"His name's Gord.  He's a wizard, or something like that - he says someone named Gorum gave him magic.  And he used some magic to let Merry speak his language!"

Frodo looks excited but also dubious.

(The Westron word 'wizard' translates as 'mage'.)

"I can't do it again today, I prepared different spells. I could give it to more people tomorrow, but not all of you at once - not for twenty-four hours, anyway, I could do all of you for a few hours."

"What gods are worshipped around here? If I don't recognize any of them, then I'm probably not from this world." (The Hallit word, like the English one, isn't precise enough to mean 'planet'.)

Merry answers in Hallit without bothering to translate.  "I don't think we worship any 'gods'.  Unless the king counts; we invoke him sometimes?  At least, not us hobbits.

"Er - there isn't an actual king around here, not since before my grandfather was born.  But we still name him at the Free Fair and put him on our coins and things."

No gods, no kings? How very Rahadoumi of them. Strider was firmer on the idea of gods, though, so Gord isn't going to just take Merry at his word.

"Worship can be very different, depending on the god and the people. But it's always about being and doing the kinds of things that god cares about and wants to see more of in the world. Whether that's singing, painting, fighting evil, perfecting yourself, fighting for a cause, enforcing the law, trading, travelling to see the world, selflessly helping others, getting rich, raising your family - there are many gods out there. And then they choose people who are, or are doing, what that god likes to see, and give them magic, and those are clerics. Sometimes the gods intervene themselves or send messengers, but that's very rare in comparison - a historical event, not an everyday one." 

"Can you keep translating for the others? Strider looks like he had something to say," he nudges.

Merry purses his lips.  "Oh, like the god's your patron?...  And he just wants more painting or traveling or something in the world?..."

But then, yes, he translates.  "Gord wants to know what gods are worshipped here.  I said I didn't know of any, except maybe The King, but he says worship can be any sort of thing about doing the kind of things the god wants to have done..."  (He gives a more-or-less faithful translation of the rest of the paragraph.)

"What, Merry, weren't you listening when the Elves were singing to Elbereth?"

"I didn't know of any we hobbits worship, I mean."

Strider has to suppress a chuckle.

"There are the Valar, the Powers, but few except the Elves worship them.  Manwë Aran Einior King of the Skies, Varda Elbereth Star-Kindler, Ulmo Ylmir Lord of the Waters, Tulkas whom I thought might be the same as your Gorum...  And there is also the One, All-Father, who made them.  He hardly ever clearly acts in the world, though Gandalf thought he might have had a hand in some recent events.  And none of them give magic the way your gods do."

He pauses and frowns.  "But some worship the Dark Lord, Sauron of Mordor.  He... sometimes does pretend to give magic, though it almost always hurts the person he gives it to."

(If Gord is watching very closely, he'll see Strider's eyes flicker to Frodo at that last line.)

Hmm.

"I wouldn't be surprised to hear of gods with such names and domains, back home. Desna is the Chaotic Good goddess of stars and safe travel and helping strangers. And She likes butterflies. Gozreh are the dual gods of sky and storm and nature; people who live in and care for the wilderness often worship them."

"And yes, there are Evil gods too, almost as many as Good ones. They're fighting each other, and their mortal followers are often fighting. I'm not sure if I should tell you about the Evil ones, if you don't know them already."

"But our gods all give out magic. Or, I suppose maybe there are many who don't, and that's why I haven't heard of them. They don't live among us, and I'm sure they do other things at home, but giving out magic and maybe visions is how they usually interact with mortals."

"I don't know how a world without clerics works. Do your gods do anything? Do only wizards have magic? Are you sure this goes for your whole world, and not just this country or continent?" Although it's hard to imagine how powerful clerics could stay contained to a single continent.

Merry makes a face at the evil gods.  "Well, I've never seen any gods do anything.  And it isn't just the wizards who have magic; the Elves have it too!  And also - er -"

"What was that you were making a face at, Merry?"

(He translates.)

Frodo looks thoughtful.  "Bilbo once said that the Elves said the power of Elbereth was in all the starlight, and the power of Ulmo in all the rivers.  I don't know about the rest of the world..  The Undying Lands aren't really part of the world anymore, are they?"

Strider shakes his head.  "Not anymore.  I haven't traveled through all the world, but I've traveled a long ways, and I haven't seen any 'clerics' with given magic except the Dark Lord's servants.  There are still a few Elves who learned magic from the Valar, but they learned it from them like a pupil from a teacher."

Sam, who hasn't heard anything about the Elves learning from the Valar, gasps.

"We call people who learn to do magic on their own by studying with other mages wizards. They have to be very cunning and study a lot, to understand how the magic actually works, and they can teach others or even invent new spells. I can only use what Gorum gives me, and I understand what it does because He gives me that understanding too but I have no idea how it does it. There are many more clerics than wizards where I come from, though, because few people are smart enough and have the time and money and opportunity to study with another wizard."

Strider certainly looks and moves like a trained warrior. If he's traveled a lot, he must be a seasoned adventurer. It would be slightly weird for someone like not to carry anything even a bit magic on them. And most magic items are made by wizards, not clerics.

Half on instinct, half on a whim, Golrd casts detect magic. Are they all as unmagical as they claim to be?

"Can anyone learn magic like that!?" Merry exclaims, before (at Frodo's sharp look) translating.

"I have learned some things from the Elves," Strider says thoughtfully, "but very little I would properly call 'magic'.  I wonder if magic works differently where you are from.  Though, your translation spell still works..."

(He has a magical sword on him, and a few slightly-magical things in a pouch, but nothing else.)

The hobbits all have magical daggers... and one of them has a very, very magical ring in his pocket.

Aaagh that thing is blinding! He almost flinches before he can suppress the reaction, but his eyes dart involuntarily to Frodo's pocket before he drags them back to Strider's face and dismisses the spell.

What in the Nine Hells was that thing?! Gord saw a Wardstone once and it wasn't as bright! His body automatically goes into fight readiness, even as he (also automatically) tries his best to suppress any tells.

He was prepared to see a few magic sword daggers, sure, something that might mean they'd been holding out on him, or that was maybe a misunderstanding, or just understandably keeping back some of their abilities from a stranger.

He wasn't mentally prepared to see a halfling walking around with an artifact in his pocket. Unless it's - a spell meant to blind people who cast Detect Magic?

"...anyone can learn, in principle," he says, trying to conceal his shock. "Enough for little cantrips, like this - Light!" His sword lights up. Maybe he shouldn't have drawn attention to his sword? But he had it in hand already.

"But like I said, most people aren't smart enough to learn it. And the few wizards who are looking for students choose the brightest ones, the ones who might become the strongest wizards one day. So most people never get a chance to try, either, unless they're so rich they can pay a wizard to tutor their children."

Oh, someone is looking at the Ring?  The Ring will be paying attention.  Even closer attention than it was already paying, with its Lord's servants nearby.

Sam notices Gord's quick stare at Mister Frodo.  "What're you up to there!?" he exclaims.

"Oh wow, can I learn how to do magic like that!?  How smart is smart enough?  I've been studying the family books and account-books!"

(When his family was able to make him, that is - but he's not going to mention that now that studying might lead to something fun.)