A team of five alights in the city center out of nowhere! They are visibly unusual, such as one of them having big pink-feathered wings, and wait a moment in case anyone has a response to that before they start taking further initiative.

The near-uniform response from the people frequenting the square is to blink, stop for a moment, and check that everyone else saw that too. Once it has been established that something actually happened, they break into spontaneous cheers for the Fair Ones. A handful of runners disappear into the city, and a young man with a limp stands from the edge of the square and limps toward them with the aid of a cane.

"As one who attempted the journey, to one who attempted the journey, I salute you. I am Sortinel, advisor to Kepras. Are you hurt?"

"...no, we're fine, thank you. Is there some reason you'd expect us to be hurt?"

"The crossing from the homeland of my Mother to this one is dangerous. I myself arrived soul-worn and remembering little of my time in Mother's court," Sortinel explains. "But, of course, I made the journey by mind and not in body. Your method may well be superior to the one known when I left."

"I don't believe we've been to the homeland you speak of," says Nelen. "We're from what we call Vanda Nossëo."

Sortinel frowns.

"The name is not familiar, but few speak Mother's tongue..."

At this point a taller woman with a dark green cloak and bare breasts makes a whistle that Allspeak translates as "I disagree; Attend".

"If they aren't fair ones, they aren't fair ones, you disagreeable absolutist. We should ask them what they are."

She turns to the envoys.

"I am Hragash. You stand in The City at the Meeting of the Rivers and the Minds. Although they might have to rename it if people are going to start appearing here by magic."

"People are appearing all over the world by magic to meet the inhabitants of this world! This is just the team that's been assigned to this city. My name is Nelen Utopia, and these are Tanaka Natsuko, Tarwë, Zanro, and Cassiel Jones." (The named parties wave.)

Hragash and Sortinel talk over each other for a moment before Sortinel graciously waves a hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, I'm sure. Are you Archivists, then? Or traders."

Sortinel coughs.

"Or omnibenevolent royalty from beyond the veil of madness," he contributes under his breath.

"We're envoys, here to learn about you and answer questions about us and where we're from. Vanda Nossëo is a big group of many worlds and peoples working together. We do some trading too - for example, we have a lot of interesting magic available. I could heal you if you'd like," he adds to Sortinel.

He perks up at this, as far as that's possible with his leg.

"Yes, please!"

Nelen extends a hand. "It's touch-range."

Sortinel takes his hand, and then straightens up with a sort of wonder, and starts rubbing his face with his hands.

"Thank-you-and-goodbye," they remark, breaking eye contact and carefully going through a series of stretches.

"So, like a trading conglomerate or alliance or something?" Hragash questions, not apparently bothered by Sortinel's strong reaction.

"Will you be wanting to put up a sign, then? The southeastern face of the building with the carved square pattern permits public signs, so long as you don't obstruct other signs newer than three days."

"Vanda Nossëo does a lot of trading but it's more of a federation than a conglomerate," says Nelen. "It's possible we'll want a sign, what sorts of things do people put up signs for?"

"Well, they're a way to make general announcements. Like that a new store is opening, or there's been a change to caravan schedules, or that there's a change in law to be debated, that sort of thing," she explains.

And then, because some of these people look like pretty serious aliens, and they're certainly not acting like they've been watching humanity from afar, she adds:

"... if you don't have an announcement written down, then you need to either speak to people one-on-one, which is time-inefficient, or employ a crier, which is loud and will upset people. Or rely on gossip, which can twist your words. So in a city, where people often want to make public announcements in a more reliable way, we set aside locations for signage. If I imagine myself in your place, I think that you might want to put up a sign explaining who you would like to talk to you for more information, and how they can do so."

"Sometimes we put up a store, and then people can come meet us in our store, and get things from offworld if they'd like any. Would that work?"

"Should do! A permanent storefront, or a market stall? The latter you can pay a fee by the day, but the former needs coordination with the architectural advisory council or for you to rent space in an already constructed building."

"Well, we don't have any local money yet, we only have Vanda Nossëo money right now."

"Having personally seen your healing, I'm happy to front you ... forty marks? To be repaid within a week. You'll probably make it back in five minutes by running a spot-auction for healing, but it's enough to cover market fees for that same period, I think. Alternatively, there's a bank by the gate to the city that would probably be happy to extend you a line of credit."

"Alternatively alternatively, we could figure out a currency exchange rate and you can buy some marks off me for Vanda Nossëo currency, but that sounds like a longer conversation since I'd have to hear about your banking practices and we'd have to work out a basis for exchange."

In the background, Sortinel has gotten through the stretches, and is now eyeing the rough stone of the nearest building speculatively.

"Currency exchange will certainly need to happen eventually but we're not specialized in that ourselves. Am I allowed to sell healing outright without a market stall? About how much does a mark buy?"

"You can certainly sell healing, I was just offering to remove the ordering constraint. There are ordinances against disruptions in the square, but I personally think that 'miraculous healing' meets the bar for general public interest. A mark buys ... a loaf of bread, or six pages of nice paper. I don't know how you usually charge for things like this; would you like a description of the typical local practice for selling a good of unknown value?"

Sortinel launches himself into a climb, scrambling three meters up to the lowest ledge of the building with a cackle.

...Cassiel's gonna keep an eye on that climbing situation.

"The standard practice is actually to exchange things like healing and offworld goods for stories, or songs, because we're interested in the local culture, but there's no rule against taking money instead if we need it."