There appears a young woman, dressed for snow, covered in blood, and whimpering.

Lucette puts the book down and rushes over - is the blood coming out of somewhere?

Yes - no? - closing wounds, scrapes and cuts where she's not covered with puffy winter coat and heavy layers of trousers and strange foreign shoes.

Oh, she's empowered.

"Are you okay?" Obviously the answer is no but Lucette can't this moment think of a better question, however foolish this one is

"It's complicated?"

"Should I be calling for a doctor? There's one not far from here."

"No, I don't think most of my problems are amenable to doctors and I think the ones that are, are clearing up on their own." She sits up.

"Oh... can I help with the other ones?"

"It's complicated."

"Mm." Lucette has no idea what to do in this situation, apparently.

"Where am I, please?"

"The Oakhill manor, in York."

"Where is that?"

"Northern England."

"...where is England?"

"The island of Great Britain west of the European continent?"

"I think I may be from another planet. That or my translation magic is not very good at place names."

"Your shoes and jacket look quite foreign, and I suppose another planet is possible, though there are areas on this planet we have had little contact with. I think there's a globe in this library you can check if you'd like to see whether anything looks familiar?"

"I can't see. Except I can read the spines of your books."

"Oh. Well, then I suppose a map won't help... how did you acquire this condition?" 

"I think what happened is that I was hit by a vehicle containing several improperly stored artifacts and some of them hit me."

"What are artifacts?"

"Magic objects. If you touch one you get a good thing and a bad thing. I'm not sure how many I have."

"Those sound fairly distinct from how magic works here - how were they created?"

"Sometimes, when someone dies, their favorite object becomes an artifact. Artifacts are indestructible so they accumulate over time."

"Okay, that sounds different from anything I'd expect to encounter in this world. We have people who acquire powers around adolescence along with demons who haunt them, and sometimes this can result in magical artifacts being created by the demon or the empowered, but not in a manner such as you describe."

"What do the artifacts do?"

"It varies, some of the ones I've heard of glow and can heat a large space evenly, another is a type of metal stronger than any we have yet discovered on our own."

"So nothing like our artifacts really.

"I have... one, two, three... benefits, and... either four or five drawbacks, I think I'm also deaf except for language, I can't hear myself breathe at all, so that might be the same thing as the blindness with the same exception for the translation magic. I don't know how they correspond so there could be plenty of both I haven't noticed yet." She takes off her coat while she says this.

"And the others that you've noticed? If you are interested in sharing that is."

"I feel way too hot, although I'm at least not sweating about it. I'm... here, and I expect that's a drawback, not a benefit. And...

...uh, I think maybe one of the artifacts made me fall in love with the first person I - not saw. Encountered."

"Oh.... that sounds. Sudden."

"It's kind of a lot."

"... you are aware from my voice that I'm a woman?"

"From your voice and also one of the benefits I have noticed is that I have a new sense which tells me the shapes and locations of things."

"Mm...is it permanent?"

"Yes, artifact effects are always permanent."

"Ah."

"We can um. Open a window? For the overheating drawback."

"Couldn't hurt. Thank you."

It isn't really cold outside, but at least there's a breeze.

"I'm um. Not really sure what to do about the other drawback."

"It - shouldn't have to be your problem."

"Would it be better for you if it wasn't?"

"......if I were somehow tasked with assigning you preferences, and if we ignored the thing where this would be a horrifying scenario one way or another, the ones that would be convenient for me if you had them would - uh -

- sorry, this is actually really hard to think about, I've never been suddenly in love with someone before. Even within the scope of the mind control it is more important that you be okay than that any superficial you-related preferences I have be fulfilled though."

"I... um, think I will be okay with the situation, for the time being? I am also unusually well positioned to help someone alien to my world navigate it - your situation in particular would be culturally complicated given how our powers work."

"Culturally complicated?"

"Those who possess powers need to marry within a couple of years of manifesting them, or risk calamitous outcomes. People would need to be convinced that you are somehow an exception if they became aware you had abilities."

"Can I -" Do not ask if you can marry her, Annie, don't be a creep. "- the abilities themselves aren't out of scope for what people in the local magic system can do?"

"The abilities aren't, though they are somewhat unusual. The drawbacks, however, are rather different from the downside to powers here."