"Temporarily fluent? How do you do that? And yes, there are other worlds, how many of them, how was this determined, how is it distinguishable from places far from each other, all created by Eru? How does your magic system work and can it do any of the following: summon things, extend range on other magic -"

"I have a spell.  I can keep using that until I become properly fluent, I prefer to be able to perform basic tasks without magic.  Maybe two dozen known to the scholars of my home of which I can remember the names and features of maybe a dozen. Each plane is...infinite in size, maybe? No, that doesn't sound right I think the one I'm from is finite.  But many of them are infinite. I think.  Uhh, they don't connect physically at all. Some of them sort of overlap, so locations in the one correspond to locations in the other. This really isn't my area of expertise. I don't know who Eru is.  It works by gathering power from around you or from inside yourself--I don't know how that works, they described it one way in Kalzir and one way in Qinshu and I know how it feels but I can't really describe that and no I will not share it via telepathy until I'm much more comfortable with that, I'm pretty sure you can't get it without my cooperation and if you try I'm more likely to panic and mess everything up than produce anything useful." They pause, take a breath, "Kalziran mages then say some words and wave their hands around to make patterns to guide the magic and focus their will on the intended effect and if they focused hard enough and got all the patterns right it happens.  Jade Dragon mages move the magic around inside their bodies until it takes the shape they want and then release it. I studied both, but mostly use the Kalziran style, except that I do it all in my head so there's no words or gestures involved. Yes, it can summon things--Objects, sometimes creatures from another plane. Kalziran style spells can extend range or have other effects on jade dragon magic and vice versa, neither seems to be able to have much effect on the magic of the gods but that might just be the gods' magic being so much more powerful than mortal magic, I don't know of any other form of magic where this has been extensively tested. I, personally, have a very limited skillset: invisibility, destructive spells, minor shapechanging, and a tiny bit of divination including the ability to speak the language of the people around me if I'm appropriately prepared."

"How can we develop other spells from what you know? How can we learn your magic?"

"If I were a proper Kalziran mage, I could demonstrate some spells and explain what each gesture or sound does and we could build new spells from that. That's the main benefit of their magic, it's relatively easy to learn, share, and develop. Since mine is all in my head, you wait until I'm capable of showing you. Your brother mentioned you might have centuries, it won't take nearly that long. Unless your mind-reading is much more powerful than anything I've heard of back home, in which case you can take that knowledge without my assistance and I can try to kill you." Malak would really like some clothes, are the clothes here yet?

"We might have centuries, we might only have a few years, it's really hard to guess. Are discussions of how to stop the end of the world where you're from usually peppered with death threats or have we done something to offend you?"

Clothes are delivered.

Malak starts dressing.

"Yes, though obviously not intentionally. I get very touchy about mind magic, I have a bad history with it that I don't remember. I'm sorry, I probably overreacted, you've done nothing to deserve that. Some people have greater natural reserves of raw magical power than others, it tends to follow bloodlines, doesn't necessarily correspond to skill with creating or learning spells.. As I was saying to your brother, whose name I actually never got...?"

"Celegorm. Do people here have reserves of magic power? How do we check?"

"Celegorm. As I was telling him, I lack both the knowledge and power to cast a plane shift spell, so even if we could develop it we'd need to find someone stronger than me. It can be tricky to tell how much power--or potential--someone has unless they're throwing spells about. I can sense active magic, but energy that hasn't been shaped into a spell yet...It's much harder to pick up on, I don't know how to do it.  Your world definitely has magic available, so as long as you have souls you should have the ability to use my sort of magic if you learn how. It accumulates on souls when they stay...still. Like dust accumulates on an untouched statue. Sort of. It's a metaphor. The important part is that you need to be calm and relaxed and not feeling strong emotions for a while to recover magical energy. It takes a while, so usually mages where I'm from just let it gather in their sleep--Do you sleep?"

"Yes, but we don't need to as frequently as humans do. Are you human? You didn't look -"

"...Sort of. I am a Tiefling on my father's side--Do you have those here? They're like...slightly demonic or infernal humans. Either the first tieflings were humans that were cursed by a god, or they may have been humans that interbred with fiends, maybe both, nobody's really quite sure."

"We do not have those. What are the material implications?"

"It manifests in different ways. I can see perfectly in darkness, I have a tail, I'm slightly fireproof, and I have trouble chewing many foods."

"I see. Food shouldn't be a problem. How do we start learning your magic?"

"...Can you wiggle your soul? There are two parts, learning the spells and accessing the magical energy. A big part of the second is developing a good sense of your soul as separate from your mind and your body. I can teach you some of the Kalziran words and gestures, but I don't know very many of them--I just know some very basic spells by rote. I can also maybe lead guided meditations, that might be more helpful than 'wiggle your soul.' Food isn't a problem, I can change my teeth."

"If you don't mind sending the mental impression of what it feels like that'd help. We'd appreciate guidance as well. What do you need to live here and work on that?"

Malak opens their mind, takes a couple of deep breaths, pushes down their fear, and reaches for their magic slowly, trying to draw out the sensations so the elves can get a good look at the process...a good look at Malak's soul gods what are they doing and fear shoots through them and bile rises in their throat and their mind is closed, safe, mine, not for you stay OUT

Malak's eyes are wide and their teeth have savaged their lower lip, blood running down the sides of their mouth and their hands are shaking

"We don't have to do it that way," he says impatiently, "it'd just help."

"I wasn't sure. Wanted to try, see if I--"They breathe in, out "Can we continue this later?"

"Lithuiben will show you to a room." He jerks his head at the door and turns back to his notes.

Malak steps out, mind still sealed up in iron, seemingly oblivious to the blood running down their chin, and tries to compose themself while they wait.

And someone comes by, looks at them oddly, and shows them to a room.

Malak closes the door behind them, sits on the floor, and screams silently for a while. In time, panic turns to disappointment and anger--how could they be so weak, there is a world at stake here and all they had to do was show these elves one! little! feeling!

When the fear comes down, so do their walls, for a time, until they realize they're broadcasting their self-loathing for the whole city to hear and then the panic is back and stays until it fades into exhaustion and they fall asleep on the floor.

When they wake up someone's left breakfast; it's now cold.

They give themself human teeth and eat a little, then take in the room for the first time.

It's pretty! In the place of windows there are inset sections of marble with some kind of magical lighting behind them. There's a high ceiling and stone shelves just slightly crowded with glasswork and pottery, and on the opposing wall a very detailed and striking tapestry of an outdoors scene, enspelled somehow so the leaves seem to wave in occasional bursts of wind. There's a bed set into the wall.