Something about this nature of this place is attuned to the wind, however, because the wind doesn't flutter meekly about her skirts, and it doesn't die down. Instead it curls around her in a tight spiral, and then turns and races outward across the grass, vanishing into the distance.

POM

Other than wind, the things that stand out about this place are: bright, noon-time sunlight; an endless sea of rich green grass; a complete lack of trees and other structures;

POM

... and a deep, slow thumping that seems to rattle the earth.

She looks around curiously. A part of her was expecting to arrive near people but she's up for a bit of a walk. The thrumming is a bit more of a concern. She's also not sure if the wind was a dramatic part of her arrival or something about this place.

She has powers though she wants to experience those. She closes her eyes for a moment and her attention turns to her new inner world. She's standing on a wooden dock looking out at a lake and a distant shore. Over to the side she can see a rope swing hanging from a massive tree and behind her there's a cozy little house nestled among more trees. There's a kayak on one side of the dock that she could put in the water if she wanted.

Opening her eyes again, she looks down at her dress and it changes colors ane patterns a few times there's a white design with pink flowers, a swirly design with turquoise and light blues, a deep black with the sparkles like stars and then she returns to her original dark blue. The design shifts to, she ends with a strapless number that fits better than any strapless dress she's tried before. Clothing magic is wonderful.

What else to try... Oh right kid mode. It takes a few seconds to think in the right direction but she shrinks down to the size and shape of a child. She does a little spin with her new smaller shape.

And then returns to her adult form.

As a final test she sings a little in keys higher and lower than she could have ever reached before. That's a nice bonus. Her soundtrack kicks in to give her an instrumental accompaniment only she can hear.

Having these powers is fantastic.

And her soundtrack is supposed to be able to predict things just a little. She tries walking a few places in a few different directions to see if there's a hint in the music that one of the directions is better to walk in than another.

Yes, actually. If she goes too far in the direction of the sun, the strings pick up a subtle tension, as though building up to a dramatic crescendo. Stepping back away from the sun makes them resolve it back into a pleasant pastoral melody. Walking too far in that direction makes the music die down and become less lively. Walking perpendicular to the direction of the sun doesn't appear to have a detectable effect.

POM

Also, the thumping seems to be setting the tempo. And it's ... possibly a bit louder?

Well that's a pretty strong signal that the story is to be found by walking towards the sun. Is she ready to start the story?

Well if she's walking straight into the sun she'll want something to help with that. She manifests a small ring that gives her the benefits of a sun visor and sunglasses. She relaxes a bit now that she doesn't need to worry about the glare.

The tension does have her a little worried. She could try to make herself some sort of armor but without knowing more it might not work. She'll trust in the music there's tension there but it doesn't sound ominous.

Off to the next chapter in her story.

The grassland is ... repetitive. There are hills, but mostly there is grass.

As her path takes her around the base of one hill, however, she abruptly spots an explanation for the thumping: a giant turtle, perhaps a mile across, back encrusted with buildings. Brightly colored ropes dangle from the edge of its shell to brush along the grass. It's a little hard to judge its precise size and speed without some better reference, but it's path is easier to divine.

It's headed right toward her.

She just stares for a long moment. A city on the back of a turtle. That's both incredible and also a little intimidating.

Well it seems like the story wants her to get on the turtle. Can she see any ladders or similar signs of a way to do that? She can pull some binoculars from a previously non-existent pocket if she needs to.

Also is the thumping getting stronger? Does it seem like it's going to knock her off her feet?

It is getting stronger (and sending waves of motion through the grass), but the thumping is regular enough that it's a bit like having sea-legs: after a period of adjustment she should be fine.

The binoculars reveal that the ropes hanging from the shell are knotted around regularly-spaced wooden crosspieces, which seems to suggest that people can be expected to climb on as the turtle is in mid-stride.

Well... Hollow Legs is supposed to make her as athletic as a normal person can be when she needs it. She can at least try it.

She manifests a second ring to give herself at least some protection from a bad fall. Enough to hopefully avoid any broken bones or a concussion. And then she steels herself and makes for the nearest rope.

As she gets closer to the turtle, two facts become apparent. One, that it is only moving at a fast jog, so she can, with some effort, get out of its path and circle around to one of the ladders. And two, that it's big.

"City on the back of a turtle" doesn't really do a good job of conveying the visceral sense of scale one gets from being loomed over by a creature that has districts.

The most difficult part of climbing the ladder proves just to be catching it — maintaining an equal pace while running alongside the creature, and then jumping for one of the ropes. Once she's done that, it's more or less a normal rope ladder, although a bit wobbly. And whisking her over the tops of the grasses at a fast jog.

Yeah that's huge, especially with the music to emphasize the experience she has to just pause a little to process. But then she refocuses.

She hasn't run seriously in years but jogging she can manage she might even have been able to manage it without powers. She's a little surprised the ladder isn't swinging more but she doesn't spend much time focusing on how fortunate that is. She climbs.

The top of the ladder lets out at a sort of set of docks built along the edge of the shell. While the place is fairly empty at the moment, there are clear places for cargo to be stacked, and some manually driven cargo-cranes with thick ropes.

There is also a wall between her and the city proper, albeit one with a lot of doors. A sign on the wall points to the one open door, in which a bored-looking young man in neat blue clothing lounges while reading a book.

Beyond the wall, the buildings of the city rise with the turtle's shell, the sounds of industry and the smell of strange markets mixing and floating to her on the constant breeze.

She smiles, people and bureaucracy may not be quite the same everywhere but they rhyme. She probably doesn't speak the local language but that's what Omniglot is for.

"Hello." She doesn't wave but a closed mouth smile is probably going to convey friendliness.

He carefully marks his place in his book and looks up at her. He smiles a customer-service smile.

"Hello," he echos.

"You to Terrance what today brings?"

That's a more open question than she was hoping for.

"I," she gestures to herself, "Terrance today see," she gestures to her eye. "I to Terrance today bring."

... right.

He switches languages.

"? You more comfortably speak the-language-of-the-water-walkers?"

It's good that he speaks multiple languages but that's going to make this harder.

Maybe she can cludge something together though.

"You. You." She uses both languages words for you to attempt to demonstrate an understanding of what they mean she also gestures in his direction.

"You to more comfortably speak I today brings." She still doesn't have a first person pronoun so she uses English for that and again gestures to herself as she says it.

He blinks at her.

He knows the words of the forest because he's human. He knows the language of the water walkers because it's a lingua franca for traders. But he's not some endless repository of languages who is going to be able to guess what weird thing she speaks. He can't even wind-whistle and he lives on a turtle.

"So only Forest the-langugae-of-the-water-walkers and I speak. Either of those you can pick, my boss who could help I call you can wait or."

Oh good a first person pronoun.

"I could speak. You, you boss or could help."

"You could speak? You right-now can't speak but?"

He squints at her.

"Language-learning your special-talent is?"

Something about the grammar clicks for her.

"Should I just try to ask my questions, and you'll pick things up as I go?"

She smiles wider "Language-learning is my special talent," she confirms. It's not precisely accurate but it's close enough. "I pick up things as you go."