"When mighty magic is involved, what seems like clumsiness to us is often grace at a level we cannot discern. Perhaps you should tell us what you know of prairie dogs, in case some clue is contained within.

Terraforming is the province of other magic, but as for travel--well, I cannot teleport yet. But I thought it probable that I would be able to someday."

"That's very exciting! We know of some very promising planets we'd like to settle but they're too far to reach in our best ships in less than an Amentan lifetime, and we can't tell for sure without visiting them if they'd definitely be able to support colonies. I'm sure one of our greens knows something about prairie dogs...?"

"I'm not a rodent specialist," says a green, "but they're social burrowing animals, come in a range of shades of pink and purple, are closely related to squirrels, have a lot of squeaking-based communicative noises they make...? Does any of this sound helpful?"

He's actually a little offended by some unseen hand placing him with the squeaking-based communicative rodents, but he's able to set that aside for now.

"Not yet, but perhaps you should find us a book about them for later. The teleportation I refered to was shorter range; a continent's breadth in a moment. As for other planets--well, to shift between planes is the province of mightier magicians than I expected to ever become, and it was theorized that you might be able to hop astral distances through that method. But I had never heard a credible tale of one who had done it. It nevertheless remains the most promising pathway home I could walk with my own feet, remote as it is."

The nonspeaking blue glances at the yellow at the mention of a prairie dog book; the yellow nods.

"How is it your magic expands in scope over time?" Ekachta asks.

"Every type of magician is different, and sorcerers yet more different. While a wizard could no doubt give you six theories and explain the experiments that make them credible or incredible, a sorcerer's magic operates by instinct and shies away from deliberate study. I have lived a life of adventure and solved problems using my magic; I have fulfilled my responsibilities as duke wisely and well. Eventually enough drops fill up the chalice and my magic deepens, and worrying about the flow fills it up more slowly than worrying about my realm or my responsibilities."

"...so you may not be able to improve your magic here away from your duchy?" asks Ekachta tentatively.

"I did not come into possession of it until recently, but it has been the focus of my whole career. I am unsure, but--my previous efforts to return to it strengthened me, and I hope they will do so here as well."

"What form would you expect those efforts to take?"

The question is harder than it might seem, and he closes his eyes to think it through.

"Most people do not seek out danger and power, because their talents or their personality are poorly suited for it. Of those who do, they have the best chance of survival with a balanced team. My talents and magic fit my aristocratic bloodline; my magic has long been focused on coordination and amplification. Here alone, I doubt I can do much, but working with your heroes, there might be much that I can accomplish.

But not every war is fought with a swordarm; this morning I was debating laws for our newly formed nation. It may be that my statecraft is what you need. But I am well aware of the challenges that immigrants face in politics, and would wish to learn much more before attempting to embark on any such endeavors here. I also am not yet released from my old obligations; I would be loathe to make you dependent on me in any way and then depart without warning for my true home."

"So when you say 'swordarm' is that an archaic idiom, or do swords dovetail particularly well with magic, or are swords in fact the dominant martial technology where you're from?" asks a green after a silence.

"I'd hesitate to ask you to involve yourselves in a war on our behalf even if it were blindingly clear that you could affect the outcome," says Ekachta. "For numerous reasons, among them that most of the time we're quite friendly with our present opponent and have a short term local dispute; that we have anti-escalatory international law prohibiting the involvement of anyone who doesn't belong to the Amentan grey caste in combat and whatever you are I think it isn't 'grey'; and of course that we don't have a supply of other magicians we can learn from if anything should befall you two."

"The queen of Cheliax is a swordswoman of unmatched skill, but in the phrase 'swordarm' it stands in for the whole category of weapons. My retinue uses pikes and crossbows; my lieutenant is an archer, and the destructive powers of magic are many. Perhaps you should tell me more about your castes; of course we have our own bloodlines and social roles but they do not appear to align." He leaves unsaid that he struggles to respect any blue who is not also a grey; it would no doubt offend them and perhaps they have a good reason for their tradition of widespread cowardice.

[He is, of course, wearing a sword as part of his party outfit; he is well-practiced at not bumping anything with it, and so it probably just looks like a weird embellishment to his belt to them. It doesn't play any role in his self-defense plans--he needs his hands free to catch arrows--and so his unconscious movements haven't given it any more importance than the rest of his outfit.]

"I'm blue," says Ekachta, "hair color correlates very well at birth and even better once people grow up and dye non-matching hair to send the correct signals. So is my intern Patkeon. Blue is the aristocracy and landowning caste. These three - Tahu, Ashuao, and Hepka - are green; that's the caste for scholars and artists. Our assistant there, Muim, is yellow, for work involving organization and compliance and records and suchlike. Our security is grey, the caste also includes soldiers and police and athletes and dancers. The driver's purple, about half of Amentans are purple and they do things like farming and manufacture and retail and transportation. You might also meet oranges, depending on what you wind up needing and wanting to do while you're here; they're the caring professions - doctors and nurses and teachers and prostitutes and counselors. Some jobs are casted differently in different countries, of course, that's the Tapai breakdown, but the generalities are mostly the same."

He nods at this explanation, which sounds like a sensible arrangement. "Dye non-matching hair? How does one obtain permission to make such a change?" That seems like a safe enough spot to start probing their society.

"Oh, it isn't like that. Caste is matrilineal, though again that can vary by country, our ally and neighbor Anitam has patrilineality. But sometimes someone has an intercaste child, and the hair color might take after the non-lineal parent, or even a grandparent or more distant ancestor, in which case to avoid confusing anyone they'll dye it."

"My hair grows in purple," volunteers Hepka, "it runs in my mother's family though I'm not actually sure when it was introduced, we haven't had an intercaste marriage as far back as I've been able to find. But I'm green."

"And so, as both of our mothers were aristocrats, you infer that we are both blue. But a family's fortunes may wax and wane out of proportion to their number of children; what happens to the children of blues who cannot support themselves on rents?" Or, implicitly, to them, currently cut off from their lands, incomes, and investments.

He imagines Desna weeping at the people unable to follow their dreams, but holds off for now. The people in this car may not know how the system bends around its people, or may not be willing to share it in front of each other.

"Responsible blue parents don't seek a child credit - official permission to have a child - until on top of the face value of the credit they have a portfolio to entrust to that child which will keep them supported indefinitely. Investments, land, that sort of thing," says Ekachta. "There are always people who aren't responsible - but their children will then either make their own fortunes by applying their wits to the salaried professions blues hold, like the judiciary for example, or be unable to afford child credits in their turn, so the problem isn't perpetuated further. In your case, of course, you're the guests of the Tapai government and we'll be pleased to see to whatever it is you need if it can be found on Amenta."

"...what happens to a pregnant mother without permission to bear a child?" The question of whether or not these people have souls jumps to the front of his mind, again.

"It's vanishingly rare! We've got effective contraception freely available to absolutely everyone," Ekachta says. "If there's some kind of problem which results in an unintended pregnancy it can be safely terminated, though of course everyone much prefers it never get to that point."

She boggles a bit, at this, and tries to imagine what being a woman is like for them.

"For us, prematurely ended pregnancies result in children in afterlives," he says sadly, "and so we treat that option with perhaps more caution than you do. But if we can bring your method of contraception back home, and replicate it there--perhaps that's why we're here."

"- in that case we should get you some oranges to see if you're biologically similar enough to us for the full range or if only the more mechanical options will work! No one should have to worry about having a baby before they're ready. Muim, get us -" He rattles off a few more names.

"And I suppose by these child credits you ensure that the number of people fit for a role can match demand for that role? But how do you manage the costs of having a standing army that you must recruit years in advance of the need for them? Much of the defense of our towns and states is done by militias and levies, with retinues and trained adventurers critically important but a much smaller fraction of the fighting force."

"That's a major function of child credits, yes! There are peacetime occupations for greys. A lot of those industries wind up with suspended or shoestring operations when there's a war on as more greys join up."

There's something about the way that they said "peacetime occupations" that lands strangely. "Like monster hunting?"