:- Well, there's a distance limit, the maximum distance depends how powerful the mage is. I can do three hundred miles but I'm an Adept, most mages are less strongly Gifted. And you need to have been there before, and there needs to be a doorway at both ends to anchor the threshold. But other than that, yes: 

She would offer a demonstration, except for the part where Gates are tiring and why would she do that. 

Oh, it's way less exciting if it's only 300 miles. You can do that in an hour in a helicopter. They try not to look too disappointed. And there are more Gifts of less magicalness?

That's a weird way of putting it but whatever. 

:Yes. Mindspeech is what I'm using now, to talk. Empathy is - a bit like Mindspeech, but for emotions specifically, and it can be receptive-only - feeling others' emotions - or projective, making them feel a certain emotion, or both. Farsight is a Gift that lets you look at things far away - it's somewhat better at it and less tiring than true-magic scrying. Fetching lets you move objects, either sort of push them around or instantly transport them from one place to another. Bardic Gift is...a bit like Projective Empathy, but specifically through music? Healing is basically what it sounds like. Same for Firestarting. Foresight sees the future - it can be short-range, usually a few minutes in the future and pretty specific, or long-range, months or years away and often cryptic. Hmm, what else... Mindhealing is like Healing but for minds specifically - it's very rare and I don't know that much detail on how it works. Animal Mindspeech is Mindspeech but works on animals, not people: 

Amazing! The blue is thinking of applications for Foresight and Farsight for diplomatic purposes, the green thinks Bardic sounds bizarrely specific and so does Firestarting, the yellow is wondering what the point of talking to animals is and how good the healing and the psychiatry magic might be.

:It's pretty useful but it doesn't let us travel to other stars!: 

We too are so much excitement about traveling stars!

Savil, yet again, has to put some effort in to avoid twitching and then correcting their grammar. :Well, anyway, we can probably set you up to talk to experts in each of the Gifts, while you work on being able to translate more about your inventions?: 

Yes! A thing we can do is have listening things listening to things. We could give you some things, and the things could listen, and then our green people can work harder on language!

:You can– huh! Sure, all right. Does it, er, help if you have the written part as well? We could get some people to read books out loud, or something: 

Yes, that too is good, and some of that and some of conversations is most good.

:Sure, I figure we can arrange that: 

Wonderful! Our things that listen are in our boat.

:Your spaceboat!: Kilchas says, beaming. (He very badly wants to ask if he could come see it himself, but he's not going to be able to walk that far and probably it's presumptuous to ask anyway.) 

We can ask someone in the boat to bring the things yes?

:...Tran, what do we think about this?: 

Tran is trying not to fidget. :I - hmm. I don't know. Taver feels uncomfortable about it, but he says they're telling the truth and the listening devices aren't dangerous?: 

:We should do it! Then we'll be able to talk to them: 

Savil takes a deep breath, and makes herself smile at the delegation. :Yes, of course, you can have someone bring them: 

A purple emerges presently from the ship, toting a box of little microphone pickups; the yellow sticks his head out of the window to call the purple over in the correct direction.

The Heralds are visibly a bit tense, but Savil goes out to politely greet the purple, and can show them some places where they can put listening devices and overhear lots of conversation. The Healers' centre station is probably a decent spot for that, though there are concerns about patient privacy - who would actually be listening to the conversations! Can they promise not to go around gossiping about it? 

Linguists! But they're not out to compromise medical confidentiality here, places with truly public conversations are fine.

Fair enough! Savil can lead them around the Palace, pointing out good places to put listening-devices: in the kitchens, in the Court dining hall, in the servants' stairwell behind the Heraldic meeting wing, in the gardens frequented often by noble youngsters. 

Great! Listening devices are placed and turned on for the linguists.

Great! Is there anything else that the alien delegation wants to get done right now? 

(Savil is really hoping that she and the Heralds can peel off for a while to discuss in private, but the aliens are incredibly powerful and she's reluctant to risk being rude to them.) 

The language is the priority now! Eventually they would like to talk about the war but it can wait till they sound less silly. Should they go back in their boat now?