"Got it." He's really learning.

"That is Lord Echo's voice, although They may choose to adopt any voice that They choose. I bet 'dweer' means 'hello', since that was what They said to me when I used that invocation. Somehow, I had developed the assumption that They would only be able to speak in the languages I spoke, since I am the one speaking the invocation, but it seems that's not true. And no, it's not a recording. 

Could this invocation be used for translation? It could be quite valuable if so, although less so if the translation only goes one way. Let me try that again: Thank You, Lord Echo, for telling Bavel Uuin that he is a good teacher."

"Bavel Uuin ond juukh pottsheja, and you are welcome my Conrad Ferrer." Comes the voice, different this time, more feminine and with a difference in cadence, but still uniquely Echo, and still from the same relatively high height.

Echo's presence spiked from the low level it has settled into since Conrad first came to the city both times They were invoked, though it quickly fades again.

"Jedoowa..." Bavel seems fascinated by Conrad's invocation for a moment, before regaining control of himself. "Sorry. You have been too kind for me to believe you are liar, and if you are not, I don't believe I have ever heard of invocation which does what your invocation appears to do."

He sighs, and looks just a little disappointed. "Were I here on ordinary sort of priestly business, this would surely rise to my highest priority. Unfortunately, my time is not my own. I am bound by duty to serve my mhijundwir until relieved by her father. Come, let us continue our walk."

That thinking seems so strange. Kindness is orthogonal to propensity to lying...that might be an Asmodean thing. Probably, in this world, the sort of people who are nice (i.e. Good), are also the ones less likely to lie.

"Huh, interesting. It does seem like the echoic wind has the most varied and indirect effects out of all the winds. Frankly, I'm surprised Lord Echo chose me. It is not in my nature to be indirect and empathetic – which seems like the thing Lord Echo is selecting for – so I suppose I have a lot of growing to do to become closer to Them. Lord Echo also implied that I could reverse the invocation – how, I have no idea – which implies that I could translate what you say in Mimkhuun and have Them say it to me in Dalmercian. Hah, I didn't expect to be testing my invocation here, before I had even met the specialist. She'll be very interested in this, I'm sure.

Yes, let's continue. How old is your ward? I think I might have gotten a bit confused: she is a child in the sense of being a daughter, but not a child in the sense of being not fully grown?"

Bavel nods as they walk. "I have spoken to many konokhttageshengazot in court of mhiinlizuj. most often where they serve their duties. Of those who have spoken of their past to me, none have said they expected to be gishinut, Recognized, or at least not by konokhtaa. In that sense you are ordinary."

"As for my mhijundwir, she is mostly grown, having seventeen years, and to be receiving her eighteenth shortly before spring."

"I see. Is unexpectedness common to all Recognizants, in your experience, or is it specific to the echoic wind? That is to say, do Recognizants of the other winds know whether they are likely or unlikely to be Recognized, or receive a premonition that they might be?

On a different note, I wonder if you have heard any anemonomastic effects – echoic or not – about people being raised from the dead, or being conjured or summoned from other worlds?" This is a simple enough statement that he has the Bluff necessary to make it sound casual and offhand.

"Of course, your church might have secrecy laws, so if you are forbidden to speak on such topics, I understand.

I see. So you are to take care of her until she is fully grown – which is eighteen years old, I assume? Were you with her since she was a baby? I can't tell how old you are – your inscriptions make it hard to tell. As for myself, I am twenty five."

"For other taat, often there is sense of..." he considers his words for a moment, "sense of readiness, or culmination? Sometimes long time before gishuw, Recognition, sometimes only days or hours. It is rare for this sense to be absent, though not unheard of. Conversely many report this sense but are never gishinut, though I suspect most of such are either lying or deluded."

"There are myths of rituals to return dead to life, in various states of...repair, but these are only myths. Medicine can heal some maladies which appears as death to laity, but no more than that. As for conjuring from other worlds, there is talk among academics that this is what stabetta does, and perhaps that stiizitta returns its subjects to this otherworldly void, but in my knowledge there is no strong evidence for either."

"Ah! I have same age as you, to year at least. I have been my mhijundujrn guardian only for two years, though I have served in court of mhiinlizuj for nine years. And, I will nurture and protect my mhijundwir for as long as mhiinlizuj wills it, though in future practice I will do more protecting and less nurturing."

"Have you heard of anyone who has...'relinquished' their Recognition?" He's having trouble phrasing that in a way that wouldn't betray his absolute ignorance of anemonomastics. Certainly, in Golarion, clerics may choose to renounce their deities at any time, but they do so rarely, since obviously their deity wouldn't have picked them if they thought they were likely to do that.

Hm. So no prior precedent for his situation, unless those people were hidden or killed early on, and the records of the situation destroyed.

He smiles when Bavel says he's the same age as him.

"Do you train to become a meknot? I assume so, but what does this training consist of? In my life before I was Recognized, I was something of a soldier and an...artisan. Someone who makes things similar to inscribed objects. Although I was more soldier than artisan." Oops. Probably shouldn't have said that. The unwise part of his mind who wanted to relate to and impress Bavel took over for a moment. He needs a Wisdom headband, stat. He's really quite unusual for a wizard, for wanting more Wisdom than Intelligence.

Bavel nods. "There is ritual, very difficult and requiring many konokhttageshot, which strips away voice of subject, including their invocation. Traditionally it is most severe punishment for gishut before execution, but there are records of gishut who desired to abandon duties of gishut and so willingly underwent jelatamos, this ritual."

"Yes. Most of my memories are of training, of one kind or another. Memorizing codex, studying the Waker's marks, conditioning my body, learning to fight, practicing rituals, many kinds of training. It is good to hear about you! I feel as though I have dominated conversation."

At this moment, they turn a corner, revealing a block of the city one side of which is occupied by a single enormous building. "Ah! This is place where she waits."

"What a powerful ritual it must be, to permanently do that. Are non-Recognizants able to help with rituals, or it is strictly a Recognizant thing?" 

"Don't feel bad. My past is...troubled, so I don't usually talk about it, unless it's directly relevant to the conversation."

Ah. The hotel – he assumes it's a hotel – is very big. What time is it now? If it's before 1300, he'll be fine with talking to Bavel's ward, skipping the library visit. Otherwise, he'll have lunch before going to see Bishop.

"Yes, it is actually somewhat unusual for a ritual to require any gishut, though when present always they contribute much."

Bavel bows his head apologetically. "Sorry. I will not pry."

It turns out his new tablet has a clock function! It doesn't have seconds, though, so the pocket watch was still a good pick. It's 11:06 at this moment.

Following Bavel inside, there's a large crowd occupying the hotel lobby. A moment later, she becomes visible.

The first thing that Conrad notices about her is her hair. It is not just blue, though it is a stunning and bright blue, like a clear summer day. It is also the star-spangled black of a cloudless night, and the roiling grey shades of a storm. It is like every sky Conrad has ever seen, all at once, all in this young woman's hair, flowing down from her head in long, curling locks.

Managing to look past her hair, she is as pale as Bavel, if not paler, and dressed in rich furs, and seems to be enjoying the attention the crowd is paying her, having no trouble entertaining them.

"Jint eetek?! Jimisk odde wolkna?" Bavel asks, not speaking loudly but his presence causing the crowd to go quiet. He gently moves towards the woman, presumably his ward, and the crowd parts around him.

"Lendoowa mjun zripjilni! Woon jookh. Everyone? This is my bodyguard, Bavel! And he seems to have a brought a friend." Her dalmercian is much less accented than Bavel's.

Suddenly, at least a dozen people are now looking at the two of them.

Conrad isn't interested in women, but neither is he blind. The woman is truly stunning. He's dazzled. He stares for half a round before collecting himself. He has never seen any hair like that – not on half-elves, not on tieflings, not on any demon, and not with any hair dye or Prestidigitation trick.

He turns to look at Bavel when he speaks and walks toward the woman. 

All the people looking at him makes him tense, but he has the Wisdom and Splendor to keep himself composed. Just barely. Should he kneel? Bavel isn't kneeling. The crowd also isn't. He'll also refrain from kneeling, despite his Chelish instincts screaming at him for it.

This is a good time to use his invocation, he thinks.

"Lord Echo, thank You for permitting your servant to hear the Minkhuun words in the tongue You gave him. Thank You, Lord Echo, for conveying my sincere and respectful greetings to the princess." He compromises with his instincts and bows in the same manner Bavel did to him earlier, rather than kneeling.

Belatedly, he realizes that the invocation might not work, and that he might have just humiliated himself in front of the princess. 

Internal screaming. Lord Echo, your humble servant begs You hearken to his words! 

Echo's presence rushes back when he says, exactly, 'Thank You, Lord Echo'. Two things occur simultaneously. Within his mind, he hears Bavel and the princess's voice.

<What are you doing?! Why are you outside?> says Bavel's voice.

<Relax my little jailer! I'm fine,> says the princess's.

In the physical world, Echo's voice speaks from the same high height. "Theenrane dweerkhete shuw wilvittumshiju wizrigujjiiv, mhiinurlujn mhijundwir."

<My servant greets you sincerely and respectfully, princess of the skyhaired people.> Echo translates mentally.

The princess looks to Bavel with a sparkle of wicked joy in her eyes. "Oh Bavel, have you found one our Recognizant priests, here in this foreign country? Or have you simply spent so much time with him already that he has learned our language? And I thought you said you'd be back as soon as possible." She puts on an expression of mock betrayal, eyes quickly scanning the crowd.

Bavel quickly kneels, fully, stopping only when he has brought his head below the princess's neck. "Adeeski mjun mhijundujn, I only encountered him moments ago, while acquiring these tablets." He offers one of the small ones to her. "I promise I was not delayed for more than minute."

"Nuuski mjun zripjilni, you know I don't care for that trite deference. Does it look like I am making anyone here kneel?"

Bavel stands quickly with a chastised look on his face.

The princess takes the offered tablet and pockets it, then turns to Conrad, beckoning him closer. "So, who are you? And how can I get you to continue distracting my dear overbearing guardian?"

He wonders whether Bavel gets punished. Mimkhuun culture is not like Dalmercian culture – it seems more...hierarchical. The thought of Bavel being punished makes him sad. Very...unusual. He wouldn't have felt like that back at the Worldwound, or in Cheliax.

He wonders also whether Echo will mentally translate the extra words, or if his new spell, Lord Echo's Comprehension, has a duration of 'instantaneous' rather than say, minutes. Or is it like Golarion magic in that the duration scales with how strong his invocation is? How aligned he is with his wind? 

"I am Conrad Ferrer, Your Highness. Echoic Recognizant. I do not think it would be wise for me to distract your guardian – not that I would be able to. He is very dedicated to his work." He has half a mind to smile, but he keeps his expression solidly neutral and impenetrable. As much as he can, anyway.

Echo's presence fades quickly, and seemingly takes the translation with it.

"Well met Conrad Ferrer, and indeed he is! Dedicated to a fault I'd say. Now then, I need to set up this tablet so I can get this gorilla," she gestures to Bavel, "off my back." She turns to face the crowd. "I'll return to you all soon! Don't fret. In the mean time, discuss the options for our lunch and afternoon entertainment."

With that, she turns and heads off, entering one a row of sliding doors on the other side of the lobby from the entrance, Bavel in tow. "This will only take few minutes. We soon will be back," he offers to Conrad.

The crowd breaks ups into numerous smaller circles of two, three, and four as people talk about good places to eat, local theaters, local sports clubs, and so on. Conrad can hear even Hockler's Hall being mentioned, though it's quickly rejected by the conversation partner of whoever mentioned it due to being unaccommodating to spectators.

Hm. That will be a little problematic with regard to ergonomics, but the fact that it works is already valuable. He'll definitely record this spell invocation in his spellbook formulary.

A gorilla? You have no appreciation for beauty. Not that he'll let that show on his face.

He feels like laughing. Very nurturing indeed, Bavel is.

Are any of the people in the princess's 'entourage' Dalenmercian – at least in appearance – or are they all Mimkhuun? And are they speaking in Dalenmercian, or will he have to do the translation spell again? If he can understand them, can he eavesdrop? Subtly, of course. He's well below average in Perception compared to fighters, but a little above average compared to wizards.

He should come up with a good name for his invocations. Given that he's not in Golarion, he should use a less...boring and utilitarian naming schema. It would not befit Lord Echo. He can't think of good names for now, but he ought to. Lord Echo's Resounding Missive, By which the Barrier of Language is Pierced, Message from the Skies...okay, now is not the time to think of names. 

Do the people look rich or important? Do they seem like the type of people who would normally be with the Princess, or do they look more like hangers-on? 

Only a cluster of three have the pale complexion he might associate with the mimkhuun people, and if he listens in they're the only ones speaking what sounds like the mimkhuun tongue as well. The way they carry themselves is vaguely familiar to Conrad, a mixture of noble and military bearing. Plausibly they are other members of the princess's party.

Two other groups, what looks like a couple and maybe a set of siblings or just three friends of similar age, are each speaking other languages that sound like neither mimkhuun nor dalmercian.

Everyone here definitely dresses richly, plenty have tablets out as they chat. Aside from the mimkhuun people they do all seem pretty much just like hangers-on, perhaps wealthy tourists enticed by the idea of spending an afternoon with royalty.

Hm, he doesn't really know any of these people, and he's not sure if he wants to butt in into any of their conversations. Instead, he'll go to a quiet corner (or the closest equivalent thereof) and try to see if he can get his invocations to last longer.

Given what Echo has said back to him so far, it seems that the length of Echo's responses mirror the length of his own? It would go along with what Bishop said about 'investment'. What if he continually repeats a phrase in his invocation?

He speaks softer this time. Not quite a whisper, but close. "Lord Echo, thank You for permitting the speech of others to be heard by your servant in the tongue You bestowed upon him, always grateful shall he be, always grateful, always grateful..." and he'll continue saying that for ten rounds.

Echo's presence steadily builds as Conrad's repeats the phrase, rather than all in a rush. Once it's reached a familiar level, as if Echo were there next to him, he receives some new understanding. He now knows that the evolution of an invocation is, inherently, a gradual thing. What he is doing now, inviting in and holding the presence of Echo, hastens that process, but does not make it instant, even for fairly small changes, and that he needs to do more than simply request what he wishes his invocation would do, but rather needs to meditate on how the 'shape' of his desired invocation and his current invocation differ, and the changes to that 'shape' that are needed to make the latter into the former. This process may have similarity with analyzing spell manifolds.

Echo is limited in their ability to simply grant the knowledge of exactly how this works, in comparison to the critical period immediately following Conrad's recreation, as various metaphysical attributes of Conrad's existence have solidified. Thus, Conrad must research and experiment with forms of invocation, a process which Echo may aid in but not greatly abridge without causing grievous harm to Conrad, the world around him, or both.

Also, the words of his invocation at the moment is still specifically the syllables 'Thank You, Lord Echo' in that order, though the same sort of mental awareness through which Conrad senses Echo's presence and receives their messages can also feel something more, as though he is at the edge of something, and Echo will provide confirmation that he is close to altering the shape of his invocation such that its words will be 'Lord Echo, thank You' (but this will not change its effect).

Hm, 'shape'. Very similar to the language used in wizarding classes, but...either there isn't a tactile sixth sense with invoking as there is in wizardry, or he hasn't developed it yet. There is a sense used to feel your own magical energy when preparing spells – sight is the most common metaphor, followed by touch. But with that, you manipulate the energies directly with your hands.  He can feel the sense of Echo's presence, but he's not sure whether that's distinct from the sensation of the invocation itself – or whether they are one and the same. He remembers the meditation exercises he had to do as a novice, but that probably only has partial applicability to this situation.

He really needs to talk to Bishop. She'll appreciate all this data. He takes out his tablet. Oh, right, you need to set it up. He's not sure he has the time for that, so he'll just write down the immediate revelations Echo gave him on the loose paper with his schedule on it so he doesn't forget.

...how does he signal that he can take more damage than a commoner? He can jump off a six story building and still be well enough to fight – though obviously he'll be hurt. But he's not going to gainsay his wind, who is also obviously much Wiser and more Intelligent than him.

He's not sure whether he wants to change the words (but not effect) of his invocation, although certainly putting the vocative phrase at the beginning is more convenient grammatically. 

He really needs to talk to Bishop.

Now that he's here, he might as well write down things he wants to ask her later, or do with his conversation with her:

- great war? dalmercia lost nobility in war
    - status of recognizants legally and culturally in dalmercia?
    - ask about dalmercian wind religion

- how to develop invocation
    - talk about current invocation effects and examples and lord echo revelations (not secret invocation divination yet)
    - how do you request a new invocation

- arrange meeting with 'net' people who worship lord echo

- learning inscriptions
    - ask for more examples of echoic inscribed objects
    - what is the process of inscription actually like

- learning rituals
    - learning echoic rituals
    - how is ritual casting like
    - ask about mimkhuun echoic ritual to remove voice

- mimkhu'ish – also ask about geopolitical situation post great war
    - does bishop have non-echoic research contacts (must figure out whether to tell her about secret invocation divination)
    - bavel's inscription is poetic and chorismic

- tell bishop about golarion wizardry? think on question further

- ask for job at research facility
    - how much will i be paid

- can you tell the wind to be more generous with revelations – i can handle god vision headaches

- ask where to stay at (can i stay at the research facility? very inconvenient to have to take the shuttle every day – more training needed if i want to go running to town and there regularly)

Just as promised, a few minutes later (11:14 if Conrad checks any clocks) Bavel and the princess return through a different sliding doorway than they disappeared into, though an adjacent one. There's a bit of hubbub as the princess's entourage quickly attempts to come to a consensus on where to go for lunch, but the princess quickly cuts through it with her own suggestion of the Dark Street Smokehouse, which Conrad can remember being one of the options floated by one of the dalmercian-speaking groups as a good example of high-end local cuisine.

With that, the princess is on the move, Bavel and the rest of her entourage alongside her. It's a bit earlier than Conrad had planned for lunch, if he wants to join them, but it has been about five hours since he had breakfast and he's done a good bit of walking today.

Oh. Literally a few minutes. He thought he was just saying that as like...a saying.

Mm. Brisket. Or maybe ribs. He hasn't had those in literal years. He'll definitely tag along. He's not hungry and he's not tired, but he's also not not hungry and not not tired. 

Wait. Does Pleroma even have the same animals as Golarion? The buffet looked normal enough, but there was only bacon and sausages. He hasn't actually seen the whole animal parts. He supposes he'll get to find out soon enough. And the food then didn't disagree with him, so even if the animals are different, it should be fine.

It's another bit of a walk to the smokehouse. With the sky relatively clear and the sun close to its winter zenith, it's actually not too cold in the city. It was already a lot warmer than the frozen hellscape of the Worldwound but it's now actually somewhat pleasant, if maybe still a bit damp from last night's rain.

On the walk over, one of the mimkhuuns, a burly (though not nearly as large as Bavel) and hirsute man wearing a pair of spectacles, breaks away from their contingent to speak with Conrad. "The priest tells us that you are Recognizant, not simply possessed of some echoic trinket. Would you like to walk with us?" His dalmercian is better than Bavel's, but still significantly more accented than the princess's.