"And if I did this, someone would cast a Gate? What exactly is that?"

"I'm actually being silly here, sorry, one moment."

"The thing we actually want to do is to borrow a book about gems from the Stone of the Seers and have me or Alyssa read it to you, because we are in a city and lending fees are not that high. And then, if you think you can conjure diamond, we … probably get it appraised without saying you conjured it, because if you can conjure much diamond everyone will want you and it'll be a mess. And then, after that, you make a deal with the Abadarans or have us go bother Felandriel Morgethai."

"Anyway, a Gate creates a connection between two planes that people can go through. It doesn't last very long, just a minute or two, but you don't need a fork and you can move more than 8 people at a time if you hurry. The relevant thing is that you two could both get home without using Val's power. It's ninth-circle magic, nobody in the city can do it."

"And that wouldn't require the person doing the magic to suffer for it? If it works like that, why hasn't anyone come to say hi to us before?"

"You're in a demiplane. I don't actually know how to get to a random demiplane I haven't heard of, I haven't heard of anyone else being able to, and I suspect if they could they mostly wouldn't want to, it's probably not a great gamble."

"And that won't keep them from getting us home?"

“I don’t think so? You were born there and everything, should be possible for an archmage to target from that. There’s a spell I could cast that’d probably send you home, even, but I’d bet you don’t like one-in-five failure rates.”

"No, I really don't. So after we leave, they wouldn't be able to visit, because we wouldn't still be around to help them find Sathend?"

"I don't think that's how it works? …oh, I know what we should do, we should Scry someone. Do either you have any items you share with or have borrowed from someone currently in Sathend? Can Alyssa draw portraits or you make sculptures? If you have a lock of someone's hair or such that'd be perfect."

"I have something I’m borrowing, yeah. I’m not much of a sculptor."

"I could try drawing?" 

"I should explain Scrying. So. Someone with a fourth-circle slot – could be me tomorrow, though if someone else is up for it I could get good use of my Sending today – can attempt to magically observe a creature and their surroundings for at least 7 minutes. By sight and hearing, so we shouldn't go for a mage, actually. And Val won't be able to observe, but Alyssa should be able to, if she wants to."

"If I go for a strong-willed person they might be able to feel it and could try to throw it off, though I suppose I don't know if someone in Sathend would try. Having a good connection helps a lot – it'll work better if you tell the diviner their name and something about them, and something from their body would be great, a possession would be okay, a drawing is better than nothing. Looking for someone who's immature or easily confused or makes poor decisions also helps, but the goal of this is to pass a message, so we'd need to pick someone who would definitely be in the same room as a good messenger."

"Ah, to be clear. I have a spell Sending that lets me send a short message to someone, anywhere, but I have to know whom I'm speaking to, so the Scrying is so I can observe someone. Whoever we contact with Sending can send a similar message back but they might be confused and not actually do so. Between planes, Sending might fail, but we can keep trying. If we involve a wizard they can try to use Message through the sensor, but that usually fails and also would only let us send sounds, so it's probably not worth it."

"I have some of my wife's things with me. I don't really think of her as weak-willed."

"I'm not, like, an amazing artist but I could try drawing someone?"

"I can show you what it feels like to try throwing off a spell but the cheap and easy way is for me to use Sanctuary and I don't know if you're up for trying to hit me. For clarity, I wouldn't be lastingly or seriously harmed by a noncombatant hitting me even if you did manage."

"Does it have to be hitting specifically?"

"Scratching and biting and kicking and such would also be fine, and honestly if you try to stab me it would probably also be fine but I'd rather you not." She tilts her head. "Oh, it is about trying to attack the warded person. Trying to shake my hand or such would just work."

Alyssa asks Val if he thinks it's safe for a non-mage to try.

"I mean, I assume she wouldn't have suggested it if it routinely did permanent damage to people," says Val, "and it sounds fun."

"Sanctuary gets used for breaking up brawls and opening negotiations reasonably often, if it did permanent damage to people I would expect to have seen it. If you can't hit me the first time you won't be able to hit me a second time and if you can you will be able to, so please don't keep trying either way, that could bog us down. If you're up for it I'll cast and let you know when it's up."

"Sure."

"Yeah, let's."

She makes some illegible sounds and gestures involving her butterfly necklace and then gives the go-ahead.

Alyssa is distinctly awful at punching, but in an inexperienced kind of way; she's definitely successfully going through the motions of making a fist and aiming it at Zoriana.

The magic catches Val for a second, for less than a second, and he almost can't bring himself to hurt Zoriana. But he's seen magic warp his mind and he's pulled himself back into shape time after time. It's not the same this time but it's close enough.

He doesn't punch her. He just waits a second for Alyssa to be done and then puts Zoriana in a wristlock.

Huh, they both managed. She wouldn't have expected it of Alyssa.

"Good luck or good work. Do you feel more informed now?"