"You don't - know anybody back in Predain you'd want to talk to?"

Shrug. "If I could get it to the clan lands I would, but they don't let visitors in, and...I dunno if anyone I knew from my clan is still alive. It was a really bad drought when I left." 

"...well, when you can Gate you could go in directly and look?"

"That's true, I could do that." 

"Is that normal, a bad drought wiping out a whole clan?"

"I mean, it wouldn't be just the drought, the other clans tried to steal our cattle all the time too."

"Oh. And there isn't as much ambient mana there so they can't do weather magic about it?"

"It's really arid, there's not a lot of magic. Or mages. I - was the only one in my clan - there might be more in other clans but I don't know how they'd learn weather magic, it's complicated." 

"Are you going to go start a school?" she wonders. "Later?"

"Maybe. I haven't decided for sure what'll make sense to do first. I - I don't just want to help the clans, though, the rest of Predain is bad too." 

"What do you think the rest of it needs?"

"...I don't really know, yet. Better enforcement of the laws, I think - maybe different laws in general - more training for mages..." Shrug. 

"What different laws?"

"...Not sure. I don't know what the law is, really? I just know what I - saw people doing. Maybe they were breaking the law. But - people have slaves, there, I want to change that. And - no one seemed to think they could do anything about the King's Guard - raping people, or stealing from them..."

"So better - procedures, at least, even if it turns out that was all in fact definitely illegal on paper."

"Mmm. ...I don't know exactly, I couldn't really read or write yet when I was there, and - it'll probably have changed, right, by the time I'm old enough to go back. So I'll need to spend a while just figuring out what the actual important problems are." 

"Yeah, especially since not all of it will be the same as the place you grew up."

"Mmm. I did have to travel through a lot of it - I didn't know where I was going at first, so I ended up traveling not very directly. But you're right." 

"When we know how to Gate and you've taken weather magic do you wanna go see if your clan's still there, make sure they have enough rain?"

"- Oh. Yes, that's a good idea, I'd like to do that." 

"We could maybe ask a teacher to bring us if any of them have been in the area but if they don't allow visitors probably no one has."

"The clans murder any strangers who try to go through their territory. Even people from other clans. So probably not." 

"...they'll recognize you, right? And if they don't we can Gate out."

"If anyone from my clan is still alive they should recognize me. If they're not, then." Shrug. "I don't think mages would be in that much danger, the only weapons they'd have there are spears and rocks." 

"I guess we can handle spears and rocks."