"Of course. Would you like a little blessing while I'm here? They're subtle, but real. For tests, for meeting people, for patience, or for creativity."

"How do you bless meeting people?"

"Well, it's a blessing of Water, and part of that is empathy and connection - and other things like self-knowledge and intuition, but explaining that takes a while so I tried a short version to see how it lands."

"But it doesn't make it so I meet more interesting people or anything?"

"That'd... Probably take calling to spirits and getting them to nudge people towards you, I think? It should make it so you notice someone you'd find interesting a bit more easily, in a crowd, say."

"Sure, I'll try that, sounds fun."

He pours some water from a canteen into his palm, then starts tracing thin curving arcs in a radial pattern in the air, the water hanging there.

"By the grace of water, the eternal flow, may you find truth within the changing world. With watchful eye and open mind, you can embrace novel experiences and find joy in the motion of life. Flow unstoppably, and May You Be Blessed."

The water puffs out into mist with a whooshing noise.

"Thanks!"

"Have a lovely day!"

He eventually figures out how to check his bank balance with the new computer.

Here's a number (and the going rate in all the other currencies in multiversally significant circulation for that amount, different numbers).

Yep, that is a number! Huh, he thought it would be zero?

...Does it say what the money's from anywhere?

Yep, he has a transaction record! He doesn't recognize the names but the time and location were when he was busking. Apparently he got tips. And the teleporter who stranded him paid him a really substantial fine.

......Huh. So he did get tips after all. He thought they had to physically touch the card to do it. Even when Lisa paid her fine without any visible action, he didn't make the connection.

Well, that seems to line up. The teleporting is apparently incredibly dangerous if misused, it makes sense to be harsh about mistakes there.

He asks around- Are they going to build an orbital bus stop for this world? If not, can he get a ride to Edda's again and pre-arrange a time or contact method to come back this time? He wants to go check out some nature trails for possible shamanism class locations that don't require all the students to teleport to.

They are going to make an orbital stop! It seems like "orbit" will be a popular enough destination to justify a station and they can connect it to Edda on the Zigzag line (which basically just hops into and out of Edda from relatively low-traffic worlds).

Solomon will hang out on the ship, mostly in the lounge and on his new small computer reading things, until that's ready or someone schedules him screening interviews, then.

Steadily more dragons are willing to talk to Vanda Nossëo as time passes and they don't prove to be hostile. They like the idea of free food, they like to brag, they have a concept of manners but it's a very foreign one, they like hearing about the nature of other worlds, they like discussing their version of spiritualism and some are even curious about other religions. There's a very clear 'social fatigue' phenomenon, where even the most friendly dragons find long conversations difficult and trying. The social fatigue is noticeably less of a thing if one side speaks for a lengthy amount of time, dragons will listen to or give hours-long lectures if prompted; Back-and-forth questioning and conversing is what seems to mostly drive it.

Several of them wonder if the visitors would want things other than stories, magic objects particularly since they can apparently make whatever material ones they want. Only the older and more mature-seeming ones are capable of making magic objects on demand. They can make objects that induce thematic dreams or are self-heating or allow breathing underwater or make the bearer undetectable for short periods or contain one use songs-of-healing (these work on anything biological, but are less thorough than the usual healing spell) or store some of the maker's memories for later viewing or are protective against electricity/bad temperature/mind-affecting things or little pebbles that can be squished to induce a flow state and inspiration or custom-designed plants and animals.

Solomon has a list of candidates and their blurby profiles to sift through after a couple hours' wait.

Vanda Nossëo employs plenty of people who are up for lecturing and being lectured by dragons on topics of interest to dragons. If it helps with the social fatigue they can receive and ask questions in batches, using writing to make sure no questions are lost in the shuffle. They are willing to trade for magic items if the dragons wish! Many of those are sufficiently valuable that they can get serious money for them, in fact, and then they can buy stuff that costs money (which envoy swag effectively does not).

He'll need to actually interview everyone, he can't really get what he's looking for from these short profiles since he's not familiar enough with the multiverse.

Batching questions helps somewhat. What kinds of things can serious money get them, given that dragons mostly don't want to leave their territories?

Also, a large group of dragons - large for dragons, at least, there are fourteen - are gathering in a crater in Darktooth's territory and are apparently being tutored in the draconic writing system by Ember, the eagle. They had a few fights at first but once who-would-win-in-a-fight was worked out it's been peaceful.

Among the things serious money can get them is delivery! If they want to import tutors, art objects, magic items, performance artists, or service sector labor, they can do that.

Can a linguist Elf hang out and also learn the draconic writing system?

Most dragons would rather barter directly, not really trusting the idea of a fiat currency that is not controlled by dragons. Besides a hesitant potential interest in tutors, various art arrangements and magic items are the only things that see any real interest.

The elf can listen in if they tribute something, or Darktooth says they can. Seven of these dragons paid with a favor owed, two with magic trinkets, one with a giant pearl that has ocean-memories, one with an introduction to a sky spirit, and the five others asked Darktooth to learn with a nominal pile of small shiny things and were permitted as 'promising minds'.

The Elf can go get a pile of shiny things and an illusion-song gemstone that will, without its silencing baffle around it, make plants grow faster.

That will be sufficient so long as they are not disruptive. Anyone who is disruptive to the lesson is invited to leave it, Ember says with a subtle hinting at his other students to not harass the elf linguist.

The dragon language was designed by Darktooth personally, for maximum readability-by-dragons, ignoring the difficulty of writing it. It's spread and evolved slightly since then, particularly with the addition of new 'words', but not very far.

There are ideographs which can come in six possible colors - white, red, blue, green, black, gold. The color and shape together have meaning, changing color changes the meaning.

Nouns are placed centrally, and adjectives and verbs are different flourishes and additional designs placed radially around them, or pointing to another noun. The symbols resemble what dragons 'see/feel/know' in the spiritual sense for most common objects, translated visually.

That's such an interesting writing system and the Elf is fascinated as he takes notes.

In the city of Goldvalley, there is a spate of disappearances in the surrounding farms. The dragonfeather-wearing captain of the guard asks if their visitors can figure out where the disappeared people have gotten to.

They can do their best! What does forensics have to say -?

...Some of them are mutilated and dead, some are in a big dilapidated house in the woods with a lot of mutilated dead people around! An even mix of men and women among victims and living both. Some teens, but no young children. There's a few people who weren't reported disappeared around too, as victims and, er, apparent cannibals.