"Why don't you make an appointment to come see it, for a day when my mages aren't busy with it themselves."

"Sounds wonderful! When are such days?"

He names a date a few days out. "Of course, some of them will want to be there anyways, to talk to you."

"Great, they probably have a lot more information about it from very different perspectives."

"I'm sure."

"I think that's all, then. It's been a veritable pleasure talking with you," she says, standing up and bowing in the same way Tetsuma does.

"The pleasure has been all mine." He inclines his head in something almost like a return bow.

Off she goes, then.

The secretary confirms time for the appointment, then writes her in.

When she gets back to the forest, Tetsuma's waiting for her, only a bit anxiously. They smile when they see her, and, after a quick hug, ask, "How'd it go?"

"Pretty well! And I think I was right to think Reim was hiding a lot of the whole story. The lord said that Reim's mother left the jewel for him in her will..." She relays the whole conversation to Tetsuma.

"...How does inheritance even work here? Back home you'd either give things away during your life, or it would all go towards your named heir on your death. By that system, Reim would have inherited it, as her son... We really should've brought Reim with us, he could've hidden out with me. And then answered questions."

"Yeah. I think I'm gonna have Sadde resign in a couple of days, and after Kaede examines the jewel it might be a good idea for us to go talk to Reim. I want to get this story straight, the lord gave me the heebie jeebies but so did Reim."

"That's an annoyingly long trip, too. I wonder if there's any way to convince the lord to return with us, have this arbitrated properly."

"Mmmmnot my read on him. I don't think he'd want that at all—he already has the jewel, he has no reason to come with us and risk losing it."

Sigh. "Yeah. I'd still like to know more about how local law even works. I suppose I can try to find a library or ask around discreetly or something."

"I could make a clone to help you with that. In my country there's a document people write in the event of their deaths that explains how their assets are to be distributed, but other places are not exactly the same."

"Yeah, that'd probably be best. I'm thinking of having a clone hop over to a nearby island, too, so more blatant questions are less likely to get back to the lord. Like, ideally I'd find someone with actual experience and ask them about what laws apply to the case."

Nod. "Makes sense."

"Cloudshear was the biggest place we passed through. It's seven days even without rests, though, which is over time. But we're three days from Laelora, I should be able to find plenty there, and I can send a clone to both places easily. There might also be closer islands, I can check with any captains passing through."

Nodnod. "And maybe one of them will know of a place that has stuff specifically about local law."

"Though for all we know law varies by island, and the lord is the local law. Which will make this significantly more of a headache."

"Yes, it will," she sighs.

"Should I go ahead and send out clones? They should be efficient enough to last the whole time... For that matter, we might be able to just send clones all the way back to the original island, save on the return trip. It'd be costly chakra-wise, but not impossible."

"Yeah, sounds good."

They make four wood clones - one for Laelora, one for Cloudshear, one for assorted miscellaneous islands, and one to send all the way back. All four then shift to look unexceptional. 

"You want to send any out?"