"I wasn't on any ships. I was reading a book under a tree when I was bitten by a snake, and then suddenly I was here. At first, I assumed the snake's venom was a drug that makes you see things, and this whole world was just a drug-dream. It looks like I was wrong, but I don't know what did happen."

"Uh. I don't think there are any recorded incidents of people vanishing after snakebites, either, so that's not a reliable way to get you home. Hey, do snakes drink your blood? And, uh, we have ships that go everywhere except Valinor but I'm not sure that'll help you.

"Snakes don't drink blood. The only things that drink blood on my world are people, some fish, and some bugs. Why don't your ships go to 'Valinor'?"

"Not allowed. Valinor's supposedly ruled by gods who won't let anybody in. The won't let anybody in part has evidence for it. The gods part does not."

"Have your people ever been to Valinor, or seen anyone who came from there?"

"No and no, though there's plenty of reliable historical evidence that Elves visited from there half a millenium ago. We don't live that long, so no eyewitnesses."

"What are Elves like? Specifically, what distinguishes Elves, Men, and gods-as-described?"

"Gods-as-described have never been seen, except in stories which conveniently suggest that they favor the current rulers. Elves are like us only taller, prettier - because our beauty standards were designed with them as the ultimate ideal, despite its laughable impossibility for Men, and it's not even healthy - and Men are us."

"In these stories, what's the justification for the gods favouring the current rulers? And what causes Men to age when Elves do not?"

"There've been books written on that second question. The gods. Something to do with our souls. Our sinfulness. It's all bullshit. No one really knows. I can't answer your first question either - sometimes it's that the current rulers are descended from the gods, sometimes the gods just recognize their wisdom."

"Do most Adûna believe these claims of divine right? If not, why bother making them? If so, why do you disagree with the rest of your people?" Carmen paused, restraining a torrent of questions. "Actually, would it be possible for me to read any of the books myself?"

"Sure thing! We have public libraries, these days. Big public works initiative. Whenever the Kings get too outrageously richer than the populace they pay some laborers to construct some elaborate buildings, buy off the populace from revolting. You'll just have to learn to read our script. And yes, most people believe it, or don't disbelieve it. I don't know why I'm different. A year ago I'd have said "I'm smarter" but that's not it."

"Why did you change your mind about being smarter? And how hard is it to learn the script, once you're OK with the spoken language?"

"Oh, pretty easy, really. The Elves made it, and they're very refined in their tastes. It's better for writing the Elven tongue than ours, but most of the books are written in the Elven tongue anyway - it's considered the intellectual one. Formal court proceedings still happen in Quenya, and nearly the entire government is administered in Sindarin, despite the fact most of the populace doesn't speak it. Elves. And I realized being smart doesn't have anything to do with why most people are  unwilling to question what they've been taught, and attributing it to any other virtues of mine seems unhealthy."

"Oh, you have separate languages for different domains too? All the important stuff in my religion is done in two dead languages, plus secular Zifarti stuff uses another language that's rarely spoken in the country I'm from. Lots of historical importance. Are Quenya and Sindarin important to your government for historical reasons?"

"Sort of. The Elves speak them, and the Elves are kind of like history. Mostly I think it's to their advantage to conduct everything in a language the commoners don't speak."

"Oh, that's an interesting take on it. The reason not many Zifartas in my country speak the Zifartil language is because, about two centuries ago, the government tried to force everyone to speak the same language, and the Zifarti were a minority. The idea was to have everyone bound together by a civic identity and by the fact that, while they understood each other, they couldn't undertand foreigners. The government also found it more efficient to administer people who they could speak to. What are the benefits of not having the government and the populace speak the same language?"

"The populace has no access to their government, can't defend themselves in court, gets only mediated versions of their own history, and is denied most high office without any explicit laws or discrimination on the government's part."

"Then who does run your government? How do people know the law? There is no point in even having a law if people don't know it and can't follow it."

"The law gets translated, obviously. And most of that sort of thing is learned knowledge. You do what your parents say, you grow up and teach your children the same, sometimes someone tells you there's something you can't do. No access to the system, no ability to appeal it, but it's not hard to comply with it."

"Wow. Your country is even more dark and totalitarian than Natsiya, and Natsiya is synonymous in my world with "dark, totalitarian rule". Was it always like this? Are there other countries that are less... like this?"

"She might be exaggerating," Izindal says. "I have a lot of concerns about our leadership but Gimlith's whole thing is being very, very angry."

"That's slightly unfair," she says, "a great deal of my thing is making people uncomfortably aware that they, too, ought to be angry."

"Most people live perfectly fine and happy lives here," Izindal says, "and there are avenues of accountability if you're mistreated, though they're imperfect."

"Right. I shouldn't take everything you said as perfectly accurate anyway - no offense; just best practices. Have to hear all sides. There are patriots in my country who say G-d founded our nation, and sepratists who think it's literally run by demons. It's only fair that I read what the regime says in its own defense, anyway."

"Well, for that the libraries are very well equipped. I've been up all night. Gimlith can teach you to read."

"Alright!" She says eagerly, not betraying a hint of tiredness. "Bring on the books!"