promise and leareth
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"They have mages and other Gifted people with combat training, and un-Gifted soldiers with non-magical weapons, usually. And horses. The gods here cannot do large miracles in the material world very efficiently, so Their interventions often included nudging a different mortal kingdom's army into inconveniencing me." 

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"What's a horse?"

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"A large quadrupedal animal that runs much faster than humans, and can bear us on its back if trained to do so." He can show her with a casual illusion. 

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"That's disturbing," she says of the horse.

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"They can be quite dangerous! They are mostly tame and friendly, though. Hmm - does Fairyland have any livestock, either for transport or food?" 

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"Fairyland doesn't have animals."

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"Really - not at all? That is quite a significant difference. Not even insects?" 

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"Nope. There are fairies who've been turned into animals, but while I know the spell I haven't actually seen the results."

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"That must be a fascinating ecosystem. Is there plant life other than the trees that fairies come from?" 

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"Sure, lots and lots of plants."

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"Huh. - Sorry for all the very mundane questions, I am just trying to make sense of this other world." 

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"I don't mind talking about plants."

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Nod. "Anyway, that is a digression. Did you have further questions about this world?" 

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"Do you have stairs? Can I see them? I've heard them described but it didn't make sense."

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"Stairs!" Nayoki Sunspring (she's trying to think of herself by that name now to avoid slipping up) looks so amused. "We do, yes. You can come look at our stairs if you want." She stands up. 

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"Does Fairyland have buildings?" Leareth says curiously. 

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"Sure, some places, but not stairs." She flutters along, landing sometimes to compensate for her minimum flight speed being a bit faster than walking pace but seldom taking steps.

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Outside the long, mostly empty basement room that she was in before, there's a hallway, lit by a couple of lanterns. Leareth provides extra lighting with a mage-light above their heads. 

Then there's another door, and then there are stairs! They're narrow, carved of stone and not quite polished to a smooth finish; they go up a dozen steps and then there's a landing where the stairs turn around and keep going. The "ceiling" above the first set is slanted, which turns out to be because there are more stairs running above it after the next landing, but Leareth stops there and opens the door. 

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"What do you think? I apologize, this building is not very designed with flight in mind." 

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"Wow, that's not what I was picturing... uh, it does seem like it'd be hard to fly in the stairwell."

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"Stairwells can be made much more spacious than this, but - yes, stairs are very much designed for people with feet, and not with wings. I am guessing an open elevator-shaft without stairs in it would suit you far better." 

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"Yeah, that's what multistory buildings in Fairyland have."

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"Wow. Incredible." He seems oddly delighted by that. "I always wondered how a civilization where everyone had flight would end up differing from ours." 

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"Do you have guesses I should be confirming?"

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"Hmm. I am guessing you do not have roads, and...probably this affects the placement of buildings in a town, but also your entire societal structure is different than ours, because of the court and vassalage framework. How are goods transported for trade? ...Oh, Sunspring did mention 'fairy gates'..." 

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