"If priests could do that then the Emperor would have a much easier time giving orders from the front. I don't expect that anyone can do it on demand."

Nod. "I understand. Thank you. Did you want the translation spell, now that we're back -"

"Sure! That'll let me talk to both of you? How does it work?"

"I shove all my vocabulary into your head. It doesn't hurt or anything. It fades in about a day."

"Neat."

"It seems a terrible idea for rulers to accept unnecessary magic from witches they met five minutes ago. If you don't mind my saying so."

"I don't mind your saying so. Would you rather we tested it on you?"

"No."

"I want to know how her magic works. If I drop dead on the spot then I expect she will not be around for long enough to profit from it. You can do the spell."

If she were actually a dangerous wizard she'd do Dominate Person, or something, having asked the target to let her do magic to them. She's not so it's in fact true that if she bothers the ruler she'll die about it immediately. She casts Share Language.

"Is that all, that didn't feel like - oh huh, I can speak something else now, can't I. That's very interesting. I haven't seen anyone do something like that before."

"I think wizards here work somewhat differently. Which makes sense, there are different magical traditions even on my own world."

"I suppose there are here, too. Still, I've rarely seen a spell whose effects were so immediate. I suppose now that I can speak I ought to welcome your companion to Reykjavik, too, huh?"

She nods more calmly than she feels. She sounds much more certainly like Zara than she did, now that she's speaking the same language. She idly checks for a shadow; the girl has one, which doesn't mean anything. 

"Thank you."

"Archpriestess Vigdís Yngling of Iceland. I hope to hear more of your homeland and your journey here at dinner. Your companion seems interested in magic, but I'm told that isn't your skill."

"No, Archpriestess. I have no particular skill at anything."

"I doubt that. 

"Thordis, take their horses to the pens, if that's all right with them? You should come in and eat something, it'll take them a while to butcher the walrus. There are various people you ought to be introduced to, if your primary interests are magic and religion. I'm sure we have much to learn from you, as well."

"Thank you." Bob of the head to cover not having been told the appropriate form of address yet, she should've asked about that.

....and Detect Thoughts on Korva, who seems to be having a bit of a time?

It's Zara, it's Zara, it's Zara, it's Zara, it doesn't make any sense that it's Zara but it's the same face and the same voice and - not precisely the same manner but close to it, close to what might have happened if you had left Zara with these people ten years ago, and because she was Zara she hadn't rolled over and died about it and instead had somehow managed to excel - 

- she has to figure out whether to tell Carissa, and also what to tell Carissa, if she doesn't want Carissa to think she's insane, although maybe she is insane, because it doesn't make any actual sense that Zara would be here, and she doesn't know in what sense it can possibly be true, or why she would be here even if it were -

Who is Zara, Korva didn't even mention a Zara. Is this the person who kidnapped them - why all the rigamarole, though, it's not as if they'd have been uncooperative if kidnapped and told so -

She keeps walking. Doesn't look at Korva, doesn't say anything.

She is scared, now.

Occasionally she stops being miserable about this for long enough to instead be miserable about the actual Zara, since she's now been reminded of that. Zara is a child. She looks very much like the Archpriestess, but younger and more energetic - maybe not more energetic around strangers, and she's been without anyone for a month, now, and there's no possible way to get back to her quickly, so worrying won't help, but she's scared of what's happened to her and scared that she'll do something stupid, and she misses her terribly.

She is still trying very hard to do an impression of someone who is not experiencing any emotions of any kind.

That does not make any sense. 

She stops reading Korva's mind so she'll stop being distracted. It's not like it makes more sense to Korva.

Vigdis brings them inside one of the longhouses. There are no walls inside, just a single very long room with some support pillars and the occasional curtain. There are beds and tables and chests along the walls, and a fire pit with cooking equipment in the center of the house. There's a very old woman sitting by the fire and spinning thread.

"This is Ýrr, our seeress. We also have a wizard, but we've been needing wood more than spells, lately, so he's out chopping trees. I'm sure he'll be back for dinner. Ýrr, this is Carissa. She's a wizard from Cheliax. It's a very faraway place, I'm not sure exactly where. She's interested in our magic, and I'm interested in hers. Much better use of you than spinning, isn't it?"

     "Her fate is off course," says the woman, barely looking up. 

"How so?"

     "She does not belong here."

"But she is here, and that must mean that someone meant it."

     The woman grunts in acknowledgement.

Gah, what is the woman doing, she wants to check with Detect Thoughts but probably a seeress can notice mind-directed magic and then they might kill her. 

"Do you have any idea who meant it?" she asks quietly.

She stares at Carissa for a sort of uncomfortably long amount of time without blinking.

"The gods do not see this one," she says, and returns to spinning. "It is not their doing."