"Sure. Wanna start or should I?"

"Why don't you start?" While Tetsuma mentally untangles the mess that is their world. And thinks of how much they feel like sharing of their own story. 

"I'm from a kingdom called Antaurb." Pause. "I'm the princess, actually."

Tetsuma raises an eyebrow. "I'm assuming you don't really stand on any formalities of address?" How would those even translate, anyways - and the spell's translating 'princess' weirdly, it can't seem to decide between 'daughter of an emperor' and 'daughter of a daimyo'.

"Nope, I was running away. My father's—a good ruler, mostly, kinda, but he has certain problems and is a bit conservative and does not like my gender thing and I was running away from home when this place caught me."

"...Huh. I was running away, too. Mostly over an arranged marriage, plus being told to stop practicing arts improper for a kunoichi. Gender thing?"

"Sometimes I'm a boy, sometimes I'm a girl. Not a very good princely habit."

Tetsuma blinks. Then, hesitantly, "It's... The same for me. Sometimes I'm also something else or both or nothing at all. Like now, I'm not anything. Everyone treats me like a girl, though. That was part of why the arranged marriage, I think. My little brother saw me dressing up like a boy and practicing ninjutsu and told our father."

"...I'm sorry."

They shrug. "It's okay. I probably should've just left long before anyone found out. Still, it's really cool that you're like me!"

"And—unlikely. Think this place picked the both of us for that reason?"

"...I have no idea how it even works, and apparently neither do the locals. Maybe? If we assume it's intelligent, yeah, but if it kidnaps a couple thousand or million people, some of them are bound to run into weird coincidences..."

"Yeah, good point. Anyway, er, do you even have monarchies where you're from, I forgot to ask—"

"We have the daimyo? They're the sorta-hereditary military rulers of territories. We used to have an emperor, a few generations ago before the Warring Clans period, who ruled over the daimyo, but the dynasty ended and a new one hasn't been started."

She will Explain Monarchies, then! And tell them about Antaurb and a few silly laws about how ravelers are paid for their time and some other cultural things, and about the neighbouring kingdom she'd been fleeing to, Casasha, where the monarch is chosen by a magic crown that rewards altruism.

That's really fascinating and kinda weird! Especially the kinda-sentient-heir-choosing crown thing. Though having guaranteed altruistic rulers must be nice; daimyo gain and keep power mostly by killing anyone who wants them not in power. The payment thing is definitely inefficient. The shinobi don't have a well worked out system (though they totally need one), but generally payment scales with how dangerous and/or difficult what you're doing is.

Yeah that's how Casasha does it.

Yeah the shinobi probably need a formalized system, but paying by job definitely leads to better work incentives.

So how exactly does Tetsuma's world work?

So Tetsuma explains! Some history: there used to be an Emperor, who granted land and noble titles to generals in his army. The land and title were linked to military service; you didn't send troops to fight in the Emperor's wars, you didn't get to keep your land. Then the daimyo started arguing among themselves, then started fighting, and then the most recent Emperor died without an heir, and it kinda became a free-for-all. The shinobi had been military clans of exceptional individuals within the system. Instead of noble titles, they asked for things like political influence, money, and the right to live on a specific daimyo or lesser lord's lands - you'd generally see specific lords associated with specific clans. Daimyo and the lesser lordships are all hereditary rulers, but anyone who seizes enough territory can arguably declare themselves lord of it. 

The shinobi also started fighting among themselves, so now all the clans are doing their own thing, which usually involves competing for limited work and places to live. Some of the weaker clans have associated with stronger clans, and there are alliances. The Senju (Tetsuma's clan) are the leaders of one of two major factions in their area. The fighting's been really bad lately. Boys usually go out to fight pretty young, and do military-type missions, while girls train as kunoichi - specializing in healing, assassination, and sometimes guard work. 

...There are also monsters, ranging from minor spirits to the Tailed Beasts, which show up every decade or two to destroy a couple square miles then vanish.

Wow um no offence but their world sounds crappy.

...Yeah it kinda is. If Tetsuma had known this place exists and snatches runaways they would've left when they were like, eight. Dayo's world sounds really cool though!

But Testuma's has cooler magic.

Yeah. Their world's probably also a lot nicer in places not at constant war. It definitely needs to be fixed, Tetsuma's just not the type to know how. 

...Dayo kinda is.