"Do not harm another creature without cause. Do not take what is not freely given. There are other rules, but those are the two that really matter."

"Without cause" is vague enough to drive a truck through, and the second rule can only be really understood with more context on their economy than she has right now, but the spirit of the laws seems solid and they can pick up the rest of the culture by example. "Sensible laws, those," she says. "Can you tell us where to go from here?"

"I think that we should probably get you set up with rooms. Do you have any possessions?"

They both shake their heads. "Rooms would be good."

Bruce was previously too disoriented to notice, but now he's really feeling the lack of 1) his smartphone and 2) his pants.

The mouse nods. "You can just follow me, then. -my name is Jojo, by the way. I'm the current Warrior of Redwall Abbey."

The first person they meet having the title "Warrior" is less than reassuring, but on the other hand perhaps that means they only have one. "Pleased to meet you, JoJo. I'm Jennifer, and this is Bruce. What does a Warrior do?"

"Most Abbeyfolk are peaceful creatures, and do not concern themselves with the safety of their home; I make sure they can do that. I'm the Abbey's first line of defense in case of an attack - followed by the resident Badger-Mother, for obvious reasons."

As they follow Jojo through the gates they pass a large group of very young rodents who look at Bruce and Jennifer with wide eyes. These are shepherded by an elderly badger with one scarred and milky eye. She peers at Bruce with some suspicion. 

Bruce waits until they're well past the elderly badger before asking, "I'm afraid I don't know--well, pretty much anything. What are the obvious reasons?"

Jojo looks at him oddly. "Well, badgers are- large, and fiercely protective, and can go into a blood rage which enhances their physical strength when necessary. So the Badger-Mother is a semi-official combatant, at least partly because we have no hope of stopping her."

He doesn't seem to be able to formulate the sentence "you are a badger, how do you not know that" without being rude, so instead he does not say that.

It's not rude at all, honestly, it's a totally reasonable question. "I don't have any reliable memories from before earlier today. You should probably just assume I don't know anything about anything. Sorry. I'll try to keep the stupid questions to a minimum and pick stuff up as I go along."

"I'm in the same boat. If you have a library in the Abbey that would be really helpful."

Jojo wrings his hands. "Oh dear! I'm sorry for being rude, that must be very difficult. Do you know - well, I suppose you wouldn't know how it happened if you don't remember anything. We do have a library, and you're welcome to read anything in it."

"It's fine, really, you couldn't've known."

"And the library will help a lot, thank you." He is actually super excited to explore an unfamiliar civilization's library, even apart from how it will make him slightly more clueful.

The Abbey is - not well-appointed in a Catholic way, a "we have all the money to buy fancy things we want" way, but in a "generations of people have lived here and made art" way. Some of the walls are daubed with murals. There are many tapestries, mostly woven from dyed cotton or linen. There are only a handful of large metallic objects like candelabras, most of them looking at least a few centuries old.

Jojo gets them to some rooms which are - not large, especially at Bruce and Jennifer's new respective heights, but intensely cozy. There are quilts on the beds, rugs and tapestries on the floor and walls, and each room has a window which catches the currently setting sun.

"I apologize that the rooms are not quite appropriately sized," Jojo says a bit wryly. "We really only have one badger in the usual course of operations, and hares tend to be rather itinerant unless they're home at Salamandastron."

"I'm glad you're able and willing to take people in on short notice at all."

It's looking like this is going to be all "we invent a bunch of stuff" and no "cool sci-fi tech" so Bruce is trying to remember various ways to make steel. Also he should find out if germ theory is real or [only a thing in his universe of origin/a product of his large pile of fake memories of being a human]. But he should get a regular job and some more general clue first.

"What's the work schedule like? Where do we find out what jobs are open?"

"Well - hmm - if you're particularly eager to get started on something we can go check with Friar Bunfold, but for the time being it's fine if you'd rather rest a while. People are mostly able to do what interests them here, whether that's tending the gardens and fields, or working the wine cellars, or cheesemaking, or fishing - somebeasts just take on cleaning shifts, and there's special positions like the scribe or the Abbess, but - it really varies by what you're good at and what you like. If you don't remember anything I don't suppose you'd know, but we can set you on a rotation when you're ready to get started and we'll find out soon enough." Jojo's nose twitches. "I myself came to the Abbey as a young man without much idea of what I could do. Worked the fields until I became the Warrior."

"So--the thing I would most like to do is invent new things but I should probably also do something that's more short-term useful."

Are lawyers even a thing here? If there are law schools she should go to one.

"Scribe would be fun if you don't have enough already, or I could learn to cook."

Jojo smiles. "If you can read and write clear and well, I'm sure Scribe Barlom would welcome the help. Bruce, I'm not sure what you'd be inventing, but I have to admit I'm interested. Do you mean like - better farming tools, and the like?"

"Farming tools, easier ways to make metal things, ways to make a bunch of copies of a piece of writing at once instead of having to write it out every time, maybe better lights. I'll need to read a bunch of things first." Also how fast he can do things will depend a lot on whether the laws of physics are what he thinks they are.

"I can read and write, yes." She might have to learn to use a quill pen, from the look of the place--unless birds are also people and they use something other than feathers because using bits of people as pens is rude? Whatever they write with can't be that hard. And they speak English here, which is lucky.

Jojo's lashing tail betrays his excitement. "We'd be thrilled if you can manage even one of those things, really - what would you need to read?"

That's an odd way to phrase the question but she has an answer. "I'd like to read everything about history and government and how people work. Bruce is going to want to read everything you have about the natural world."