Is he asking what’s going to happen after this? That’s such a reasonable question! Unfortunately she can’t tell him because it super depends on how his recovery goes! (Nothing is incredibly concerning so far, his followup labs weren’t worse and his blood sugar is for the moment stable, but there’s a lot of opportunity for complications.)

She can draw a sort of diagram of a sunrise and arrow up and over and down to a sunset - a day passing? - and then point at it, count on her fingers up to one, two, three, and shrug - she doesn’t know how many days - and then draw a sketch of a person sitting up in a chair. Then another arrow, count some more, and a person standing? 

Leareth is trying to follow but it doesn’t look like anything familiar to him either. 

…They’re going to expect him and Karal to be up and functional in a few days? Is his best guess for what the second drawing means. Still doesn’t answer what comes after that.

Apparently!  And, well, a lot of things hurt but Karal doesn't think there is anything that would technically prevent him from standing up in some number of days, if he lives that long at all.  Which the young woman apparently thinks he will, and he finds that he believes her.  He does feel better - rather miraculously so, he realizes, if his memory is correct.  So it's a strange kind of Healing that all the tubes are doing?  That... does make sense, maybe.  (Does Leareth think it does?)  He has no idea why they would be spending all this time and effort on it, but that's not a question he has any idea how to ask with little drawings, and not quite the main thing both of them want to know anyway.

He gestures for the paper, draws another arrow from the standing person to, well, the edge of the page, having run out of room.  Questioning gesture?  What are they going to do with him once he can stand up?

Marian thinks the guy is asking what happens once he's discharged from the ICU? Which, man, she has no idea. It seems like it depends on the answers to some pretty awkward questions, like 'did he in fact stab himself in a Walmart and if so why', because if he's actively suicidal they are presumably not going to let him go home? Which is a question Marian would prefer not to get into with any patient while they're intubated and on a lot of pain meds, even leaving aside the language barrier. 

...She probably should not give him the maybe-misleading impression that he gets to go home after this. She'll just - shrug, awkwardly, and try to convey via eyebrows that she's very sorry and wishes she could tell him but she doesn't know. 

Leareth is blearily unsure what to make of that, except that he doesn't like it. It's not her job to decide what they want to use him-and-Karal for? She's unhappy about it but she doesn't have the authority to make them any promises? 

- Karal should probably not weigh Leareth's interpretation too heavily, Leareth is - badly impaired - 

Karal agrees that seems worrying!!  He was expecting - what, exactly - he wasn't really expecting her to be able to tell him much, there's too much confusion in the way of reasonable explanations of most things people might do in a world that looks this incomprehensible - but he was expecting her to know.

And, even more importantly - given how friendly she seemed and how positively she felt about him getting better, he expected her to think whatever would happen to him afterward would be obviously good, not... unclear and vaguely sad...? 

Is she as friendly as he thought she was?  Does she really want him to get better, or does she just want to do her job right?  (Is she okay, or is she being odd about all this because she's threatened somehow?)  He might just be completely off in how he's reading all these people...

Apparently he has gotten used enough to having magic that his instinctive response to this much interpersonal confusion is to reach for Empathy.  Is he going to have to fight Leareth for it, or is it still his since last night?

Leareth is not fighting him for anything, right now.

The young woman’s main surface-level feeling is something between apologetic and embarrassed; she seems to wish she could be doing something better, though it maybe feels more like wishing she could navigate it more skillfully than wishing she had better options or more freedom to act?

She’s partly distracted from the interaction by - there’s a feeling that she’s tracking a lot of things. There’s a sense of deep immersion in some territory she understands and can master but not without ongoing attention. There’s a positive emotion there, satisfaction and relief maybe, the sense that in the immediate moment things are going somewhat better than she had anticipated?

…Behind all that, it seems like she’s deeply worried about him? Most of the depth of her emotional valence is there. Some of the worry feels sharp and immediate and short-term, but some is a lot more diffuse and uncertain. 

…She thinks like a Healer. Leareth is pretty unsure what to make of the rest.

Oh, he likes her.  He liked her already, but there's something so good and familiar and grounding about the shape of her emotions and about that instinctive skill at a complicated task, even if few of the details make immediate sense.

He wants to tell her he also constantly wishes he could do things better.  But he has no idea how to draw that, so he just smiles a bit ruefully, shrugs a little, and - it's not even really a decision, it's just that he's trying to communicate his feelings and already using Empathy - he pushes a little of his emotions at her, gently.  They will both of them do as well as they can, and be as fine as they can, and she really shouldn't worry so about him.

(There is some worry there, but a lot less of it, at the moment, than she's feeling on his behalf, and there's an underlying calm.  What it seems like to him now is that nothing deeply wrong is likely to happen - nothing that, in the worst case, he can't fix by doing a better job of dying - although he couldn't explain why in words, and even Leareth's clear view of his thoughts may have trouble tracing the quick instinctive jump to this conclusion.  The brief mental contact gave him an impression of a society there's nothing awful about - otherwise this clearly good and caring and thoughtful person would have concerns of a different shape, would feel worried about something more general than just Karal.  He knows what people feel like, when fundamentally wrong things are happening around them, and she's not... twisted up inside, she's worried but she doesn't hurt.  And she's not worried about herself, which is important and reassuring, both about her personal safety and about a range of possible complicated things that could've been going on in this place.

So, there may of course be some risks, but not of the sort Karal feels instinctively distressed by on his own behalf - nothing awful, just the normal and sometimes deadly problems of human existence, magnified when you're hurt and confused in an alien place.  And likely a lot of it is just that she's the sort of person given to worrying about others - professionally, Leareth is right, which makes sense and isn't a bad mental habit to have.  She is, he suspects, reacting something like he would when guarding someone in peacetime, when everything will very likely be fine but it's still his job to think about how it might not be. 

He does want Leareth's opinion on whether he's missing anything, but he doesn't feel like he is.)

What about the other people here?  He's fairly certain there are more of them, he can hear what sounds like human noises when he focuses on that, and he knows he has the range.  It might be informative, to know who else is here and what they're like.

Leareth...is not sure he can assess at all whether Karal is missing anything, it's still very hard to form complex thoughts. (He does manage to form the thought that Karal's more intuition-based way of thinking is - less degraded by being tired and foggy - and he’s grateful for that, even if it’s hard for him to put much emotional weight on Karal’s conclusions.)

Marian's patient is making a surprisingly evocative facial expression at her and she has feelings about it? Apparently? ...Marian is an adult and a professional and she can handle her feelings, it's not like it's the first time she's had surprisingly intense and confusing feelings about a patient. 

She smiles at him and squeezes his hand.

Karal can sense:

A handful of minds nearby that feel mostly - very out of it? Drowsiness, confusion, some amount of pain. 

Another handful of minds that feel - busy, more than anything else? One mind-source is frustrated, in a way that feels like it's not about the immediate surroundings and rather about some broader situation. 

So, more people like him and Leareth, and more people like this young woman except not as good, she's clearly the nicest one.  That makes sense and doesn't really add much new information.  He holds on to the Empathy but stops trying to sense everyone in range, because he's already given himself a bit of a headache and he's for once in a calm enough situation that he can notice it and stop it from getting worse.

He returns her smile and hand-squeeze, and lets himself relax.  Now that he thinks their situation is broadly all right, he can slow down and take some time to get his own mind in order, instead of spending every clear-headed moment trying to get more information.

Well, his own mind, but first the more urgent internal problem.  Leareth is - very much not all right, that much is obvious.  Karal has been more than half ignoring his distress, because knowing what's happening seemed more important for them both, but - he's sorry about it, even if it was the right choice, and he does care about it.  (This is clear in his emotions, for all that they barely know each other and their relationship so far hasn't been uncomplicated.  Karal doesn't like seeing people hurt, and he's fond of Leareth despite all the complications and separately from feeling that he owes him.)  Can he do anything to help?  Is there anything he should stop doing, such as asking Leareth questions he has to struggle painfully to answer?  He does appreciate the input - Leareth clearly thinks in a very different way and notices different things, and that is valuable, especially in a place as strange as this - but it's not urgent, any more.  He tries to just... feel calm, and help Leareth feel calm, and give him space to consider their mutual situation and how it could be made easier.

(Leareth - is grateful and also deeply confused and does not at all have enough mental capacity to chase down what’s confusing here. It doesn’t actually matter, not concretely, when he can see Karal’s thoughts and tell that he’s sincere. It’s just very baffling that he is, apparently, sincere?)

…He’s inclined to agree with Karal’s assessment of his safe this place is in general. It fits with his own sense that it’s something like a House of Healing, with - the sort of people who Healers are, and maybe they even got a bit lucky with their particular Healer, though of course he’s instinctively suspicious of anything that looks like luck…

Either way, that’s - not the main reason he’s scared?

It doesn’t - matter - if most people would be safe here. He doesn’t know where he is and he’s probably still be within reach of the gods and that means he’s not safe unless he’s in control, which - is going to be impossible for a long time, it seems.

(He wishes this didn’t mean putting Karal in danger…)

Ah.  Yes, Leareth is right about that, and that's what Karal has been missing (and will probably keep missing for a while, until his instinctive reasoning learns it) - Karal is a normal person who a normal degree of safety is enough for, and Leareth is very much not.  And... this is why they're here - because Karal thought they would be safe to spend one night in the place that's always been safe for him, and he was wrong.  He should try not to make the same mistake again, though he has no idea how. 

(He doesn't mind that their entanglement puts him in danger - on some level he finds it confusing that Leareth minds it, although he appreciates the thought.  He minds that it makes him do badly at keeping other people safe. 

...He can see, through Leareth's eyes, that he is fundamentally a somewhat baffling person.  He has no defense to offer, except maybe that Leareth is deeply baffling himself.  That thought, too, is tinged with fondness.)

Neither of them is in control of much, here.  After that... Gods, it's a hard question, isn't it.  Does Leareth want to - think more about what the two of them will do with each other, once they're out of here and have actual decisions to make?  Or should they go back to finding out more about what that will be like, first?  Karal is not sure either of them is thinking clearly enough for binding decisions quite yet.  He knows there will be many of them to be made, but... he has to admit it's a relief, on some level, to have a little more of his own life even in this strange place.  To be forced to wait and think about what he wants, rather than having to go north with Leareth with much less choice about anything that happens next.  He swears he was not aiming for this, and so perhaps shouldn't feel anything positive about it, but here it is.

Leareth does not at all think that Karal was aiming for this! And isn't sure how he could have even in theory. He - agrees that they shouldn't make binding decisions right now - it's confusing that Karal would even have been contemplating that? 

(Below the surface: Leareth is aware that he has zero leverage with Karal, right now. He's the one who is - more impaired, helpless, dependent. It's not unsurvivable - the worst case here is that he dies again and wakes up somewhere else - but on a deep emotional level, he doesn't at all feel like it makes sense here for Karal to be asking what he wants.) 

Karal does not think in leverage and is not about to start.  Yes, he's also aware that he has Leareth stuck helpless in his head right now, and that he could likely keep him that way, and... they did both just say they shouldn't make binding decisions, so this isn't one, but... he is not going to do that.  He can imagine a future in which he gives himself a week, maybe a month.  He cannot imagine one where he just leaves things this way forever.  Even if he can easily predict Leareth telling him he has every right to, and trying not to make his obvious misery his problem.  Gods, the thought makes him shudder.  No.

In the meantime, the fact that Leareth is so dependent on him right now is more, not less, reason to ask what he wants.

(And on a practical level, it makes sense to ask what Leareth wants because Leareth is better at this, better at being the required degree of careful.  But it's not for his own sake that Karal wants to be careful, either, so it still comes back to the same reason.)

Well, in that case, Leareth is (still confused but the confusion doesn't matter right now) inclined to think that it would make sense to prioritize learning more about where they are? Since it - matters a lot, whether they're still in the territorial remit of the gods who have a grudge against him, and if so where exactly. And Karal is definitely better at orienting, given their current constraints, so - he should do that.

Karal thinks he can manage to make himself less confusing, but - it can be later, yes.  And in the meantime he's happy enough to fold the large questions and the attached emotions away for later and focus on something practical.

The problem with asking where they are is that he has no idea - not just how to ask the question, but how to recognize an answer.  He can... draw Karse on a map, and name the neighboring countries and some beyond that... He knows about the Pelagirs, something about uninhabitable ice mountains in the north, and more vaguely that there's the sea somewhere in one - or maybe all - of the other directions?...  They are clearly not anywhere he knows anything about, and he doesn't know what places there are that could possibly be this.  Does Leareth?  If Karal can get the young woman to show him a map, will that tell Leareth anything?

(He also worries for a moment about whether it's a good idea to ask questions that make it obvious how entirely not from here they are.  But it's obvious enough already, between the language and the circumstances, that it's probably not worth trying to hide.  Although he finds himself oddly unable to guess what these people will think about it.)

... Starting with the gods rather than the place seems like it might be easier.  Can he get the young woman to let him draw again?  What has she been doing, while he's been lying here having a conversation in his head?

Leareth would normally be able to mentally pull up a map of the entire continent. He…can’t, right now. He has his core memories and a few dozen intact episodic memories of his past life and - there's probably more, procedural memory transfers better, but he can't call it to mind unprompted. He does think it would help if Karal can communicate that they want to see a map.  

...It would really help if they could talk; place names spoken aloud might be recognizable even if they don't share an alphabet. Leareth's awareness of their body isn't great right now and he's sort of blearily confused about why talking isn't working. 

Marian assumed he had fallen asleep - it seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do, he's got to be exhausted and probably still has some sedation in his system. She's been trying to flag down someone to help turn him, without actually leaving the room because she's not yet super comfortable leaving him unrestrained but doesn't want to upset him by retying it. 

Oh he's awake again! She'll bring him the clipboard back, since he seems to want it. 

Leareth may be better off without clear awareness of their body!  They have a bizarre tube down their throat for some reason!  Karal hasn't even tried to pull it out and he thinks that's a better demonstration of self-control than stabbing himself was.

He'll... start with something he has any idea how to draw, because if he started by attempting a map he expects he'd end up with an unrecognizable blob.  He draws a few small houses, and a much larger temple building in the middle, with some vague squiggly decorations and a conspicuously blank circle in the center over the door, where he would automatically draw a Sun-In-Glory. Gesture at the blank spot, at the young woman, question?  He gives her the pen.

Marian has to stare at it for a while trying to guess at what the question could possibly be! She doesn’t think the large building is meant to represent the hospital. Some kind of large public building? "Large public building" could be a lot of things...she supposes it looks sort of mosque-like, maybe? Is the guy asking if she’s a Muslim? That would be a really weird question in addition to being absolutely none of his business.

Maybe he wants to know whether it’s a religious hospital? That’s still an odd question but at least it’s significantly less personal and awkward? 

What else could he mean? The big building could be a…courthouse? Library? Something with fancy architecture, though it's not quite fancy enough to be, like, a palace or something. She can’t think why he would be asking about a courthouse or library, though, or whet the conspicuous blank spot would be for given that it doesn’t seem likely he can read English text.

It - does overall seem like “what religion?” fits best with the drawing, and it’s, like, confusing but not completely insane that someone would have that question? The answer to "is Marian religious" and "is this hospital religious" are the same, and if he's asking about the city, it's - multicultural? Honestly, she should maybe try to answer all three of those questions, given how she doesn't think she has a way of narrowing down which one he means assuming she's even on the right track at all. 

She nods at his drawing, but then takes a new piece of paper and draws a bunch of small houses interspersed with a church (tower in the middle, sloped roof on either side, cross on top of the tower and, for congruence with the original drawing, inside a circle on the doors), and - smaller because probably it's a smaller percentage of the population - a mosque (a couple of domes with pointy tops and, uh, the Islam symbol is a crescent with a star in it, she thinks?) and - wow she's drawing a complete blank on whether there's a standard architectural style for synagogues, so she just draws a square building with a door that has a Star of David on it. 

...and then the hospital is over here - she draws a blocky building and gestures at the room around them - and it gets a circle on the door that's scribbled out and a headshake, which she hopes conveys "none of those are applicable"? And then she'll draw a figure to be herself and put a scribbled out circle on it too. 

So, they have gods - none of the symbols are obvious to to him, although they might have different ones this far away, and the stars could be the Star-Eyed or maybe Astera - but this House of Healing is opposed to them?  And so is the young woman personally, which warrants a separate drawing, because... they do allow god-worshippers here but they just don't like them?

That's... well, Karal is still not sure how he feels about all this opposition to the gods, but Leareth should get along with these people - and given what happened at home, he's probably right that it makes them safer.

Does Leareth recognize any of these gods?  The cross shape is particularly odd, it doesn't even look like anything.