I don't know what information you'd find useful - none of our magic can be taught very quickly. I can heal almost anything but old age, though, and I have some trade goods with me if nothing else."

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"Things like political information about your home, then, if we can't tempt you to stay, in case we're later able to make official contact."

He's assuming the man's pouches contain storage scrolls or the equivalent.

"Trade goods are likely to suffice, and we would want to check your healing, but there might be some willing to try it." Despite Hashirama's best efforts, their own healing is far behind 'anything except age.' "We don't demand much from visitors, and usually the favors in question are diplomatic in nature, but it sounds like none of you occupy an official position."

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"Being an experienced cleric of the god of travel isn't entirely unlike having an official position, but I can't speak for any polity, you're right about that. I can demonstrate my healing on an animal, if you'd like, but I'd like to see Deskyl settled first."

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He makes an affirmative noise. "The nearest hospital," and the securest, fortunately, "Is this way."

He glances at the children. "Will you two be following?" he asks, voice still even.

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Desuka glances at Ryousei, but looks back without waiting for a response, and nods.

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"I'll follow my friend," Ryousei says, solemnly. "And we found the visitors, that means we're responsible for them."

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"Very well." He'll set himself to a pace an untrained child can keep, then, as he leads the way.

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The troupe follows; Raafi takes the opportunity to explain the situation to Ertan and DZ in turns, continuing to speak in wildly different languages to each one.

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Tobirama memorizes every word.

It's close, at least. The hospital is small, meant mostly for ANBU and for people not supposed to be in the village. The attendants bow deeply to Tobirama, and speak only indirectly to the others.

"What can you tell us of Deskyl's condition?" Tobirama asks Raafi. "Or her likely reaction to waking up in a strange place."

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"Her attendant DZ tells me that she's an unusually calm member of a group of violent magic-users, called Sith; I don't think it's wise to try to heal her without a plan in place for neutralizing her if she attacks. I do have magic that I expect can help with that, though I won't be able to prepare it until the morning." He pauses to consult with DZ. "It seems to mostly be a mental effect, possibly mental ability damage, though if it was straightforwardly that I'd expect her to recover much more quickly or not at all - DZ expects her to be responsive in two or three days and able to walk and answer questions in a week or so, though she'll still be sleeping a lot and have memory trouble."

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"We wouldn't heal anyone without a neutralization plan. We can heal mental damage." Especially since they recruited the Yamanaka, mind-walkers. Also 'violent magic users' describes all magic users, as far as he's aware - even the monks, self-proclaimed pacifists, will destroy anyone who attempts to invade their temples. "How likely is she to lash out? From being touched, or being mentally contacted, or waking up somewhere unfamiliar?"

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He consults with DZ again. "She doesn't react to being touched, right now - she didn't react when I healed her but she might react to other magic being used on her. Trying to contact her is definitely risky, if she's in a state where it would work at all. And we're not sure at all how she'll react to waking up in a strange place - she does know what's been happening to her, she's been through this before and been allowed to recover that much before it was repeated, so she might recognize that she's been rescued - it might depend on how clearheaded she is. DZ is very sure she won't attack her, though, no matter what happens, and says that if she recovers naturally it's gradual enough not to startle her."

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"Is there a reason not to let her recover naturally?"

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"I'm not sure I'll want to stay that long, but I can check back in, I suppose."

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"Can DZ approximate Deskyl's preference?"

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"In some cases, and she'll tell you if she can't. - do you have translation magic?"

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"We have people who're very fast at languages; a written corpus should allow us to have someone up to conversational level within hours, and we have people who can copy abilities." He, personally, expects to be at a basic level by the morning, but unlike most ninja he's encountered foreign languages before.

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Nod. "All right. I'm using magic for it; I have about an hour left on this casting and another that'll last two and a half hours. DZ was very surprised that it worked with her; apparently most magic doesn't. I expect she won't mind teaching you, anyway."

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He can feel Yin, mind, from DZ, though her Yang, body, feels like the metal she looks of.

He flickers his chakra, a coded message to Mito - send an Uchiha. A diplomatic one. Definitely not Madara. And a Yamanaka skilled in working with non-human minds.

"We should get Deskyl under observation." In a properly warded room. "And then we can discuss payments and languages."

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"All right."

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The room they're led to thrums with magic, mostly barriers.

He leans against the wall by the window as he indicates where she should be set - a firm bed in the middle of the wall opposite him - and then says, "What besides healing and translation can your magic do?" It seems an odd set to be only two things. "I can give a similar overview of our magic." Of course, he wants to see what depth the other goes into first - and whether Mito, her senses attuned to this conversation and Tobirama's senses attuned to her, thinks they're attempting deceit.

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Raafi doesn't seem bothered by the magic, and DZ is oblivious, but Ertan is a bit uncomfortable and not particularly hiding it; he taps on the side of his pack and a weasel climbs out of it and over his shoulder to be petted.

"My specialties are movement magic and summoning, particularly elementals - I favor earth and water. Clerics can also cast divination magic, wards, buffs, various utility spells, and some combat magic - I'm not actually a fighter myself; I'm as able to cast those spells as any cleric but I don't have a lot of experience with them."

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"It sounds like the healing is most likely to be of use."

"Our techniques primarily involve physical enhancement, elemental manipulation, illusions, healing, and sealing. No two ninja can be expected to have any particular overlap in powers. Magic is usually considered to be meant for combat."

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He nods. "Simple healing is some of the easiest magic for me to do, and certainly useful; if you don't have non-combat magic, you might also find divinations helpful, or some of the utility spells - Wall of Stone, for example, which can also make roads and bridges."

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" - That is combat magic. And acute wounds are rarely of concern, but we have several cases of chronic infection and permanent injury. Missing limbs, blindness, and the like." And he's not going to trust someone else's 'divination.'

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He nods. "Those require more specialized spells, I'll need to prepare them in the morning."

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"How does preparing spells work?"

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"It varies by type of magic: Ertan will need to spend time studying his; I pray to Fharlanghn for mine."

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" - So it isn't that you're making inscribed techniques then using those? How do you - not just know them?" His brow is faintly furrowed.

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"No - a few of my spells work a bit like that when they're cast, I suppose. My spells are like discrete objects given to me by my god and lost when I cast them; Ertan's are similar but he constructs them himself."

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He tilts his head, but nods. "Your 'god' is an actual force?"

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"My god is an actual person; I've met him."

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"Some people claim similar things." But his rapid-fire chakra flares with Mito confirm that the man isn't lying, though his list of powers did conceal some things. "There's been no proof of gods in our world."

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"They're fairly hard to miss, where I'm from, but like I said, we must be very far from home. I've never seen anything like DZ before, either."

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Lying, about never having seen anything like DZ.

Tobirama doesn't show that realization on his face or in his posture.

"What are your theories for how far?"

If the answer is 'another dimension, and it'll be hard to get home' they might want to lean towards keeping the strangers here, rather than risk them falling into enemy hands.

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"I'd expect gods and clerics and the basics of how magic work to be familiar to an informed person anywhere on any plane of my world. And I was personally sent to accompany Ertan by the god of travel. It would be - less surprising than usual, if we're not in our world anymore."

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He nods. "How long would returning take you?"

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"I'm not actually very familiar with arcane spell development - " he asks Ertan. "A few weeks to a few months if it's just a targeting problem; possibly much longer if it's something more fundamental."

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A while, then.

"If your healing works for us, that's enough to justify housing you for that length."

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He nods. "If it's more than a few weeks I might not stay myself; clerics of Fharlanghn don't spend long in one place as a rule. But I'm sure we can work something out."

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"We'll want to make sure you know the situation in our region before you leave then," he concedes. "Most places aren't exceptionally safe."

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He nods. "I'm fairly used to that. I appreciate the information, of course."

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Nod. "What sort of needs do you have? For nourishment, shelter, medication, rest..."

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"Normal for a human; I'm used to sleeping outdoors but won't mind staying inside if you'd prefer to keep an eye on me. Ertan eats less than a human but his needs are otherwise similar." He shoots a quick question to DZ- "she doesn't eat or sleep; there's something she needs instead of food but Deskyl will be able to make it for her when she recovers, and she'll be fine until then." Another question for DZ - "Deskyl is human and should eat a normal human amount while she's recovering; she needs soft foods. I do have a spell prepared that will create more than enough food for us for the day, if that's an inconvenience."

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"Food for three isn't inconvenient. We do have guest quarters. Do you need to rest now? Our potential translators should arrive shortly, if you can spend a bit on languages."

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He glances at Ertan, who's still visibly uncomfortable, and then at DZ, who's settled by Deskyl, watching the unmoving woman patiently. (Desuka is next to her, holding her counterpart's hand, not seeming any more inclined to leave.) "We'd appreciate that, I think," he says, gesturing to indicate that he means himself and Ertan. "I can come back later to help you talk to DZ."

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He nods. And: "I'll escort you there."

He gestures with one hand, forming a perfect replica of himself which takes his place against the wall. "Before we leave, does DZ consent to someone attempting to establish telepathic contact?"

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"Can you tell me more about that? Is it just communicative, or actual mindreading, or something else?"

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"There are multiple techniques. The most basic is purely communicative, and requires touch for unskilled users. Mind-reading of active thoughts is far more advanced, and reading of memories requires a special set-up."

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He nods and relays the question. "She consents to communicative mindreading; she won't consent to the other two without Deskyl's permission."

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"Reasonable." He turns, and gestures for them to follow him. "The quarters aren't too far..."

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He speaks to DZ again, briefly, and then to Ertan, and then they can go.

(Ertan is noticeably slower than an adult human.)

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He'll adjust to match Ertan's pace easily enough; both of them are significantly slower than ninja even at a leisurely pace.

The guest-house is nice, of the same twisting, organic wood as the rest of the village. It's more apparent here - it looks grown, not built. The rooms they're led to aren't the nicest available, but are comfortable and quiet enough, and there's warm food and clear water on-site. There's no glass or metal anywhere in the construction. Screens are of wood, and the interior walls are wood and paper. Presumably, if it starts raining hard enough to get past the overhang, you're supposed to close the shutters.

They pass a few people as they walk, who all bow or nod their heads to Tobirama, and either ignore or briefly glance at his companions. Tobirama doesn't stop to talk to anyone.

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"I suppose I should ask about your views regarding outsiders; I notice people don't seem very comfortable with us."

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"Staring at people is considered rude, as is talking to strangers without clear cause. People have been making an effort to be more welcoming of outsiders, lately, than we used to; the village is a new enterprise. It's meant to unite several clans of magic users, to reduce conflicts and give us a better bargaining position. People will be wary, but should not be cruel."

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"All right. My god encourages me to meet people from different places and walks of life; if there's a way to make it known that I'm open to being approached I'd appreciate it."

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"Usually meeting people is indirect. You could talk to the proprietor, and she would put the word out, or make introductions."

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"I'll do that, thank you."

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He inclines his head. "Do you need anything else?"

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"Not for the moment. Who should I talk to if something comes up?"

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"The proprietor is the best point of contact."

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"All right. We should be set, then, thank you."

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He nods.

And, back with his clone with the two other foreigners, the Uchiha and Yamanaka he requested arrive. Both are appropriately polite, and the Yamanaka does her best to communicate that she'd like to try the telepathy to DZ before touching the woman.

'Hello. Can you hear this?' comes a smooth, pleasant voice in DZ's mind.

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'Yes ma'am.'

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'Good. My name is Yamanaka Inosaki. My friend is Uchiha Reika. We'd like to work with you on languages.'

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'Yes ma'am. Will I be learning your language, or would you like to learn one of mine?'

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'We would prefer both. I can transfer knowledge to you using this technique, though it is low-fidelity, and my friend learns very quickly.'

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'Yes ma'am. If your language is written phonetically, I can learn it myself by reading a dictionary or a few books and listening to people speak for a little while, if you'd like.'

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'That would be a useful supplement. Our language has three writing systems; two are phonetic. Though if you are willing, the knowledge transfer costs me little. My friend learns written and signed languages fastest, too, but we would prefer something widely spoken in your world, on the off-chance of future contact.'

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'Yes ma'am, that will be fine. I expect you'll want to learn Basic, of the languages I know; it's spoken nearly everywhere and generally understood even by species that aren't able to speak it, and it has spoken and phonetically written forms.'

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'That sounds ideal, yes. Thank you. I will start the knowledge transfer when you're ready.'

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'Anytime, ma'am.'

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And information - organized as succinctly and clearly as a human mind can make it, but still clearly meant for a human mind - filters over. Vocabulary, grammar, writing. Social information as relevant to the language - verbs change endings with how polite or deferential you're being, you can attach one of this set of suffixes to names to indicate how you view someone, what's common with ninja versus civilians versus samurai...

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She takes a few moments to sort through it, and then sends 'thank you, ma'am', in the deferential form.

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'You're welcome.' It's now more notable that Yamanaka Inosaki is using a polite form, though in a way that indicates she's talking to a stranger not in her own hierarchy. 'Can you easily produce some examples of the written form of Basic?'

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'Yes ma'am. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to write?'

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'Something to showcase every phoneme, but separately these phrases would be useful at first pass...' She rattles off a collection of diplomatic phrases.

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'Yes ma'am.' She does, in order, with duplicates given where the proper form varies by station or situation. She also explains Sith ranks, of which there are five - dark councilor, darth, lord, apprentice, and acolyte - and that any Sith outranks any non-Sith.

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Inosaki is thankful, and returns the favor - there's three types of magic users: samurai, ninja, and monks. The main distinction is historical and political, though they fight differently. The samurai out-rank monks, monks outrank civilians, and the shinobi are outside the system (they answer to the daimyo, but they outrank nobody and nobody else outranks them), though this sometimes works out differently in reality.

The samurai rule the nations; there are the daimyo (the warlords and rulers) and below them a fluctuating number of ranks depending on each daimyo's whim, and mattering mostly to the courts. She can list the current ones for this particular nation (of which there are six, each subdivided into 'Senior' and 'Junior').

The ninja, like herself, have a more cobbled together system. The Hokage - Lord Hashirama - rules the village. The Hokage's second-in-command is the Commander, currently Lord Tobirama. The four ranks below the Commander are the elite, the middle ranks, the apprentices, and the Academy students. There's also the old system of organization, the clans, which is still a bit important. Clan heads lead their family. Ninja outrank civilians within the village, but not without.

The monks have three ranks - temple head, ordinary monk, and apprentice - and stay out of politics and wars.

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'Thank you, ma'am. May I ask how these ranks are gained?'

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'Among the ninja, students become apprentices when they show they've mastered basic skills across disciplines. Apprentices reach the middle ranks after an evaluation based on mission performance, usually including a teacher's recommendation. Middle ranks reach the elite ranks due to an evaluation of mission performance, an evaluation of skills in certain disciplines as being over a certain threshold, and usually having invented a technique, though that last requirement can be waived. This last promotion is considered more likely if you're willing to share invented techniques. Students usually come from the ninja clans, though civilians can apply as well; there's an entrance exam. The clan heads elected the Hokage, and he appointed the Commander.'

'Among the monks, usually seniority. Among the samurai, a combination of talent, birth, and political favors.'

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'Thank you, ma'am.'

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'You're welcome. How do the Sith reach promotion, or become Sith?'

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'People with the potential to become Sith are very rare; one in ten to fifty billion among species that have them at all. Anyone found to have the potential is obligated to be trained, either at the facility on Korriban or by a higher-ranking Sith, meaning that some Sith skip the rank of acolyte altogether; the rank of apprentice is automatically granted on being accepted by a master. Higher ranks can be granted by a Sith's master or their master's master, or earned by killing a Sith of higher rank, in which case the victorious Sith inherits everything belonging to the defeated one, including their title, positions, and underlings.'

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'Interesting. Your world must have many people.'

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`I wouldn't know how to compare, ma'am.'

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She nods. 'Is there anything else you'd like to know, while I have the connection maintained?'

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'I'm all right for now, thank you ma'am.'

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'Alright. I'll break the connection now.'

And she removes her hands, stepping back. "We should be good to go, language-wise," she informs the room.

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"Yes, thank you ma'am."

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"Good. Well done, Inosaki," says Tobirama. "Do you have any immediate needs, for yourself or your master?" he asks DZ. (He's not relying entirely on someone who's clearly a stranger to them both to have communicated everything accurately.)

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"Nothing immediate, sir. Deskyl will need to eat in a few hours."

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"We'll have soft foods available then. Is Deskyl likely to react poorly if others are in the room when she wakes?"

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"I've never observed that in particular but I don't expect so, sir. It's a very gradual process; she's technically awake now, but the only thing she seems to be aware of at all is this girl's presence," she says, indicating Desuka.

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"Reika and I will stay to continue learning Basic, then," he says - fortunately, they're in a small lull in paperwork and administrative duties, so he can afford time off. Though there's still some things he should work on while he waits... 

Then, to Ryousei: "If you're planning to stay, Inosaki can retrieve anything you need and inform your family where you are, but you're not required to remain."

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"I'm staying with my friend."

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"Very well." Then, to Desuka: "Do you want anything other than food and water?" He's assuming she wants to stay.

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She pats Deskyl's hand and shakes her head.

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He gets food, water, and ways for the children to entertain themselves set up, then dismisses Inosaki. 

Over the next few hours he splits his attention between where Reika is learning Basic from DZ (occasionally asking questions of his own) and some non-classified paperwork he pulls out of his storage seal. About an hour in, Ryousei gets bored with her book and her wariness and starts on-and-off quietly asking Tobirama questions about Academy-level magic and science whenever there seems to be a lull. He answers her questions with apparently unwavering patience, and encourages her to write down any questions about the other universe she has for DZ, so she can wait to ask them.

Reika learns anything she sees in an instant, and is slower on verbal learning but not by much, so Basic lessons are likely to progress quickly.

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DZ can go as fast as Reika likes; she does start out with an assumption of normal human learning capacity but very quickly picks up on the difference and switches over to teaching her the same way she'd teach another droid. She starts with the most basic necessities to get by - yes and no, simple question and answer words, pronouns, and the like, and then methodically works through the most common hundred, five hundred, and thousand words in the language, interspersed with grammar lessons as examples of different parts of speech come up.

That done - and it takes a couple hours - she stops to ask what they'd like her to focus on next. "I might need to skip the section about starships and space travel, though. It translates very poorly, and I don't understand the topic well enough to explain the terms in depth."

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"Those don't seem to be concepts we have yet, yes," Reika says. 

"Now that we know it's possible we might look into turning research to it, but I imagine if we do invent space travel at that point it'll be easy enough to re-exchange vocabulary with whoever we meet. Though I suspect something relying on chakra, especially seals, will be easier for us," Tobirama comments. "Summoning techniques exist; I'll have to devise a test for if they work faster-than-light."

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"Yes sir. Deskyl might be able to help with that; it's not her specialty, but she is an engineer, and fairly well-read."

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He nods. "My specialty is seals and inscribed techniques. Those cover anything we'd use of our own magic."

Modifying his Flying Thunder God technique to work across massive distances, so that one object would be moved to a specific seal, is a consideration, as is moving in and out of summoning realms, or a seal that pulls specific objects to it... Of course, he's unlikely to crack immortality in his lifetime, and his brother keeps shooting down his research into necromancy, so it'll probably be something to leave to a successor to finish, but he can start. And even small steps forward will benefit the village.

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"Yes sir."

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He'll indicate their most important topics - clearly still with a focus on things useful in diplomacy and negotiations.

Tobirama also practices fine-tuning his own senses to Deskyl's condition, so he should have warning before any major changes, though whatever magic she has doesn't map perfectly onto chakra so he's not getting nearly as much detail as usual. It's like he's seeing her in his peripheral vision, really.

(He stays in silent communication with his clone and Mito, as well, and occasionally checks on the other two foreigners.)

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Even just from what he can see, she's in terrible shape. Not physically; she's fine, physically, except for being a bit out of shape. But mentally - the metaphor her state evokes is that of a beach after a major storm, scoured to the bedrock. She's recovering - quickly enough for it to be visible, just barely, if he watches patiently enough - but from an injury so profound that it's shocking she survived at all.

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Unfortunately, even if she seemed likely to trust them with her mind, the way her magic works is different enough he's not confident even the most skilled of Yamanaka could help without possibly unacceptable risks.

(He's felt similar mental damage before, back when his clan was at war with the Yamanaka and Uchiha, and getting caught in either's mental techniques could easily be a death sentence. He's aware humans are resilient. He's also aware that recovery can be slow, if it happens at all.)

He's patient, though, unusually so even for a ninja.

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There's not much to see; she's at rest, in a sense more complete than just sleep.

Her barely-visible magic seems to be doing something to, or with, or about, Desuka, though.

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He'll start more carefully monitoring Desuka for any damage or change.

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She's fine as far as he can tell, though quite concerned about Deskyl.

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He'll leave it for now, though he'll continue monitoring the situation.

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"Would this be a good time for me to feed Deskyl, ma'am? I expect the next section of vocabulary to take a few hours."

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Reika glances at Tobirama.

"That's fine," he says.

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"Thank you, sir."

DZ prepares a bowl, and Desuka takes the opportunity to go get something for herself as well. When she breaks contact with Deskyl, the woman's magic recedes, and her healing slows.

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Hm.

"Deskyl's magic seems to be reacting to Desuka, specifically, in a way that speeds up her healing," he says to DZ. "Do you know anything about that?" A pause, and: "My main concern is risk to Desuka."

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"I'm not sure, sir - it seems unlikely, especially if you can sense it and Desuka seems fine; some Sith techniques do drain energy from others but it's usually obvious, and as far as I know Deskyl has never learned those techniques."

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He nods. "There's a variety of things it could be. Still, Desuka, there is a mostly unknown risk - are you alright with taking that?" He's not going to tell her she can't, of course.

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She considers it. "Obvious?" she asks DZ.

    "Yes ma'am. Most Sith techniques are unless the Sith is specifically shielding them."

She nods, and considers for another moment. "Okay."

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He nods. "Eventually, I'll want to turn my attention to village matters," he says, "Though I don't need to leave quite yet. Reika, are you alright with staying longer?"

She hums. "Yes, Lord Tobirama. I can stay up a few days without issue. I'll make sure the children get sleep, as well."

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Wryly: "I think if they want to stay up you're unlikely to win that argument, and they're old enough to make that choice. I'll have bedding sent if they feel like sleeping, but don't push it." He remembers being that age, and suspects the kids are probably better at staying awake than Reika will be.

She inclines her head. "Yes, sir."

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DZ feeds Deskyl, patiently enough to be neat about it, and then gets back to the lesson, now focused on vocabulary useful for making treaties.

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He'll stay through that, then make his excuses and leave. By now he's fairly certain he'll know before Deskyl wakes properly, and he has office work to do. He tells them he'll be back in the morning, though.

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Desuka doesn't seem inclined to sleep; she does ask Ryousei to bring her the book she's been reading.

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"'kay!" Ryousei's been yawning, some, between bouts of trying to practice chakra control and meditation. She fetches the book and then curls up to sleep in the corner.

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Desuka doesn't seem tired at all, but spends the evening reading, eventually shifting to lean companionably against DZ.

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Tobirama returns the next morning, for a very liberal definition of 'morning' that includes 'it is technically past midnight.' He tells Reika to take Ryousei home after a short conversation, and to get some rest herself - they're not in a rush, and she can use this time to expand on her short-hand notes anyways.

He's brought yet more paperwork with him, and he settles in to read over Reika's copious notes and work on his own projects.

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Desuka's still awake, and seems alert enough; she looks up from her book when he comes in and nods approvingly at Ryousei being taken home but doesn't actually try to get his attention. She does get DZ's, though, once Reika has left and Tobirama has settled in. "Deskyl?"

    "Yes ma'am," the droid answers quietly. "What would you like to know?"

Desuka gestures from her counterpart to herself.

    "I'm not sure myself, ma'am. You move like her, though. And you think the same way, I think."

"Reincarnation?"

 

    "I don't know anything about that, ma'am - if it happens it's not common knowledge where we're from."

"Hm."

    "Maybe Raafi knows more; I haven't had much of a chance to talk to him."

"Yeah." Lean. "What..." gesture.

    "What happened?"

Desuka nods.

    "I don't know that exactly, either, ma'am. She was taken away and brought back like this. Her master didn't defend her, so he must have been involved, but I don't know anything else about it - they were close before the first time, and as far as we know she didn't offend him or anything."

"Mm."

    "She'll be all right now. She just needs time. And you're already helping her, apparently."

"Yeah."

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He listens, but doesn't make any particular comment on the exchange.

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That seems to be all Desuka has to say, at least for the moment. She reads for another few hours, and then drags a futon over to sleep on the floor next to Deskyl's bed.

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Meanwhile, Tobirama's clone had stayed nearby the inn Raafi and Ertan were in, to keep a mental eye on the clearly powerful visitors. 

The inn's proprietor is approachable, and if Raafi explores there's a few people in the common areas, mostly in small groups talking quietly among themselves.

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Raafi and Ertan stay in the room for a little while, settling in, and Raafi brings Ertan up to speed on what's happened so far, including that their hosts have unfamiliar magic not based on spell slots at all, and seem to have used some kind of mindreading or truth-detection on him without notice, but that they don't seem dangerous, merely a little paranoid and uncomfortable with outsiders.

They agree to move on in the morning; for now, the halfling will stick close to the cleric. They venture out to introduce themselves to the proprietor.

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She's an older woman, silver hair pulled back into a tight bun decorated with hair-sticks. There's stern lines around her mouth, and numerous calluses on her hands - some of them likely from sword-work. She's pretty, too, skin clear and well cared for.

She nods when they approach, continuing to write in a large ledger even as she asks, "Need something?"

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"The man who brought us here said to talk to you if we wanted to be introduced to people?"

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She nods. "I know everyone who stays here, and a good number of the people in the village. You aiming for any specific sort of 'people'?"

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"Not especially. I'm a cleric; part of my religious practice is meeting people from as many places as I can. And I'm very far from home; we had a magical accident."

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"Odd religion, but I suppose there's all types. I know a girl who's writing some traveling book, though. She's real foreign, pretty much as close to the other end of the trade routes as you can get. Ain't getting much luck here in this town, so she was talking of moving on, but she hasn't yet. The merchants are also usually up for chatter, and they'll know what the roads look like if you're going to travel. I can point out who's from where, if you'd like." She pauses, clearly thinking.

"If you wanna talk to everyday folk, there's a few bars - barriers between strangers are lower there. But you'll have to start telling your own stories first. People don't like giving away words for nothing. I wouldn't recommend trying to chat up the ninja; they're not inclined to share, and they're used to people with a lot of questions being hostile. Lord Tobirama's about the only one I know who isn't wrapped up in his own secrets."

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"Good to know, thank you. I suspect the writer and I will have lots to talk about, and I have trade goods that I believe are rare here, if there's a merchant in particular you'd like to send my way, though I expect I'll find them on my own before too long. Metal and gems, in particular, and perhaps some spices."

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"You might want local currency before setting out - or at least coin that'll carry wherever you're going. Gonna get a fairer trade here than some places, the ninja don't stand for lying about your goods or your coin. Gems and spices will do better somewhere fancy, though. The capitol, or a trade-town. Metal - depends on what type. I know someone for all of those, of course. How much do you want to trade?"

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"I'd have to check my stores for exact amounts, but I have a couple tons of iron and around fifty pounds of gold, and smaller quantities of copper and silver and a little bit of platinum. In ingots for the iron and coins for the rest."

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"Iron's not worth much pound-for-pound here, it's easy to mine - your best value for that'd be in the Land of Wind or Water, they're metal-poor - but we use it a lot so it's easy to move. Gold's basically useless to us - the samurai use it for decoration some; I'm not sure how much they'll pay. Copper - Uzushio uses that, they're a pain to get entrance to but they've got merchants here you could sell to, and they pay well. Platinum's real valuable; there's talk of using it in chemical sensors last I heard. Probably you could sell that straight to R&D. Silver's useful in a couple of things, but we're near some mines, so it's less valuable here than elsewhere."

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"It sounds like the copper and platinum will be most worth our time, then, and I have nearly as much of the copper as the gold. Is there anything else particularly valuable here? I've picked up a pretty wide variety of things in my travels, it wouldn't be practical to try to list it all."

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"Jade. Some gems we don't have locally - " She lists what they do have, and what of the local gems are most valuable. "Things that take industry: silk, brocade, art, pottery, weapons, armor. Foreign plants, especially if you've got seeds or cuttings - Lord Hokage maintains gardens, so he'll buy seeds even if it's not anything particularly useful. Knowledge trades best, and you can sell it more than once. Books, stories, maps, technology."

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"I do have seeds - a pretty good variety, actually, I collect them for a friend - and a bit of silk, and I should check if I still have that bolt of shimmerweave. Books, though, nothing I'd want to part with, and I expect a map of where I'm from to be more of a curiosity than anything else."

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"Alright. I can introduce you to the copper merchants this afternoon, and someone for the seeds in the late evening, and someone to buy the platinum tomorrow morning, when the markets open, if that pleases you?"

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"That will be fine, thank you."

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She nods, and finishes up what she's doing, then stands. "I believe the Uzushio delegation is in the tea room right now. A good place for new meetings."

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"Thank you," he says, and follows, taking the opportunity to quietly update Ertan with what's going on.

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The inn must have some kind of sound-dampening, because the Uzushio merchants, once the thin wood-and-paper door is slid open, are suddenly quite loud, when they'd been inaudible before. The topic of discussion they walk in on seems to be a spirited debate about calculus.

The proprietor makes what seem to be very formal introductions. The merchants seem somewhat more outgoing than the locals, at least, going by how quickly they welcome the newcomers into their circle. They're mostly possessed of varying shades of brilliantly red hair, with eyes ranging from grey to purple, and tanned, weather-beaten skin. Most of them have difficult to place ages, somewhere vaguely in adulthood, though there's one teenager. (Apparently trade, like friendship, must take place over food.)

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Ertan seems a little less nervous here, and Raafi is right at home. "Hello, gentlemen. I hear you buy copper? We use it for coins, where I'm from, and I have some with me."

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"Ah, yes! The seal masters like it, and sometimes do impressively bizarre things to it, so there's always a demand for more. Pure copper's worth most, of course, but alloys are workable," says the lead, a vaguely older woman. Her hair's done up in a complicates series of buns and braids, decorated with slips of paper with odd, unreadable writing on them hung from gleaming metal hair-sticks. Her robes are silk brocade, showing patterns of waves and spirals.

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"Not alloys, no, though I'm not sure about impurities in particular." He takes a small bag from his belt and offers her a coin from it. "Like that - with various stamps, but I expect the value's in the metal." The coin in question has a face with odd pointed ears on one side and a bird on the other.

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She takes it, and a soft distortion in the air - rather like water, or a heat wave - surrounds her hand and it. "Pretty good quality," she says. "Metal coins aren't too common, here. Mainland pretty much uses beads or commodity money. I can offer..." And she names an amount of certain kinds of tea blocks, beads, or mixture, for a given weight of copper.

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He nods. "Can you give me an idea of what I can expect that to buy?"

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Tea and silk are more valuable, by size, than beads - one bead of this particular size and quality will get you a simple meal for one, most places. These beads are worth about half that; there's beads worth up to about ten times that. A night at a safe traveler's inn usually costs two of the larger beads. The cheapest tea block is worth around twice that, but the tea blocks are meant to be easily divided, and nicer ones are a denser way of storing worth. This particular copper coin will buy five of the simple-meal-sized beads.

(She's low-balling her prices, but seems to believe she's still giving him a good deal.)

This comes out over a meandering conversation, mostly involving her but with the others chiming in as well. This inn charged such-and-such but had the most wonderful food, and exquisite company... Tea and silk are rather valuable in the Land of Iron, did you know they don't even have ninja there... Copper's mined in this handful of locations, and she's been all over the continent this trip, and is set to head home soon... Of course, she'd also love to hear where he's from, and what sorts of things they have there. Exotic trinkets always go over well in Uzushio, since travel off the island's so hard. And if he's looking for something else other than just basic commodities, well, she does have assorted trade goods unique to Uzushio left over.

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He's a curious and attentive conversationalist, more interested in hearing her stories than telling his own and not in the least impatient about any digressions, but willing to talk when prompted - he doesn't mention that there are gods, but doesn't otherwise hide that the magic is different, and will answer any other questions that they have.

After some forty-five minutes, he finds an opportunity to mention that he needs to take a moment to refresh his translation spell before it runs out; he can step outside to do the required few seconds of chanting, but if they'd like to watch he's happy to demonstrate.

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She's interested in watching, certainly. Her own schooling in magic is really just the basics, but it's all so interesting, isn't it?

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It really is! He's not a theorist, unfortunately, but he's sure some will come through eventually.

He chants and gestures, and there's a strange feeling in the air for a moment, and then he's done.

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Interesting, certainly.

He's expecting more trade between his homeland and here, then?

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Probably not soon; it'll take a while to figure out what went wrong with the spell that brought them here and duplicate the effect in a targeted way. But now that it's known to be possible he's sure it'll happen eventually.

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Sensible. What sorts of things can they do with their magic, if he doesn't mind sharing?

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A pretty good variety of things! He's partial to movement magic and summoning, personally, and of course healing, but there are eight schools, which he gives a brief rundown of.

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Huh. That's not much like theirs at all. They have different known applications that people specialize in, but they're not really discrete. Nothing stopping you from using medical techniques to injure someone, except another skilled medic watching you. Chakra's in everyone and everything, and it's made up of mental and physical energy, so you can move it around by, well, moving or thinking, or ideally both. Most people've figured out combat applications, and throwing rocks at people is a fairly basic way to use earth techniques, but there's nothing stopping you from using earth techniques for building - the Lord Hokage reportedly built the whole city in a day with wood techniques - or fire techniques for cooking, or the techniques to summon nin-animals to summon humans around. Her own people specialize in sealing, which is pretty much putting things in other things and increasingly abstract applications of that.

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Oh, that's very different from his. Spells in his system are discrete objects with specific effects, like a cart or a sword. He can do harm in ways that are similar to his ability to heal, but it requires preparing different spells; he can't choose freely between them in the moment.

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Inscribed techniques can be a bit like that, in that you have to decide ahead of time what they'll do. Does his magic affect everyday life much?

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Well, for him it does, being a cleric, but most people can't do any magic, and people who can cast powerful spells are fairly uncommon. So, less than here, it seems like.

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Outside of Konoha (this city) or the capitol, or similar places in other nations, there's actually a wide variance. Technology makes a bigger difference in most people's lives than chakra, since training's so rare on the mainland. Can't exactly teach magic from a book, and Konoha's the first here to try teaching civilians' children in a long time. But it'd be hard to compare without traveling all over, and it's hard to travel all over and stay safe if you don't know the land and its dangers.

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He'll have to have a look at their technology, to see how it compares to what he's used to. And the kind of magic Ertan does can, actually, be taught from a book - his kind too, technically, but it's not something people will reliably pick up that way even if they have the aptitude for it.

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Technically a genius could probably follow directions right, but it's easier to feel your own chakra with a teacher's help, and if you run out of chakra, you die. Students don't have a good sense for their chakra levels, so they need to be monitored. Are there risks to learning their magics?

She has samples of smaller technological items, but she unfortunately doesn't have blueprints, and doesn't know for sure who on the mainland would be willing to sell any.

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He's interested in the technology anyway; he knows people back home who he expects can reverse-engineer them.

His magic isn't dangerous like that at all - spells come in tiers, and each person will have a certain number of spells of each tier that they're able to prepare at once, and that's it; once all those spells are cast, they're out of magic for the day, but nothing else happens in particular.

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Huh.

Her technology is mostly trade good type things, and mostly clockwork - she has music boxes, and wind-up toys, and wind-up pocket watches, and the like. She's aware of other technologies - people have been very excited about trains and electric lights, lately, and her homeland's recently started making arithmometers, a sort of clockwork piece that does math. There's a entrepreneur up in Lightning that makes these wonderful little images with a box and some light, she had her picture taken by him - isn't it lovely? He called it 'photography.' Someone up in Iron - lovely girl, very dour though - was also talking about finding a better way to print books than movable type, getting people to switch to a simpler writing system didn't take hold and moving all the little symbols around is awfully inconvenient apparently...

(She doesn't know much about practical stuff - oh, sure, there's machines farmers use, but she's never looked at one - and there's an assortment of things she's assuming are just basic that get off-handed mentions.)

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Some of those don't even translate; they must be quite a bit ahead of his world. He's definitely interested; it might even be worth selling one of his magic items, to get enough local currency to get samples of whatever's available here.

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She's rather interested in hearing about magic items. Of course, not all of it may fit what she's looking for to buy, but it sounds like such an interesting story...

And Konoha doesn't have any trains - they're a very large way of moving people and goods, and she doesn't know of anywhere outside of the Lands of Earth or Iron that has the infrastructure - but should have most of the other everyday things.

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He has to think for a minute - he doesn't keep magic items as trade goods, you see, so he has to think about what he's willing to part with - but he has a few rings that protect their wearers from extreme weather, and - well, he has a small box that turns into a large boat, but they can probably already do that - rings that improve skill at jumping and swimming, and he has one for climbing too but he doesn't have a spare of that - he might still have that periapt that improves intelligence, or he might have sold it already, he'd have to check - a rope of climbing probably isn't very useful to her but she might be able to resell it as a novelty...

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Intelligence or protection from extreme weather sound most useful; swimming, jumping, and climbing would mostly be useful for a child or a civilian, since walking on walls or water are fairly basic chakra skills, but there might be some use for hobbyists...

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Yes, those sound less useful in context. He might have a ring or two of feather falling, actually, those might be useful for beginners learning to use chakra.

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If they do what they sound like - other than a few wind techniques there's no real way of slowing falls, even for experienced ninja.

She's willing to rather cheerfully haggle for the magic items useful locally; her own magic items seem to be in the same 'minor amusement' category as the clockwork toys (endless waterfalls, carvings with glowing pieces...), though there's boxes that functionally mostly work like bags of holding but are no more than twenty pounds each (most far lighter), even for a comparable carrying capacity to the best bags of holding, and are all far smaller in exterior dimensions.

(She's able to pull them all out, though she'll only do so one at a time for the magic items, and demonstrates her sealing scroll - which even the boxes of holding fit into without issue, each item simplified to a symbol on the paper.)

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Being able to put the sealing scrolls into each other is interesting - his can't do that - but he's much more interested in the technology than the magic.

He wants some privacy for getting at his stash - his way of doing it isn't nearly so elegant as hers - but he's happy to haggle now if she doesn't mind his uncertainty over some of the quantities involved. (He estimates that he has about forty pounds of copper.)

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She's fine waiting for him to return. (She could use the time to talk to her group, after all.)

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He takes Ertan with him when he goes; they're gone for about twenty minutes. When he returns, he reports that he has three rings of Endure Elements, two of Feather Falling, one each for jumping and swimming skill, the periapt, and he remembered while he was going through things that he had a pair of fingerless gloves that increase dexterity when writing; perhaps they would be useful for writing seals?

He also has the copper; his scale says it comes to just over forty-two pounds.

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She'll want to try the magic items she can, of course, but those all sound like something she's willing to trade for.

(When it comes time to haggling, she's friendly and talkative and rather shrewd on ferreting out what he thinks things are worth).

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Of course she can test them; a wise businesswoman wouldn't trust a stranger that far.

He seems to consider the periapt to be more valuable than the rest, and even those quite significant, but he's not especially pushing to get what he thinks they're worth.

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Well, what does he think they're worth, she'll eventually ask, after she seems to realize something, and - "I feel our cultures might lend themselves to some talking past each other, and that it might benefit us to be less secretive," she says, "Though I'll hardly give out classified information, perhaps it'll benefit us both to show our cards - for free, even."

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"Yes ma'am, I imagine you're right. I've been thinking of one of your single meal beads as being worth one silver coin, from home; large transactions are in gold or occasionally platinum coins, which are worth ten and a hundred times as much respectively. And secondhand like this, I could expect to get a bit over a thousand gold for any of these but the periapt, which I could get about two thousand for. Obviously the skill rings will be worth less here, of course."

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"Ten or twenty thousand simple beads, then... That's about a scale with some of my more complicated items - the storage boxes especially. I'd expect twenty thousand for this one, or I suppose two thousand gold," and she indicates a box with complicated wood inlays, "Which is a Type Po, holds about - math doesn't work cleanly, but it's a bit over thirty-six cubic feet. Though I'd usually try to get twenty-four thousand or more. Smallest box I have, Type Ja, is three thousand beads at a minimum, holds something like five cubic feet. Twenty thousand beads is a good-sized house somewhere nice - well, anywhere houses don't literally grow on trees, at least - and I'd expect a well-off farmer's total worth to be five thousand beads. The silks I'd expect a hundred to a thousand beads a bolt for anything you're not flat out special ordering."

"Now, and I think this is something you seem interested in, but buying secrets is a weird business - blueprints for things we've had since Imperial times, probably around five hundred to a thousand beads would net you it, unless someone picked up on you being foreign, or you could trade a secret for a secret, or a promise, or a favor. No money's gonna bribe you into Uzushio transport seals or whatever Lord Tobirama uses to zip around, but powerful enough magic might sway any leader - something we can repeat moreso than a one-off. Custom seals are possible but expensive, and that's a diplomatic trade half the time. Trains, photographs, lights... That's someone's life's work, and they'd have a reasonable expectation of not selling it unless you can set them until their next discovery. Ten to a hundred thousand beads, depending on them and what they think it's worth. Some of them won't sell for love or money. Samples would be cheaper, if you just want a light bulb, though buying a whole printing press probably runs more than buying the blueprint."

"I'm willing to offer you market value on those except the skill rings, too - I probably can't turn the skill rings around all that easily." She's also willing to offer above market value for the periapt, but she's not going to offer if he's willing to part for market value.

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He nods. "I do have some very powerful magic available to me - mostly not repeatable, but I can cast high-tier spells myself, if there happens to be someone around who needs something I can do - I'll have to have a look at what there is to buy, here, though, before I consider that. I know plenty of stories and things about how my home works, but not many things I think of as secret, or that would be immediately useful to know; it seems like we have different customs around that, though, and you might have some things in mind that I'm not thinking of. Market value is fine, for these - what's a printing press?"

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"One of the things you didn't seem to know the translation of. It's a machine that makes multiple copies of a page, so it lets books and such be made quickly and cheaply."

"We don't know what spells are high tier, or even basic, for you, which complicates bargaining on our end. And stories about how a place works are very useful - how do the people in the stories apologize? What are their taboos? What's rude, what's polite? How do they speak to each other, how do they negotiate? What's considered everyday, and what's exceptional? It's useful for navigating speaking to you - which stories you tell says a lot about you - but also if we're ever in contact with your home, and information has - a value independent of what it's for."

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"Oh, I definitely want blueprints for a printing press. Or at least to see one. I'll have to think about what stories I might tell - I'm something like a professional traveler, I've been all over, so if I just tell you what comes to mind, it's going to be more an indication of what was memorable than what's common; that's still useful, of course, but probably not worth my time when I'm burning spells on translation. For spells - at the highest tier, excluding spells that are specifically for combat, I can detect the location of a person who's magically shielded given an item of theirs to use as a focus, I can suppress other magic near myself, and I can make a few kinds of very powerful magical traps. At the next highest tier, I can teleport to anyplace in the world I've seen, including via magic, with up to five passengers, control the local weather for a few hours and possibly up to a couple days, regrow limbs, resurrect someone who's been dead up to a hundred and fifty years given any part of their remains, spy on someone elsewhere in the world for several hours, or make slightly less powerful traps. I'd expect to get about twelve hundred gold for a spell of the highest tier I can cast, and a bit over a thousand for the next tier down - the rule of thumb is ten gold per tier per caster tier, and I'm a fifteenth-tier caster and can cast spells up to eighth tier, but some of those spells have costly material requirements that aren't included in that."

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That gives her pause. "Resurrecting the dead - proper, not just as puppets - isn't something we can do. At all. And twelve hundred - that's nothing, for undoing death. Uzushio... We rarely die of anything but old age, and we live a long time, but even we mourn our lost loved ones. Here, though? They carved their peace out of blood. I don't think there's a single person in this village who isn't missing family, and I know there's been some deaths back during the wars that turned out - politically awkward."

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"- you can't. Well. That is one of the costly ones - ten thousand gold worth of diamonds, destroyed as part of the casting - but I can do it. Properly; they're a little weaker for having come through it, but otherwise fine."

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She nods. "No one not desperate is gonna trust that without verification you're not controlling whoever, or that it won't fall apart, but - if you talk to someone actually high up, they'll be able to set up steps to verify all that. Diamonds - is it a set quantity, or the worth that matters?"

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"Worth. It's - slightly complicated; my world is different."

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"Sounds it," she says, wryly. "I don't even know where to begin on all the technical questions anyone would have. Still, it's been either more than a hundred fifty or less than sixty years since we lost someone I'd personally pay that for; I'll let Uzushio's leader know it's a service we might be able to trade with your world for, but I wouldn't expect him to move on that anytime in the next year. I can't say I have any particular need of your other spells, but I'd be satisfied with a more regular trade."

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He nods. "That sounds agreeable."

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She hums, restates her terms, and reclaims her friendly demeanor, wrapping up their trade quite deftly.

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Very good.

He stashes his acquisitions and heads back to the lobby to talk to the proprietor.

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She's there -

As is Tobirama, leaning against a wall.

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Even better. "Hello. Is everything all right?"

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"Yes." He straightens. "I noticed an irregularity with your chakra signature, forty minutes past, which lasted approximately twenty minutes."

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"I would have been - ah. My storage magic is different than the local sort; I have to go inside it if I want to get things out."

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He nods. "That does match," he says, somewhat wry. "I wanted to ensure nothing was wrong." He tilts his head, but can't really formulate a not-potentially-offensive request to learn, and his brother's cried at him about being the least diplomatic person in Konoha enough times already today.

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"No, everything's fine. Interesting trading opportunities. And we got to talking about magic, a little - it turns out I can do a few things you can't do here at all; we should probably discuss it privately."

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He nods, and turns and thanks the proprietor for her patience, then: "For true privacy, that would be my office."

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"That's fine."

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He nods, and offers to lead the way - he's free right now, and on and off most of tonight.

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Yes, that's fine. (He spends the walk over talking to Ertan, making sure he's doing all right and there isn't anything he needs. He does seem to be doing okay; the time spent with the traders was reassuring.)

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His office is plain, though of a good size, walls covered in shelves full of scrolls, large desk covered in neat stacks of paper. Another copy of him is diligently working. It's perfectly quiet inside, the air feeling almost muffled.

"I'd need to test it against your home's magic, but this room is warded against espionage methods known to us," Tobirama comments. "You wished to talk?"

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He nods. "So, I mentioned I can heal anything but old age - that includes death, if it's recent enough and the remains are available."

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His focus seems more intense than earlier. "What would you ask for it?"

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"The main cost is the offering to the god granting the spell - a hundred thousand simple beads' worth of diamonds, traditionally, though a different offering of equal value will usually work; it's destroyed in the process. The standard spellcasting fee for a spell of that tier, cast by a cleric of my experience, is ten thousand five hundred simple beads; that may be negotiable depending on the situation, and I'll want to know enough about the situation to be comfortable with it."

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He pauses, then: "That's an expense Konoha can afford. If you or someone with similar magic is offering more than once: we'll likely restrict government aid to one per clan, and to a test case. A test case would likely be a Yamanaka with a well known mental profile, who can easily be tested for side effects and tampering. After that: I would prioritize people unlikely to destabilize the peace, with skills useful to the village, for any subsidized resurrection, but the ultimate call would be in the Hokage's hands."

He seems to be hesitating, then: "If you or those from your home are unwilling to resurrect potential assets - every clan lost children in the war, primarily under the leadership of the generation prior to mine, if 'twenty to thirty years' is recent enough."

He wouldn't even bother with government aid for any, but he's aware the Hokage paying for an Uchiha resurrection - especially one of Madara's brothers - would go a long way to stabilizing the peace, and that the office can't be seen to show favorites.

"Of course, it's a different situation for a one-off. Likely, in that case we'd favor whichever resurrection most enables peace."

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He nods. "I don't think we'll be staying very long; Ertan wants to get home. But I can prepare it three times a day, and restore anyone who's died in the last century and a half."

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"How intact do remains need to be?"

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"Not at all; dust from disintegration or ashes from cremation work fine. I should mention that there's a bit of skill loss for resurrected people; nothing that can't be regained, usually, though in children it sometimes manifests as a permanent loss of endurance instead."

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"I'll pass on the warning. - One of our clans cremates their dead, and I'm unsure if they keep the ashes, but they do keep the eyes." Which is a fascinating custom, never mind that everyone else seems to think it's creepy. "Are parts enough? Will it complicate matters if a part that originally belonged to a to-be-resurrected person was transplanted into someone living, and then used for the resurrection?"

He'd rather Madara not put his brother Izuna back without some serious thought, given Izuna's opposition to the peace treaty, but he recognizes that'd likely be the most effective peace offering. Unfortunately, the only known piece of Izuna currently resides in Madara's skull.

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"Parts are fine," he nods. "I'm not sure about transplants, but I should be able to find out with a divination spell."

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"It'd be useful, yes, if it worked. You said your spells require preparation?"

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He nods. "And a transplant might need another spell or two to be a suitable focus - if we had more time, I'd want to try multiple divinations, to figure out which ones are necessary, but as is -" he considers. "The first thing to do would be a turning, which will destroy it if it's actively undead but yield useable dust. If that doesn't do anything, I'd expect Purify Food and Drink to handle any physical problems and Dispel Magic to cover any magical effects - possibly Greater Dispel, if that seems necessary. I can cast the divination before any of those, though; it might tell me what exactly is needed, and should at least tell me if the whole course will work."

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"Would the soonest you could do anything be tomorrow, then?"

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"I can try the turning today, if you want to see progress, but the rest will need to wait until tomorrow, yes. And I do want to know more about the situation."

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"We'd rather the divination first, and the proof of concept of the resurrection. If the limit is three people - the first will be the test case. Once a person is chosen I can provide you their profile. The second will most likely be one Uchiha Izuna, though the clan might choose someone else. Izuna was the clan head's younger brother during the wars; one of the major obstacles to a peace treaty between the Uchiha and Senju was his death on the battlefield. Returning him would be mostly symbolic, though I'd ask for a guarantee from the Uchiha that he wouldn't cause problems first. If they believe he would, I would still allow their clan the first non-test resurrection, just of someone else. The third slot will be up to the Hokage; since we can't show favoritism, and the Hokage is Senju, it's unlikely to go to someone from my clan. Likely, the Shimura-Sarutobi faction will be allowed their pick, since the Yamanaka could count for themselves and their allied clans, and that would cover three of the first four factions to join - the fourth being the Senju."

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"That sounds sensible. And it might be possible to talk Ertan into staying for another day or two; I haven't taken the time to talk to him about it yet."

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He nods. "We'd appreciate it, certainly, or at least some method of getting into contact with others with your powers."

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"I don't have anything like that that I'm sure will work across worlds - once I'm home I can get a Gate scroll, though, that'll let me bring several people back."

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"And transit isn't impossible with our system - I could easily make interdimensional travel my next project. The most likely near-term solution would involve anchors on either side, though, which would involve some level of back-and-forth to set up."

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Nod. "That might be the better bet. Do you expect to need anything in particular as an anchor?"

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"Yes; a specially designed inscribed technique. If we're unable to reestablish contact conventionally, I might be able to use a different space-time marker, which I can send back with you, if you'd be willing."

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He nods. "How long do you expect that to take?"

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"The space-time marker I currently have developed: a few seconds. Proper interdimensional travel... Harder to say. I've created space-time techniques, but nothing on that scale. It could take me a week, especially given information about how dimensions work and if my other techniques can be re-purposed. It could take me ten years, if any of my assumptions are fundamentally false."

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"I can certainly bring a marker home with me. I'll have to talk to Ertan about the other one."

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"Even if you just plan to wander back this way every now and then, it'd be worth putting an anchor-based transit system at a high priority."

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"I can't promise anything; we don't have anything targeted, yet - we might be talking past each other. Our world doesn't have casual - mind-reading, or whatever it is you're using to check that I'm telling the truth; it's a little disconcerting, and Ertan wants to try another world where that's not a concern. But we don't have a way to get back, if we leave the world, until we get back to our own, unless we happen to find one on the way."

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" - It's not mind-reading. It's chakra sensing, and here not considered more invasive or accurate than reading body language. It only picks up on what you put out into the world, and learning to control it is roughly the same difficulty as controlling your expression. I'm not actually capable of reading emotions off body language or chakra, and the person I usually check with - Uzumaki Mito - can't sense into this room. She's significantly better than anyone else I've ever heard of at reading people in general; if it's something that bothers you, being on a part of the continent where the Uzumaki aren't should avoid the problem, as long as you aren't blatantly leaking killing intent."

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"Ah. That'll help significantly, I think. Even just knowing what it is, probably." He takes a moment to speak to Ertan, and nods. "He'll need some time to think about it, but it does help."

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He inclines his head. "Is there anything we could do that would help promote contact?"

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"I'm already working on that; more examples of trade goods and things your magic can do that ours can't would be useful, but I expect I'll have it pretty well covered myself."

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"I wouldn't mind putting together a comprehensive list in both directions. We clearly have referential gaps."

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"That's true, and I won't mind the help. I'll put mine together tonight and transcribe it in the morning."

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"I'll have a list by the morning, too."

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"Thank you. Did you have any other questions for me?"

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He has a few questions about how clerics work, both in terms of what powers the magic and what their social role is, and some questions directed towards smoothing out future diplomatic relationships.

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Raafi is happy to talk about clerics - they get their power from devotion to a god, or to a concept that particularly speaks to them; in his case, he's a follower of the god of travel, Fharlanghn. There are a couple dozen well-known gods and probably a few hundred obscure ones, in his world; Pelor, the god of the sun, is the most commonly worshiped. The precise role of a cleric depends on the god they're devoted to - not all gods are good, and some are directly opposed to each other - but in general they're healers, advisors, and community leaders; the type of person you take complicated problems to. Clerics also tend to be outside of society, to a greater or lesser degree; one thing all clerics have in common is that if they let mundane concerns take precedence over their devotions, they lose their powers, though different gods have different expectations for how that will be balanced. Fharlanghn's clerics, for example, are expected to always be on the move; staying in one place for a few weeks is fine, and few months is permissible as long as they don't intend to stay, but it seems that even under ideal conditions a cleric of Fharlanghn who settles for a year will lose their powers for it, while many clerics of other gods serve the same community their entire lives.

There are other kinds of divine spellcasters, too; druids are similar to clerics in that their devotion powers their magic, but they're devoted to nature and the natural world, rather than a god or a more abstract subject. (There are gods of nature, too, and clerics of it; the difference between druids and nature clerics is mostly in how much of a remove they hold themselves at.) And paladins, holy warriors, always followers of a particular god and subject to even stricter rules than clerics, and rangers, attuned to the natural world without being part of it to the degree that druids are.

Diplomacy is difficult for Raafi to give general advice about; there are several cultures and species of people, in his world, with very different ways of living and ideas of polite behavior. Humans are the most common, and unfortunately the most varied; straightforwardly hierarchical feudalism is common enough to be worth learning about, though, and Raafi gives a basic rundown of the various ranks, what they mean, and how to address them. With the technological difference, the other species they're particularly likely to want to contact are dwarves and gnomes. Dwarves tend to have extremely elaborate courtly procedures, but no expectation that outsiders will understand them: they'll be assigned a guide, if they visit the dwarves, and should be fine if they just follow directions, but shouldn't expect to come out of the situation with much more understanding than they went in with, though they can generally expect a fair and well-thought-out trade agreement to result. And gnomes don't have a nobility to do diplomacy with; each gnome town is its own entity, governed by the collective will of its citizens. Large settlements will have patron merchant-lords, but their power is purely financial, and they don't have the authority to make agreements for anyone but themselves.

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Clerics and druids sound more like their monks than their other magic users; monks are usually devoted to a temple or a shrine, which usually includes the local spirits, and are supposed to stay out of wars and politics.

Their main concern is not horribly insulting anyone before translations can be established; knowing the hierarchies does help, though. (He's distractedly thankful.)

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Clerics and to a lesser degree druids do get involved in wars and politics, actually, but that's not likely to come up, or at least not likely to be a surprise - clerics of Fharlanghn in particular tend to be general-purpose neutral-party diplomats, since they have so few ties to any one place.

Getting translation set up most likely won't take all that long; the spell he's using is fairly high-tier but any cleric or wizard can cast Comprehend Languages. The most efficient way to use that spell, when only one side has it, is writing things ahead of time to share; reading is faster than speaking, and the caster can mark the writing up for at least limited communication in the other direction. And it won't even come up, if Raafi casts Gate; he'll have plenty of translation magic available before he does.

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Still, it's good information to have.

They also wouldn't mind testing some things before he leaves - mostly stuff like 'can wards against spying work against each other's magic', since for instance they're very unlikely to get permission to test Uzushio's anti-teleportation wards, but can assume that if the two magics aren't ignoring each other that might apply more broadly.

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That's a good idea. The simplest way to check whether their wards block his magic would be for him to cast Detect Magic; that's an orison, a spell below first tier, and it'll give them an idea of how the systems interact in general. For spying in particular, Scry is a fifth-tier spell that targets a particular person; there's a chance that the subject will shake it off even without a ward, but if it's someone he's met and he has a lock of their hair to use as a focus, it's nearly guaranteed to work. He also has Obscure Object, a third-tier spell that hides objects from scrying spells, if Tobirama would like to check in that direction, and Ertan might have other spells.

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Those sound reasonable to check first-pass, yes. He'll of course pay them for their time and expertise.

(Most people aren't nearly this cooperative with Tobirama's desire to experiment, so he's fairly pleased, and that's visible on his face.)

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(That's cute, is what that is.)

Is there anything else he'd like to test, while they're at it?

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He'd like to compare healing techniques, especially since that seems to be Raafi's specialty - he suspects the two magics are using entirely different mechanisms and means, but they might still learn something interesting. Can Raafi heal chakra exhaustion, or damage to chakra coils? What about people afflicted by losing control of nature chakra? (Which he digresses to explain - everyone has their own chakra, but it's possible to pull on and channel natural chakra from the environment, which tends to transform you if you do it wrong. The kind he's familiar with turns people into trees, and he's heard of a kind that turns people into stone.) What about blindness and other disabilities specifically related to damaged chakra coils?

There's an assortment of other minor things - can methods used to see through native illusions see through Ertan's? (That's probably under 'do the magic systems even interact.') What happens if they stack local storage magic and foreign - though he's planning to wait on that one until they have interdimensional contact and he can just buy some spare examples to play with.

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He'll have to know more about chakra exhaustion and chakra coils to guess at how his healing will interact with them - if chakra exhaustion is just regular exhaustion from a chakra-related source, he'd expect his magic to handle it fine, including offering at least some degree of protection from it. Losing control of nature chakra sounds fascinating, and he has a couple druid friends who'd be very interested in seeing the results of it. If the magic that does it is weak enough, Break Enchantment (fifth tier) should counter it; if not, they may need to consult a transmutation specialist, though they might get lucky with the druids, too, especially if 'this person is now a walking, talking tree' is an acceptable outcome. And blindness in particular can be healed with a third-tier spell; other disabilities might require stronger or weaker spells, but he'd expect anything of that nature to be covered by Regenerate, which is seventh-tier.

Chakra-sensing will probably let them see through illusions pretty trivially until the illusionists pick up on how it works and design new spells to mimic chakra effects. And experimenting with storage magic ought to wait until there's a specialist available to consult; the local kind seems very safe, but trying to stack Raafi's world's sort tends to rip holes between planes.

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He's not a medic, but chakra exhaustion is when you run low on the chakra in your body, as a result of pushing it outside of yourself to perform techniques. If you were using entirely yin chakra for some reason, it'll have solely mental effects, while if you were using entirely yang chakra, solely physical - fatigue, lack of focus, confusion, disorientation, and lack of executive function are the main yin exhaustion symptoms, and yang exhaustion mimics hypothermia for the most part. Almost all techniques use both yin and yang chakra. Chakra exhaustion can take days to recover from, and severe cases can result in death or permanent disability.

He's not certain the transformations are technically an enchantment any more than calcification diseases are enchantments, but he doesn't know how 'Break Enchantment' would work. But again he's not a specialist; the Sage animals, the Hokage, or one of the friendlier Tailed Beasts - probably Matatabi - would be the ones to talk to. He doesn't expect most people would prefer being an inert tree over being a walking, talking tree, though.

(The Sage animals are particularly intelligent and powerful members of certain summons clans - summons here are animals with sapience, who can use chakra and often grow to great sizes. Sage animals, like Sage humans, have mastered the use of nature chakra. The Tailed Beasts are nine creatures, each significantly more powerful than any human. All nine of them have some territory they claim, and tend to defend it from incursion. The three weakest - Shukaku, Matatabi, and Isobu - are also the only three willing to talk to humans, and therefore the only ones they know the names of, and of those three Matatabi and Shukaku are considered the only ones to actually have a vaguely human-compatible mindset. Shukaku spends all of his time drinking or unconscious. Matatabi will sometimes entertain visitors in her mountains, and Tobirama's spoken to her a few times. She helped him with developing some techniques.)

Blindness is the main disability their current ninja have to deal with, since it afflicts one particular clan. Of course, there's other clans with other tendencies elsewhere.

He'll be cautious with storage magic experimentation, then.

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Chakra exhaustion sounds most like ability damage, which takes a specialized spell to heal but not a costly one, if it heals naturally at that rate. Break Enchantment does counter some effects that aren't ongoing enchantments, though only relatively weak ones. It may be possible to get a spell specifically to handle the transformations, too; he won't know whether that works without trying it, or at least doing a divination on the topic.

Sage animals are interesting - Druids in his world can transform into animals, keeping their minds in the process, and use magic to speak to them; they might be interested in making contact with them.

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He'll see if any of the summons realms express interest in contact, then - usually they're closed to those without contracts, but new magic might open some doors.

They can try the spells on chakra exhaustion, but he's not entirely confident that's at all what's going on. Chakra isn't an ability, it's an energy - more like a pool of water within you, and that pool empties whenever you do things with it. Having more chakra actually makes all techniques harder to use, because it's harder to control the flow. They're unsure why running out has the effects it does, but theories range from 'chakra is essential for physical and mental existence instead of formless chaos' - clearly false if a world without it exists - to 'chakra attaches souls to bodies' to 'chakra arises from the interaction of the soul and the body, and depleting it exposes the attachment points to damage'.

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That sounds more like chakra exhaustion is just plain non-lethal damage, which is even easier to fix; he can try a healing spell on it next time they have a case come up, if he's around for it.

If Tobirama doesn't have any more questions, he'd like to go check out the marketplace next.

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He doesn't; the marketplace is easy to get to from here, just down the road...

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Excellent.

And what's the marketplace like?

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Large and busy - here's where it becomes fairly obvious this town is much more massive than it looks on the street level. The market stretches across several open plazas and through a network of boulevards winding among interwoven parks and trees. Many of the ninja seem to treat the trees and rooftops the same way they would a road. Much of what's on offer seems more geared towards people settling into the town for the first time, with a lot of shops advertising the ability to commission pieces. There's a variety of street food, apparently from multiple different regions and traditions. Tea shops advertise quiet and private booths.

Even the broadest streets and plazas are shaded by networks of branches, and the place seems designed to encourage light breezes - a welcome relief from the muggy heat.

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Oooh.

- too crowded for Ertan, though, obviously. Raafi steers them toward the nearest tea shop.

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It's gently lit, with a clean, simple palette and painted screens acting as mobile separators. The design of the seating area's much like in the inn, low tables and comfortable mats. There's a menu available, with a focus on local teas, imports marked specially. It's quieter inside than it reasonable should be, and someone's playing a stringed instrument.

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He finds them a private table and quietly casts Tongues from a wand for Ertan, then looks over the menu to try to make some suggestions for him; a few things seem familiar enough.

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The food's fairly plain, mostly small sweets, collections of nuts and fruit, and other finger foods. 

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He checks prices and gives Ertan enough beads to stay comfortably for the rest of the day, and then a bit, plus an explanation of what they're worth, and then waits for a server to come over, watching the other tables to see if he can figure out the local convention for summoning one.

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The servers appear if your cups are set at the edge of the table or outside your sitting area, if your tea pot is left with the lid open or upside down, if you set your menu on the edge or outside your sitting area having not previously ordered, or if you're looking around, clearly confused. They deliberately let their footsteps ring out (though softly), wearing hard wooden soled shoes, but make no other sound as they move, and they're apparently highly alert, because no one has to wait particularly long.

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Nicely arranged. He does the thing with the menu.

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And a server promptly appears! She's a teenaged girl, fairly androgynous - which seems to be a fashion in her generation - and dressed in the soft blues this establishment favors as a uniform. She's polite, takes their orders, and is able to explain some of the menu items and customs. She's also clearly holding back some curiosity. 

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He doesn't order for himself, and does offer an explanation - they're from very far away, they had a magical accident that transported them here. He's a sort of professional traveler (and his amusement hints at the incompleteness of this description), but Ertan is a little more out of his element and looking for some peace and quiet right now - do they have a runner who can come find him if anything happens, if he goes to look at the rest of the market?

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Oh sure, that'd be no problem. And peace and quiet they can do!

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Perfect.

He explains where he'll most likely be and takes his leave.

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The market hasn't changed much while he was inside, though the crowds have shifted a bit.

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He casts something to improve his speed, and starts by trying to make enough of a circuit of the place to see what they have, broadly speaking.

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Furniture (most of it meant to be light weight and moved around easily), custom carpentry, rugs, knickknacks, clothing (shawls, robes, belts, socks, shoes, bags...), assorted dried foods (grain, fruit, and fish), assorted fresh foods (fruit, vegetables, and game meat mostly), jewelry, someone doing people's names or favorite phrases or words in highly stylized calligraphy featuring animals and plants, live plants, street food, embroidered or brocaded pillows, books, little clockwork toys, someone's advertising that they can record and play back people's voices - and of course sell the play-back equipment, as well as recordings of popular songs and poems recited by a local performer...

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He's briefly distracted by the clothing, stops for a moment to look at the calligraphy, and lets one of the street-food vendors tempt him into buying something, before he gets to the toys, which he notes the location of before moving on. He stops again at the recording shop, to have a closer look and maybe talk to the vendor; he'll listen to the general spiel before asking questions, though.

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It's a technological marvel! Listen to your most beloved songs in the comfort of your own home! Have a unique memento to keep!

The vendor can also talk quite at length about the marvelous properties of sound and how it works rather like striking a very particular glass for a certain tune, over and over (of course, the actual details of how the machine works are proprietary).

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He compliments the vendor on how clever the devices are and buys one that plays a song, asking as he pays whether the vendor knows of anyone selling other interesting machines today.

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Well, depends on how you define interesting. There's clocks, some of them quite complicated, and clockwork toys, and someone made a steam toy...

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Oh, yes, all of those. Maybe the steam toy first, if it's especially unusual; does the vendor mind giving directions?

If this seems like a workable way to navigate the marketplace he'll spend a while at it, likely all the way through to dinnertime.

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The vendor gives directions!

Assorted other interesting things that he gets directed to includes books - travelogues with printed images, a book of plants of the Land of Fire, fictional books, science books, someone has purported to have put together a history of the late Empire - and someone selling an electric heating device (with many warnings about not setting it on or near anything flammable) and assorted other odd toys.

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Ooh, press-printing makes books marvelously inexpensive. He gets a few travelogues, a couple of science books, and the book of plants, along with a variety of toys and gadgets, making a point of getting at least one with each method of functioning, storing the smallest ones in his belt and going back to the inn a few times to drop the bigger ones off in the room.

Come dinnertime, he picks up takeout and brings Ertan and it back to the room; the halfling is in a good enough mood to be interested in hearing about his afternoon and looking at some of the less intimidating machines.

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They make an early night of it, and Raafi's up before dawn to go wandering and prepare his spells.

Ertan sleeps in a little. About twenty minutes after he wakes up - well, you might think someone just died, from the emotions he's giving off.

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Tobirama will find Raafi to let him know his friend seems to be experiencing some kind of intense negative emotion.

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He teleports back to check on him.

The halfling's mood is only moderately improved by the time that Raafi seeks Tobirama out again, an hour or so later.

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"Is something wrong?"

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He nods. "We're, ah, stuck. Ertan's magic is too complicated to prepare from memory; he needs his spellbook, and he didn't pack it."

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"That does sound like a problem. Will he be able to reconstruct it? I can also make researching interdimensional travel on my end a higher priority, if you or your world won't have a solution soon."

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"We'd appreciate that, thank you. There are people from my world who will look for me, but I don't know which of their spells will work between worlds, and it'll take years at best for Ertan to recreate his spells."

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"I don't know what my development time will be like there, since I haven't tried this before. Likely I will have blind jumps first and can just send clones through."

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"It's something, at least. Have you given any thought to what you'll want from us for staying?"

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"Healing would be of most help to us."

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He nods. "I have some healing spells prepared, if you'd like to test them today."

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"That'd be appreciated. What is the usual recompense for healing in your world?"

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"By spell and caster tier, the same as any other spell; effects other than wound healing start at third tier, except one spell of second tier that removes magically induced paralysis."

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"Which tiers are curing disease, restoring limbs, and resurrecting the dead?"

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"Curing disease is third tier; one spell cures one person. It's possible that I'll be able to get a spell that can cure a small group all at once; if I can, I'd expect it to be seventh tier, and restoring limbs is also seventh tier. The resurrection spell I described yesterday is also seventh; there's also a spell of fifth tier that can restore a recently dead person if their body is intact, with a smaller offering requirement."

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"Our main concerns short-term are divination for if transplants would work for resurrecting the person transplanted from, curing blindness, and restoring limbs. Blindness is four hundred and fifty gold, limbs one thousand and fifty, and eleven thousand and fifty for resurrection, correct?"

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"Mmhmm. And the divination spell we'll want to use is fourth tier, and it requires the burning of blessed incense, which I'm equipped to make - being in a new place is an advantage for me, there, fortunately - but which adds twenty-five gold to the usual cost; six hundred twenty five total. I have four of those prepared today if I don't convert any of them to other spells."

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"That is reasonable. We won't be able to do extensive experiments at those prices - one experiment would earn you a year of lodging very easily - unless you want to trade your time for mine."

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"I am also curious, especially if I'm going to be here for a while; I don't think we need to track finances too carefully while we're both interested in the same things."

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"That's helpful, yes. Would you be amenable to a time-spent trade on some of the more repetitive things? I believe my relative power and experience level is close to yours, and my spending time on things like interdimensional travel does trade off against my study of defensive sets, or native resurrection abilities, or in-world transportation."

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"That seems reasonable, if we count time in days; the actual casting of my spells is very quick."

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"Eight hours; that's a normal work-day, and allows me spare time for other projects."

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"Sounds fair. Do you know what you'd like to test today?"

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"The healing, and we might as well get the divination about the resurrection out of the way."

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He nods. "Do you have everything set up for the resurrection? If we can't do it within a week, the divination will tell me that instead of anything more useful."

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"I do except speaking to the person with the transplant. I assume he'll agree immediately, but I don't want to get his hopes up."

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"And if he won't that's still a pretty reasonable use of a fourth-tier spell, if it'd be politically inconvenient to find out the regular way. I can do it now, then; it'll take a few minutes."

He burns a generous pinch of incense on a metal tray, chanting and gesturing; there's a barely-visible glow behind his eyes when he closes them at the end of the chanting. "Oh, that's interesting. It says 'revived and relieved of the shadow upon him'."

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"Seems fairly positive overall, then, if I'm interpreting that right."

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He nods. "It seems that way to me, too."

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"I'd like to spend tomorrow talking to people - but likely Madara will want his brother back right away. Can you cast whatever needed spells tomorrow?"

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He nods. "Or today, I didn't know we'd be staying when I did my devotions."

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"Today would be convenient, then."

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He nods. "I don't have any firm plans for my day. Do you want to test the healing spells now?"

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"I have the time, yes. I can escort you to the main hospital."

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Raafi fills Tobirama on his spells for the day on the way over: at least one each of most of the interesting healing spells, plus several others that might be useful for testing how their magic systems interact, particularly whether they can interact with each other normally and whether they can block each other.

 

Spell list for the day: 0(6): purify food and drink (2), detect magic (3), mending
1(7): cause fear (2), sanctuary (3), obscuring mist (2)
2(6): lesser restoration, augury (2), status (2), zone of truth
3(6): remove blindness (2), remove disease, remove curse, dispel magic, obscure object
4(5): restoration, divination (4)
5(5): extended tongues (3), scrying, break enchantment
6(3): greater dispel magic, heal (2)
7(2): resurrection, regenerate
8(1): greater spell immunity

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He'd like to test a few iterations of detect magic, including local ways of hiding things, as well as if dispel magic can disrupt active local effects and if they can hide things from his divination. They might be able to find someone to test the break enchantment on today, as well. Can someone still lie within the zone of truth under any circumstances? 

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"It's possible to resist the effect, when it's first cast or when you enter the area it's in; I can tell if that's happened. If it hasn't, then no, but it's still possible to mislead someone or refuse to talk."

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"I don't think we need to necessarily test that, except for perhaps as a benchmark of how hard your world's mental effects are to resist."

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He nods. "The difficulty does vary with spell tier; I had Cause Fear in mind as another way of testing that."

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"That would allow at least some variety in who to cast it on."

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He nods. "Zone of Truth can affect more than one person, but it does give us more flexibility to have more spells available. - I should ask, which spells are least useful today, if I need to convert them? First through fourth tier do increasingly strong wound healing of a single individual and fifth through eigth can heal multiple people at the same time, equivalent amounts per person as the tiers four below them."

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"Obscuring mist and sanctuary will possibly only be useful one each, for experiments. The others are actually fairly useful, if only for experiments - and we have very good healing for acute wounds, though it'll be interesting to have at least one healing spell to test whether it cures chakra exhaustion."

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"Reasonable. I'll convert one of the Sanctuaries to healing to test that, and we can experiment with one of each of those, and I'll keep the others as defensive options."

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"Very well. Is sooner better for you?"

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"Not especially - the only difference it makes is that if I get into trouble of some sort, spells I haven't used yet are resources I might be able to use to get out of it. I don't expect that to particularly be an issue here, though."

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"Then I might spend the next few hours on preparations and on preliminary investigations into interdimensional travel, and come fetch you in the evening."

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He nods agreeably. "I might not have a translation spell on by then; if I cast something when you come get me it'll be that."

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"That's fine."

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He heads back to the inn to check on Ertan, then goes back to the marketplace to see about sourcing fancy inks for spellbook re-creation. When he gets back again he stops by to let the innkeeper know about their changed circumstances and ask if she knows how he'd go about finding more permanent accommodations.

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Inks: are findable, though very fancy ones are a bit expensive.

The innkeeper says that people do sometimes stay here longer term, and they have weekly rates, or long term ambassadors - and he seems to have captured Tobirama-sama's attention well enough - usually stay on the village's dime. Hokage-sama usually even grows new houses for new residents.

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They'll probably want a house; Ertan will need to set up a proper workspace for himself eventually. Should he talk to Tobirama about meeting the Hokage, or can she set that up? He wanted to talk to him anyway, to share the seeds he's got.

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He'd probably be best talking to Tobirama-sama if he wants an audience today or tomorrow. The Hokage's a busy man, after all, though she could get him one in a few days?

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It's not that urgent; he appreciates her help.

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She nods.

Does he still want to be introduced to platinum merchants, or to non-Hokage seed merchants?

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He should probably let the Hokage have first pick of the seeds, but the platinum certainly.

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That can be done over lunch, then, if he's amenable.

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Certainly; he should check on Ertan first anyway.

He does that - the fancy inks he got samples of aren't quite fancy enough but they're a usable starting point - and is back in the lobby at lunchtime.

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The platinum merchants are fewer and less personable than the Uzushio copper merchants, but they'll give him a very fair trade.

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Very good. He has about ten pounds of it; even if the exchange rate is less favorable here than it was for the copper that should keep him in spending money for a while.

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It seems like it will!

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He stops by the room to see how Ertan's doing (better, a little, with a project to focus on) and rearrange his possessions, and then on a whim goes to check on Deskyl.

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Deskyl's still being monitored by their healers. Does he want to go in to see her?

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If they don't mind, yes.

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They don't mind - Hokage-sama is in with her right now, though, doing a medical check-up. 

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Oh, that's convenient. He goes in.

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Deskyl's condition is largely unchanged according to mundane diagnostics, though DZ says that the changes she does see suggest she'll be coming back to responsiveness soon, ahead of schedule by a day or so, and magical diagnostic bears this out. Desuka is still there as well, her book set aside as she watches the Hokage work.

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He smiles at Raafi when Raafi enters. His hands are hovering a bit away from Deskyl, glowing noticeably green. "Hello! You must be our other visitor!" he says, grinning.

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"Yes, I am! I don't know if you'll have heard yet, it turns out we'll be staying longer than we were expecting to. How's she doing?"

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"I heard about that. I'm sorry to hear you're stuck for now, but I'm sure Tobirama will figure something out."

"And she's doing well, better than we expected. My healing seems to address her problems fairly well at least..."

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"Oh, good. My basic healing didn't do much, I wonder what the difference is."

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"My healing is more free-form, I think. Yours sounds like it's somewhat like - healing packages? It makes someone magically healthy? Mine is more like direct manipulation on a smaller scale."

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"That makes sense, yes. I do have more complicated types of healing but the basic sort is very simple."

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"I can also directly improve the body's natural processes - it'll make someone hungrier, but it's a good way to heal exotic sorts of damage that can be healed naturally."

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"Clever. Did DZ approve?"

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"Yes. I did explain in quite a bit more depth first. DZ's diligence is commendable."

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"Very much so. Deskyl is lucky to have her." (Desuka pats DZ's arm approvingly.)

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"She is, certainly."

He turns his attention back to Deskyl for a moment, then: "I might be here a little bit. Did you have any questions of me?"

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"Nothing that can't wait - I have some seeds from my world that I understand you'll be interested in, and I hear you're the person to talk to about getting a house."

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"I'm always interested in new seeds! An entirely new world's sounds fascinating! And yes, whenever we need new construction I take care of it, though I'm trying to get ahead of our needs whenever I have time. We keep growing as a city, and it's wonderful."

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"That's good to hear! It's always good to have interesting new places to explore. Anyway, I'll leave you to it; Tobirama and I will be doing spell testing this evening but I'm free otherwise if you find time for me."

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"I like the people coming in, too! Good luck with Tobirama. He's really happy about these new experiments, though he doesn't really show it. I should have time after you're done with Tobirama."

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He nods. "I won't want to stay up too late; I have to do my devotions at sunrise to get my spells for the day. But I can make a little time."

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"I'm more of a morning person than most people here. I don't mind meeting today and tomorrow, or waiting until tomorrow..."

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"I'll look for you when I'm done, how about."

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"That sounds good! I'm all over the place most times, so just ask Tobirama where I am."

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"That should work. I'll see you then."

He moves off a little to explain his and Ertan's situation to DZ and Desuka and ask if they have any questions, and then gets started on exploring the city properly.

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The city is far larger than it looks from the ground level. None of the buildings are more than three or four stories, and the extensive parks and groves of trees block sound pretty well. There's distinct areas with people who wear similar symbols and often have distinct looks - a very manicured section of flowerbeds and medicinal forests with three clans, a more overgrown section where there's as many dogs as people, an area with heavier (and more fire-proof) architecture with a lot more open spaces with dirt instead of grass floors, areas where most of the houses are cleverly blocked from having direct lines of sight to each other...

There's also, apparently, talking animal-shaped people. He'll be able to overhear people walking on the rooftops and having conversations with cats, someone's shoulder boa commenting on the sights, one dog that starts scolding a mixed group of human and canine children... The talking animals do at least usually have clothes and are usually bigger, but it's unclear from a quick survey if all animals here can talk and are simply reticent. (The talking animals are mostly found away from the thicker crowds of humans, and are relatively few and far between.)

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It's lovely, especially for a city; he pays special attention to areas that look like somewhere Ertan might want to live (naturalistic, moderately crowded, ideally a water feature of some sort nearby) and also pauses to see if he can figure out what's up with the animal people - do they seem to be associated with particular humans, or are some of them going about their lives independently? Is there anything else unusual about them? Are other people treating random animals as potential people, or do they seem to be able to tell the difference?

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Naturalistic, moderately crowded, with fountains or more likely creeks or even a river is findable. 

Most of them are associated with particular humans - the one he sees going about their separate business mentions running an errand for someone. Some of them seem able to use the shinobi techniques. People do not treat random animals as potential people.

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Probably something in the same genre as wizards' familiars and druids' companions, then; that's convenient, that he won't have to explain Ertan's familiar from scratch.

He brings Ertan lunch, goes back to the market to look for the kinds of parchment and quills and ink additives that he wants, and generally has a nice afternoon, including a couple hours between translation spells spent trying to get a feel for the language by listening to passerby. After dinner he waits outside the inn for Tobirama.

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Tobirama: appears very shortly thereafter. He even walks.

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"Hello! Interesting day?"

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"Yes. I got quite a lot done. You?"

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"There's not many people happier than a cleric of Fharlanghn with a new place to explore," he grins. "And Ertan's had me figuring out whether we'll be able to get the things he needs to recreate his spellbook; there's a couple things I haven't found yet but it's going well so far."

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He nods. "That's good. If you'll follow me, we can head over to where we'll be performing the healing experiments. We can talk while we walk, then."

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"Of course." He asks about the talking animals on the way, mentioning that they have a couple of similar phenomena in his world but nothing identical.

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"Those are mostly summons. They're animal-like people who live in a few small pocket dimensions attached to our own, and if a shinobi signs a contract with one group of summons they can pull some through. The Inuzuka clan also have a partnership with a clan of nin-dogs who live in this realm."

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"Oh, interesting. Is it possible for us to visit?"

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"Summoners are usually the only ones who get permission to visit any given summon's realm, but some do make exceptions. I can speak to my own summons, if you'd wish to see their lands."

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"Please."

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"How about I summon one now, then? It'll take until tomorrow morning, maybe, for any requests to filter back and forth to their leader."

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"If you think it'd go all right; I'm not very familiar with your culture yet, I'd hate to make a bad first impression."

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"I think it will."

He steps to the side of the street briefly, forming a hand sign and kneeling down to tap the ground. There's a cloud of smoke, and a snow leopard appears, with white fur and piercing blue eyes.

"Summoner," says the leopard, voice androgynous. "Why have you brought me here?"

"The visitor from the other dimension wanted to talk to some summons," says Tobirama.

The leopard stretches, and: "Very well." Then, to Raafi: "Are you the visitor?"

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"That's me. -I'm not quite sure of the etiquette here, talking animals are quite rare in my world and they usually have a lot in common with their nonspeaking counterparts."

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"We are more like humans than leopards, but more like leopards than nothing," they say, tilting their head. "Socially, we're fairly similar to shinobi. I'd be considered one of my summoner's retainers, here."

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"That's easy enough. We have lots of kinds of people in my world, it's just that almost all of them are at least roughly humanoid."

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"That's very strange. Only humans are humanoid, here, though some humans look different from others."

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"Our most common species of people are humans, elves, who are slightly shorter and slender with pointed ears, dwarves, who are much shorter and stouter and all have beards, gnomes, who are very short - an inch or two over three feet - and slightly stouter with pointed ears, and halflings, who are slightly shorter than gnomes and look like humans otherwise. They all have their own cultures and habits, but they vary less than humans do within each species, mostly. The wizard who came with me is a halfling."

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"Some humans have green hair or are short or have blue skin and gills. We might be calling different kinds of groups humans. Humans here can interbreed with humans, and can't interbreed with non-humans, is how we define species."

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He nods. "Those species can all interbreed, with magical help with the size difference in some cases. We do have some that can't, though, at least without more help than that. The difference we look at is, we have gods, and different species were made by different ones."

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"Some people think we had gods, but that was a very long time ago if it happened at all. We maybe have spirits, but none of them could have made a people."

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"We definitely still have them; I've met mine - Fharlanghn, the god of travel. I get my magic from him, too."

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"Interesting. Some think maybe the first shinobi got chakra from a god, but I haven't heard of it being wide-spread."

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"That sounds possible, from what I know of gods. It'd be strange for you to stop having them, though, if you did once."

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"Why?"

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"It's not really the sort of thing that happens? It seems to be possible for them to die, but it's very rare if it is, and I wouldn't expect one to lose interest in a place or a people they'd taken notice of, that doesn't seem to be in their nature. Maybe if something changed so that they were irrelevant, but I wouldn't expect that from a god who gave a people chakra and a culture that still uses it. We do have a few gods who are reclusive, but even they'll take action when something important happens with their domain."

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"What's a domain? And none of our myths mention gods paying much attention to more than very exceptional humans."

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"A domain is a god's area of particular interest - Fharlaghn's domain is travel, Yondala who made the halflings has their wellbeing as her domain, Obad-Hai's domain is wild places and the balance of nature, that kind of thing. They don't often take interest in individual people, but if bandits are making a major road too dangerous, or someone is threatening the halflings as a whole, or someone is trying to build a city in the deep woods, they'll take notice of that and send their followers to do something about it, or occasionally go themselves."

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"Followers?"

"The closest concept to domains I know is - I think there's a myth, that Amaterasu who was the sun grew angry at her brother once, and so she went into a cave, and the light vanished from the world until a different goddess danced to lure her back out. But we would say Amaterasu is the sun, not that she rules the sun."

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Nod. "Gods do have special powers over their domains, but not quite to that degree, at least as far as I know. It could be different in different worlds. As to followers - people often follow a particular god or set of gods' teachings more than other gods, and some of us go beyond that - I mentioned that I get magic from Fharlanghn, that happens because I've dedicated my life to him. Lay worshipers might see the occasional boon or bit of luck, but nothing to nearly the same degree."

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"I don't think we ever did that? And I've never heard of the gods having teachings."

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"Practically all of our gods do. I'm not here to proselytize, though, or at least I expect not - he could have sent someone who was inclined to it, if he wanted that."

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"I don't know you would get takers easily, besides, if we have such a cultural gap."

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"Oh, if he does it'll be with the traders, they're just as practical here as at home and it's always good to have a cleric with you on a long trip for the magic."

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"Is there a concept of loyalty to a god? I think that would be a sticking point - people are very clannish with their loyalties."

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"There is, but not a conflicting one, usually, especially for trading families who he'd want to support anyway. And Fharlanghn isn't a jealous god; we're told to explore, and that means exploring other religions, too."

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"Do you always have to be exploring?"

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"Well, the focus is travel, more than exploration; we're allowed to visit the same places as many times as we want. We're not allowed to settle, though, and someone who decided to stick to the same few places would probably find themselves having settled down in them eventually."

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"Huh. You might get some people who'd be willing to do that? Not the Uzumaki, but maybe some others."

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Nod. "He's not the most popular god in my world, either - that'd be Pelor, our sun god, whose domain also covers community, healing, and strength. But he's important to those of us he's right for."

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"I can see that, yes."

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He seems to take that as a compliment. "Anyway, I was very interested to hear that you have realms besides this one; I'd like to visit, if you'd have me."

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"I'd have to speak to our leader, but you are an interesting person."

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"Of course. I do have plenty of stories to share, and - my magic isn't flashy, but I won't mind showing that off, either, if you'd like; that goes best if I have a day's warning to prepare the spells you'd like to see."

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"Well, how long will you be in this village? Maybe we can have a list by your last day here, and then you can come to our realm before moving on."

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"I'm not sure - I'd say at least a week, to get my companion settled in, but I might stay a little longer if I'm still needed. And I'll definitely be back."

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"That will be plenty of time, yes."

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"I appreciate it."

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They bob their head. "Do you have more questions of me? I will likely have more of you, once I have spoken to my realm, but I do not know their concerns yet."

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"Not right now, I think. Tobirama's already being patient with us."

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"I'm not impatient, as I don't mind staying later tonight; I believe this might be another cultural difference. I was giving you a chance to talk among yourselves without my interference." (Which he'd been indicating by leaning on a nearby wall, facing at three-fourths profile from them to keep them and the street in his line of sight.)

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"All right," he says agreeably. 

"I suppose the thing I'm most curious about is how summons work for you - my magic does summoning as well, but it's much shorter - under a minute, most of the time - and doesn't bring over specific individuals; it seems like you must have to arrange your life around it, if you can expect a personal summon at any time."

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"Yes, though I can get a sense of how much of an emergency a summons is. Not all of us can be summoned on a whim, and those of us who can are usually younger volunteers. If I wanted a break, I would inform Tobirama not to summon me outside of an extreme emergency, and he knows my usual schedule - besides, I can refuse or delay summons. If there was an actual emergency that Tobirama would be inconvenienced by having refused, though, he'd likely do a general call for someone at a given power level."

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"That seems like a pretty good way for it to work," he nods. "How did you decide to volunteer?"

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"Our realm is much the same day to day and year to year. I wanted to see something of change."

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"A bit of a kindred spirit, I see."

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"Tobirama doesn't bring me out to talk to new people nearly enough."

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He chuckles a little, at that. "Is it costly to let you stay here? Maybe I can bring you with me in my travels, sometime."

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"It is not, though I do enjoy helping Tobirama."

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Nod. "Well, if I find something I think you'd like. It doesn't have to be a long trip; I can teleport to places I've seen, and bring a few passengers."

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"That makes sense, especially if it's somewhere my or Tobirama's presence wouldn't be considered hostile - I'm effectively a retainer of his."

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"I should stick to places like that anyway, I think, until I've figured out how to explain myself in a way that makes more sense to people here. Do you have an idea of what you'd like to see?"

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"The northern continent - we used to have a summoner from there but not since before I was old enough to be summoned - and big towns with odd people."

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"I can do that, I bet."

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"Thank you."

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"Would you like to come with us? We're going to be checking to see how my healing magic does with chakra-related problems."

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"Sure; that'll be interesting." They stretch, and go to briefly lean against Tobirama's legs.

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Cute!

Onward?

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Onward.

The hospital is close, at least, and Tobirama handles introducing Raafi to the staff and the monitoring procedures and the relevant tests they'd like to perform now. (The medics would prefer to be actively monitoring someone with chakra during a healing attempt, but are unsure if that would interact strangely.)

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"I don't expect it to interact dangerously, if it interacts at all; there's not much that can go wrong with positive energy. We can start with something simple, though, to check - the basic healing, I think."

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The medics think that seems sensible, yes - and they have a minimally complicated case lined up for that initial test. Simple injury, no chakra exhaustion.

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He chants; his hand glows blue, and he touches it to the patient.

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The patient: is healed!

"Fascinating," says the attending medic. "That's nothing like our own medical ninjutsu."

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"I'd suspected that. Does it seem likely that it'll be useful, or do you have its effect covered already?"

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"We have its effect covered, though you might have an easier time with some complicated wounds than we do."

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"And I can heal more than one person at a time, if there's ever call for that," he nods. Then, to Tobirama: "Did you have something in mind to try next?"

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"If the same spell works on chakra exhaustion, since you said that chakra exhaustion sounds like non-lethal damage under your system."

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He nods. "Do you have someone available to try it on?"

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The medic pipes up with: "Yes. Chakra exhaustion's fairly common, though usually only in the minor stages, and hard to treat with anything except rest."

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"All right. I can do two more like that tonight without cutting into the other tests we'd like to do."

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"Right this way, then." And they show him to someone suffering mild chakra exhaustion, and set up the same monitoring.

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"I'm a bit curious what my own detection will make of chakra exhaustion, actually, if you don't think it'll interfere - I have two of those," he reminds Tobirama.

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"It seems likely to be interesting," Tobirama says.

"We don't think it'll interfere," is the medic's opinion.

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"With your permission?" he asks the patient.

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The patient grants permission.

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The detection spell makes his eyes glow for a moment; the healing is just the same as last time.

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Status: the patient is suffering from mild hypothermia for no apparent reason. It seems more like his body's ability to generate heat is shutting down. He's lethargic, likely depressed.

Healing: it very briefly relieves symptoms, which reoccur within a few seconds, with an apparently uncomfortable backlash. The patient isn't harmed, but the underlying problem isn't cured.

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He apologizes for the backlash and thanks the patient for his help. To the medics: "That's interesting - it seems to be some kind of ongoing effect, then. If I had to heal it myself I'd try a treatment for ability damage next, possibly something to boost constitution."

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"Do you have something for that today?"

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"I have a Lesser Restoration; it won't fix it entirely unless it counts as an ongoing magical effect, but it might help a bit even if not. And I do have a few potions that boost constitution, but those are irreplaceable, I'd rather wait and cast that spell myself than use one on a test."

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"We can wait for tomorrow. I'm not sure it'd count as an ongoing magical effect - being out of chakra is more a lack of an ongoing magical effect."

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He nods. "Even if the constitution-boosting spell does work it's not a very good solution; it'll last half an hour at most. In my world you could get a magical item for an ongoing effect, but I don't have one like that with me. But it's worth trying, anyway."

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"What does constitution do, the way you're using it?"

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"It's how healthy you are, broadly - how much damage you can take and how well you heal, how well you resist diseases and poisons and hot and cold environments, how long it takes you to get tired when you push yourself, that sort of thing. The other physical abilities are strength and dexterity."

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"Those don't sound at all like the way we'd describe things - chakra capacity increases with both mental and physical might, but I'd expect something temporary that modifies those to actually not alleviate the problem and to make it worse when it wears off."

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He nods. "I probably shouldn't try anything else, then, besides seeing if I can get a spell specifically for chakra exhaustion."

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"You'd have to be careful not to overshoot; having too much chakra's rare, but it can cause problems, too."

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"I wouldn't expect to have that problem; my magic is generally good at that kind of thing. But I'll keep it in mind."

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"It's worth trying, at least."

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He nods.

"How much should I prioritize that?" he asks Tobirama.

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"Deaths from chakra exhaustion are relatively rare, and usually occur in the field far from medical treatment anyways - it's fairly obvious if you're running low, and your mental ability to actually use chakra also goes down as you run out."

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"I'll save it for when I have some spare spell slots, then."

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"It would be interesting to know if the systems interact correctly, yes."

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"And if I can get a spell for it it should be possible to make protective magical items, too, once we find my world again. Anyway, what's next?"

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"I think you might need a more thorough explanation of how chakra works, before any spell development."

"Next I'd like to try a case of blindness due to overuse of a specific bloodline." Fortunately, he's managed to contact the only other person among the Uchiha suffering from Mangekyou-related blindness without alerting Madara (she'd agreed about the importance of not getting anyone's hopes up.)

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He waits until they're on the way to the next patient to say "getting new cleric spells doesn't work quite like you're imagining; I don't do my own spell development. If Fharlanghn gives me a chakra-healing spell it'll work whether I understand it or not."

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"Ah. I don't know how that would react with a magical item - and chakra exhaustion is a result of using chakra. Theoretically it's possible to immediately replenish chakra, but I'd be wary of an exhaustion-preventing item also preventing chakra use."

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He nods. "You'd really want a magic specialist for questions about that; I can tell you about the general shape of how my magic works, but it definitely interacts at least a little strangely with chakra - I wouldn't expect it to block chakra use, but I wasn't expecting it to have any risk of being uncomfortable for that last man, either."

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"I do think understanding more about each other's magics would help, but our system is very amenable to analysis."

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"Ours too, I'm just not trained in it. You might have more luck talking to Ertan, once he's settled in."

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"That'd be something to consider, yes. Still, there's no rush; I don't mind letting him settle for a little bit."

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Nod.

Next patient?

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An Uchiha woman, her eyes intact but unable to focus, her sight gone. She's intent, still, giving off the impression of someone watching Raafi closely.

She consents to the treatment a bit brusquely.

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And he casts.

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She grins, her eyes swirling to red with an odd trilaterally symmetrical black pattern in them, like a sweeping blade. "Sight's back," she confirms as her eyes return to black.

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"Good."

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"Thanks for the help. Your fancy magic do anything about missing eyes?"

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"It can, but it takes a much more powerful spell."

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She nods. "Thanks. Don't know if you plan to stick around, but just this was helpful."

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"You're welcome. Hopefully you won't need me again, but I'll be in and out."

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"I doubt the underlying problem's solved; degenerative blindness is a result of some of my techniques."

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"Ah. Well, I can always cast it again. How often do you expect to need it?"

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"Last time it took me a few years to get this bad, and I expect I'll be on the front less than I was last time."

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"I expect it to be much easier to get ahold of my sort of healing by then."

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"That's good."

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He nods and returns his attention to Tobirama. "All right. I expect we want to save the Regeneration for Madara. I do still have two Heal spells - the one that covers a range of types of damage - but I don't expect them to help with chakra damage and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone trying; we can use those for something else, though, and the same with the Restoration spell, though if it's going to be hard to get diamonds here I'd rather skip that, it uses diamond dust. I think Remove Curse will be better used to test how our magic systems interact; that leaves us with a casting of Remove Disease and one more Remove Blindness."

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"We should have someone else with blindness, yes - what sorts of diseases can your spell handle?"

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"Any mundane disease and most magical ones; some magical ones need it cast by a sufficiently powerful caster, or additional treatment at the same time."

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"What about diseases with magical effects, that appear to be of mundane origins?"

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"I'd expect Remove Disease to cure the disease itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if the magical effect needed to be removed separately. That's how it works with poison; it's a separate spell to heal any damage it's already done, but it won't get worse after the poison is neutralized."

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"There's ones that cause chakra problems; if the underlying disease can be cured, the damage should be easy to address."

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"That sounds like a good thing to try next, then."

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He confirms with the medic that they have a patient suffering from one such disease, and then leads Raafi into the quarantine ward - they have rather thorough protective equipment and cleaning procedures.

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He complies amiably. "You might find other clerics a little offended at being asked to do this, depending on sect; we usually just cure ourselves magically if we happen to pick something up."

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"Disease carriers often aren't symptomatic, and pathogens will carry on the outside of your skin without entering your body - but still being able to be passed on. We're developing techniques to flash-sterilize areas and skin, to allow field medics more leeway, but for a hospital setting this is necessary to prevent illnesses from traveling."

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"We've suspected something like that, but it's not universally believed. It shouldn't be too hard to navigate, anyway, as diplomatic situations go, it'd just be bad to encounter unexpectedly."

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"Well, we can explain germ theory to any visitors, but any who refuse to take proper precautions won't be allowed to visit sick halls."

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"Probably better to let the church heirarchy handle the details, but yes, that sounds reasonable."

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"Maybe we can send pathologists over, as part of a knowledge trade."

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"I expect we'll appreciate that quite a bit."

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He nods.

And they're at the patient.

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"Would this be a good time for the second Status spell, do you think? I didn't get much from the last one."

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"Possibly, especially since we don't actually know much about this disease."

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"All right. With your permission, of course," he tells the patient.

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The patient gives it.

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Status?

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Very similar to the case of chakra exhaustion, just more severe in those metrics. Sick, too, with random chills and shakes and nausea. 

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"I'm still not getting much detail; looks like a more severe case of chakra exhaustion. I should be able to do something about the illness, though."

He casts Remove Disease, continuing to observe the patient's status magically.

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The underlying disease is cured, which seems to treat the sickness but not the chakra exhaustion.

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He reports what he's seeing. "That's about what I expected."

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"Chakra exhaustion's at least more treatable."

"Thank you. It's good to know that works."

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Nod. "I can come back with another batch of spells tomorrow, if you'd like."

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"I think we'd appreciate that; diseases like this are tricky for us to solve."

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"About how many sick people do you have right now?"

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Some quick discussion: "At this hospital, twelve in the disease quarantine unit, and this one is the only one focusing on long-term care. There's some out patients with more minor illnesses."

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"I should be able to get them all taken care of in a few days, then, if nothing more important comes up."

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"That'd be very helpful. Thank you."

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"It's no trouble. What next?"

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Some testing is next - most of the interactions are friendly but not exceptionally exploitable - and then Tobirama asks Raafi if he's ready to try to resurrect the person Tobirama had mentioned earlier, Izuna, today.

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"Of course."

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So he sends a snow leopard to find Madara.

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Who arrives shortly thereafter, dark circles under his eyes, looking like he'd been disturbed from something important. "What's this about?" he asks, a bit brusquely. 

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"Hello, sir. I'm not sure how much you've been told - I recently arrived from another world, with a different system of magic. I can raise the dead - properly, as the people they were before. We can get your brother back."

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His eyes swirl to crimson. "...This isn't a trick."

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"No, it's not."

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"What do you need."

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"I can explain the details later, if you're interested, but everything's been taken care of except that I need part of his remains."

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"We burn our dead," he says, a bit hollowly, "But I have his eyes."

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He nods. "That'll work; I already checked. And I have magic prepared to restore your sight, too."

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"When do you need my eyes?"

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"I have everything prepared now; it'd be convenient for me to do it tonight, but I understand if you need some time."

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"No." Plucking his eyes out of his head right now feels like it'd be slightly rude but he is tempted to make a statement. "I'm ready now."

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He nods. "I suspect your healers are better prepared for this kind of surgery than I am," he says, half to Tobirama.

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"I can just remove them. We don't need to wait on healers."

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"-all right. There is one more thing you should know, first: I did a divination earlier to check whether this would work, like I said, and the result was 'restored and relieved of the shadow upon him'. I'm not sure what the shadow refers to."

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"I don't know. Some monks think we have a bloodline curse. It could be that. It could be grief. It could be inherited blindness."

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Nod. "It doesn't sound like a problem, at least, whatever it is. All right. We should move to someplace he'll be comfortable waking up; returning from the dead can be disorienting."

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"My house is probably best for that."

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"Sounds good to me."

The first thing he does, once the eyes are out, is regenerate Madara's own, and cast Remove Blindness, if that's necessary. Then he runs through the purification and magic-removal spells, explaining each one in broad terms before casting it; that done, he's prepared to cast the resurrection itself. It's long, but otherwise similar to his other spells: after several minutes of chanting the offering disappears and Izuna's body appears in its stead, unbreathing; he keeps chanting as a sense of presence grows in the room, stopping only when it fades and Izuna takes his first breath.

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"It might be best if you leave before he wakes. He'll be wary," he says to Raafi. (Tobirama hasn't accompanied them at all.)

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"All right. Feel free to come find me if you need anything." He gives him the name of the inn and goes.

In the morning he goes looking for Hashirama, carrying a small woven basket full of bulbs and seed packets.

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Hashirama is in his office, plowing through the morning's paperwork, which he sets a wooden clone to when he sees Raafi.

"Hello!" he says, standing.

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"Good morning! I come bearing gifts," he grins, offering the basket.

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"Excellent!" He accepts the basket, looking through things. "What are all these called?"

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These six are medicinal, one that brings down fever and two that are good for poultices and one for blood infections and one for nausea and one for pain. These three are spices and this one is a berry bush; these two are ornamental flowers and this one is an ornamental ground cover. This one grows into a tree with strong wood in a lovely dark color that he thinks will complement the parts of the city he's seen, and this one produces a fiber that's good for spinning and takes dye well. He knows the names of most of them, and can describe their grown forms in detail, but one of the ornamental flowers he collected himself and hasn't found anyone who recognizes it.

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Oooooooooh!

He's excited about all of them! And has questions about growing seasons, and shade and water and soil requirements, though if Raafi doesn't know those they tend to be fairly easy for Hashirama to figure out.

The unrecognizable ornamental flower stays unrecognizable, but he's sure a local name can be invented. Probably after where it's from, or who brought it, or some other reference. 

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Raafi knows a fair bit about all of them - mostly derived from where they can be found in the wild, but in quite a bit of detail within that domain.

He suggests that it might be better to name the mystery ornamental for Fharlanghn than himself, all told.

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That seems reasonable!

Would Raafi like a tour of the gardens? Hashirama has the time. Technically.

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"That sounds lovely. I haven't had much of a chance to see your native plants yet."

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"Some of them are even in seed this time of year - a few have limits on who can gather seeds, but most of them don't."

He'll lead the way out of the tower - there's gardens all over the city, of course, and parks as well, but the more thorough ones he maintains are on top of the cliff, near the overlooks. There's a path that curls up, suitable for non-shinobi.

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When the cliff comes into view, Raafi pauses to chant and gesture for a moment, and then lifts gently off the ground. "We don't have to take the long way," he grins.

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"Nifty! How fast can you go?"

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"About twice my walking speed." He demonstrates, zipping around a bit. "Only for fifteen minutes per casting, but it's pretty fun, and I can share."

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"I could jump that, but a ride sounds interesting, if you're offering."

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He chants and gestures again, and swoops down to offer his hand. "Come on up, then, the weather's fine."

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He laughs, taking Raafi's hand.

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And suddenly 'up' is an available direction to move in; it's as intuitive as walking, and about as effortless. "Don't go too high; the magic will give out gradually, but it only lasts a few seconds once it starts to. About twice the height of that tree should be fine."

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"Is that relative to the ground? And thanks for the warning!"

Weeeeeee flying! This spell's pretty slow, so this wouldn't be useful tactically, but it's fun!

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"Mmhmm." 

Swooping around is lots of fun, and the view is pretty amazing. "This isn't my very favorite thing about being a cleric of Fharlanghn, but it's in the top ten, easily."

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Floating above the cliff: "I can see so much of the city from up here, it's really amazing..."

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"It really is. You've done a wonderful job." He drifts closer, and - handholding?

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Hand-holding and shoulder bump! "I've had so much help! It's really been everyone's labor."

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Ee! (He does not express this aloud.) "Cities are pretty incredible that way, so many people working together."

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"It's my favorite part of all this, seeing people coming together, setting aside their differences..."

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"We can be so good, when we put our minds to it."

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"Yeah! People really just need a chance..."

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"And you've done an excellent job of giving them one." Hand-squeeze.

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"Thank you!" He floats there, grinning out over the city, the sunlight lining his face. "And for what you've done to help - this had been Madara's dream, too, when we were children, but I was so worried he couldn't enjoy it in his grief..."

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He's beautiful, in the light; fortunately Raafi is pretty good at not staring. He squeezes his hand again, instead. "I'm glad to help. Do you know how they're doing?"

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"Some! Izuna's been a lot less angry than he was last time around - I guess the shadow over him must've been his own grief. He even apologized to me for his role in making the war drag on, which was weird."

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"Oh, good."

"Clerics are often advisors, if he'd like someone to talk to."

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"He might! If you want to offer directly, Madara has somewhat of an office for in-clan affairs, or I can pass on the message."

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"I haven't been to Madara's office yet, but I can probably find it."

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"I can show you after the gardens, maybe." Maintaining three wood clones like he is now for long stretches can be headache inducing, but he can always go relieve the baby-holding clone on the way over. (He has his main body, paperwork clone, grand-baby-sitter clone, and talking-to-citizens clone right now.)

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"I'd appreciate it, if it's convenient." He squeezes his hand again and breaks off to swoop around a bit, just for the sheer joy of it.

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Swooping!

"After a while I'll want to consolidate what I'm doing with one of my clones so I'm not running too many, but right now one's just babysitting."

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"All right." He heads toward the gardens. "Grandchildren?"

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"Just one so far! A granddaughter, Tsunade."

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"Aww. I don't have any of my own but I bet my brother's oldest is married by now."

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"Tobirama's content to be an uncle, too. I love babies, but they're definitely a lot of work if you have to be a single person all the time."

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"Adorable, though. And it only gets better when they start talking."

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"Yes! They're so serious."

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"And they try so hard to figure everything out. They even come up with interesting ideas, once in a while."

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"Tobirama loves encouraging kids to do experiments. He actually designed a kid-safe chemistry kit..."

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"That sounds adorable."

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"There were a lot of highly concerning investigations about what things are flammable! Luckily we managed to explain fire safety, but."

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He giggles helplessly. "Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose. I've scared a few parents in my time but never that badly."

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Oh no he's cute.

"Tobirama's a bit less of a little shit around non-siblings, at least."

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"Family can definitely be like that, yes. It's good that you've figured out how to work with him."

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"We had a rockier relationship as kids. It's easier for us being adults around each other, I think."

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He nods. "That's pretty common. My brother and I are still working on our relationship, but we can, now, at least, since we've had time to find our own paths."

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"It was especially hard in our situation - though most of our fights were over things like Tobirama valuing my safety more than I did, at least. Made it easier to forgive him, when what I'd seen as a betrayal was to save my life."

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He flies closer and takes his hand again. "That does sound hard." Squeeze. "It's all right to still have complicated feelings about it."

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"Thanks. It all worked out in the end, at least - he'd saved me back when we were children, and my and Madara's clans were sworn enemies. Madara and I were sneaking out to meet and plan the peace we'd make as adults, but apparently both of us got followed at least once. Tobirama tattling on me ended up saving me from retribution from Madara's clan, even if it got me in horrible trouble. I'm still not sure if he would have told if he hadn't sensed Madara being followed as well, though."

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He grins a little at the story. "It sounds like all of you were doing the best you could in a hard situation." Squeeze. "Have you asked him about that?"

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Squeeze! "He says he can't model his child self or the situation well enough to say for certain. Which, fair."

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Nod. "Whether he thinks he should have might be more important anyway. And why."

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"Yeah. He doesn't much like speculating on if-thens about the past, but I might be able to poke him into it."

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Nod. "It might help to explain why you want to know; I get the impression that that sort of thing isn't really something he thinks about much."

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"I think he assumes other people can read him a lot better than they actually can."

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"That could be. -I have magic that creates an area where people are compelled to speak honestly, if you think that'd be useful; sometimes it helps in cases like these to be able to prove that what you're saying is literally true. He'd have to trust my confirmation that you're letting yourself be affected, though, shinobi don't find it very hard to throw the effect off."

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"I don't think anyone's ever actually accused me of lying, and Tobirama is terrible at it. Thank you for the offer, though!"

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"All right. Any time."

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He smiles, then: "Want to keep flying around a bit more, or do you feel like heading over to the gardens? I'm up for either. Or we can fly through the gardens!"

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"We should probably head over; I don't think we have too much longer."

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"Alright!" And descending, then leading the way towards the garden. It's offset from the cliff, and the public portions are very carefully designed so they're more like a heavily managed section of forest than a formal garden. 

Hashirama points out all the plants, especially the cultivars he made - a small chunk of these were specifically for certain family members or events. There's the Konoha tree he designed in honor of the city's founding - it has bursts of red-and-white flowers, for the Uchiha clan symbol, and the numbers of petals and shapes of the flowers are significant to the Senju. There's a perennial flower with spiraling sunset-toned petals he made for his wife, and an assortment of plants for each child (flowering and fruit-bearing trees feature heavily), and a plant that's good for rope-making for his granddaughter, Tsunade. 

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Raafi listens attentively and compliments all the plants; he's not interested in taking seeds, though, for most of them, explaining that the friend he collects for is a follower of the god of wild places and won't be interested in modified plants.

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That's reasonable! 

He points out the naturally evolved ones, then, sometimes digressing into the history of the older trees - he can sense things about their particular development over time.

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That's fascinating! Druids and some types of fae can talk to plants, where he's from, but it's usually only used for practical purposes, in terms of what he hears about.

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Hashirama's always been able to sense plants, though it took a while to understand what he was feeling, so it's probably a bit different?

Permalink Mark Unread

Almost certainly; it'll be interesting to see how, exactly. he expects Hashirama and Ehlonna's druids to have lots to talk about, really - that's the other nature deity, the goddess of forests and people who live in balance with nature.

Permalink Mark Unread

He expects he'll get along with her followers very well! It'd be interesting if any of them have unique insights on nature chakra, too - that's something Hashirama can use, but most people can't.

Permalink Mark Unread

His magic system doesn't seem to interact very well with chakra so far, but they might; what does nature chakra do?

Permalink Mark Unread

"It allows an extremely broad sense of everything natural - including people - and can enable entirely new classes of techniques, as well as allowing users to draw more strength from the world itself. If I ran low on chakra, I could call on nature chakra to empower me. It also causes transformations - to natural materials if you aren't cautious, but even a skilled user will have some mutations."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I expect they will, then, though I can't say what. The iconic druid ability is turning into animals and back."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Huh! Tobirama will probably have a thousand questions about that. He's been trying to refine a transformation technique."

Permalink Mark Unread

"He'll probably have more luck talking to the wizards, divine magic tends to be too intuitive to be easy to explain. But I'll see if I can think of someone who might try."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I doubt most of it would be cross-applicable anyways, but they'll certainly have fun figuring that out."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mmhmm! Hopefully it won't take too long to get back in touch with my world."

Permalink Mark Unread

"With Tobirama on it, I'd imagine not."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ertan will appreciate that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Being able to go home is important."

Their stroll through the gardens seems to be drawing to a point where they've seen most things.

"Probably time to head over to Madara's... Speaking of home, mind if I pick up my granddaughter on the way?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Of course not." His grin brightens a bit.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Cool!"

And over to his son's house, to pick up an exceptionally adorable infant and her baby supplies, the wood clone that had been watching her merging into the floor. Hashirama already had the wood clone make a note for his son explaining where he's taken little Tsunade, so they're good to go.

Permalink Mark Unread

He brightens even more at the baby herself. "May I hold her?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure!" He transfers the baby. Carefully.

(She promptly starts trying to grab anything dangling off Raafi's outfit or hair.)

Permalink Mark Unread

He's careful too, but he seems to know what he's doing. She promptly ends up with the large wooden pendant hanging around his neck; this prompts more giggles.

Permalink Mark Unread

Baby is pretty sure wooden pendants are for gnawing on!

"Hold on, let me dig out one of her teething toys..." Hashirama says with a laugh.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, it's fine, she's not hurting anything."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's good!" And he starts leading the way. People they pass - there's more out and about now - nod and smile at the two men, though mostly at Hashirama.

Permalink Mark Unread

Raafi is pretty distracted by this adorable baby, but smiles back often enough.

Permalink Mark Unread

Hashirama mostly points out cool things about each building as they walk. He's a very energetic and thorough tour guide.

Permalink Mark Unread

That's enough to get Raafi's attention; he's interested in the aesthetic decisions that went into various buildings, particularly, but pleased to hear what Hashirama has to say in general, really, and not shy about complimenting his work or pointing out when something seems particularly inspired or clever.

Permalink Mark Unread

Eeeeee!

A lot of these buildings actually had non-Hashirama designers, especially the ones that aren't just traditional architecture. One of the Uchiha women is actually a keen architect, and designed that (very modernist) cluster over there as well as the Hokage Tower...

Permalink Mark Unread

It's all fascinating, regardless; the style is unlike anything he's seen at home - almost like a combination of gnomish and raptoran aesthetics, as unlikely of a combination as that is. Lovely work.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thanks!"

And, soon enough, they're at the Uchiha district, which is a bit less experimental in style, keeping more to older architectural traditions. Hashirama is just as friendly with the people here, and leads Raafi to an understated building that blends into the rest.

Permalink Mark Unread

His demeanor turns more professional as they head in, though he still doesn't take his holy symbol back from the baby.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hashirama. Raafi," Madara says, standing from his desk and setting aside a stack of paperwork. "This a social visit, or...?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"More or less; I wanted to see how Izuna is doing."

Permalink Mark Unread

His gaze flicks to Hashirama, then back to Raafi. "Physically, he's fine. Emotionally, I think he's been having trouble adjusting."

Permalink Mark Unread

Raafi nods. "Clerics often serve as confidants and advisors, if you think he'd benefit from having someone neutral to talk to."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't know. I would have said he wouldn't trust someone outside the clan, but, well. Things have been different lately, and it might help him to have his questions about the resurrection process answered directly. I can pass on the request."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I expect to be here for at least another week, if he needs time to think about it, and in and out regularly after that."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "Thank you."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Did you have any questions for me?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He has some about the resurrection process, typical side effects, does it work on children...

Permalink Mark Unread

Raafi answers them: It's possible to resurrect children, though it results in minor but permanent frailty to do so. Adults get minor to moderate skill loss instead, nothing that can't be fixed by relearning things. It's reasonably common for resurrected people to be traumatized over their deaths, but rare for the resurrection itself to have any other side effects. He doesn't know how it interacts with chakra effects, though; resurrection doesn't remove curses of his world's type but those are less physical than chakra is. (He can remove curses separately, with other magic, in most cases, but again has no idea how that would work on local ones.)

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "I think I'd probably be best to make things more stable first, then, but I'll instruct those in charge of our funerary proceedings to start holding back some aspect of the body from cremation - what works for a resurrection?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Anything. Ashes are fine; a lock of hair is a little more common where I'm from."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We preserve the ashes, and the bones don't burn, so if those work it'd probably be best not to change the process."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Certainly. Though if I'm around, I can resurrect someone who's been dead for fifteen days or less with a smaller, less expensive spell, as long as the body is basically intact."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's sometimes a problem, but we'll keep it in mind."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "It's preferable when it is possible, at least. And - there's a more powerful resurrection spell that doesn't need a body at all; I don't receive spells that powerful yet, but I do have a scroll that I can use to cast it once, if there's a serious enough need."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think there's anyone urgent."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It didn't sound like it," he nods. "Was there anything else?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He shakes his head. "I'll contact you if Izuna wants to talk."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'll let you get back to work, then."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods, then: "Thank you. For the help, and the information."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You're welcome." And he goes.

Permalink Mark Unread

Hashirama stays briefly to plan a meeting time with Madara, then follows him out.

Permalink Mark Unread

Raafi hasn't gone far, just to the nearest bench to sit and coo over Tsunade.

Permalink Mark Unread

She is a very coo-worthy baby!!!

Permalink Mark Unread

She is! He looks up after a moment, though. "Should I let you get back to work?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"My clones can still handle everything - mornings are usually a bit slow, though I'll want to have more of an all hands approach after lunch."

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right. Is there anything else you'd like to do? The gardens were lovely."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I could show you more of the city, and we could have lunch at one of the new places that's opened up recently? Unfortunately lunch isn't exceptionally far off by now..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sounds good to me."

Permalink Mark Unread

And onwards through a decent chunk of the city! Hashirama points out places to visit that they don't have time for today, like community theaters and art galleries. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's all very interesting. Raafi is particularly interested in seeing a play; it seems likely that their theater tradition will be different from what he's used to.

Permalink Mark Unread

Definitely! (If Raafi wants to have a local guide, well, he knows where to find Hashirama, and Hashirama's usually freed up again by the evening.)

Permalink Mark Unread

That sounds great, he'll stop by after lunch and see what they're doing this week.

Permalink Mark Unread

Alright!

And on towards lunch, speaking of - Hashirama finds somewhere with a good view of its part of the city, that's lively but not too loud, with relatively new-to-town proprietors he can happily bounce at and ask how they're settling in to the Leaf. It's Fire-Lightning fusion cuisine, apparently, Fire being this nation and Lightning being to its northeast.

Permalink Mark Unread

Raafi likes people-watching, and has lots of questions about this fashion or that mannerism, and takes out his own foreign utensils when the food comes, explaining that chopsticks are new to him and he hasn't figured them out yet. He takes a turn at feeding the baby, too - he's competent enough at it, though not very practiced. 

Permalink Mark Unread

(This restaurant has some bread-based foods that can be eaten with fingers, too, though foreign utensils are reasonable.)

Baby is fully capable of turning everything into a mess no matter how competent her feeder!

Hashirama seems to be having fun, at least. 

Permalink Mark Unread

As long as a reasonable amount of food gets into the baby herself, he's not too bothered; he can clean up at the end with a simple spell. (The whole process involves rather a lot of smiling at Hashirama.)

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's a very useful spell!" he says of cleaning the baby. "I'm stuck trying to give her baths."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mmhmm," he grins, and boops her nose. "Your magic might be more impressive overall, but we've got a few things going for us."

Permalink Mark Unread

Baby wrinkles her nose and tries to grab his finger.

Hashirama laughs. "You guys definitely do!"

Permalink Mark Unread

He giggles. "Glad to be of service."

Permalink Mark Unread

Bright grin.

Eventually lunch will finish, though, and it'll be time for Hashirama to return the baby and put all three of his selves to work.

He wishes Raafi a good visit about town, and says to feel free to come by the Hokage Tower or Hashirama's house anytime. (Though he does reiterate the times when he's most free.)

Permalink Mark Unread

And Raafi goes about his day - the afternoon's task is to track down someone who makes ink to ask about having custom batches made. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Custom batches can run to be pricey, depending on what the custom batch is. There's some stuff they have the recipes for, that they just make on demand because demand's too low for standard production, for instance, that isn't significantly more expensive than normal ink, but if he wants something really finicky or rare prices will go up.

Permalink Mark Unread

He has every expectation that this will be incredibly expensive; it would be at home, after all, and here they may need to reinvent some of the things Ertan is looking for - ink that changes color when written over with other ink, for example.

Permalink Mark Unread

Depending on what you mean by changing color and the exact mixes - shinobi have invisible inks they use sometimes, and there's fancy art inks that do blending like that.

Permalink Mark Unread

He's pretty sure what he needs is inks that do some kind of chemical reaction; red and blue to make pink, rather than purple, for example. He has a list, arranged by priority, and enough money to get started on it.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, that sounds like an investment. Still, they'll gladly take said investment. Does he know anything of the underlying chemistry?

Permalink Mark Unread

He knows a few pieces of trivia, but nothing very useful. Ertan might know more, though, particularly if they can write up a list of questions for him.

Permalink Mark Unread

They set to doing that, then.

Permalink Mark Unread

He wanders through the market a bit more and comes back to pick it up before dinner.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's available, and quite thorough.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Elsewhere, a few hours later, DZ notices a telltale change in Deskyl's breathing and alerts the healers that she'll be waking up soon.

Permalink Mark Unread

Hashirama quickly leaves a clone to wrap up and delegate his responsibilities and comes over. 

He assumes he should wait outside while Deskyl is actually waking? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes; Desuka should probably not be in the room either. She gives them a quick safety rundown: Lightsabers work like so; Deskyl's sensory powers work like so; telekinesis works like so. DZ doesn't expect her to be hostile but it's hard to know for sure, in a situation this new; if Hashirama has a particular strategy in mind for handling that, DZ may be able to offer advice about it.

Permalink Mark Unread

His usual non-lethal options can cross the line into physical or chemical restraint if he's also trying not to hurt someone bad enough to disable them. He can fill a space with a closely personalized toxin, which he can make as lethal or non-lethal as he likes. He can also move very quickly and control most surfaces in the room, since it's made of wood.

Permalink Mark Unread

Deskyl is generally immune to poison; there's a chance it would work, right now, but not a large one. She's faster than a baseline human but can't touch Hashirama's speed; that might be a good approach.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's not my top speed, too, if there's a true emergency. Though if she turns hostile I'll also almost immediately have Tobirama as backup, and he's much faster than me and has magical means of restraint."

Permalink Mark Unread

She nods. "That should work, sir. If she thinks her life is in danger she'll fight to the death, but otherwise she'll back down once it's clear she's outmatched. The other thing that you should be aware of is that Sith powers are emotion-based and emotion-affecting; it's advisable to escalate as quickly as possible if you have to escalate at all, rather than giving her time to get angry."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Reasonable."

Permalink Mark Unread

"She really is very calm for a Sith; there's a good chance that it won't come up at all."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "Still, it's best to be prepared."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes sir," she nods. "I should go sit with her."

She's gone for about fifteen minutes, and comes back to report that Deskyl would like to meet Hashirama and Desuka.

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "That's alright with me. Desuka?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Desuka nods, looking a little nervous, and follows him in.

Permalink Mark Unread

He approaches calmly, posture relaxed, with a slight smile. Still, there's a line to his back that suggests someone who is absolutely not a push-over. "Deskyl, was it?" he asks.

Permalink Mark Unread

Deskyl is less calm, but not threatening or even especially wary, just guarded, prepared to react if he makes the first move, and not looking at Desuka at all. DZ signs to her, and she nods to him and signs back.

    "She wants to know what your plans are for her, sir."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We'd like to trade information with you, ideally. At a minimum, we could teach you how to survive here, and you could teach us something of your world. If all goes well, we wouldn't object to you settling here - this city is very recently founded, as a place for those without other, set homes to come together. What you would do with your time then would be up to you, of course. Even if you wish nothing further to do with us, I would consider a free agent who has a positive impression of the Hidden Leaf to be worth the investment put into your care."

Permalink Mark Unread

She nods along with DZ's translation.

    "What kind of information are you interested in, sir?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Our main areas of concern are first if someone from your world makes contact, or if in developing our own dimensional travel methods we stumble on your world, and second the betterment of everyday life here. Diplomatically relevant information and mundanely useful technology, essentially."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She expects to be able to redevelop some of her world's technology for you; she'll need to know more about your current capabilities to say what. Most of what she knows about her world's politics is about the Sith, who she recommends that you avoid; she's willing to tell you what she knows about them and the other empires of her world, though, and she doesn't expect that they're capable of following her, though she'd want to know more about how she was brought here to be sure of that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think my brother's probably the best person to talk to for current capabilities, but that's something we're willing to share."

"'Who to avoid' is the type of information we'd need most, for diplomacy."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

   "The main empires are Sith, Jedi, and Hutt; Sith are dangerous to interact with by nature and inclination, and the Jedi will be hostile if they know that you've helped a Sith. Hutts are primarily motivated by money, and do trade with Sith, but Deskyl hasn't personally interacted with them very much; there are also some minor civilizations in the outer rim that she knows even less about."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "This is the Land of Fire. We're one of the largest political entities on the continent. Specifically, this city is the Hidden Leaf, a sort of worker's union for shinobi, one of the three types of our world's magic users, who have traditionally been mercenaries. We don't have any set, firm enemies. We try to be beneficial to trade with, but dangerous to cross, as do most polities in this world."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She's comfortable with that approach. What kinds of things do you trade?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Physical goods, like food, and craftsmanship items. Information. Services - we are, originally, mercenaries, and our city's main source of income remains in contracting with this nation's feudal lord and authorized others, to work as security, as intelligence agents, as supplements to the army..."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She should have no trouble supporting herself, then, as an engineer or a mercenary or an artist. What do you need from her in the immediate term?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mostly whatever medically relevant information that she'd like to share. We'd like to see her recovered, sooner rather than later."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She says she's essentially recovered; she'll need a week or two to get back into fighting shape, and a little longer to restore the effect that lets her hear. Are you in urgent need of fighters?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He shakes his head. "Not at all."

Permalink Mark Unread

    "Yes sir."

    "She'll need a place to sleep, and someplace to practice her fighting forms where she won't be interrupted."

Permalink Mark Unread

He hums, mentally running through places like that - which are also ideally peaceful -

Permalink Mark Unread

"With me."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She might not get along with your parents, ma'am."

Permalink Mark Unread

Desuka shakes her head. "No parents."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "That should be all right, then."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good! And if you claim a nearby training ground, people will leave you alone while you practice. I can also show you how to more generally claim it, so you won't need to deal with waiting for it to be open, though if you use one consistently over time people will assume it's yours."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "Thank you, sir. She won't need access to it all the time; a few hours shortly after sunset every day would be ideal."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "That's good, and I suspect it'll be easy finding someone with a compatible schedule - many of the most convenient training grounds are already being used at some time or another."

Permalink Mark Unread

Deskyl nods.

    "The main thing she needs is an open area, preferably flat or close to it, about three or four times the length and width of this room, where it won't alarm anyone if there are strange lights."

Permalink Mark Unread

"People used to shinobi are hard to alarm. Do you prefer indoors or outdoors?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She'd prefer a place away from crowds, if that's convenient; outdoors is better than indoors but less important than that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Alright. There's plenty of training grounds like that, and I think a few good ones close to Desuka's place... I can show you them once you're sufficiently recovered."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "Now is fine, sir."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good! I can let the medics know you're ready to leave, then?"

Permalink Mark Unread

When Deskyl finishes signing, this time, she points off into the hospital.

    "Yes sir. And - she suspects that she can do something about chakra exhaustion; she'll want some time to examine it before she tries anything complicated, but there's a woman in that direction who might appreciate what she'll be able to do even now."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ah - I'm familiar with the case I think she's referring to. The medics will want someone observing while she works, especially if there's any chance of us duplicating the effects."

It'd be hard to make the case in question worse - the woman has repeatedly had severe reactions to their usual treatments for potentially fatal chakra exhaustion, and doesn't seem to be quickly recovering on her own. Fortunately, the woman has already cleared experimental treatments, given she spends increasing stretches unconscious.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "That's fine, sir."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good. I'll let the medics know, and lead you to the patient, then."

He ducks out to get that started.

Permalink Mark Unread

And Deskyl signs to Desuka.

    "Did you have any questions, ma'am?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Really okay?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "Yes, ma'am. She's leaning on her powers a bit, but she's fine."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good. What..." She gestures between them.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She can tell that you're the same. She's not sure why; she's never seen anything like it before."

Permalink Mark Unread

Desuka nods, and sits by her. "Good you're okay. Safe here."

Permalink Mark Unread

And Hashirama returns to take them to the patient.

Permalink Mark Unread

When they get there, Deskyl waits for the medics to explain the situation and then goes to stand by the patient, touching her shoulder, with her eyes closed. "She's sensing her," DZ translates the sign she gives.

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods, settling in to meditate and focus his own senses on what's happening.

Permalink Mark Unread

She signs again after a minute or two: "She'll start now, sir." When she does, it's the tiniest trickle of undifferentiated chakra, shifting to yang after a moment and then slowly increasing in volume, apparently not affecting Deskyl's reserves at all.

Permalink Mark Unread

Fascinating, especially from a medical perspective.

He pays attention to the patient's vitals, ready to intervene if anything seems to be going catastrophically wrong.

Permalink Mark Unread

She keeps increasing the rate until she gets it up to something reasonable; it'd take maybe ten minutes for her to finish, this way. Then she switches back to undifferentiated chakra for a moment, and makes an attempt at yin. It's close, but not quite right, and she quickly stops - "She doesn't think she can make the mental type yet, sir; should she continue with the physical, or would an imbalance be dangerous?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Imbalances can be dangerous, yes, though yang's the one more important to continuing to breathe. It'll give her more time, at least."

Permalink Mark Unread

Deskyl nods.

    "She's not sure how long it will take for her to learn yin, but she can repeat this as often as she needs it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thank you. Chakra exhaustion's one of the big medical problems that we've had trouble solving."

Permalink Mark Unread

Deskyl nods.

    "Sith can't heal people, but this is easy enough, she says. It will be an interesting technical challenge to see if she can make a passive effect that refills you properly."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You might want to speak to my brother, Tobirama, for that. He's more the theorist."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "Once she's made some progress on yin, she says."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods.

"Would you like to go back to Desuka's place, now?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She'd like to see the training grounds first, sir."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Alright."

He leads the way through the town. Fortunately, Desuka's place - and the training grounds most convenient to it - are fairly near. Hashirama only shows off ones that are unclaimed, or he knows the person who's claimed it won't mind Deskyl being there after sunset.

Permalink Mark Unread

She looks at all of them, ultimately picking a fairly secluded one with seating available for Desuka and DZ.

    "Was there anything else, sir?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He shakes his head. "Unless you need anything. Though there is the matter of paying for food - I can pay you directly for things like work in the hospital, or increase Desuka's stipend, or set you up with a stipend of your own, the last two in exchange for hospital work and essentially as a researcher's salary."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "She can help at the hospital for now, sir, and she should know more about what else she can do in a few days."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Alright. If you want to do different things, it might be best to pay you for each bit of work?"

Permalink Mark Unread

She nods; DZ signs to her again, and she signs back.

    "You should know that she's not very interested in working at the hospital in the long term, sir; she's willing to help in severe cases, but healing isn't considered suitable work for a Sith."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Understandable. What would be suitable work?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fighting, mostly, sir, and infiltration, and combat leadership. Engineering and research are fine, particularly of weapons and fighting techniques and other combat resources. Art is acceptable, but low status."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "Many very traditional shinobi clans have similar status considerations, though we consider healing to be part of fighting - that does remind me of samurai codes of status, though."

Permalink Mark Unread

"A Sith's status is a function of their strength; the work they do is an indication of that but doesn't directly contribute, except in that certain types of work are better for improving their strength and personal connections. The problem with healing is that it's associated with Jedi and thus weakness; it's one of very few things that Jedi but not Sith can do with the Force."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We might also be more collectively minded - clans live or die on the strength of their healers. If you don't have someone who can reshape battlefields, it's easier to avoid pitched battles than to avoid any injuries if you lack healers."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You almost certainly are, yes sir. And I believe that her world's healing technology is better than yours, and Force sensitives are rarer than people with your powers; they don't have a shortage of healers in general."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That makes sense."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can talk to her about it, if you need her as a healer, but she'll need some assurance that you won't be interacting with Sith if you want her in that capacity; it could be dangerous for her if other Sith think she's weak."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think once we understand what she's doing, we'll be able to copy the chakra exhaustion treatment. And we do already have procedures - there's no urgent need for her as a healer."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes sir." She relays this conclusion to Deskyl, who nods and relaxes slightly.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'll leave you guys to get familiar with the area on your own, then?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

    "Yes, sir. Thank you for your time."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thank you for healing that woman!" He bows, says some more polite vagueness about looking forward to their next meeting, and once parting formalities have been taken care of, heads off at a rather sedate pace.

Sure, he could body flicker back to work, but strolling through his city sounds more enjoyable.

Permalink Mark Unread

They head back to Desuka's place for dinner, and then walk through the neighborhood toward her favorite place to watch the sun set.

Permalink Mark Unread

They get odd looks from Desuka's neighbors, especially once they notice how much Deskyl resembles her.

"Did you find a clan member?" one neighbor kid asks.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sort of."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's cool! Like a novel!"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mmhmm!"

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Another nearby kid asks if the new clan member's living with Desuka or if Desuka's going to be moving.

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"With me." She pats Deskyl's arm.

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"That's cool," says the second kid.

"Are you gonna go to the Academy since you got a shinobi clan member?" asks the first. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She looks to Deskyl, but only for a moment. "I like the press shop."

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The first kid nods like this is a really meaningful answer. "Okay!" Pause, and, "I gotta go to my stuff, speaking of. I got an apprenticeship with the paper-maker! So see you around! Good luck Miss Desuka's Cousin, and welcome to the Leaf!"

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"Bye!"

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"Bye!"

And the two kids head off.

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    "It's strange for her to be around children, she says" DZ relays quietly. "Sith usually aren't allowed; they're too dangerous."

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"Huh. You okay?"

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    "Yes ma'am, it's fine."

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"Okay. Place soon."

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There's a girl sitting near Desuka's place, perched on the railing, feet swinging over. She has shinobi training - quite a bit - though at eleven she isn't a full shinobi just yet.

"Heard there was a new shinobi around!" she calls. Desuka will recognize her only vaguely - the girl lives in this neighborhood, but mostly spends time with other Academy students. "Are you Desuka's clan member? What's with the weird puppet?"

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Deskyl seems a little unsettled at the girl, but not threatened; she leaves DZ to reply on her own, this time.

    "I'm a robot, ma'am. And Deskyl is something like clan to Desuka, yes."

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"Huh. What's a robot? Are you a summons?"

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"I'm a machine, ma'am."

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"Cool. Do you run on chakra?"

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"No, ma'am, I run on electricity."

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"Like a lightbulb! Haven't heard of anyone making anything like you, though."

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"Yes, ma'am, we're from very far away."

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"Like another continent?"

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She signs to Deskyl, more than she's already doing to translate, and receives a brief response. "I'm not allowed to tell you yet, ma'am."

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Nod. "Okay. Thanks for telling me as much as you have." She's eleven, not dumb. She knows what 'classified' means.

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"You're welcome, ma'am. I expect Deskyl will share more once she's had time to think about it."

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"Oh huh. So not, like, government classified, just clan secret. Cool."

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"Yes ma'am."

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She nods. "I'll be around, though I gotta get ready for the Academy soon. See you guys!" And she jumps down - smoothly, from the third floor railing, landing like that was a foot-high jump.

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And they sit to watch the sunset.

    "Is it normal, ma'am, for someone that age to have that kind of training?"

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"Yeah," she says, wobbling her hand. "Shinobi families."

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    "All right. She says that's not too bad. Most Force sensitives don't come from Force sensitive families, where she's from - in Sith territory they stay with their families until they're teenagers."

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"So old!"

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Deskyl chuckles.

    "For most children, it's good for them to stay with their families that long, or even a little longer. Deskyl says that you and she are different, though."

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Desuka nods. "Monks were good, but..."

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    "Yes ma'am. It's good that you have a place of your own."

    "Did you know your parents?"

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She shakes her head.

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Deskyl nods.

    "She says you aren't missing very much, if they're the same. In the place she grew up, peoples' parents mostly didn't raise them at all, the children all lived together and the people who liked watching children raised them. But she knew her parents, and they didn't like each other very much - her parents wanted a child who could talk."

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"Mm," she declares solemnly, and gives Deskyl a hug.

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She returns it, and then frees a hand to keep signing.

    "It's all right, ma'am. She wasn't around them very much, and that was a long time ago."

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"Okay." She unhugs a bit, for a better view of the sunset, but stays snuggled up.

"Monks were good."

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    "She's glad you had that, ma'am."

They watch the sunset, and then head back to the training grounds.

    "Do you have any friends who'd like to watch Deskyl practice, ma'am?"

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"Yeah," she says, and leads them to the press shop - she should stop by anyway and let them know why she's been gone.

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They're glad to see her back, understanding that she had to sit with her injured relative, glad she's found a relative, but stern about giving them warning if she'll miss future days. At least send a message so they can schedule a bit more smartly.

(She does still have the apprenticeship; this is more a 'heads up, vanishing inconveniences us'.)

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"Yeah. Sorry."

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Deskyl pokes around a bit, examining the press and the letterboxes and the paper they're using.

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They'll ask her not to touch anything delicate, but don't seem to be treating this as highly secret. It's an old press, some parts worn down by time and use.

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    "Are there types of presses newer than this one?" DZ relays to one of the older workers, after Deskyl has had a bit to look at things.

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"Ah, yes, especially that can print more pages an hour. This's a double supplement rotary press. Figure it'll be replaced soon enough by the new types becoming popular in the capital - like the double octuple perfecting press - but I figure we'll be looking at getting better photocopiers first. This one's good enough for our demand right now."

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    "Do all of those still need to have the letters set by hand?"

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"Big places use a linotype or monotype machine to cast whole lines at a time. We've got an old linotype, but it breaks often enough we still use hand-setting sometimes, especially for books that're limited run, where hot-cast plates would be less useful. And images need to be hand-set around the lines. All of them you need to put the lines in by hand, though, far as I know."

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    "She should be able to improve on that, then. Once she knows more about how your machines work."

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The worker nods. "Engineers and inventors are always appreciated around here, though some of the capital ones have tried selling their inventions for so much there's no point."

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    "She doesn't think she'll have that problem."

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Small smile. "Well, good luck to you, miss."

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    "Desuka, ma'am, are you coming?"

She should stay, actually; they confirm that they'll meet at the house later, and Deskyl and DZ go back to the training grounds without her.

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Deskyl is not disturbed at the training ground.

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She sticks to a relatively basic training set, barely more than an extended warm-up through most of it, though getting into a few more intermediate katas near the end, lightsaber flashing in the dark.

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Conveniently timed for right as she's finishing and ready to head back, there's someone walking sedately her way, power and emotions tightly controlled.

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She waits, rather than leaving, settling into a meditation position in the center of the space with DZ behind her and a pace to the right.

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He stops at the edge of her training ground, expression neutral. "I don't wish to interrupt," he says, "But if you have time for me I would like to talk."

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    "Yes sir." DZ touches Deskyl lightly on the shoulder, and she stands and arranges herself so that she can see both of them.

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"I'm Senju Tobirama, the younger brother of the man who was helping you earlier - Senju Hashirama. I'm our local expert on research and development of chakra-based techniques, so I can answer more in depth questions on those, and also usually more strategically minded than my brother. The only question on my end that I would consider essential at this time would be about how to best handle it if someone did quickly follow you from your world."

"I apologize if this is - an inappropriate place to start this conversation."

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    "No, sir, that's precisely the right question."

    "If someone follows her here, that will be very dangerous for basically everyone - the usual advice for someone who's not Force-sensitive is to run, if they know that a Sith is in the area, and comply with them if that's not possible; most Sith won't bother killing civilians who don't offend them. Your chakra will make you more interesting to a Sith, though; it's close enough to the Force to be something they'd want to experiment with. She's not sure what to advise if you're in a situation where you can't run."

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"Would you consider hostilities to be likely enough that taking preemptive action against one - whether to trap or kill - would be acceptable under your own world's considerations? I suspect I at least can move far faster than any Sith."

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Deskyl laughs a little at that, partway through the translation.

    "Yes, sir - Sith have no law or convention against hurting civilians or each other, if they're powerful enough to succeed at it. Trying to trap one may be unwise - lightsabers can cut through anything and taking or even touching a Sith's lightsaber is a mortal offense - but there's no convention against it if you can."

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"I suspect my brother will want to talk to whoever. But - that weapon of yours is a lightsaber?"

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    "Yes sir."

Deskyl steps back, turning away from him enough to make it clear that she isn't threatening him, and lights her 'saber, just for a moment.

    "Sith lightsabers are red or occasionally orange or yellow; Jedi lightsabers are blue or green, occasionally purple or white."

    "You should know that if you capture a Sith you won't be able to release them safely, no matter what they tell you."

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"Are Jedi less dangerous to interact with?"

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    "Yes, sir, though they still might be very dangerous because Deskyl is here. She knows about them only by reputation and history, but the way that they use the Force depends on calm detachedness rather than strong emotion, and they don't lead their empire, like the Sith do, so they're presumably used to taking orders from others."

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"I expect I can make it clear to them there will be consequences if they attack her, regardless, if they're used to a formal structure."

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    "They're unlikely to believe that she isn't in a position of ultimate power here; very few Sith will tolerate that with non-Sith."

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"We're in some ways a democracy, and there'd be strenuous objections to a forced change of power. Though anyone who believes strength is the only measure of leadership is welcome to try to take my brother in a fight."

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    "She expects that she'd back him if they did, sir. But no-one familiar with Sith will believe that it's not a trick if you tell them so."

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"We'll handle that if it comes up, then."

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She nods.

    "You've done very well by Desuka, if you're wondering what's prompting the uncharacteristic reaction. Deskyl has no particular interest in heading an empire, but even less in upturning something that's good for her."

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"Thank you. We try to do well by our children. In many ways, allowing that's the point of this city."

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    "That's good, sir. She is curious about your policies regarding combat training; a twelve year old with any significant amount of it would be cause for some concern in Sith territory."

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"Chakra training becomes harder past roughly age eight or so; I wouldn't expect an untrained twelve year old to be able to learn anything at all significant. Traditionally, children start training in at least basic awareness of chakra and simple meditation as they learn to walk. The Academy is open to children age five and up."

"It used to be that children of five were considered mission ready, and eight were combat ready - that was the norm in my own childhood. This city has a strict ban on graduation prior to twelve, and the missions for the new graduates are now more akin to basic apprenticeship tasks. Children under fifteen are banned from participating in open combat. We've also been looking at pursuing raising those ages over time. There's still political arguments about at what age does a child's sensitivity to combat trauma fade, though."

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She nods.

    "There's almost certainly been research into that among Sith, though she doesn't know offhand what the result might be. It's very rare to start training before age twelve, for them, and fourteen to fifteen is more common, but that may be because poaching Force-sensitive children suggests that someone is building a private army. - Jedi might be more likely to know, if you have an opportunity to ask; rumor has it that they take Force-sensitives as babies."

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"For training, or to be part of their organization entirely?"

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    "She doesn't know anything about their training practices, beyond the fact that they don't field children, but the rumor is that they're taken from their families at that age."

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"Displeasing. Some families aren't suited to raise children, but there shouldn't be a broad policy on it, and most reasons to unilaterally remove children at birth would not be to the child's benefit."

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    "She agrees, sir. There are many things wrong with the Sith, she says, but that at least isn't one of them."

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He nods. "I suspect we'll end up more in favor of children's rights, on balance, than most places in your world."

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Small smile.

    "That's good, sir."

    "Did you have more questions for her?"

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"A few, though they're not urgent. I'm currently mostly curious about what was done to heal that chakra exhaustion case, though that might be better discussed in a more medical setting, where she can demonstrate it."

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    "She can make chakra, sir. She's not certain what will happen if she makes it outside of a person, but she can, if you'd like."

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"It'd be an interesting test, certainly."

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She holds her hand out, palm up, and does, again starting very slowly.

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It seems to rather quickly dissipate into the environment, but doesn't do anything dangerous.

"Interesting," Tobirama says. "It's like you're pushing chakra out of your body, without actually depleting yourself."

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She stops and signs.

    "That makes some sense, sir - she's making it out of the Force, not from anything within herself; she's only a conduit."

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He nods. "And since it seems safe for you to form it outside a body, that should make experimenting with forming it easier. If you need a finer grained read from someone more familiar with the local system, by the way, I am usually in my office, and my brother's wife - another sensor with a different focus than I have - is usually findable by talking to the secretary in the Hokage Tower."

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    "Yes sir. She might find that helpful once she's had more time to examine it on her own. Can you describe how your and your sister-in-law's sensory powers differ?"

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"My sister in law feels things with a sense that maps onto touch, loosely, though at a much greater range. Her senses are better attuned towards thinking things, and she has a better idea of how emotions and intent influence chakra than I do. She has a very fine-tuned sense for yin chakra."

"My senses you could say take after the yang side. I can identify if two people are related by blood. I can identify what sort of physical training they have, if they favor one side or another, if they have any of a class of lingering injuries. Mine feels like I'm hearing the chakra, almost."

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    "Thank you, sir. She'll look for you when she's ready."

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"Alright. I'll leave you to your night, now, then."

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    "Thank you, sir."

They go back to Desuka's house, where Deskyl settles in to meditate, running through emotional states from calm to furious, pleased, and fearful, ending somewhat shaken.

Love? Did anything strange happen? Something's messed with my emotions.

    Nothing that I haven't already told you about, ma'am. What's wrong?

I'm... calmer. It's subtle, but it's definitely there.

    I don't know of anything that could have caused that, ma'am, but we never did figure out what was happening with Desuka.

Or something else might have had a side effect. I don't think it's an emergency exactly but the sooner we look into it the better the chance of figuring it out. Let's go get Desuka.

    Yes ma'am.

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Desuka excuses herself from her job - family emergency isn't quite over, apparently - and takes them to the Hokage tower to talk to Hashirama's clone, who's stationed there for urgent problems like this.

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"Can you describe the problem?"

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Deskyl paces, signing.

    "Her emotions have been modified; she's calmer than she should be. It's subtle enough that she didn't notice it until she was meditating; Sith's Force techniques are powered by strong emotions, so their meditation involves practicing evoking emotional peaks, and she wasn't able to do that as well as she used to be. She doesn't seem to be impaired otherwise - she says that her connection to the Force is a little stronger than she'd expect, if anything - but it's still concerning."

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That sounds concerning!

"Our treatment techniques don't typically have that as a side effect - if I may have permission to touch her for a full medical diagnostic technique?"

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She pauses in her pacing and offers her hand.

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He takes it, closing his eyes, and a wave of soft energy pulses through her.

He lets go and steps back once it's done.

"To my diagnostic, you appear to be in remarkably - and actually unusually - good health, especially as far as the balance of your yin chakra is concerned. Yin usually governs and is governed by the mind, so if you're used to - and if Sith techniques require or cause - an unbalanced state, that might be the problem."

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    "That sounds plausible, sir. Do you have any idea what might have caused it?" (Deskyl rocks on the balls of her feet, as an alternative to resuming her pacing.)

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He shakes his head. "Not enough to be sure. Your Force seemed to be doing something we felt odd when Desuka was around, but that and your world of origin and the nature of your injury are the main irregularities we know of."

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    "Yes sir. Do you know where Raafi is? She'd like to ask him whether his spells could have done it."

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"I know where he's staying, usually, though I can also ask him to come here."

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    "Thank you, sir."

    "She'd like to see if her dark side techniques work as expected, too; that should be done somewhere more open than this."

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"I can show you somewhere suitable, then - the larger training grounds are mostly nearer the outskirts."

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    "Thank you, sir."

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"Would now work, while I send a message to Raafi?"

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    "Yes sir." And to Desuka: "It would be safer for you to stay behind, ma'am."

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"She can watch me do my work, if she wants - this clone will be staying here, and I'll send a different with you."

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"How unsafe?"

 

    "Not very, ma'am, as long as you stay back."

"I'll come."

 

    "Yes ma'am."

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He nods. "That's reasonable, too. She's certainly old enough to obey spar rules."

He forms a clone out of some spare wood in the office. The clone feels just as 'bizarrely animated tree' as the original Hashirama clone. "If you're ready?"

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And they head out.

    "Spar rules probably won't be sufficient, sir, if Xaari Deskyl loses control of herself. But Desuka is especially safe, since it's so obvious to her that they're the same."

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He nods. "I'll be there to shield her, regardless, and move her away if needed. Still, there's also rules for bystanders on staying at a good distance from spars."

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    "Yes sir."

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And they arrive at a nice large, isolated training ground soon after.

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Deskyl leaves the three of them at the edge and heads in, a bit past the center. She takes a moment to gather herself, and then generates a moment of killing intent and a large, bright bolt of lightning.

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(Another Hashirama has already updated any sensors who might feel this about what's happening.)

He watches with interested, unbothered by the killing intent.

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She waits a moment, and then throws another, much smaller but even brighter. Then she jogs back over.

    "Everything seems normal to her, sir."

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"That's good!"

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    "Yes sir. Would you be interested in doing the diagnostic again?"

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"If you don't mind."

Hand?

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Hand.

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The same wash of energy, and after he lets go: "It's making you angrier, I think. Unbalancing your yin. If you were a shinobi, I'd be concerned about control, both over self and chakra, though I'm unsure if that applies here."

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    "It does, sir, but she's accustomed to it."

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"If you know how to compensate, I can see it being less of a problem." The Uchiha certainly seem to do decently in wearing their emotions on their sleeve.

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    "Yes sir."

    "The effect fades over time, but she usually manages it by using dark-side techniques sparingly. If she needs to use a lot of them for some reason it's reasonably likely to overwhelm her, at least for a little while."

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He nods. "Thank you for telling me; it's a good thing to be aware of, at least."

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    "Yes sir."

    "Most Sith don't try to manage it; the anger makes them stronger, and they value that. That's why she suggests you avoid them."

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He nods. "There's some shinobi like that, honestly. It's - disruptive."

Then: "On another note, Raafi seems to have received the message. Would you like to return to the Tower now, to meet with him?"

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    "Yes sir."

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And he leads the way back.

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Raafi seems a little frazzled when they get there, as if he was woken up, but he's amiable enough. "Is everything all right?"

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    "Something has modified Deskyl's emotions; could your magic have done that?"

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"No... my magic can affect emotions, but I haven't cast anything like that on her, and it would have worn off within a few minutes even if I had. Is she all right?"

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    "She thinks so, sir."

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"All right. I have some spells that can remove other magic; I can prepare them in the morning if you think they might help."

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    "No, sir. She's confident that she'd notice if something like that was affecting her."

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"All right. Let me know if there's anything I can do, then."

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    "Yes sir. Thank you for your time."

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Hashirama reiterates the thanks.

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And Raafi goes back to the inn.

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    "Is there anything else to check, sir?"

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"Not that I can think of at the moment, unless you feel like having my wife stare at you for an hour over tea."

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    "No, sir. Thank you for your time."

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He nods, smiling. "It was no trouble at all. Good luck with settling in!"

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    "Yes sir."

They head back to their respective spots, Deskyl and DZ to the apartment and Desuka to her job, and the rest of the evening and the following morning are uneventful.

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And that afternoon, Raafi stops by to see Hashirama again.

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Hashirama appears to be busy! But Uzumaki Mito is available to talk to him. And would like to, in fact.

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Sure, he's amenable to that.

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She appears. She looks oddly, ethereally youthful - she's certainly settled in her features, but she has a full grace to them that elder humans usually don't.

"Hello. You would be Raafi?" she asks, voice pleasant, vowels a bit clipped.

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"Yes ma'am." He inclines his head respectfully. "It's good to meet you."

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She smiles, a bit. "It's good to meet you, too. My husband Hashirama has been absolutely delighted by your company."

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"I'm glad to hear it. I've really enjoyed seeing the city, he's done an excellent job with it."

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Softer smile. "He really has."

"But come. Conversations are best held over tea. Would you mind accompanying me elsewhere?"

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"Of course not, ma'am."

He makes small talk about the tea as he follows her; he's been enjoying trying all the new kinds, and doesn't have a favorite among the local ones yet but has been putting some thought into the question.

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She's fairly knowledgeable on the subject, and can make recommendations from what he's already enjoyed.

Soon they're in a nice, semi-private booth in a tea shop, where they have a good view of the other patrons but sound's disrupted enough no one can really overhear each other. (This sort of set-up seems popular).

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He appreciates the advice and will keep an eye out for her recommendations. And once they're in the booth and settled: "Did you want to talk about something in particular, ma'am?"

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"This and that. For one, word came from Izuna - albeit a bit indirectly - and he'd like to meet with you. Tomorrow morning seems ideal for him."

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"All right," he nods. "I have to do my devotions at sunrise but I can stop by afterward."

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She inclines her head. "Thank you."

"I also wouldn't mind speaking to you of my husband, some."

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"Yes ma'am?"

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She hides a smile being her teacup. "He's rather fond of you, I think, though I do wonder what your intentions are here."

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He grins too, going a bit pink. "Well, clerics of Fharlanghn never stay in one place long - we have few allies but friends everywhere, the saying goes."

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"I'm sure he'll pine horribly," she says, voice wry. "You intend to come and go, then?"

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"Well, not so quickly as all that," his blush deepens a bit, though his grin widens, too. "But my heart does belong to the road."

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Softer smile. "That does seem workable." Sip. "You two are rather cute together."

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"I'm glad you think so, ma'am."

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"It's hard for him, to find - people who aren't involved in local drama, really, and you've done quite a lot to help soothe that drama, even still."

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He nods. "It's a familiar problem. I'm glad to be able to help with it."

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"Good," she says, with another smile. "How are you liking the Leaf, by the way?"

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"Quite a lot! We have some places that are similar, aesthetically, but nothing quite the same - especially nothing quite the same and human - and the technology is fascinating. And - I can tell you're trying, to be welcoming to outsiders; I suppose that's not quite what you'd like to hear on the topic but it's still interesting to see, and to navigate."

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"I'm glad you're enjoying the city! And I think trying's the best anyone can do - especially given that it's a new idea. Still, if you have suggestions, we'd love to hear them. The place is a continual work in progress, it seems."

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"A lot of it is pretty subtle - it's sort of like the difference between learning a language as a child and picking it up as an adult, you'll never be quite as fluent. And I think it's a little more obvious with me than it would be with most people - it seems like people are trying to figure out... how I fit in, I suppose, in ways I just don't, since I'm so very foreign. They're still doing well, but I can tell they're a little distracted by it sometimes."

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She laughs a bit. "I had a similar problem, when I moved in with the Senju. Uzushio has a rather different culture, and I'd been sheltered until then."

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He giggles. "I wouldn't call it a problem. What's Uzushio like?"

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She begins to describe an island nation, largely isolated from the world by deadly whirlpools few have the trick to pass - and by their own choice. Peaceful, a place of scholarship and learning, a place where the art of sealing could survive and flourish all through the Warring States Period.

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He listens, rapt. "It sounds wonderful. Maybe I can visit someday."

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"That'll take some significant politics shifting, but... It'd be nice, I think, to open to outsiders more."

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"Well, that's what I'm for, after all; I'll see what I can do."

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Smile. "Good. I'll see what I can do to help, at least to get your foot in the door..."

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"I'd appreciate it. It might be that I should know more about your world in general before I start on that in earnest, though."

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"Certainly, especially since I suspect it'd be quite the project."

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"Fun, though. -probably. I've never been somewhere where the gods weren't known, before."

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"The idea of known gods is really strange to me, I'll admit!"

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"It seems like it! They're a substantial influence, in my world - more often through their clerics than directly, but it's not unheard of to meet one, Fharlanghn especially."

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She nods. "Ours are - at most the subjects of morality tales, really. The monks believe, sometimes, and you hear rumors of odd things some places, but... Well, it's not a question for everyday life."

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"I imagine ours will be interested in you, when we make contact. If they aren't already; I don't know whether Fharlanghn knew where he was sending me, but it's not impossible."

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"I don't know how friendly a reception they'd find, and I'd be worried about cultural miscommunication - especially if they expect any kind of loyalty or exclusivity of worship."

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"I wouldn't expect that. They vary, a little, but even some clerics follow more than one god, and lay followers are very rarely exclusive, especially among humans. They may make demands - Fharlanghn objects to people being trapped or prohibited from travel, Obad-Hai cares about the preservation of wild places in their natural state, that sort of thing - but they're usually fairly reasonable; I haven't seen anything obviously objectionable here."

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She nods. "What do they tend to offer people, in exchange?"

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"It's not a trade, generally, any more than you'd trade with someone to stop them from fouling a well. Indirectly, though, they make it easier to get the good parts of the things they're in charge of - clerics of Fharlanghn assist travelers and refugees, and help with international diplomacy, and spread new ideas from one place to another, and a druid-tended area is much less likely to have an imbalance in wildlife that leads to predators attacking livestock, and so on."

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"People are unlikely to agree to follow any edicts without something in return, then."

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He nods. "I expect that you'll end up with native clerics, eventually, and they'll have a better idea of how to navigate that - my guess is that they'll end up being less generous with spells and services than the clerics I'm used to, so that they have those to trade. There might be some violence in the meantime, unfortunately; that happens in my world, too, from time to time."

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"There'll certainly be violence if any deities insist on the non-loyal obeying their edicts here. I'd also expect the idea of worship and following a god's edicts to possibly not mix well with local ideals of loyalty."

"The best model would likely be presenting the - temple or what-have-you - as a separate political entity, which people can change sides to under certain incentives, with goals it pursues through usual political means, but I'm unsure that's easily doable broadly. People won't treat gods as beings with the inherent authority to command them - even our mythical gods certainly never passed down laws - and the closest conceptual slot we have is 'foreign, powerful head of state.'"

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"It's not the usual approach, certainly. It might help that most of the things they want are either very specific - leave a particular grove alone, for example - or already broadly considered right - I see that your people don't keep slaves, for example; what would you do if someone tried to start, either here in the city or one of your trading partners?"

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"In the city they'd be arrested. In a foreign polity - if they were taking our own people as slaves, we'd invade them. If their slavery gave us an opening against them and we wanted them weakened, we'd fund rebellions to destabilize them. If their slavery made them stronger, we'd see they were taken down to their old balance. If they had been our allies, Hashirama would likely insist on lowering the amount we trust them, and treating them accordingly. I'd agree, because how a polity treats their own people tends to be indicative of how trustworthy they are on an international scale. But what other nations are doing to their own people is not our business unless and until it impacts us."

"Hashirama might wish to interfere - he's unusually internationally minded - but he'd have trouble getting political support to sacrifice any of our interests in favor of someone else's."

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He nods. "Gods aren't like that - I'm not sure they're capable of it, actually, even if they wanted to be. Their domain is their interest, more than anything else. People who travel, or want to travel, are Fharlanghn's people; they don't have to be loyal to him, or even have heard of him, for it to be personal to him if someone is stopping them."

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"I'd expect something like that to cause conflict."

"I'm still not entirely clear on the role gods play in the governments, though. What would happen, if a nation collectively refused to go along with a god's wishes? Would it vary with the god? Would people be likely to support a call to action?"

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"It would depend quite a lot on the god - they vary a lot in how powerful they are, and in what tactics they prefer. Fharlanghn in particular doesn't really have an organized church or dedicated following, so mostly what you'll see is individual clerics handling whatever part of the problem they feel capable of solving - by diplomacy, often, but also directly rescuing slaves or sabotaging slaving efforts, warning travelers including traders of problems in the area, that sort of thing. Obad-Hai doesn't have many lay followers, either, but his druids are much more organized and tend to be quite magically powerful; most duid circles can fairly easily level a city, if they really want to, though it's very rare for things to get to that point - I'm not sure it's happened in my lifetime, anywhere in the world. I'd expect you to end up allied with Ehlonna, here - the goddess of living in balance with woodlands - and she's very inclined to diplomacy, and mostly withdraws if she's seriously challenged, though she'll defend specific holy sites, usually with magic."

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" - Hashirama could reshape a mountain range if he felt like it and still be going strong. Madara had to be banned from experimenting with throwing asteroids at things until Tobirama does the math on what's an acceptable size of rock to fling at the planet. Or we figure out how to put him on another planet, I suppose. Those are our two strongest fighters in this village, but they're not unique in this world - 'can level cities' is about where we start considering someone a notable threat, but not game-changingly powerful."

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"Well." He chuckles. "That'll be very different, then; I'm not sure what to expect."

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"I'd expect most exceptional violence would be early on - perhaps while people are feeling each other out, before people notice how thoroughly stupid fighting would be. Each of our magics can do something the other can't, and I'd expect we'd be bad at defending against each other. Long term - the balance of power would largely depend on who gets what balance of both magics first."

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He nods, thoughtfully. "I think it's to our collective advantage that Fharlanghn found you first; I expect he'll handle it well, whatever happens. He's not against change, but he does have an interest in seeing places continue; he doesn't like the destructiveness of war, and it affects him even when it doesn't involve him. - possibly I should focus on finding him some more clerics."

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"Were you thinking in this world?"

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Another nod. "It'll be simpler, I think, introducing the concept to the world that way - one god, with clerics who understand the world they're working in and a fairly obvious reason not to want to form his own state. It'll still be chaotic when we make contact, but it won't be quite so alien."

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She hums. "And there are types of magic that don't require gods?"

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"Mmhmm. It's possible to be a cleric without following a god, technically, though it's less common to be able to pick it up that way. I can't teach anything but what I know, though."

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"Do you think it's likely someone else would be willing to teach us non-clerical magic?"

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"Once we've made contact, definitely - the wizard colleges will take anyone who can pass an intelligence test, if they can pay."

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She nods. "A long term prospect, then." And, with another smile: "I expect Tobirama would be delighted to attend one."

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"I'm sure he would. It's really too bad that he and Ertan don't have a language in common, he could learn a lot from what he's doing."

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She smiles wider. "I think it'd benefit my brother-in-law to wait a short while, anyways."

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"Mmhmm. Hopefully it won't be too long."

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She nods, humming sympathetically. "Your friend is stressed about all this, isn't he?"

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"He is," he nods. "...wait, you're the... oh no." He blushes beet red, ducking his head.

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She starts snickering. 

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"...I hadn't realized... I would have never..." He's barely not breaking into giggles himself. "My apologies, ma'am."

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"It's no problem," she says, between giggles. "I like - well, not seeing, but feeling him happy."

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"That's good." He's still blushing. "I suppose I should... ask...?"

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"I can choose to stop paying attention to an area or a person, and am usually not paying that much attention to any given person, anyways. Hashirama knows how to signal to me to - metaphorically look away. Though I'm fairly good at noticing that myself."

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"All right. I don't - mind, actually," his blush deepens, "- but I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."

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She smiles. "I'm not uncomfortable at all. My sensory abilities are unusual in scale but not nature, on my home island - I grew up with different privacy assumptions and all."

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"As you like, then," he grins.

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Sly smile. "Oh, I'm not usually one to do things I dislike."

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His smile is conspiratorial, in return: "Good, I hope to satisfy." He takes a sip of his tea, leaving his hand on the table afterward.

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She casually rests hers over his. "You do seem to have a rather fine record so far."

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"I'll just have to keep it up, then." He gently runs his thumb along the side of her hand.

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She smiles. "Anyways, where was I - ah, yes. Privacy where I'm from - it's rather odd, you know, when everyone can feel each other moving around. Of course you can learn to hide your emotions, but you can't really make it so people can't see you at all."

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"That must really be something. I've never heard of anything quite like it - I've been in situations where most people could always find out if they tried, but none where they'd just know."

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She nods. "Most people aren't paying that much attention, is the default assumption - mostly we just have a strong culture of not giving away what we were paying attention to. Give someone plausible deniability, especially teenagers who are stretching their wings, so to speak."

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"That sounds like it strikes a good balance."

The conversation meanders over various cultural facets, and then after a lull: "I've been wanting to ask, do you have any advice on letting people know that I'm available to do magic?"

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She hums. "It depends in part on which services you want to offer..."

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"I think protective  spells and ones that improve skills or grant abilities are most likely to be popular. And I can do divinations, spells that look into the future and tell whether a plan is good or bad, or give advice, but Tobirama seemed a little skeptical of them, I'm not sure anyone will be interested. - I'm assuming you don't have much of a problem with people being unable to afford healing; I do like to help with that, when it comes up."

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"We don't, really, but your healing might be more comprehensive in some areas than ours, and I can see that being popular. How long do your protective, skill, and ability spells last?"

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"A few minutes, mostly, but some last most of a day."

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"Hm. People are unlikely to be very interested in anything lasting a few minutes, and - we have a general cultural wariness of over-relying on resources?"

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"And I'm not going to be here for long, of course. I imagine that they might want to use the magic to accomplish things that they couldn't without it, that they could keep, though, that's the usual approach."

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She hums. "There's some general strategies for making general services available - but I think if people don't know your system or what you can do, they'll be hesitant to try a vague advertisement, and it'd be better to offer a few narrowly targeted spells, as far as potential reach goes, than many broadly advertised spells."

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"It sounds like maybe I should try the wizards' strategy, and find a nice park to sit in and entertain passerby for a day or two. To give them an idea of what I can do, I mean."

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She shrugs. "That might work over time, but I think the referential gap is so large people wouldn't assume you could do anything you didn't explicitly demonstrate."

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He nods. "I can work with that."

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"I might be also able to send interested people your way, if I know what you intend to demonstrate."

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"I'll have to think about it; maybe Ertan will have some suggestions. I've never needed to show off quite like this before."

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"Sensible," she says, nodding.

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There's an odd sense of presence, and Raafi suddenly looks distant, and gestures for her to wait. After a minute, the presence fades, and he looks back to her. "Fharlanghn," he grins. "He'd like to meet with us - Hashirama and me at least, but it sounds like we should invite Tobirama and Ertan, and see if Deskyl and DZ would like to come. And Madara and his brother, if you think they'd be interested."

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She smiles. "That'll be interesting, and I think they likely would come."

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"All right. He'll find us when we have it set up; ideally today, but he's not impatient."

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"Shinobi are usually fairly efficient, but I'll see what everyone's up to."

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"All right. I'll come with you, I suppose."

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"That's fine."

And they can start making their way back.

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He keeps pace with her, still grinning to himself.

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Tobirama meets up with them on the walk, falling in beside them.

"Mito messaged me that there was something to talk about, but she wouldn't say what."

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"I don't know much myself; Fharlanghn has asked to speak with us. I suspect he's set up a portal between the worlds, or something like that."

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"Interesting. Well, I'm available, especially for this."

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"I figured you'd be interested. And Mito and I were talking earlier and it came up that you might want to take some wizardry classes, once there's a way to get between worlds."

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"Thank you. I would be."

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Raafi knows some of the basic principles of the discipline, and can explain them as they walk.

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They come to Desuka's apartment, next; DZ opens the door when they knock.

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"Good afternoon," Mito says, smiling. "May we come in?"

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"Yes ma'am." She bows politely and gestures to the living room, where Deskyl and Desuka are sitting together on the couch.

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Tobirama and Mito enter, appropriately polite about the intrusion. Mito mentions Raafi received a message from his deity and would like to talk to them about it, though she's also of course curious if they're settling in alright.

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"Yeah," Desuka pats Deskyl's knee fondly. "Strange, but good."

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She smiles. "It'd be strange for anyone. You're doing very well."

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"-your deity, sir? Do you know what they want?"

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"He wants to talk about contact between my world and this one, but if you have any questions about getting back to your own world, there will probably be a chance to ask them."

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"Deskyl stays."

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"All right. Well, you're welcome to come anyway."

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The two exchange a look, and Deskyl nods to DZ. "We'll come, sir."

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"Good. We're ready as soon as you all are."

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They're ready now.

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Ertan's next; he's unsurprisingly in the middle of spellwork again but hops right up to join the group as soon as Raafi tells him what's going on. "Thank the Provider."

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And onward, to collect Hashirama, Madara, and Izuna.

"What do we need to do to contact your deity?"

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"Oh, nothing in particular." The man speaking looks similar to Raafi - not precisely the same ethnicity, but much more similar to him than anyone else present, and his clothes and hair are in the same style, including the same sort of wooden symbol that Raafi wears around his neck pinned to his vest. He's leaning against a patch of wall that happened to be unobserved, and doesn't seem to have any chakra at all.

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"Hello, sir." Raafi gives a shallow bow, little more than a deep nod of his head.

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Tobirama seems intensely wary at this, eyes narrowed.

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Hashirama grins and steps forward a bit - not bowing, seeming more just friendly. "Hello! Welcome to my village!"

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He gives Hashirama a warm grin in return. "Thank you! I like what you've done with it, it's always good to see people coming together to build something new."

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"Thank you. Everyone's giving their best, which has been great."

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"Good to hear. I'm sure we'll have some new things to share with you, too - that's not as straightforward as I'd like, though, unfortunately."

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"What's wrong?"

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"Your magic system is unstable - contagious, and it'll displace most other kinds of magic, if it gets a foothold. Very much lethal, to individuals made entirely of the stuff." His hand goes to his chest indicatively. "I've worked a few things out, and I've asked the Archmage to have a look at the situation, but for now, we'll need to personally keep an eye on anyone who visits, and any items that come through, and you'll have to refrain from using your magic while you visit. Visitors from my world are safe for yours, but will eventually end up just as dangerous to us as a native - Ertan, you're still fine, I'll see you back to your caravan as soon as we're done here."

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"I've done much research into the structure, patterns, and origin of chakra - I might be able to help with figuring out a solution."

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"I'd appreciate that."

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He nods. "We're open to collaboration, here."

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"An admirable trait," he smiles, "and a significant part of why I chose you."

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"So you arranged the movement of Raafi and Ertan through Deskyl's world and then to ours?"

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He nods. "I wasn't certain it was going to work, but yes. I'm hoping you'll be willing to help me out - I'd like to see us get space travel."

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"I'm sure we can figure out a way to help everyone!" Hashirama says, cheerfully.

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Deskyl is less amused at this revelation.

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Fharlanghn turns to her when she adjusts her stance, and shifts his staff to the crook of his arm to sign to her. "I don't always get what I want, ma'am. If you're not willing to help, I'll find someone else."

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She doesn't precisely relax at that, but shifts to a less aggressive posture.

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Desuka pats her, in an attempt to soothe; her arm twitches a little at the contact.

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"We wouldn't want anyone being pressured into helping, either - even without being handed the blueprints, I'm sure my brother could figure something out, especially if we're able to continue staying out of wars."

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Deskyl considers this, and nods to Hashirama, relaxing a bit.

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"You picked us because our industrial base is fairly close, anyways, didn't you?" he asks the god.

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"Mmhmm," he nods. "You're ahead of us, but not so far ahead that we can't catch up, I think. I'd be surer if there was a god of technology for me to ask, but," he shrugs. "Maybe soon."

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"How do gods work, that a god of technology being present would matter? - That's probably off topic."

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"We start with some knowledge, and they'd have more of an intuition for it than I do, even without much experience - a sense of what's possible, and how to do it. I do think we'll get one eventually, I'm just not sure if it'll be ten years or a thousand. I'll do for now, anyway, cultural exchange isn't far off in this case."

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He nods.

"What are you imagining as the benefits for us, and do you have a plan to minimize the diplomatic risks that our nation gaining sudden industrial and military capacity would pose?"

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"Well, you'll have spaceships," he grins, "which I'll count as a success even if I have to try again to get them at home, plus whatever other resources we end up sharing; I don't usually look too closely at that but I don't doubt that you'll work something out with the traders that's favorable all around. And diplomatically - I'm used to taking an unallied stance, at home; I like travel to be safe, and that's truest when everyone's getting along and no-one's trying to conquer their neighbors. You don't have the experience with me for that to be so straightforward here, but I do think it'll help to offer everyone their own cleric to help with negotiations - you'll keep Raafi, if he's acceptable to you - and I'm open to other suggestions as well."

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"This is big enough we might want to try a multi-national project from the start. Risks everyone getting better weapons to kill each other with, but they'll be less leery if they're in on the deal."

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He nods. "I don't expect to be very involved in that part, but it sounds reasonable to me, and it's certainly something I can have my people help coordinate. Would you need anything in particular to get started with it?"

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"People will want some kind of proof of concept."

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"I can bring some technology from Deskyl and DZ's world - nothing too big, but the smallest sorts of spacecraft, certainly."

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"That might work well, especially if it's something clearly intended to have primarily civilian uses. Nothing meant solely or primarily as a weapon."

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"Of course. A floatcar and some appliances, maybe - what do you expect people will think of robots, by the way?"

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Deskyl draws herself up with a sharp breath and watches him carefully.

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"It depends on how they're introduced. The difficulty in sensing them might make some uneasy. I doubt anyone will consider them differently from biological people based on what they're made of. If there's robots that are non-sapient, there might be some confusion until people figure out how to tell the difference."

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"Sounds good. I'm not sure if this is the right time to introduce them, but I'd like to eventually." He turns to Deskyl. "I don't approve of slavery, ma'am."

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She squints a little, still suspicious, but nods.

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"Might be best for any introductions to be early, before people get a concept of unintelligent machines."

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    "It won't be that simple, sir. But there might be a good way to do it; Deskyl will have to think about the situation." To Fhalranghn: "Do you have a plan for getting them to stop manufacturing us, sir?"

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"Not a firm one. We'll need to see how things go here, first."

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"Yes sir."

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"We'll at least try to keep ethical concerns in mind, here, though shinobi as a class tend to be - more ruthless than ethical."

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    "Deskyl can speak to someone about it later, sir."

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"Is there anything else you think you'll need?"

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"Proof of your world - the different magic should be enough - and proof of hers, mediators... The rest of what we need we can provide ourselves, likely less alarmingly to our prospective allies. Time, too, for diplomatic outreach."

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"All right. I am prepared to bring visitors through to my world; only a few at once, but it sounds like that will be sufficient. I'll start sending diplomats through tomorrow, and I can have the ship and things from Deskyl and DZ's world in a few hours - I've prepared a demiplane as a sort of mudroom between your world and mine, I think I'll put it there for now so it's clear that it's not the property of any one faction; you can figure out where it should go to be worked on once you're ready to start with that. Raafi can get in touch with me if you think of anything else you need, or you can just talk to me, I have enough attention here that it's likely I'll notice if you say my name."

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"That should be good for us."

"Thank you."

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He grins again. "You're welcome. Anything else, before I go?"

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No one can think of anything at the moment.

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"See you soon, then." He takes Ertan's hand and they disappear.

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"Well, that was exciting."

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"Very. He's usually more standoffish than that."

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"We have a lot to prepare for, now!"

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    "Deskyl will get started on a list of manufacturing problems you'll need to solve, sir."

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"Thank you both. I'll have you interface with Tobirama for that - he's more familiar with our industrial base, both as a village and as a nation."

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"Yes sir."

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"Do you want me doing anything in particular?"

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"I think there's definitely some stuff you can do to help, but I'm still getting a sense of what's the most useful place for you..."

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"If nothing's coming to mind, it might make the most sense for me to write something up about this world for the other clerics - not that they won't manage without, but better for them to be warned of any obvious mistakes before they make them."

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"That'd be good! We can help with any questions, too."

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He nods. "I'll have some, definitely, about what it's like in the rest of the world."

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(Deskyl begins herding Desuka and DZ out, indicating that Tobirama should probably come too.)

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Tobirama follows, leaving Hashirama and Raafi to flirt. (Mito leaves with Madara and Izuna to start arranging the upcoming summits).

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Flirt? When there's all this work to do? Would Raafi do that? (Yes, absolutely. He keeps it at least fairly light, though.)

Fharlanghn lets him know a few hours later that the spaceship is in place, and he takes the opportunity to ask for a more permanent translation solution and gets back to work after it's dropped off.

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Hashirama has no problem mixing work with more blatant flirting, at least.

Still, though, can't get too distracted from their work.

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It's pretty important work! And there's more than enough of it to keep Raafi there until dinnertime.

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Would he like to join Hashirama for dinner, then?

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He'd love to. Will Mito be joining them?

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She won't, this time.

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That's fine. (Hand-holding: still pretty great.)

Does Hashirama want some help in the kitchen? 

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That'd be great, yeah. Hashirama's pretty helpless with anything involving fire.

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That's cute. Raafi isn't very familiar with the local appliances yet, but his best recipes are forgiving enough for the road, so that's not really a problem. He looks through Hashirama's cupboards and soon has noodles boiling, with a simple milk-based sauce to go on them, and honey herbed chicken and carrots roasting in a skillet.

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Hashirama is dutifully impressed! He makes some arguably not cooking (or otherwise fool proof) things to go with it - a complicated salad, a kettle for tea, and then takes care of getting out dishes and setting the table.

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Raafi finds a spare second to give him a squeeze around the waist and a kiss on the cheek before he brings the food to the table.

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Heeeee!

"This looks really good!" he says, helping and beaming.

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"I hope you like it! There's a little bit of halfling influence to this one, milk and honey is a traditional halfling combination." He sits and takes a moment to close his eyes and touch his holy symbol before serving himself.

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"Neat!" He puts his hands together, says something quietly, then is rather boisterous about serving himself.

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His boisterousness is very endearing, and Raafi isn't shy about watching. "What do you think?"

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"It's delicious!" he says, carefully swallowing before he speaks.

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"Good!" He tucks in himself, eventually bringing up one of the more engaging questions from the day's work as dinner conversation.

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Hashirama is still very easy to talk to! He's good at keeping the conversation going, and sensing when a pause is awkward versus companionable, and breaking the former.

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Raafi has no trouble holding up his side of the conversation, but aside from lots of eye contact and the occasional blush, he doesn't seem inclined to push things any farther.

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There's a sharp knock on the door, and then Mito's walking in, smiling a bit but also seeming exasperated.

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Raafi startles slightly, but smiles when he sees her.

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"Good evening," she says, waving down Hashirama's attempt to get up and check on her. "I'm fine, the village is fine. It occurred to me to check in on how you two were getting along, is all."

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"Nice quiet evening, so far," he grins, amused. "Try the chicken? It turned out really well."

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She smiles, serving herself some, compliments him on his cooking, and then, idly, "So, I was wondering when we'd get around to a threesome." (Her husband turns bright red.)

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Raafi chuckles, reaching for Hashirama's hand. "Well, I'm available."

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Hashirama grips his hand, ducking his head and grinning.

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"My husband and I both find you quite attractive," she says, smiling more softly. "If you'd join us for the night, we'd be honored."

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"I'd love to." He squeezes Hashirama's hand and leans over to kiss his cheek, and then guides him to his feet.

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He seems totally on board with this, blushing a bit more deeply but also grinning and squeezing back.

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He steps closer for another kiss, no peck on the cheek this time, attentive and wanting, with his free arm around Hashirama's waist.

He has to come up for air eventually. "Do you know what you want to do, sweetheart?" he murmurs.

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He hums, seeming like he's demurring.

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"All right. We'll take it slow and see what happens." He squeezes his hand again and glances at Mito before leading him to the couch for more kissing and, after a bit, a hand under the hem of his shirt. "May I?"

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(Mito sets herself on an armchair, watching them.)

"You may," Hashirama says, grinning and blushing.

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He takes it off slowly, running his hands over each section of skin as it's revealed, pausing sometimes for more kisses. "You're so beautiful."

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He ducks his head, making a happy 'eee' noise. "Wanna see you, too."

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He ducks his head in return, blushing, and then kisses him again. "I have - well - you'll see," he warns, hand already on the fasteners of his vest; he doesn't draw out the process of taking it off, or hesitate to slip out of the shirt underneath, but does glance over to Mito to gauge her reaction to the scars on his back - a heavy collection of old, horizontal white stripes.

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She trades a look with Hashirama. "We don't consider scars to detract from someone's beauty," she says, gently. "Hashirama's very odd in how few he has, in fact."

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"Good," he answers vaguely, and then - well, Hashirama's right there, and shirtless, and it's very distracting.

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They can all get quite distracted, it turns out.

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Later, elsewhere, Deskyl has a report for Tobirama, first of necessary components for a hyperdrive-capable spaceship, and then of all the necessary subcomponents and technologies for producing them, going as far down the tech ladder as she knows, devolving into simple lack of knowledge in some places, notes on professions they'll need to redevelop in others - programming, most notably - and lists of physics questions in the remainder. There's also a section at the end about environmental sustainability and the pros and cons of using irreplaceable, pollution-generating resources to bootstrap them to the tech level they want, and another about improvements in farming and manufacturing of other necessities to free up enough of the population to work on this project. It's pretty clear that she only has a beginner's theoretical understanding of most of the information presented, but it's also obvious that her education was designed with an eye toward use in just the kind of project she's applying it to, with the exception of the tech level they're starting from.

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Shifting portions of their population to different industries only requires convincing either the daimyo or individual village heads in key locations, and if they can make some farms more productive, that'll dramatically benefit them - and he suspects should be his first political priority. He starts designing experiments for the physics questions even as he goes over the report - notes they should be able to use chakra instead of the pollution-generating resources for the initial bootstrapping. As long as they're freeing up and differently educating portions of their population, he can push through reforms to identify gifted children and give them an education in sealing, which can be used to store and move energy, likely more efficiently than several of these early technologies...

Programming seems like it requires a similar mindset to sealing, too, and like something it'd be good to introduce early in educational programs for gifted children...

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Sealing does sound useful, yes, as does teaching programming as it's redeveloped. Unfortunately it will have to be redeveloped, nearly from scratch, if they only have her knowledge to work with - she knows how to make logic gates, and the simplest kind of memory, and it's easy enough to put them together to do basic addition, but that's the extent of her experience, and she's probably more useful elsewhere than figuring out more when it's the kind of logic puzzle that anyone smart enough can work on.

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He nods. "And we'll likely want to design any languages around our own sensibilities and needs... I have some students I can have start on the foundations, even before we manage full Academies, and then go on to serve as the first teachers."

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    "That sounds reasonable, sir. Do you have an idea of where she'll be useful?"

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"Education, initially, preferably texts I can have more widely distributed, so I can get more people up to speed on this project."

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    "Yes sir. Is there a textbook-writer available for her to work with?"

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He nods. "We have a small team. I'll give you their contact information; you can pull any of them you want to work with over onto this project."

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    "Thank you, sir."

She'll get to work on that, then.

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And Fharlanghn sends the first batch of clerics a few days later, to the capitol cities Hashirama proposed: lone travelers or small groups, a senior cleric and one or two novices. They're well-dressed, and in some cases riding exotic mounts, species never seen before in this world, or in other cases carrying obviously foreign magic - a few have glowing walking staffs, and one has a trio of gemstones circling her head under their own power. Each asks to speak to their assigned nation's daimyo about collaboration with the other nations and their own world.

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Getting said appointments is variably easy. It's easiest in Fire, where they can bring Hashirama's seal, and in the smallest nations. It's hardest in Earth (whose daimyo is paranoid, and is willing to talk but only through an intermediary).

Still, the clerics are mostly received in style.

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The cleric assigned to Earth is very patient; all of them are polite, curious, freehanded with non-combat examples of their magic and trips to see the floatcar, and very interested in getting everyone on board with their project. 

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Deskyl, meanwhile, is getting frustrated. She simply doesn't know enough precursors for a lot of the tech they want to build.

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Do they have enough to reconstruct what she's missing?

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...may...be? They'd have to get pretty lucky with the research they're doing to fill in the gaps.

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He runs some numbers.

He thinks getting that lucky in the near future is unlikely, though their chances go up as they get more people on the research. Still, that'll take time, and delay the whole project...

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I wish we could just kidnap Valyr, she signs to herself. This is her area, not mine.

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"If there's someone who'd know more, we might be able to bring them over."

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    "There's Lord Valyr, sir, one of Lord Pritruth's other apprentices - a materials engineering researcher."

    "And her apprentice Rin should be brought too, to show intention to work cooperatively with her, he won't be safe if you leave him behind."

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He nods. "I'll look into our options - I've been working on my own interdimensional transit solution, and can turn my full focus onto that, for one."

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   "Yes sir. You'll want to be prepared for a fight; if you can teleport into the compound you'll bypass most of Lord Pritruth's automated defenses, but there will still be several Sith to consider. Lord Grauzatis in particular is very dangerous, his Force specialty is realistic hallucinations."

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"And I don't know whether my training against genjutsu will hold there..." he says, musingly. "So best to avoid that confrontation."

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    "He's usually in his part of the compound, which is a bit set off from the rest; as long as you leave within a few minutes of anyone noticing you you should be able to avoid him."

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"I'll aim for speed, then."

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    "The others are Lord Pritruth himself and his youngest apprentice Tenin. Pritruth is good at detecting emotions but doesn't generally have the ability active; his specialty lies more in projecting them. Lord Valyr's is telekinesis, especially fine control at a distance. Rin and Tenin don't have specialties yet, and Tenin in particular doesn't have very good control of himself; if you encounter him you shouldn't have trouble distracting him from raising an alarm. Lord Pritruth may also have called in outside help after Deskyl's disappearance, and you'll need to avoid letting droids see you so that they don't alert anyone. If you need to disable a droid like me the best places to attack are here and here, it's easy to repair damage in those areas."

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He nods. "How prone are people to looking up? Usually I get around people who aren't familiar with shinobi by sticking to the ceiling."

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    "Sith do it more often than normal humans, especially if they're on alert. And droids notice everything in our field of view."

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"So not a tactic I should rely on... I suspect I'll need to get within touch range of my targets and nothing else, though, which both simplifies and complicates things..."

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    "Is there anything else we can help with, sir?"

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"I'd benefit from a more thorough idea of typical Sith powers, but I likely won't need that until when I'm closer to done on transit, and I suspect I can manage without."

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    "Yes sir. We'll write something up for you."

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"Thank you."

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Deskyl gets back to work on the textbooks, and DZ delivers her report to him a few days later.

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Sleep is for people without access to healing magic and caffeine.

He gets the interdimensional transit magic mostly done, then takes a break to read through the report.

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Basic combat-relevant Sith powers include enhanced senses and reflexes, telekinesis that can be used to manipulate objects at a distance or move themselves more quickly and accurately, precognitive danger sense, short-range emotion sensing and manipulation, thought manipulation (which requires a shared language), and lightning generation - the tightly-controlled lightning he's seen from Deskyl is a special technique, most Sith can only throw bolts.

More advanced techniques are generally advancements on one or more of those base abilities; lightning can be made stronger, and move in different ways or have different effects added to it, for example a kinetic 'pushing' effect or additional pain; thought manipulation skills can be improved to remove the requirement of speaking to the target and to manipulating more parts of the mind, up to full hallucinations; advanced emotion manipulation allows for inducing a wider variety of emotions and more complicated ones, more strongly or with greater finesse; emotion sensing becomes mindreading with more practice, or can be done at longer range and with more acuity; the danger sense is an application of more general precognition, though that's relatively rare to pickup; advanced telekinesis can allow its user to manipulate more objects at once, or with greater finesse at a longer range, or to manipulate living things more easily; advanced sensory powers include being able to see or hear at a distance. Sith can also learn to manipulate biological systems, which isn't generally combat-relevant in its basic form (Sith are hard to poison and don't get sick at all under normal conditions, among other applications), but he could encounter more advanced uses that are, for example specially developed poisons or guardian animals. Sith out of apprenticehood will generally have more advanced skills in several of these areas in addition to a particular specialty.

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Hm... He has preliminary ideas how to counter many of those... He sends back a note asking if it's known whether the danger sense can be confused or canceled out by counter-precognition, and if Sith powers actually enhances reflexes enough that, say, someone would be able to counter multiple attacks in the course of an extremely small fraction of a second, assuming they knew all the attacks were coming.

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It's rare for fights between Sith to come down to the danger sense in particular rather than other factors; Deskyl would assume that the stronger Sith's danger sense would prevail but doesn't know anything about the details of how it would happen, or how that would interact with non-Force-based precog - she's willing to test it, if he'd like. The answer to his second question depends on several factors, but wearing a Sith down enough that they can't counter a fast barrage of attacks is a standard strategy; it might not work immediately on a given Sith, but it will generally work eventually.

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The best precog they have is the sharingan; a spar against one of their Uchiha trained for infiltration - or against him, he's trained for both infiltration and incredible speed - would likely be enlightening, yes.

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There should be a healer on hand - there's not much of a sweet spot for triggering the danger sense without risking injury - but Deskyl is available whenever everyone else is. ...also Desuka would like to be there, her schedule is like so.

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That can all be arranged - two skilled healers, even, since the danger will likely be mutual. (No one has any problem with Desuka watching; it'll be educational, even if she doesn't become a shinobi.)

The sharingan is at its best given time to observe; he suspects the optimal use of time here will be if their Uchiha watches Tobirama spar Deskyl, first, if she's willing to go twice.

He sends her a time, day, and place that works for him. Shortly after midday, a secluded training ground offset in the forest, large enough for them to move around without having to retreat to the trees, with boulders and a stream in the clearing. There's a place for the observers marked off.