(Leareth is still intently reading all the nearby minds, though he immediately stops reading Paramedic 2 at the first hint of thoughts about sex not being successfully squashed. He is pretty sure that this wouldn't have bothered him at all before, which makes it really quite irritating that it seems to be stressful now.) 

:I don't mind answering questions while we're in transit anyway: Melody assures them. :Er, and it's not like I have the faintest idea who else to go to with this! What would your advice be?: 

"I don't know, we don't get magical aliens every week! I guess I'd call the princess's office. I mean, it's mostly a ceremonial position but it winds up sort of being that, like, anything we have a process for gets formalized in the regular government, and the princess does figurehead things but also generally needs to know what's going on so she can make statements on demand? So she'd have the context and would have just as much zero-process-for-this as anybody else. But you could also try the premier."

:The princess? Huh: Melody digs out some paper to write this down. :Of - er, what country is this, anyway? And what does the ‘premier’ do?:

Melody clearly does not have much of a plan when it comes to asking questions about the new world. Leareth is going to have to figure out his OWN list of questions, isn’t he. Though right now he’s distracted by the fact that the moving ambulance is making him kind of motion-sick.

:Can we go around the corners slightly slower: he manages to say to Paramedic 1, without moving or opening his eyes.

"Princess Onda, of Whister. The premier is elected and coordinates the departments of government... Uh, we're doing iso so I can't stick my head in the front compartment. You could telepath the driver and ask him? He's not going to read a text while he's driving. But no actually now that I think of it you shouldn't telepath him either, might be startling."

:Ah. Thank you:

(Melody has mostly not even been trying to organize her questions to ask the locals! She’s too busy preparing answers to the questions she expects them to ask her. She’s going to have to explain some things about Leareth as a person, probably, which she is not looking forward to at all - she’s not sure if it’s wiser to go with a carefully sanitized version or if that just risks having it explode messily later, and she still has too-vivid memories of the last messy explosion and, as a result, Leareth is the last person she wants to ask for advice on this particular question.)

Leareth is going to have so many questions about their system of government as soon as he can actually think! He wishes he had been able to bring more of his notes with them, since it sounds like they’re doing something with democracy, and - this world doesn’t as far as Vanyel knows have gods in it, so it could be a fascinating natural experiment in how things can go differently without that particular problem. unfortunately he mostly doesn’t have his notes, and doesn’t really trust his memory of things that he hasn’t has a chance to properly review. Which is most of the things.

:All right. How much longer?:

"Looks like another block, and then the bridge, which means one more turn and we'll get out."

:Oh. That is fine:

It’s kind of not fine, though mostly for reasons unrelated to carsickness. Leareth is trying to scan his surroundings with mage-sight and getting very little, which on the one hand could be taken as reassuring - no magical threats - but it makes him feel like he’s suspended in a void of nothingness. He desperately wants Melody to fully unblock his Gifts, even though they’ve been over all of the reasons why this is a bad idea right now. 

Privately to Melody, :can you look around and tell me what is happening:

Leareth wanting to orient is in some sense a much better sign than Leareth refusing to engage with his surroundings but it’s also way more exhausting. 

:Here: Melody offers, folding away any sign of impatience, and shares her senses directly with him. Is there a window or anything she can look out through?

There's windows on each side and the back, though they have blinds. If she peeks out she can see the buildings - mostly five stories, some just two or three, occasional tens or fifteens - whiz by, full of colorful windows and balconies with plants on them and ground-level shops with colorful advertisements she can't read. The ambulance climbs onto the bridge, and on the sides where the motor vehicles aren't welcome there's cart-pulling dogs and pedestrians. A crow flies by, going the opposite way from them, carrying a little bag dangling from one of its ankles.

The hospital is just on the other side of the bridge, and they pull up to it with one more left turn and come to a stop. The paramedics hop out to clear the way and roll Leareth in once there's nobody else between him and the iso room.

She's so curious about the crows! And the dogs! Actually, Melody is increasingly thinking that she's going to like this place. She hopes they have tea. And that at some point soon there will be a non-awkward opportunity to request a cup. She's worried about Leareth, of course, but so far it seems like this is going as well as she could possibly expect. 

Leareth is mostly not able to assess whether he likes the city because it turns out that attempting to borrow someone else's to catch a glimpse-through-blinds of a city while in a moving vehicle is really not a good combination with motion sickness. 

There is not really any good reason why being transferred from the ambulance to the room should be the most stressful experience of the entire past year, but nonetheless. Leareth is not managing to stay calm about it but he's mostly succeeding at holding still. 

Here is the iso room! It is basically just a normal hospital room with a negative pressure situation, although mage-sight may or may not be able to notice that behind all the ventilation grates there's ultraviolet light. Most of the surfaces that can be are made of copper alloys of various kinds.

"Okay, here you are," says Paramedic 1. "Are either of you allergic to anything that is in this room right now?"

Melody still hasn't quite pieced together what that concept means, here, it seems like a Healers' term but - used more broadly than just for physical health? It's intriguing. 

:No, I'm fine. Leareth?: 

Leareth hates this room passionately because it's NEW and every single detail is a reminder of how unfamiliar and alien this place is. And also it doesn't have wards. And it smells strange, not in a bothersome way aside from how everything is bothersome just because it's unfamiliar. 

He unshields a bit and pushes his surface thoughts at Melody, rather than trying to formulate actual words. 

Sigh. :Leareth finds unfamiliar places stressful but that's nothing about the room specifically. I think we're fine. Er, will be fine in a few minutes: 

"Okay. Do you need anything urgently such as -" There's a checklist on the wall. "Food, water, device charger - do you even have those - anyone we should text for you, etcetera, anything like that in the next thirty minutes which is the longest amount of time it might reasonably take for an orderly to come in and see you?"

:...We do not have those. Water would be good. Do you have tea here? Er, and are there extra blankets anywhere?: 

They have wall checklists! Leareth is not fully following what the checklist is for, but just the fact that it exists is bizarrely reassuring. 

"Tea exists," says Paramedic 1, while Paramedic 2 gets them water (there's disposable cups and a sink in the room).

Melody carefully notes the location of said sink. :I could very much go for some tea, then.  But no rush, if you're very busy: She's still repeatedly rolling and unrolling her sleeve; it does make Leareth anxious when she fidgets excessively, but he's not even looking at her right now, and she's having such a day. 

Leareth is lying very still and patiently waiting for there to be fewer strangers in the room so he can actually finish any of his thoughts. 

"Orderly can do that if you don't need it in the next thirty minutes," says Paramedic 1.

They point out the call buttons - separate ones for various purposes, with pictograms as well as labels on them - and depart.