Ooh. Is it Portal magic? He thinks it is. He'll ask Cumin about it later.

He will not try to resist the effect.

In that case, he's now in a large hall with all visible walls covered in shelving which appears to exclusively be for small wooden tokens. Some of the shelves are empty, and some tokens visibly disappear or appear as he looks.

Saffron leads him towards an exit.

There's a guard in the hall. Saffron greets her in some language Conrad can't parse, and the guard ruffles Saffron's hair, which she looks irritated by but bears with good grace.

Follow follow follow. The arbitrarily disappearing tokens are mildly unsettling!

Conrad has no idea how to interpret the hair ruffling interaction and will remain silent.

Now there is another room with some seating and a woman at a desk! Saffron will have another conversation Conrad can't follow, hand over some shiny metallic discs that don't actually feel like metal to Conrad's metallurgy, then take a seat and gesture for Conrad to do likewise.

Conrad sits. He really wants to understand the people but he can't! It's probably in a different language. He wants to learn all the languages now.

Huh. He hasn't seen anything like that before. He will continue to stay silent, though.

He's so polite like that.

Eventually, in response to what's probably a Sending, she'll lead him to another room.

There's a pointy-eared woman there, with blank paper and some feathers with most of the barbs removed and pointy tips, and a sealed jar of some deep purplish liquid. Unlike some other people here, she'll speak English.

"Greetings, Lady Saffron. Show me the contract for copying?"

Saffron hands it over.

The notary skims it. "I'll need to add the usual statement that you don't intend for this contact to deceive Lunabella or your counterparty."

She looks to the counterparty. "That also applies to you, actually. If you wrote any terms deceptively, now's the time to say so and we can get them fixed, or alternately now's the time to leave."

"I don't know what it means to write a term deceptively, Madam."

Blink.

"Well, if you speak truly, then you ought to be able to sign an agreement stating you did not do this."

"I am able to sign an agreement stating I did not do this."

"We'll see when you try to sign it."

She gets out three sheets of vellum of the same length and touches them, after which they develop what may be slightly glowing purple runes at the corners. Then, she opens the jar, dips the tip of the feather into it, and starts … writing with the feather on each of the sheets. Apparently you can write with feathers, or at least she can. Her handwriting is very precise.

"You are going to sign three magically active copies of the same contract. Each of you will receive a copy to keep on file, and Lunabella will retain a copy as well, for our records." She looks to Conrad. "We cannot make more magically active copies without both you and Saffron participating, so keep good hold of the copy you have. If Saffron attempts to damage or steal your copy, that's a serious crime and you should report it to her matron or any Lunabellan government office or official, who can redirect you to the right place."

"Both of you will read over these copies before signing. You will get a portion of the notary fee back if you're willing to read aloud to the camera."

Oh! It's not new to him, exactly, though he only now realizes this. When he did the exam at Hawthorne, they also had a feather mixed in with the other pens. He thought that it was some sort of mistake, but now he understands that you can write with feathers.

"I will sign three magically active copies of the same contract. I will keep good hold of the copy I have. I will report Lady Saffron to her matron or any Lunabellan government office or official if she attempts to damage or steal my copy. I will read over these copies before signing.

I am willing to read aloud to the camera." He's actually kind of surprised they had to ask, but given previous conversations it does seem that you're not supposed to record people without them agreeing to it in Lunabella. Indeed, it seemed so even in his first interaction outside Alphazon, with Madam Einodia.

"As am I."

The notary will set up a large camera and call over a hat-wearing doll to observe.

She'll then look at Conrad again, consideringly. "Are you able to use a quill pen?"

"No, Madam. I have not used a quill pen before now. If it is possible to attach things to the quill pen, then I can wrap the pen in metal and move it with Metallurgy."

"It's possible, but I'm not sure it's sufficient. I'll get out some scrap paper and the cheap ink so you can check."

She will get out those items, a second quill, and a bit of bent wire.

Conrad is not going to use the bent wire, and instead is going to continue using the metal stored in his body to make a sleeve on the body of the quill. 

He will dip it in ink, and then move it over to the paper to write, holding the quill perfectly orthogonal to the paper. When it makes contact, a huge blob of ink spurts out of the bottom. Okay. Not good.

He will restart, tapping the bottom of the quill against the rim of the inkwell to remove excess ink, and then return. Hm. When he writes, the lines are uneven. He tries to angle the quill in the direction of travel, and then tries the opposite, but it doesn't work.

He realizes that the quill is cut at an angle to produce a point, so instead he angles it so that the flat end is facing up. It works much, much better. He produces an alphabet exemplar using the quill, in block letters.

"I am ready now."

What a fast learner! This is a great deal for her.

"Excellent."

"Both of you are to read each copy of the contract aloud while facing towards the camera, then sign on the appropriate line with your name or personal mark. If there are any inaccuracies, report them immediately. You will not have to pay a fee for repairing any mistakes I have made."

And she'll hand the first copy off to Saffron.

Who will read it aloud, sign it with the purple ink, and hand it off to Conrad.

Conrad will do the same. He signs his name as "Conrad" written in blackboard bold font.