Riding for several weeks also sounds awful and he flinches a bit at the thought. Carissa contacting Urtho is also scary, but differently, and somehow in a way that doesn't make him want to flinch. 

He examines the bracelet, interestedly. It's very complicated. It's also - more a familiar shape, or something, he's not nearly that good but he could imagine making his magic be that shape, whereas Carissa's just seems impossible.

"Was it future him who made that?" he says thoughtfully. "If it were me, I would be so curious to see a magic thing that me from the future made, because it might be with things I hadn't even learned yet, and so if it were me I think I'd want to pick you up." 

"Yes. It was future him that made it." Sigh. "All right. I'm going to message him. I just need to figure out what language is spoken in Tantara. Shall we go out and try to learn that?"

"All right. - Can you use magic to make my clothes clean, I don't want to put them back on when I'm clean and they're dirty." He's still looking at his own hand with mild amazement; he's never seen it clean like that before. 

"Yes, good idea." And she prestidigitates her clothes clean and then they can go around outside. She is going to claim that she wants to send a letter to Tantara and needs someone who can write and knows the language there.

She is directed to a bookstore! It's next to the College of Chirurgeons, which is a big mostly-stone building with tasteful ivy hanging over the facade and a nice statue out front, though the statue does have pigeon droppings on it and the ivy is looking under-watered. 

The bookstore is small and dim and has a couple of apprentices copying manuscripts at a table in the back, and a single shelf of leatherbound books. There's a clerk at a desk with a monocle hanging on a chain around his neck; he looks up. "May I help you, ma'am?" 

"Yes. I need to send a letter to Tantara, but I can't write their language. Do you speak it?"

He looks surprised, but nods. "I do. Not well, but my father worked at the last King's court, back when they had a translator on the King's staff, he taught me. I can take down a letter for you." He peers appraisingly at her (he's thinking what he can get away with charging.) "One silver. That'll cover two pages." 

"Everything's so overpriced here," she complains, but hands him a silver. "I'd like the message to say, 'Pexia,

I was nearly ambushed by bandits just outside Predain and then pickpocketed almost as soon as I entered the city. No need to worry for me, Joset's catching up tomorrow and I found a place to stay, but I think you really shouldn't come at all, and I'm eager to get the children out of here as swiftly as I can. I don't like to speak ill of places, but certainly some are more to my taste, and even more certainly more to yours. If you can prevail on anyone for a Gate, I'll pay them well for it; if not, I suppose we'll ride, and with any luck at all only be a week or two behind this message.

Allereth is well, and excited for his magic lessons. I hope I have not made too much of Urtho. I know every parent thinks their son is the cleverest but one of them is right, and I suppose that it's me. 

With fond regards,

- S'.

The clerk scribbles it down first in the local tongue. He smiles at a couple of parts, with a knowing glance between Carissa and Ma'ar.

"Come back in a little while," he says to her, "and I'll give you the new draft. Your son is a mage?" 

"Yes!"

"How fortunate." He doesn't seem interested in further conversation, though; he gets up from his desk and goes to check on the apprentices and pester them about some detail of penmanship. 

They'll come back later. She wants to stop by the apothecary and pick up the doctor's proposed remedy, though mostly out of curiosity since she's pretty sure Ma'ar's malnourishment is straightforwardly caused by not having ever had enough to eat.

The apothecary is equally dim inside, but very well organized; the walls are set floor to ceiling with shelves, and carefully labelled jars of various dried herbs, powders, and liquids. 

A middle-aged woman sits behind a desk, wearing dark robes of a similar cut to the doctor who visited them, but with yellow trim. She stands and bows. "Ma'am?" 

She has her note from the doctor and also a great deal of curiosity about all of the things in the apothecary!

The woman reads the note and nods. "Ah, yes, a very standard remedy for travel-illness." She gets out a stool and retrieves a jar from a top shelf. "Twenty coppers," a glance at Carissa's fancy exotic clothing, "or if you've only got silver, I can give you back some coin. For you or the lad?" 

"For him." She hands over a silver.

She leans in, lowers her voice. "You should know it'll make him feel worse before he feels better, his body needs to purge the illness. Also you might want to cover the taste with something sweet." 

Carissa is handed a small wax-sealed jar of some dark, viscous-looking liquid, and ten copper coins, and then the woman is happy to talk about the herbal remedies they have available! Some of them are grown specially in a greenhouse over at the College, they have more different herbs than anyone else in Predain! This one is skullwort, it helps with headaches - you can recognize that because the seed-pods are shaped a little like skulls...

She is fascinated though highly suspicious of everything that shows up to Detect Poison, which includes the thing she's supposed to give Ma'ar. But - even if these people aren't very good at their art yet, it seems like an important art - she wishes she could ask Leareth what he knows about nonmagic disease control.

Eventually it's been long enough that it seems reasonable to circle back and see about their translated letter.

The clerk has the letter ready! He shows it to her, next to his draft, so she can check it's the right length and everything. Does she want it put in a nice envelope with a proper wax seal on it. 

Probably but first can he read it back to her, she can understand the language they speak in Tantara even though she cannot write it. 

Oh, yes, of course. He reads it out loud to her, a little bit haltingly and with some frowns about pronunciation. 

It is enough to go off that she is no longer at 'using Tongues, speak the language spoken in Tantara', which isn't a thing Tongues can do, and instead is at 'using Tongues, speak that," which it can do. She thanks him and says she'll perhaps come back about the envelope, unless it's included in the silver she paid.

He would include an ordinary cheap envelope in the silver but not a fancy one, it's up to her. 

She'll think about it and maybe come back later.

She heads out and back to the inn.

It's getting close to sunset. Ma'ar follows and once he's back in their rooms, flops on the bed. "What was all that for?"