She is slower than the mirror-faced snake, and for some reason it is choosing to chase her, and she is not in dense enough forest to lose it by going up a tree or between a couple too narrowly spaced for it. So it catches her before emergency services can turn up.
And then she is somewhere else, in a not particularly attractive room next to a person who looks sort of off somehow.
"Excuse me," she says, taking a step out of his personal space.
"There are people in my guard who have died three times in defense of my life. I would rather scare someone than make it four. But I'd rather not scare anyone, if you have suggestions about how."
"My magic doesn't work here, so assuming for the sake of argument you are very puzzled about why that could be, you might still assume it's true in the general case. No one is going to show up covered in blood and soot who has also bothered to pack a crossbow."
"Is the blood and soot magic the only kind in your world? It's not, I take it, the only kind in Arda."
"Only kind in my world, I have indeed already said it's not the only kind in Arda. Singing and artifacts are better at lots of things but they are definitely not better at killing people."
And someone can take him to a nice guest room (not Elf-nice).
Sure.
He remembers before he's written much that he won't be able to set it on fire, given the givens. He adjusts to be more inscrutable instead.
Mirelótë concludes her aria, tucks her notetaking device back into her pocket, and steps out and says she's feeling better if the pharaoh or anyone else feels there's more to cover.
She can be brought to him.
"You can sit comfortably. We regret having distressed you."
"For debt and for serious crimes. If we ban it for debt people can't take out loans even when they think it's worth it, and this might be useful but it has some substantial downsides. If we ban it for serious crimes I have no idea what we'd do with them instead."
"Okay. I think my priority is to learn your language and then translate some Dwarf books I've read for you, it seems likely their strategies are the most applicable here. If there's nothing else more pressing I'd like to meet with your father again about that, I can teach him the Dwarf languages in the process."
"I don't doubt it. If Sa-Anar - and Merenre, maybe, Dwarves solve this sort of thing with insurance - want to sit in for some or all of it they're welcome too."
"We solve a lot of things with insurance but I would be fascinated to see how to solve violent crime that way."
And another person appears in the room, standing between them.
The guards rush towards her; she seems to barely notice this, all of her attention elsewhere.
Then she falls asleep.
"Well. I was going to say that I'll pray for you and your work."
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