"...um, it's a seasonable planet with one continent and three moons?"

"-I hope moons aren't important. I never planned for moons."

Yllafina sighs.

"That's enough for now. I'll ask you more about Amenta tomorrow. Any other thoughts before I get into the boring parts?"

"What's boring about the boring parts?"

Yllafina can show her snippets of the boring parts: increasingly granular descriptions of the box, repetitive bits throughout the scroll (which she has left blank spaces for, having written around it) which read "glyph inscribed on the box", and a confusing description of a...place?...full of colorful lights and tangible fog.

"What's the place with the lights and fog?"

"The Astral Plane. This little spell will need to traverse safely through that to reach any Prime world, including yours. The colors usually indicate direction to  the neighboring planes, like Arcadia."

"Huh! Do people go there or just spells?"

"It depends what you mean by 'go there'. People can project their soul into the astral plane without their body, because of the kind of place it is- it's the easiest way to go there, actually. Going there with your body is much harder. The reason this box can even make it there is because of the spell. Most physical things don't belong in the astral plane."

"Gosh. What's projecting your soul into the astral plane do?"

"Well, people can [dream lucidly]. Most people learn to use the Astral Plane while they're asleep. For spellcasters, though, you can touch the outer planes without ever having to visit them- which can help you learn kinds of magic that you never could on a Prime world without that access. If you're the type who likes gods, you can use it to get closer to them. You can even sometimes create magic in the Prime without being a war-gymnast or spellcaster yourself."

"Huh. I probably can't do it though since I don't have a soul."

"You don't! It's something we're all curious about- no one in Amenta has ever felt the lack? Can you lucid dream? How close are you to your gods? It sounds like they're more distant than ours, must be nice."

"I think some Amentans can lucid dream but I haven't learned. I don't think there are any gods, there."

Yllafina sighs wistfully.

"Shame we have so many. There are some good ones, but it's a bit much to deal with when you want to affect anything important."

Back to the boring bits for her.

After the 'boring bits' continue for some time, Lintalai is interrupted by Intrepid's 'voice'.

Lintalai, are you currently occupied?

No, what's up?

Your war-gymnastics teacher has arrived. Would you like to meet her now for a brief conversation, or would you like to wait until she has become comfortable and can speak in more depth?

:I'd like to meet her!:

Then Intrepid will direct Lintalai where to meet her; they're sitting inside, in the central lobby of the not-hotel.

Lintalai, welcome. This is Nue Sosonzo, an expert in her discipline of war-gymnastics and one versed in teaching it. I have introduced her to you, as well.

Nue stands, moving her arms through the air in parallel, mirror motions until they come together in front of her, fingers touching. She bows.

"I am pleased to meet you, Lintalai. I have never taught outside my area of expertise, but I intend to start you on general exercises. Why don't you briefly tell me what you know about war-gymnastics so I know where to start?"

"It's a kind of magic that doesn't need a soul and there are kinds that don't need me to balance either."

Nod.

"We will start with a few definitions. It's important to understand how magic works in the general sense in order to use it properly; most people, without understanding, can use very basic magic, but I imagine you want to learn more than that. There are several ways to practice war-gymnastics. Some of them are more difficult than others, in the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, because of where we are located in the universe. Most students find sozev and xæmā  the easiest to learn. Sozev aligns the body with the Astral Plane- it aligns you with the gods, to dreams, and belief itself. Xæmā aligns the body with the local plane- in our case, Arcadia. What do you understand about alignment?"

"Not all that much. It's sort of to do with - taking the perspective of a philosophy that lines up with the plane?"

"Something like that, yes. It's more complicated when you expand your perspective beyond the Outer Planes, but since you've found yourself on one, it's up to you how much of the general theory you want. I'll summarize the nuances by saying that alignment with a plane is about your similarity to it- in body, soul, or both. In the case of an Outer Plane, of course, even aligning your body with it is partially about belief, by the plane's very nature. However, unlike aligning your soul with a plane, it does not require that you change your beliefs. Aligning your body with Arcadia means- making your body into something that suits Arcadia. Has anyone expressed the opinion that Arcadia, as a plane, behave the way a person might? As though Arcadia is a thing that has its own opinions, makes demands, and wants things?"

"Not as such? I've been leaning on the belief thing so that the rivers are good enough for baths and my pocket everything charges overnight if I leave it next to my bed and the translation and navigation work though."