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in which rainfold hosts multidimensional discussions about The Concept Of Slavery
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Imrainai has been skipping daily meditation to work, lately, because her order is very shorthanded. (They're always shorthanded, of course, which makes it something of a poor excuse.) But she's meditating today, sitting in her room in the very early morning, thinking about the things she's grateful for and the purpose of her work and the values that she's dedicated her life to.

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And suddenly a person appears, wearing an extremely decorated metal collar with several gems dangling from it. He says something in a foreign language. He's trying to sound apologetic but mostly he sounds confused.

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She is also confused!

" - how did you get in here?"

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...Okay, he's apparently going to need to set up translation. He tries to look extremely unthreatening and mimes writing. Even if she can't read there's a decent chance she has some writing on hand for doing magic with, right?

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She still looks pretty confused, but she gets a piece of paper and a quill pen and an inkwell from her nightstand. She fills the pen and hands it to him.

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Oh, does she want his language instead, then? He writes a sentence of the minimum required length to make translation work and hands it back.

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She takes it and looks at it and frowns.

"Okay. I can't read this either."

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...Her confusion is confusing. He mimes writing again.

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She can... try writing a sentence for him and seeing if that's what he wants?

She writes "How did you get here?".

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Doesn't matter if some of the ink comes off on his hand when he touches it, as long as he doesn't smudge it too badly to read. If he were patient he'd wait for it to dry properly but instead he's just very careful about it as he touches the wet ink with one hand and one of the transparent gems on his collar with the other. He says something that still isn't understandable and then...

"I was teleported here by accident. I'm sorry to intrude."

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"Oh. I didn't realize that was something people could do. Do you - need help getting back to wherever you were before?"

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"Yes, ma'am."

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"Do you know where you're from? This is the co-monarchy of Rainfold."

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"I belong to Lady Vesa who holds land in Esona."

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"I haven't heard of it. You 'belong' to her?"

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"Yes, ma'am."

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"Just to check, do you want to go back?"

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He is nowhere near stupid enough to say no.

"Yes, ma'am."

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"Okay. You don't have to. Slavery's illegal in Rainfold and if you were sent here by a magical accident it could be they can't find you here. Even if they can, they might not fault you for just - failing to convince anyone to help you find your way home. But I will help you go home if that's what you want."

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"...It would be interesting to know more about your society but I'm needed back home. I'm not especially replaceable."

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"All right. I'll see if can find a replacement for me today, and then - I guess we can take you to the library and see if anyone there has heard of where you're from."

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"Would the library have a world map?"

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"Yes, they'll have an atlas."

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"Then I can definitely find where I'm from even if you use different placenames here."

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"All right! Hopefully we can figure out where to send you, then."

And she leads him out of her room and has a short conversation with someone else about needing to have someone else cover her patients. The compound seems to be all women, all dark like her and wearing roughly the same uniform, apart from the number and color of painted wooden beads on the necklaces they wear. The rooms are clean but fairly bare.

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He tentatively thinks these people might be poor. Any sign of mages or enchanted items?

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