"And the peoples don't trade or communicate often, and you don't socialize outside of work?"

"Oh, our people interact all the time!" she corrects.

"But we don't talk directly to our counterparts. There's not usually a reason to?"

"Maybe we're used to a higher default interaction level because we're accustomed to the Internet," speculates Shiresk.

"Maybe - "

Puna blinks.

"What's the Internet? It sounds fascinating!"

"It's a way to write things that anyone in the world can read. Among other uses."

Her eyes get very round.

"OOooooh. Can I see it? Just quickly while we're waiting? It sounds really cool!"

"Does your translation work on text?"

"It does!" she chirps.

"Is that a yes?"

If anyone happens to look in the right direction, they might notice her feet aren't actually on the ground right now. 

Princess Amnoi shows her the conversation wherein she asked the Tapai liaison to Shi Alassei to call over some representatives to meet Puna. "This is what I most recently did with it, but I'm not sure what you'd find most interesting."

She's delighted regardless. 

"And everyone has access to this? You don't have to know anything about how it works to use it? This is great! I want one!"

"I'll have someone go buy you a pocket everything!" smiles the princess, and she uses her pocket everything to order just that.

Puna is too short to watch over her shoulder while she does this. She solves this problem by floating!

"Yay! Thank you!"

"You're welcome! It'll take maybe ten minutes."

"Okay!" 

She looks around to see if anyone has any questions to fill the time.

"How much longer until the Tapai delegation arrive?" she wonders. 

"Another hour or two. And they may have decided to alert some other countries, but if so they didn't tell us yet."

She nods, half her attention on watching the priest carry out his instructions back on Corth. 

"Oooh, he managed to find a priest of Elpida! Do you want to watch?"

"How would we do that?"

"I can show you!"

Puna holds out her hands, making them into a miniature stage for the tiny illusion people she conjures up, complete with a view of their surroundings.

A motu man dressed in robes the colour of autumn leaves stands facing a youthful woman in green, who could be a yellow Amentan apart from her pointed ears. The marble-columned room is bright with a rainbow of potted plants. 

As they watch, a third miniature person appears in the illusion, stepping out from behind a column carved to look like a tree.

Like her priestess, she could almost pass for an Amentan with pointy ears, but has warm brown hair upon which she wears a crown of flowers. She looks about four in Amentan terms, and is wearing a dress made entirely of flowers and leaves. The sense of divinity is muted through an illusion, but seems very similar to Puna's. 

She looks up, directly at the watchers. 

"Greetings, cousin," says the goddess Elpida.

"- can she see us too -"

"No, don't worry," Puna reassures them.

"She can tell I'm watching, but she can't see me or you. In fact - "

A duplicate of Puna's avatar appears in the scene, and returns Elpida's greeting. Someone looking closely might notice that the two goddesses in the illusion look slightly translucent next to their priests, similar to the difference between the illusory people and the real ones standing around. 

Puna proceeds to explain the situation to her fellow goddess.

"I would be glad to help," Elpida says when she's finished.

"Should I send an avatar now, or wait until preparations are more advanced?"

"Whichever is more convenient for you."

"I shall wait, I think," she decides.

Her voice is softer and calmer than Puna's, but comes through the illusion with perfect clarity. 

"Maintaining an avatar is an effort, however slight, and it sounds as though there is little point in my presence on Amenta before we are ready to begin work on your planets." 

"We appreciate your consideration," says the princess, "and will be delighted to receive you when the time comes."