"It's delightful to meet you!" Ooh she has wings now. That feels neat. She rustles them. "Isabella Swan, freshly minted angel from planet Earth."

"I would dearly like to hear anything at all you can tell me about another world beyond this one. I hardly know where to start, though!"

"Me either! Let's see. I lived in a country called the United States of America. I died when I was hit by a car, a kind of horseless carriage that works nonmagically. Humans are the only sapient species on Earth."

"We had magical cars, at one point. Is the United States a federation? Does it operate on a feudal basis? What fuel or power source do cars use? How common are they?"

"It's sort of like a federation but it's not conventional to think of it that way. It's not feudal, though it does have nesting subdivisions. Cars burn a refined product of petroleum, and in my country most households have at least one, I think, though my numbers on that could be off because it's not a statistic I looked up specifically. Other countries are mostly poorer or worse-suited to driving or both and have fewer cars."

"Ah, but wouldn't you run out eventually? I suppose if you manage to get the Ritangen process-" (Magic Theory skill says: Some kind of matter synthesis?) "-To mass production, you could build an empire on burning fire? Or perhaps it's not sustainable like so much the shorter-lived races build. I'll restrain further questions for now though you may assume full curiosity about everything."

"It's not sustainable indefinitely. I think they're working on sustainable alternatives to switch to but didn't wait till those were ready to go before going ahead with the infrastructure for oil. Anyway, I picked you for my local guide because you had an empire! I would kind of like to have an empire and have been assured that this is a perfectly acceptable angelic pastime and picked good powers for it."

"Hmm. Well. The fundamental thing to remember is that political power comes from people obeying you. I'm not sure what you can do- I had visions of healing golden light, and a paradisical landscape."

"Yeah, I have healing powers and a thing that makes areas more paradisical, if there's some wasteland somewhere that nobody currently wants it might be a good place to start. After I'm more oriented to the world, which I'm currently not except for the handful of things my... handler?.. was able to answer that I remembered to ask in advance."

"We're in the Gateway City. Liscor. The big halfway point for north-south land trade on the continental of Erebor. Right now it's the wet season and not safe for most to travel. The local monsters are adapted to the unique weather cycle rather viciously, and it's just inconvenient. Liscor is known for being a republic of sorts and maintianing an especially strong and coordinated mercenary army. The Army of Liscor has turned wars. They're away right now, fighting in the Drake states. The Drakelands are south of here, and most of the continent is north. Some hundred and fifty thousand people, estimated, live in Liscor. The primary industries other than self-sufficiency are supporting trade caravans, adventurers, mercenaries, and monster hunters, as well as metalworking. Liscor is independent, but tenuously, from all its neighbors. A sort of neutral zone, on offer to the highest bidder but too expensive to crush and hold."

"Hm. Why does a locality like a city maintain a mercenary army? What are the most common monsters? What's the fighting in the Drakelands about?"

"It'd be better to ask why a mercenary army founded a city centuries ago. They did it to secure a key pass in the last great crusade and then kept it as a base, and it grew from there. Locally, if you count goblin nomads as not monsters due to sapience, acid borer swarms, Liscorian greater landcrabs, carnivorous mimic goats, and minor elementals known as Spites. The proximate cause of the war is a demon known as Ionifex the Unclean, but the full political complexities would take at least an hour. As a gloss, there's jockeying between the great Drake houses in the fortress-cities about who ought to take the brunt of the casualties and it's bringing up older grievances too, so they're barely avoiding fighting each other."

She pauses, then continues. 

"If I may, what sort of background in administration, politics, or organization-building do you have already, if any? I think revealing yourself to the Liscor Guard and going through entry customs would be a wise move essentially no matter what your medium term plans are. So we might want to do that right away before forming said plans. Being visibly willing to follow the law, and also gaining contacts in Liscor's governance, are not a bad use of time. They might ask a lot of questions. You can say you'd rather not answer to some of them, especially ones about your capabilities. I'd also emphasize that you're an angel, not a human. There is some racism."

"Oh, I have negligible background on account of having died age seventeen, and fully expect having an actual empire to take decades even if I can wind up with some kind of small fiefdom just by making an unused area nice to live in. I was a human a year ago but I'm an angel now and can frontload that as an introduction."

"Okay. There are not so many unproblematically unclaimed areas, but there certainly aren't none. And since I am really quite sure you're here to help, I'll advise you for at least a decade or two... Much as I still have a distaste for bearing authority. Did the United States of America have class divisions and nobility? How was responsibility divided between the nesting subdivisions? Does everyone speak the same language?"

"The United States has class but no nobility whatsoever, just, like, new money and old money and not so much money. Most people speak English but there's a lot of immigrants from elsewhere in the world who often retain their own languages at least for the first generation or two. I don't actually know all that much about what things were the jobs of mayor's offices versus state congress or the governor... at the federal level there were separate legislative, judicial, and executive branches, which I would have taken a test on if I hadn't died, so I do remember somewhat more about those."

Nod, nod. She has written some of this down in her book.

"Governance structures are complicated. Separation of powers is a good mechanism to spread out the burden of nepotism, if that's your goal. As I said before, I'll try to keep it to one or two questions at a time lest I pester you relentlessly. I have time. Last one for now: In your stories, who is most oft the hero?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, there's not a specific character who appears across most stories."

"What sort of person, then? A tough soldier? A protective mother?"

"It can be lots of types of people. I guess it's most common for stories to star young adults and they're usually nice people but I'm not sure how to get more specific."

"Young, hmm? Interesting." 

She shuts her notebook. 

"What would you have accomplished in three days if everything went wonderfully? So we can plan said days."

"Let's see. I'd pick up local etiquette as applies to angels so I don't offend anyone grievously. I'd have a lead on a way to get some magic tutoring, I'm meant to be able to do magic here. I'd have a chance to study a good atlas and ask you questions about everything on it and take notes. I'd know where I was going to sleep, I do still need some sleep though I cut it down, same with where my meals come from."

"Angels are rare semi-legendary beings. People kind of expect you to say heroic things and make demands and generally act towards good. I have chronicles of other angels' actions and people's reactions to them. We should go over that in some detail. I also know magic quite well, but I rarely use it because of the ambient risks associated. I don't have an atlas on me, and my personal library is up in Maell, but someone might have one. To get a place to sleep you will need money or goodwill, both of which can be had for healing, I think."

"Tentative plan for criticism: Spend a while talking about government reactions to angels so you have context. Go present yourself - with my attendance pitched as an interested observer rather than your direct advisor - to Captain Yertann of the Liscor Gate Guard. Offer healing to Liscor's veterans or wounded. They're very good about paying promptly in cash for material assistance like that. Comes from the mercenary outlook. Rent a place to stay separate from this tiny room, unless you're willing to use my bed on the occasion you do sleep, plus an isolated spot for magic practice. Spend some time learning magic from me, if we can locate a suitably isolated area. Ask around Parchment Street where offices and intellectual services are concentrated about an atlas. Liscor does not have a public library, and the private ones are personal affairs."

"Sounds pretty good... ambient risks?"

"Magic causes demons consistently enough that every mage or wizard gets one eventually. It's 'when you get your first demon', not 'if you ever get a demon'. So whenever possible I solve my problems without active magic, and when that's not possible I use as little as I can get away with. I've gotten four demons in my lifetime, and it was extremely terrible every time."

"I should be able to reduce the risk of that. If it's not too sensitive I'd like to know what it's like when it happens, though."

"The first time, I was casting in a warded practice room when the spell twisted out of my control. Foolishly, I tried to wrestle it into order rather than disposing of the energies and activating the room's wards. But a demon emerged from the tangled knot. It was a weak one. A 'mockery'- So named for their habit of being hostile, invisible voices in peoples' heads. Mockeries can't really control people when they enter one's head, but are adept at driving them to rash or unstable-seeming actions. I immediately told everyone about the demonic influence, which is the responsible thing to do- No matter the inconvenience and suspicion. I then spent a month in an isolated, warded room being mocked and derided and screamed at inside my own head by that horrible thing. It could read my mind, a little bit, and kept digging up the worst parts of my life- Personal things which I don't want to elaborate on much. About how my family didn't actually care about me, and the like. It was trying to instill paranoia, and told me I was going to be murdered as an inconvenient threat. It... Did make me anxious, after a while. But after that month of psychological torture, they had located an angel who was willing to help despite my father's reputation- The angel Barqius- And he exorcised me. I was sent back to my studies after another week of recovery."

"The second time, it was a 'wrath'. It was in a smithy, which I was powering and heating by magic. They just try to murder everyone around them in the most brutal fashion possible. It was lucky that the room was full of strong, bulky smiths and plenty of hot metal. We managed to promptly kill it. The third time, it was a 'Pride' that tried to possess me. Only because I had specifically prepared defenses against possession did it fail, and burn to its death on said defenses. The last time, it was a 'Lust' who tried to flee, then to convince me to spare her. I knew without a doubt that she would rape and torture people without hesitation if I didn't kill her then and there, though. Or if she was feeling subtle, to break up happy relationships and turn them to jealousy and hatred as thoroughly as possible. Demons always do. So I killed her."

"That sounds miserable, I'm glad you came through intact in the end."

"I've long since made my peace with it, but thank you. Just know to take the demonic threat seriously. And that this tendency colors people's perception of magic and magic users. As an angel, perhaps you will be able to weather it better than most- They are known opposition to demons, after all."

"I didn't go for particularly demon-slaying powers, but I am definitely against all those things you mentioned. You probably know a lot more about demons than I do, though, Earth doesn't have them - or angels either."

She perks up. "-Does it also have no magic? That's a point of confusion I noticed earlier. It would explain why fueled cars are so important!"

"Yes, also no magic."

A smile. "You must be very curious how it works and what it can do, then."

(Her Magic Theory skill-implant power has been mostly quiet. Without thinking about specifically, it's non-intrusive.)

"It's really exciting! Earth has stories about magic but not a speck of the real thing."

Nod, nod. "Magic is traditionally broken up into colors. There are a few different traditions and frameworks of understanding it, but ultimately they all follow that magic is an energy like heat or lightning or height-potential or pressure. There is another side of the world made of fields of energy that only sometimes interact with matter. Those energy fields - or field, singular, to some understandings - are magic. The colors are the types of energy, or alignment of the energy field. White, Red, Cyan, Green, Black, and Dark, sometimes called Corrupt. Dark is, notably, not the same thing as Black. Additionally, Yellow, Purple, Silver, and Grey- Again, Silver and Grey are not the same- And finally Orange and Navy."

"Casting a spell is the process of using your mind to perceive and influence magic, shaping it into a stable form so that it does what you want. These stable forms are like sculptures in the air, in your mind- They need not be mathematically precise, but if they're not you must develop your artistic intuition for them, to judge whether they'll work or not. The easiest spells are therefore naturally the crudest and most direct ones- Unleashing a torrent of flame from your hands and the like. Enchanting is the process of forcing magic into an object in an ongoingly stable way that changes the nature of the object. The key problem is that strands of magic are unstable and thrash about wildly if handled by unskilled hands. Even a small change in initial conditions can create a very different result, absent active guidance and correction. When magic goes wild, it can very easily form Dark energy, and such energies almost always summon a demon. Most spells use a single color, or two colors that are adjacent to each other on the great wheel. Three colors, or non-adjacent interactions, are much harder to control."

(This all seems to make perfect sense to her, the Magic Theory skill agrees with everything Eirwynne said. She might even be able to perceive magic strands already? Also, Cyan and Navy are clearly two different words. There isnt a word for generic blue.)

"Is the 'hands' part literal, do you move your hands to affect the magic? If so is that related to why the fire would issue from one's hands instead of anywhere else? What are the differences between the colors apart from Dark being the demony one?"

"The hands are literal. You can cast magic with only your mind, but it's more difficult. Hand motions and using objects or materials with the correct resonance make it much easier, especially as a novice. As for the colors, let me say what each is known for briefly. Red- Direct force, energy, fireballs. White- Truth, knowledge, communication, sometimes healing. Cyan- Teleporting and shields, but it's flexible. Green- Healing, altering bodies, surges of might. Black- Stone shaping, making other magic more stable. Corrupt- Causing pain, and demons. Yellow- Chemistry and affecting materials, like 'armor of lead' to make foes stumble. Purple- Obscurement and shadow, spells of confusion. Silver- Always used with other magic, adding conditionals or controls. Grey- Used to oppose other magic. Anti-demon wards. Magic tripwires. Orange- Associated with duels, perfection, glory. Also for... Enforcing boundaries? Call of the Sun is an orange spell that makes it harder to hit you with ranged attacks. Not by blinding foes or anything. Just making projectiles miss. Finally, Navy. My favorite color of magic, Navy is associated with grand but slow workings, like diverting a river over years."

"From those descriptions I'm probably going to be most interested in white and cyan, but it sounds like a broad repertoire will require most of them."

"How exactly do you reduce the risk of demons associated with magic?" Eirwynne wonders even as she draws out a vertical color chart.

"Consecration. It's not perfect, though, just helpful. I did originally have the idea of deliberately summoning demons so as to be able to promptly kill them but was told that they'd catch on soon and put my accomplices at risk. What do the colors' positions on the chart represent? Why isn't dark magic on there?"

"...I must admit that idea does not fill me with confidence, no. Dark magic isn't here because it doesn't have any adjacencies, some charts mark it separately, off to the side. Adjacent colors can interact without immediately decaying into dark magic. This makes a lot of more complicated spells possible, though one is advised to keep it to closed loops-" She taps the chart. "Such as yellow-cyan-black, the alchemist's tricolor. If you see reference to 'alchemist spells', they mean spells that use yellow, cyan, and black magic. Same with the other tricolors. Cyan red orange is the evoker's tricolor, then we have the mystic's tricolor here with red, green, and purple, and at the top the druid's tricolor- White, navy, and green. Silver and grey are special cases- They corrupt less easily than other strands, even with non-neighbors, and can to an extent work with any other color. It is possible to construct spells composed of, say, red and black, with cyan as a bridge between them so that red and black don't directly touch. But it's very difficult, especially since each color has a complicated set of interactions with each other color. There are two broad approaches to learning these interactions- Careful study and mathematical modeling, or simple practice."

"Is simple practice doable without demon problems, like on special practice spells or something?"

"Not really. When you're pushing your limits, you must expect to screw up once in a while. Even if you're perfect almost all of the time, 'always' is a very strong qualifier. Thus, isolated areas, and someone who can try to deal with demon problems, are recommended."

"What's the standard practice for having people on standby to deal with demon problems?"

"Apprenticeships are standard. Some places have universities of magic instead, with professors and older students assisting- And some people teach themselves. Rooms specially enchanted to draw away energy from a fumbled spell as quickly as possible can reduce the risks."

"Is it really rare for there to be a consecrated area like I can do?"

"Moderately rare, I would say. I've had the luxury of casting in consecrated areas before but not often. I think most angels find it difficult, or have a limited use, and the effect fades eventually too."

"Yeah, I can't go around doing it constantly."

"Alas. More magic discussion, or the next step on our tentative plan- Talking about how governments tend to act around angels?"

"Second thing, it's more short term important."

"Governments are complicated and made up of rules, traditions, and many people each acting out their own little piece of territory. People almost always look out for their own best interests, which means that those in power want to stay in power. Whether they truly believe they are doing good with it, or cynically think that they might as well be on top instead of someone else, or something in between, the thing a government is best at is retaining power. Ones that aren't good at that go away quickly. So many government officials will look at things from that perspective- Is this angel going to be a threat to me? Am I going to get in trouble for being rude? For not doing whatever they want? For letting them into the city at all? Some governments contain people who do evil things."

"'Is this angel one of the wrathy ones, who will hunt down and imprison or kill slavers or corrupt officials or the city guard who may or may not be a little excessive at keeping order? She might be! What if she starts exploding people randomly, just for doing their jobs and working the system? Is a little bribe to a judge worthy of exploding? Is not reporting my boss for being an asshole to the prisoners worthy of exploding? Who can tell? We'd better not tell her anything substantive and get rid of her quickly'. That's one possible perspective."

"Another is 'An angel, people love angels. Let's try to make friends and get them to appear in public with me so I'm associated with their good deeds. And maybe I can get them to heal me or take my useless nephew away to do something useful for once too'. I don't want to say peoples' reaction to you is necessarily indicative of whether they're good or evil. It's really not. But angels won't be... Just welcome everywhere. Some places are mistrustful by culture. Some places are badly run or demon-infested in ways that make constructively interacting with government difficult. Luckily, Liscor is I would say, eight out of eleven on the 'competent government' scale... Maybe seven. Just remember that the primary goal of the government is not to be kind, or to give the people good lives. It's to maintain order and military strength. Since soldiers and families of soldiers are the ones that vote... Sorry, that was a bit of a ramble."

"What would be my - status with respect to the law - if I did hunt down slavers or whatever? ...also why eleven."

"...I'm not sure why elev- Ah, yes. Eleven colors of magic. The White Empire ranked casters by how many of them one could use competently. In Liscor, you would probably be considered an independent adventurer if you hunted down slavers, especially if you registered yourself at the bounty office. That means they'll point you at errands or enemies and pay you for it, and give you at least a little latitude for violence, but also expect you to follow Liscor's laws, especially laws against theft, assault, murder, or damage to city property. So it would be - vigilantism, and you'd be expected to present yourself to the Army or Guard after any incidents and explain everything under truth magic. If you seem to be targeting people maliciously or attacking them randomly and not uncovering actual crimes, just causing trouble, you'll be censured and probably imprisoned or exiled from Liscor. Same if you attack important politicians or get on the Guard's bad side."

"Is that about how anyone powerful would be treated or is it angel-specific at all?"

"That's how anyone powerful would be treated. Ordinary people- That is, not nobility, not government or army officials or the like- Will tend to treat angels as forces of good, as you are known for healing and kindness and fighting demons and the like. But the view of a politician is narrow. All they see is that you are powerful and present a good image, and they may even be more wary at that."

Does she sound bitter? Yes, she does.

"Again, not all, but as a rule."

"Okay. Vigilantism per se doesn't appeal to me at all but if there is any useful anti-slavery pressure I can exert I'd like to know about it."

"I'll keep an eye out for opportunities on that front. Nothing immediate- Other angels have preached and raged against the practice in the past, and even liberated tens or hundreds of thousands, but banning and enforcing it takes an empire."

"Well, fortunately that's my plan."

"So we go introduce ourselves to Liscor guard captain Naltingale. He's a very straightforward person. You can offer healing or he might ask for it and exist within Liscor legally."

"Sounds good to me."

Eirwynne smoothly packs her things, dons a light cloak, and exits the door. Looks like a motel-y setup around a central courtyard. Someone's doing laundry by the well downstairs. She locks the door with a metal key. They exit a small courtyard, nod politely at the stunned-looking lizard-person manning the front desk, and head out onto the street.

The streets are lively and colorful. Crowded with folk, mostly lounging around, some playing cards or spinning thread. Crowded. She sees humans, giant birds, lots more lizard-people, what looks like an animate cloth doll, a centaur, and more. Local clothing is light-colored and festooned with stripes.

They walk down the street, the babble swirling around them, towards a patrol of three armored lizardpeople and one armored human. The leading lizard has some kind of undercurrent of orange magic inside him, Bella can tell with her Soul Eye.

"Squad leader Ferrel. An angel has appeared before me. She wishes to meet captain Naltingale after I explained the situation. She didn't pass customs, but she also didn't cross the walls intentionally..."

"Huh. ...Huh." Is the response. "Yeah, Captain Nalt is probably the right one to deal with that, ma'am. What are your names? Eirwynne the Chronicler, right? You're not trying to make trouble somehow, are you?"

"My name is Isabella and I intend no trouble." She is going to have to ask about the doll later.

"Glad to hear it! Follow me, please."

The patrol takes them to a barracks a couple of blocks away, on a street crowded with shops. They're asked to wait in a side room.

Another lizardperson, a Drake, appears a bit later. This one is wearing a fancier uniform and has green and red magic flowing inside them. He nods firmly.

"The angel Isabella? Welcome to Liscor, I'm captain Naltingale. Thank you for coming down to the station to talk. There's a couple of things I want to go over, but do you need anything, first? Refreshments, questions?"

"My friend here's been great about answering my questions, thank you."

"So, let me preface by saying that some people report angels as being... Strange. I'm going to ask questions that some might consider offensive in their simplicity, but my intent is not to insult you. Are you familiar with the concept of laws, judges, and punishments?"

"Yes, we have those where I'm from. It makes sense to want to assess my background, don't worry about it."

A nod. "In Liscor, we have laws. When people break laws, the Army, guard, or mercenaries arrest them. Then the guard investigates and brings the matter before a judge if it's serious. People can also complain to judges if they think the guard is being unfair. Everything will go much better most of the time if you don't lie to the guards, and don't try to evade them. Even if being arrested is bad for someone specific, lots of people value knowing that breaking the law is predictably caught and punished. It creates a feeling of safety. Weakening the fact that criminals are consistently caught by sheltering them or fleeing does small amounts of damage to a large number of people. Drakes, who are much of the population of Liscor, tend to value this even more than humans. So to enter Liscor, you have to agree to do your best to follow the law while here, to not flee from the Guard if we need to speak to you, and to accept what the relevant judge decides if things escalate that far. Does all that make sense?"

"Yes. I took a vow of honesty, though ironically I don't see how you'd take my word for it. I also have a lantern of truth."

"We use White magic to look for deception when it's important. It's imperfect, though. I've heard of angels taking Vows before. I will note the claim, of course. If you wish to demonstrate the lantern's effects I'll also note those. Do you agree to make a sincere effort to follow the law of Liscor as you understand it while in Liscor? Do you know the lantern to be dangerous in any way? Can it be used as a weapon, a magical power source, or a channel for the arrival of demons, for example?"

"I do not believe the lantern to be dangerous in any way. I suppose I could hit someone with it. I will make a sincere effort to either follow the law as I understand it or leave and I will not consider simply being arrested for a normal reason to be a reason to decide to leave."

"Okay! We charge gate fees per person and per head of animal and wheel of conveyance, as well as a percentage of all carried goods. I'm going to go ahead and waive that for you. Common sense laws. Don't touch or otherwise affect people in ways they don't want to be- Common sense applies, here, I think. Don't take things that aren't yours. Don't be a public nuisance or do risky dangerous things. Don't bring or let monsters, demons, or criminals into the city. Less common sense laws: Liscor has a militia. During an emergency situation, the city alarm will sound. It's a deep warbling that seems to get higher in pitch constantly, but never actually does so. When the alarm is sounding, obey the guard and people identifying as militia immediately. When the alarm is sounding, don't get in the way unless you think you can meaningfully contribute. Actions taken in the defense of Liscor during an emergency are rewarded generously once the situation is resolved."

"That all seems pretty straightforward. The gate fees go both directions?"

"Entering only. But entering from either direction, yes. Medium and long term residents can come to an arrangement, this is more a toll on merchants."

"Makes sense. It's presumably throttling your trade but maybe you knew that already." (She did some reading while waiting for her wings to be fashioned.)

"Oh, those ungrateful lot weren't going to spend their money here anyway. Would you mind telling me what sort of angelic feats you can do? Healing is a common one, I hear, and we can certainly use that."

"Healing, yep. Consecration, resurrection, ecogenesis."

The Captain takes a deep breath. "I'm not familiar with that last one, but the Guard will pay you if you feel inclined to heal or consecrate on our behalf. As for resurrection... I understand from the legends that it is much more difficult than other things."

"I may not be able to do it right away, these things run on my accumulated credit for behaving angelically and I'm brand new." Can she, like, feel, her favor reserves.

...Eh?

It's definitely a 'feel' situation more than a 'numbers' situation, but yes. She has some. She could Heal or Consecrate right now, maybe twice, but not Greater Heal or Greater Consecrate. Ecogenesis and Resurrection are out of the question for now.

"- yeah, feels like a not yet on the resurrection and ecogenesis."

"Well, if you're interested in healing some guards who are on the mend right now I can pay you their salaries for the estimated time they'd be down plus two silver a head."

"Sounds like a pretty good deal to me." Assuming Eirwynne isn't making a face.

"It may not be the maximally effective way to accrue heavenly favor, but to accrue coin you'd be hard pressed to find an easier way."

"Well, one of those is a shorter term need than the other. Where to?"

"We have a little hospital building near the gates. It's a bit of a walk. Wanna head over right now?"

"Sounds good to me."

Back out onto the streets, then! The place, on further observation, is reasonably clean for a medeival city, if perhaps disappointing for someone used to the modern day. Most people don't have magic running through them, and they tend to be popular, rich, or successful-looking ones. Most of the buildings are two or three stories high, and typically shops or some sort of public space (for laundry, hanging out, schools, etc) on the first floor, with something else up above. The guard captain says hi to lots of people and gossips with them. Bella and Eirwynne are introduced to famous local shopkeepers, low-ranking guards, and so on. Plenty gush about an angel visiting Liscor.

-There's a demon off thataway. She can see it through walls, a persistent Wrong. It's moving away from them.

"- is there a baseline number of demons to expect to be around such that I shouldn't drop everything to chase one down?"

"-No, don't drop everything and chase it. And try to keep acting casual, so we don't let it know we're onto it."

"Okay. Sorry, I just haven't noticed one before, it's - distressing."

"Right. Yeah, it's not great." His whole demeanor is shifting. Still outwardly casual, but he's walking a bit faster and more intently. "It's just- Here in Liscor we actually try pretty hard to keep them out, we still have old consecrations on the main gates- So any that are around are either new or sneaky, and I want to confront it from as advantageous a position as possible."

"Naturally I will offer my assistance as well. Can you discern anything else about it?"

(It's out of her range now, but it was moving at a normal walking speed, on ground level, among a crowd. So it must not stick out much.)

"I can't feel it any more but when I could it wasn't going particularly fast, and there were people around it. So it must be blending in." She points.

"Okay, if you're up for it we can do some scouting later. A runner carrying you around to try and locate it. No need to rush this and screw it up like a newbie's first time fighting for real."

"I'm not a very combat oriented angel." Sigh.

"No giant flaming swords? Sure, makes sense. Takes all kinds. Okay, we can work with that. The city guard elites will do any fighting, if fighting is to be had. Your role will be... Demon detector. Unless you have purification, to exorcise it?"

"I can manage the appropriate configuration of White, Silver, and Grey mana for an exorcism. Not entirely without risk, but since we already have one demon..."

The guard captain nods.

"Hopefully we can resolve everything without issue."

"Thank you, Eirwynne."

The rest of the trip to the hospital is one of forced calm. It's a stone building right up next to an impressively high wall, more people patrolling on top of it. The Captain talks to one of the nurses for a bit, and then they can go around and try to heal people. Mostly drakes, humans after that, plus one bird-person and one person who seems to be made of plants. They skip a couple, who apparently want to heal the long way.

She has enough Favor to cover them all; Healing people in need seems to give most of what she spends on it back, anyway.

It's nice how that works! She hums to herself while she goes around miracling people better.

The guard captain vanishes, passing her off to a medic-sergeant instead. Eirwynne asks people how they got injured and receives answers. Mostly 'fighting a monster', usually goblins. (Sometimes goblins are referred to as monsters, sometimes as bandits. They sound smart, people mention them pulling flanking and ambushes and using spears.) Couple of training accidents. Couple of 'was breaking up a fight'. One person, pretty badly burned, was apparently a victim of splash damage when someone threw a grenade at a rock crab's hard outer shell. They were trying to get it under the shell between attacks, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

One of the nurses is another doll-person. They're - He? He's very good with his sutures. (She's only being shown around to angel at the severe injuries of guards. There are some civilians, and less-injured people too.)

Can she maybe hit the civilians too?

"I have no objection, if people are willing, but we can't pay you for healing civilians," the medic-guard says.

"Who pays for their non-angelic treatment?"

"Themselves. Or their families, or teammates. We don't have any badly injured adventurers who were hurt defending Liscor right now, or we could pay you to heal them, too."

Do any of them look like they want to pay her?

Some of them will offer to pay her for healing! (A few of them will mutter quietly that angels charging for miracles is a new one.) Not as much as she was getting paid for the guards, mostly. This old-looking Drake with white scales and glasses and lots of books in his little hospital room mentions that rich injured people have private doctors attending them in their homes.

"Some angels have probably taken vows of charity. I considered it but went with other things instead." She will heal for token payments and anything that looks really gnarly.

This will take a while!

The Liscor Guard is keeping a small crowd at bay out front when she's done! The captain approaches her again, carrying something much bigger than a pouch but not quite a proper sack. A purse, maybe. It clinks heavily as it's handed over to her.

"Thank you." She waves a bit at the crowd.

"Liscor pays its people fairly. I'd like to find our friend from earlier, but there's a lot of attention on you right now. If you wander around hoping to sense them again everyone will know about it. So it might be wise to wait on that until people get over the initial hype of an angel in town. What do you want to do next?"

"Are they expecting anything in particular from the angel in town or do they just want a look at the halo?"

"Some of both, I think. The thing you've just extensively confirmed you can do is healing, you'll probably get a lot of offers and requests on that front. No reason not to oblige folks, in my opinion. If you want a Guard escort to keep any incidents from occurring that's definitely doable, in our interests, even."

"This may be a good chance for you to gain experience speaking to crowds, or performing management more generally. Start slowly, like an avalanche. A Liscor Guard escort would also firmly align you with them in the public image, for what it's worth."

"I'd probably want some notes to consult if I'm going to make a speech. And I'm not sure what - topics to cover."

"No speech right now, then. As for what to cover- Captain, may we have a small bit of privacy?"

The captain looks a little tense but nods and clears an unused room for them.

"My ideas for speech objectives in increasing order of - potential consequences - are as follows: Advertising your healing. Calling for people to be good in whatever form- Charity, kindness, forgiveness. Announcing you're recruiting for soldiers and guards to follow you. Announcing a hunt against demons. Commenting on continental politics in some way. Commenting on Liscor politics in some way. Announcing that you're going to found an empire."

"I think I'd rather save announcing the empire for when I'm about ready to break ground and I'm inclined to follow the advice I got about hunting down the one demon I noticed. I guess I could do my own escort-recruiting but I definitely don't have enough politics context loaded up to comment intelligently. So a relatively, uh, inconsequential speech, I guess."

Nodnodnod. "Calling upon people to be good is standard fare for the less violent and demon-hunting sort of angels, so you'll also be-- Indicating to people that you're going to do generic angel-y things, and possibly telling any demons who hear about it that they don't need to go to ground quite yet."

"They shouldn't, if I'm going to be tipping off guys with swords about them." She rustles her wings. "I need some paper."

"Will my notebook do?"

"For this, yeah, though in the medium run I'll want my own."

"We'll buy one when we go looking for housing for rent. It won't be a problem."

Notebook is proffered.

"Are you going to be writing for a while? I'll find something to do if you don't need me present as a sounding board."

"I'm aiming for a pretty short speech in case I suck at it. What do you think of volunteering the use of my lantern?"

"...I'd advise finding someone who seems likely to be interested in using the lantern and approaching them privately about it, and then if you like you can mention how you're donating your priceless angelic artifact to the good people of Liscor without seeming like you are, say, trying to undermine the court system or make them reliant on you by pressuring them to use your truth magic device."

"Oh, I don't mean to donate it indefinitely, just hire it out, but good thought."

"Hiring it out to academics who want to read untranslated things is a good move all around. Unobjectionable, good for developing contacts among the learned- And academic politics is politics at considerably lower stakes. I like this idea."

"Sounds like a good way to pick up more ambient background information, too."

"I was imagining myself staying around as your backstory dispenser and occasionally questioning you about Earth, but yes."

"Oh, I do hope you'll stay on, I just think multiple perspectives can't possibly hurt."

"I have nowhere better to be, and a great many places worse. I'll stay on unless it looks like you're going to get me killed or do something I consider monstrous."

"I sure hope not to have that come up." Speechwriting. "Are there local conventions about how to open and close speeches or anything?"

"In Liscor, begin speeches by saying who you are. Don't thank people for listening. 'That is all I had to say', perhaps, when you're done. There's some cultural context around money that is hard to put simply. A joke that seems to land well is - 'The only thing you have to pay is attention'. Don't take questions on a platform or stage- Do it with individuals afterwards, they'll stick around if they have urgent ones."

Nod nod. "The paying attention joke would work in my first language too."

"Interesting. Languages that parse attention as a resource tend to speak to a society that values knowledge, in my experience."

"I haven't accumulated enough multicultural exposure to know if the Anglophone world is more like that than others... Where's a good place to go introduce myself?"

"There are a few stages and plazas meant for speeches but I think just - in the street outside the hospital works best for now, as it would be a moderate fuss to arrange another."

"All right."

Out she goes. Is there, like, a retaining wall or something she can stand on?

There's a little landing where the stairs up the wall switch back. Eirwynne stands nearby, ready to write.

All down one street and parts of a cross-street are visible here. It's not packed down there, more the crowd at a farmer's market than a stadium. They're patiently gossiping, a few cheer or wave and pay attention to the angel, and many just stare.

She floofs out her wings a bit. "Hello, everyone! My name is Isabella. I'm new to this world and excited to learn more about it and how I can best help everyone in it. I have the miracle of healing, and I will be dispensing it when other things aren't demanding my attention. I will also be able to perform some resurrections and consecrations. If you needed a reminder, today, to put forth a little extra effort toward being gentle and sincere with your families and children, your friends and neighbors, even strangers and yourselves, I hope I can be that reminder for you today. That's all my prepared remarks, but I will be happy to meet people and take questions."

And she hops down.

There's no applause but a healthy susurrus of excited chatter.

A dozen or so do seem to be coming towards the bottom of the landing. A bird-person (a giant crowlike bird who is a person, in this case, rather than a humanoid with bird features) flutters over them all to be first, and gets glared at reproachfully by one of the ambient guards.

"My idiot sister got her wing chewed on by an Eater Goat! If you can make her able to fly again there's not much I wouldn't do."

"Wow! I've only had my wings for a few hours but I wouldn't wish losing one on anybody. Where would I find her?"

He gives an address in an arcane local style. (Eirwynne nods to gesture that she knows how to find it.)

Bella jots it down on principle. "What's an Eater Goat?"

"They look like goats but they'll eat you."

"Kanik!" A guard yells at him.

"What?!"

"I've told you at least a dozen times, stop flying so low! Either go up properly or stay on the ground, you'll cause another accident!"

"Uh- Right. Miss Isabella, I'm gonna go get lectured now. Hopefully I'll see you later?"

The bird allows himself to be led away.

Next person wants to know why she's in Liscor in particular!

"I was sent straight here upon incarnating as an angel! So far it seems like a great introduction to the world."

Most of the rest of the questions are all personal requests for miracles or Obviously Leading Questions, the kind that rude press shout at politicians. One person asks where angels come from, and one asks about the lantern she's carrying.

"Some angels are just created that way, but I in particular used to be a regular person in a different universe from this one and was offered the chance to become an angel when I died in a traffic accident."

"The lantern is a magical tool for revealing truth. I haven't had much chance to try it out yet, though."

A different universe. Wow. No wonder angels are so weird.

"Yup! I was offered my pick of a few different universes and picked this one because mine doesn't have any magic and it sounded exciting."

Their world is very exciting! And Liscor is one of the best places to arrive on it! Very safe, unlike most everywhere else!

"It's nice to be able to orient to my new situation in a safe place!"

Yep! Liscor is the safest place on the Old Blood Road, until you get to the Drake fortress-cities. Two thousand six hundred years, and while enemies have gotten over the walls, never for long!

(The remaining group seems to be mostly low-level activist and politician types. They're making historical references she doesn't understand, chatting 80% to each other and 20% at her.)

She smiles or raises eyebrows at people as seems appropriate, makes notes of things that sound interesting.

It seems to be about obscure jockeying for position among the Generals. Iltiss has a blessing, sure, but he's also pretty old and stagnating. Likar is young, vigorous, and promising- But untested yet. Too rash!

After a while, Eirwynne suggests looking for accomodations.

"Lead the way."

Most people's friendly demeanor turns a bit strained when looking for rooms is mentioned.

Her options are:

Share a room with Eirwynne

A two-star-hotel-equivalent inn, at very steep rates

Guest room at a rich Representative's house, if she will attend a party and be visibly an angel at it

"Guest room sounds fine to me, though I also don't mind sharing for a few days."

"It would be more politics, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but is a thing to be aware of. Representative Trudel is a member of the Reformist faction. They want more flexibility and democratization of the Army, more power in the civilian government, and more trade."

"I tentatively like those things and would certainly like to know more about the live debates."