Emiko looked around the new research outpost. It was fairly small by Starlight's standards but it could be expanded later if necessary. The station was a mere 2 kilometers in diameter and only the same amount wide making for an inner surface of about 12 square kilometers. For now it was mostly park land and some small farms. There was constant soft illumination through the transparent siding of the station's outer ring from the silver mist outside and fusion powered lights provided brighter illumination on a daily cycle. The strange mist didn't seem to be affected by gravity and was close to uniform in every direction they'd sent probes out for at least a few million kilometers. A magecrafter had come through and determined that the mist was probably harmless but none of them were currently available for follow-up tests so at least for now the team here would be relying on resonators and good old-fashioned physics.
"Knowledge of generally useful information in my world that's useful for building the most effective weapons my world knows of is heavily restricted. Perhaps your world's Crisis was less damaging than the War of Aiquzall? The War of Aiquzall was likely damaging to the structure of time itself, I don't know if yours got that bad."
"No, I'm not aware of any weapons technologies that could do that. Our most powerful weapons could kill a lot of people but ultimately the scars they leave can be fixed with enough time and effort."
"Thank you for explaining. I, ah, do think I ought to withhold some information from Starlight until it's clearer to me what your capacity is to prevent misuse of it. Though I do understand that you are offering me a great gift, and that you could simply have misled me in a way which caused me to be more informative, and should there be anything you urgently need to know I will do my best to address your concerns."
"That's more than reasonable. Our help isn't conditional on anything, not for the basics anyway and we consider immortality to be part of that." And they've gotten to the end of their elevator ride. There's a brief jerk as they go from 1.1 g to 1. The doors on the side open. "Welcome to Mistpiercer proper. We named the station after that strange mist outside."
Emiko reaches through Griffith's bubble and offers it to them. "This will copy your mind into our central archives. We'll watch to see when your body dies and build a new body for you then."
When Griffith takes the sphere there's a voice in their head. It isn't speaking any languages exactly more raw concepts. Do you consent to your mind being stored in the Heart's archive? There's also a sense that this is the most reliable known place for storing minds and that there are strict rules forbidding using anyone's knowledge from these archives without their permission.
Starlight mind-affecting magic is subtle, and thus if they were going to harm Griffie they probably could have done it by now. Griffie attempts to reply to the sphere. Yes, I do so consent.
Griffie attempts to memorize the code. It's short. "What precisely is the retrieval code used for, and ought I refrain from recording it?"
"The retrieval codes are to give to friends or other people you want to handle getting you a new body. The division of immortality will do it if you ask them to and I filed that request on your behalf but if you want someone else to handle it they need the code. I guess in theory someone could kill your body and then use the code to make you a new one but that's pretty unlikely and we check on people after they get new bodies to try to ensure nothing nefarious like that is happening."
"Alright. Contact with my world is an interesting problem. That said, any archon, and any high-ranking servant of a Celestial deity, is permitted to involve themselves in my case should they consider it appropriate. I do doubt that you will make productive-for-you contact with my world without further knowledge of the situation, though."
"Well. If you are honest, you have given me a great gift. The fact that you offer it freely does not lessen this. I am willing to share information should you have safeguards against it being used for net-destructive warfare, and I am willing to perform various feats of magic for your organization. And of course, should you be interested in contact with my world, I would be eager to provide you with all necessary information that I have."
"Also, I perhaps ought to ask you what your name is. I have already stated mine."
"Oh sorry, I forgot I haven't introduced myself I'm Emiko Shīkā. If that's hard to pronounce you can call me Seeker. Everyone who works in positions where they might talk with people from outside of Starlight chooses a name likely to translate."
"Thank you. I'm glad I can pronounce it correctly. I used to be worse with languages, one of my friends' names contains a /θ/-sound and I approximated it as /t/ when we met."
"So if I've answered your immediate questions could you explain what the four substances that make up your body and possessions are?"
"Oh. That's simple. Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Air is the gas my bubble is filled with. My waterskin is full of Water. The inert solid objects on my person are primarily made of various forms of Earth, with the metal components being the purest. And I don't have any active flames going, but there's Fire throughout, otherwise I'd be far too cold to do anything, and I have some substances particularly rich in stored Fire on me."
"That's odd, we have legends on our world that classify things the same way. Though in our world at least there isn't any basis to that. Are Gold and Silver types of metal in your world? Your language seems to suggest they are. What are those composed of and how do they differ from other metals?"
"They are composed of Earth atoms. Different metals are different arrangements of Earth atoms. I do not know the precise details of any specific metal, I am no alchemist."