"Oh, that helps a lot, actually, can you also tell me what year it is?"

"Uhhh... I’m not totally sure if it’s changed since the last time I saw a calendar? I don’t think it’s 2020 yet?"

"Okay! So, you're in Vanda Nossëo. It's a big, interdimensional federation, with member states in lots and lots of different worlds, and a lot of those worlds have more than one inhabited planet, too. This world is called Edda, and this planet is called Kallee, and this city is called Skoq. I work for Vanda Nossëo on the federal level. Vanda Nossëo was founded by powerful altruists of several species and worlds, who wanted to explore, learn more about magic and technology, and have everyone working together to make the best possible use of it to bring about universal sapient flourishing. There are some mysteries we still don't understand, like why Earths are common or how humans pop up in worlds that aren't even Earths, for example, and there are some problems we don't know how to solve yet, but there are trillions of people in Vanda Nossëo all working in their own ways toward making the civilization as strong as it can be so we can one day tackle those too."

"...Uh-huh. How do I... interact with that."

"Do you want to be a citizen of Vanda Nossëo, or just relax while they work on getting you home?"

Shrug. "Does being a citizen involve any responsibilities?"

"Not breaking the law? But the exact nature of the law will depend on where you live."

"...What exactly are 'laws'?"

"A law is a rule that is enforced by a government, so, for example, everywhere in Vanda Nossëo, it is illegal to murder people."

"What does it mean that it’s enforced by a government?"

"People who commit murders are arrested and usually spend some time in prison. Vanda Nossëo prisons are much nicer than any pre-contact Earth prison though."

"...I don’t know what that means. Maybe I want the version where you explain more."

"Okay, let's imagine a simpler crime, like stealing something from another person. If you reached over and took my ring off my hand and then I said, 'hey, give that back,' and then you decided not to give it back, and instead ran away with it, then if it were just a rule of my workplace that you can't steal, my boss might help me get it back, but since here it's a law not to steal, then if my boss wasn't able to get it back, they could get help from government workers whose job it is specifically to catch thieves and take back what they stole. A law is a rule that is important and common enough that you can get government help if someone breaks it and this causes you a problem."

"...What?"

"...on your Earth, what would happen if you stole something?"

He frowns in intense concentration. "...I haven't tried it but I can... speculate...? I think the person I stole from might beat me up? After I got stolen from my friend helped me keep it from happening again? I don't - I don't know but I don't think Congress keeps really careful track of things like that but I guess it does give people food stamps and maybe that's because of theft? I don't know anything about food stamps because I don't eat. I think it was different when I was in France, I think the government would - do different things than you're thinking of. Uh, and I'm not totally confident that I actually know which things actually get people sent there, but Hell exists and I think people at least think you go there for sins like theft and in Hell you might get bathed in acid or thrown into lava or disassembled."

"...okay, so, it sounds like you have some atypical-for-most-Earths life experience." says the horse person. "Do you know what a rule is? A law is a kind of rule, and it's a little different from other kinds, but unless following the rules which are also laws sounds like it will be hard for you, I'm not sure the difference is important to understand today."

"...Maybe? Probably? I don't think I get what following rules has to do with the government helping people."

"The government has rules for itself, and one of them is that it will help people who were hurt by anyone breaking one of the rules."

He makes a succession of different baffled faces. "...Okay, so, you’re saying it’s okay to hurt people as long as I do it by breaking the rules?"

"- no... can you tell me what steps you took to get to that idea?"

"...Because if the government will fix it then they’ll be fine? I guess that doesn’t mean I would be fine when the government was done with me."

"Most people do not prefer to be in trouble with the government, and most people also don't like having crimes done to them, even if they get help afterwards."

Shrug. "So if I broke a law, how would I notice?"

"Well, you should probably have at least the gist of the laws of anywhere you want to be explained to you. If you break a law someone will probably tell you about it. An innocent mistake won't tend to get you in much trouble, if you were trying to cooperate with the rules around you."