As much fun as meekly being led to new and exciting places to wait is, can they maybe get started on getting her some vocabulary? Not understanding a word anyone says is getting really old. She can point at things and name them in English, then motion towards Taliar in a 'now you' gesture?

...this is the face of someone who would really like to tell her something that is beyond the power of their shared vocabulary to communicate.

He shakes his head and starts naming objects, faster than she was and with more commentary.

... She's looking at him strangely, but is clearly listening to everything he's saying.

He proceeds in this fashion all the way out of the castle and down the deserted street and—

"—lamp-post, a broken lamp-post to be specific—"

—suddenly, although he's still speaking the same language, she understands every word he's saying the moment he says it.

"- Ah, that makes a lot more sense now. Hello."

"Yeah sorry I had no way to tell you I was headed for a translating soulbearer that was more efficient than, uh, going there. If Kelora had told me he was more than ten minutes away I would've gotten to the vocabulary lessons ahead of you, but as it is..." shrug.

"It's all right, I can tolerate a bit of confusion. You have the situation in hand, right, I don't need to flee from the next sadistic soulbearer on your list?"

"Nope, Seofar was the last one."

"Congratulations on a job well done. I assume."

"Yeah, it's... been a busy few weeks."

"I'm sorry. I really don't think I've made your next few weeks boring, too."

"Hmm?"

"Hello, I'm a vampire. I was human once and decided to stop. We are super fast, super strong, live until killed, flammable, drink blood for sustenance - animal blood is unpleasant but will suit us fine, I've had nothing but - and have some bizarre quirks, some of which are psychological. One of which is currently highly relevant to you. I, ah. Vampires occasionally fall in love at first sight with someone that's supposed to be mutually compatible. ... Once."

"You're right," he says, "that does kind of complicate my life a little. Um. Are you - okay?"

"Physically, yes. Emotionally, um. Seeing you get set on fire was unpleasant but I'm coping okay enough, and the rest of my okay is a little dependent on whether or not an extremely foreign vampire fits into your life and if I can get home or not. If you, ah. Would like me to just leave," she does not look like she wants to say these words but presses on anyway, "then I can just leave and stop being your problem. I knew what I was signing up for when I turned, I can face the consequences of my own actions."

"That... doesn't really..." He shakes his head. "...things are my problem to the extent that they are problems I have the right and the ability to solve, I can't just tell you to go home, that doesn't sound like it'd help at all."

"Probably not, no, but if I didn't open with 'you can tell me to go away' and mean it, that would be an entirely different set of problems. If you'd like to not send me packing, excellent, that sounds great to me."

"Well, fair enough."

She smiles.

"I'm sorry about putting you in this situation, I know it's a bit awkward."

"It is not the most awkward my life has ever gotten!"

"Really. There was something more awkward than a vampire from another world showing up in the middle of your dramatic final confrontation to confess that she is vampirically in love with you. Well, now I'm curious, what could possibly top that?"

"Maybe I should start from the beginning. ...the beginning is plausibly two thousand years ago but a lot of the middle bits summarize well."

"I don't mind listening to a very long story. Go on?"

"Okay. So - soulbearers. There was a time when not everybody knew how to manifest their soul. The first time the knowledge went public, there was a war going on and both sides suddenly had armies of soulbearers and this turned out to be a terrible idea and they completely destroyed each other. Everyone else collectively decided that armies of soulbearers are really bad and nobody should ever use one. Thus ends the first Soul War. A few centuries went by. People being people, somebody eventually decided that the war they wanted to win was definitely worth starting that shit up again, so they fielded an army of soulbearers, and things got real fucked up, and more and more countries kept getting pulled into the conflict until eventually there weren't any left - and I don't mean 'weren't any left not fighting', I mean weren't any left - and those were the Soul Wars and it took two thousand years for the world to recover to the state it's in now."

Eyebrow raise.

"Charming. Glad to see you've recovered."