"Still, it would take days, at least, to come all the way here. Aren't you glad waypoints exist?"

"Delighted!"

He laughs, then stops before a wooden door embedded onto a stone wall that seems to be surrounding a district of the city.

   There's a guard in front of the door. "Commander!" he salutes, but then relaxes. "Good to see you again."

"Nicholas! Haven't seen you in a while. Was the baby born? How's Tiffany doing?"

    "She was! A cute baby girl, we named her Liseh, looks just like her mother, the gods be thanked. Tiffany is recovering but, you know her, she can't wait to be out and about again."

"Tell her I sent my regards and can't wait to meet Liseh."

    "Will do, Commander!" And with that, the guard opens the door into the district.

... She suspects this interaction is going to be indicative of a pattern. A very cute pattern. She is charmed and delighted and has no idea how in Tyria James can possibly keep so many people straight, but it is very impressive that he does.

Inside the district ("District Salma, it's a residential district named in honour of the Queen who was instated after the White Mantle were defeated, a few years after your time.") her suspicions are confirmed. That's Maria, she used to be a soldier in a squadron dedicated to fighting the centaurs, but she was injured in a fight shortly before peace talks succeeded so she decided to retire early and become a baker. This is Ivan, he works as a clerk at the Black Lion Trading Post and moonlights as a poet. These are Irinna and Wolter, actors, married to each other, who recently starred in a production for the Queen about court intrigues and forbidden love. This is John, he's a very skilled carpenter who talks James's ear off about twenty different things in two minutes and does not let him walk away until he's accepted a little enchanted wooden box that can keep daggers preserved from rust or loss of sharpness.

He is greeted by many people, and has similar knowledge of their backgrounds. Some are curious about Vetareh, but all seem satisfied by the "found in a cave" explanation.

And after a few more minutes' walk they reach a three-story building, built with fine stone and looking as if exquisite care was taken so that it not look worn or old. A small garden plot in front of it is tastefully decorated with exotic flowers from all over Tyria, including some that must be—and in fact are—using magic to stay alive in this climate. "Welcome to my humble abode."

It's delightful how everyone is satisfied by this absurd explanation. Vetareh is smiley and polite and even makes pleasant small talk. Hello! She is a mesmer, she assisted the Commander with a problem. This is her first time in Divinity's Reach, it's such a lovely city, she can't wait to see more of it. Any recommendations for nice vistas or places to visit while she's here? Thank you, that sounds lovely, she'll try to make it there. Sorry they really must be off, it was a pleasure meeting you, have a good day. It's been a while since she made pleasant small talk, but it's not hard. And it's nice to just talk to people, again. Soothing. She's not a ghost running around in looping echoes, she's a person, and she can talk to people.

When they reach his home she smiles up at it, especially the garden. It's cute and delightful and she loves it immediately. Then she quirks an eyebrow at James. "So this is you when you're being humble, then?"

He laughs. "To be fair, this is inherited." He opens the door and gestures for her to come inside.

Inside she goes! "Including the garden? That looks rather like the sort of thing someone that adventured all over the world would have. Though I suppose it's easier to move flowers from one place to another, now."

"It is in fact much easier to move all kinds of things from one place to another," he agrees, closing the door behind him as he enters.

It's... large. Very large. Noble large. With decorations and nice wood and well-tended-to plants and all that jazz. The entrance hall has stairs going up as well as doors leading to various living rooms in subtly different styles. He leads her to one inside which a bookshelf can be seen.

Goodness, look at it all. It's bigger than her parents' house in Arah, and her parents' house was distinctly not small. It's much larger than what her own more modest apartment had been. She's hit with a bizarre wave of Aaaaaa I'm in his really nice house aaaa and he likes me and we're probably going to end up in bed together aaaaaaaa what do I do, what do I do, it's all so great, that gets politely stomped on. No, she is not going to be intimidated by a large and pretty house, that would be weird. Especially after everything else. Besides, he's here, and he's... not intimidating, or at least not in the daunting sort of way that might give her pause. She knows what she's here for: James, not the big and pretty house.

She trails after him accordingly. "Well, inherited or not, it's lovely. Do you live alone?"

"As much as I live here, which is not much, I will admit. I have a couple of people who work here but they do not live here permanently." The room has: books! It's not too large, fairly cosy actually, and has a couple of sofas and armchairs as well as a pretty marble set of some Krytan board game Vetareh's probably never seen before. "Does this seem like a good place to talk about the history of the world up until this point?"

"Much more comfortable than a floating rock in the middle of a warzone," she agrees, smiling.

He chooses a three-person sofa to sit on. Her choice on where to sit.

'His lap' would rather skip the history lesson, which sounds like a pity, but she does slide in beside him on the sofa.

Oh good. He hopes she's okay with an arm around her.

"So, storytime starts before the Searing of Ascalon, correct?"

She is absolutely fine with an arm being around her, and snuggles up accordingly.

"Yes. Middle of the Third Guild War, not that anyone in Arah tended to care about it much."

"Ah, yes. So I am not a historian and this will be mostly the highlights, I hope that's fine. If it's not, I'm sure we can find a history book somewhere in this city."

"Highlights sound fine. I don't expect anyone's going to corner me and demand I explain the intricate details of historical events."

"It has not happened in my experience," he agrees. "Let's see how to start, then... A few years after you—left Orr, the charr cast a terrible spell that turned all of Ascalon into a charred crater. Not everyone died, but many did. They simultaneously launched offensives against Kryta and Orr, boasting numbers and magic hitherto unsuspected. One year later, Orr was sunk by Vizier Khilbron's spell. The Krytan military was also incapable of stopping the charr, and that's when the White Mantle showed up—they had powerful magic conferred to them by their gods, the Unseen Ones, who were in... vis..." He pauses. "We... could see Lazarus."

Blink. "We could. He might have been purposefully showing himself for intimidation? It seemed like he'd wanted the White Mantle to follow him. And he certainly did appear out of nowhere, and then disappear again."

"I'm not sure the Mursaat could be seen, even if they wanted to. There was special magic that was necessary for it. That's... troubling."

"Huh. All right. Yes, that is troubling. I... don't know what to do about it, though. Are there experts on the Mursaat we could talk to?"

"The... Order of Whispers might..." He shakes his head. "I will talk to someone tomorrow. Back to the story."

She giggles, and decides that she'd like to hold his hand. One arm's around her, but the other is right over there. Her hand finds his and she smiles at him.

"Back to the story," she agrees.

He squeezes her hand. "A year after that, most of Kryta was under White Mantle rule; the royal family was in hiding and wanted. The White Mantle periodically went through the towns and cities with the Eye of Janthir—a big magic pyramid with an eye inside it that could detect people who were the Chosen Ones. It was seen as a great honour to be a Chosen One, and the White Mantle took those people with them to—I'm not sure what they told the populace they did with the Chosen Ones, but they were never seen again after that."