Ah fuck is this the Elemental Plane of Ice or something. She hugs herself but it's not going to do much good, it's early fall and she didn't even need her coat today before she tripped in the wrong place.

Almost immediately, other minds begin to press at her awareness, telepathically prodding her mental shield. Some of them send emotions—curiosity, wariness, concern. 

WHAT, STOP THAT, she usually lets her shield do its thing passively but if she can actually feel someone clawing at it she's going to put more power into it and die of the cold with some scrap of privacy - how many signatures is this, is it within range for her to project back -

Just as quickly, they recede.

And then a man appears a few feet in front of her. Tall, thin, brown-haired. He's also not dressed for this weather—a tunic over a shirt and trousers—although he doesn't double over and start shivering. He raises his voice over the wind and speaks to her in an unfamiliar language.

Presumably he's got a spell on. "I only speak Pax!" she calls.

He telepathically sends her an image: a warm building, tea and a hot meal. Even without words, the sense of his question is clear: May I take you there?

Yes please? she replies.

He offers his hand.

Touch-range spell? She unpeels one arm from her feeble attempt to stave off the cold and meets his fingertips with hers.

As soon as their hands touch, both of them are ripped out of existence and then shoved back in. The effect is somewhat like falling ten stories, minus the falling—just the landing. It completely knocks the wind out of Bella. There's no actual physical damage, but it takes a minute to become aware of her surroundings. It's warm, and the wind has stopped, and she's sitting on a hard-backed chair, and something smells like tea, and oh look someone's offering a cup to her. It's a new person, although he looks kind of similar to the man she met out in the gale (who is now sitting next to her, collecting himself as well). Through a window she can see snow.

The new man's countenance is unreadable, but he telepathically exudes apology, begging her pardon for the mental trespass and for the unpleasant transfer magic.

Oh that's not a very nice kind of teleport but she's not dying of cold, she guesses. She takes the cup. It's better than freezing. Thank you.

That earns a smile.

As Bella warms up, they try some cross-language communication. Neither of them is as good as her at substituting actual words. Without the benefit of a shared language, she mostly receives images, emotions, impressions. She gets their names: the older man who handed her tea is Detlev; the younger who fetched her is his son Sveneric. Detlev, who's better at wordless telepathy, eventually manages to convey the following: We have a spell that can translate languages. We can add your language to it, allowing you easy communication with anyone on this world, if we look inside your mind. We will be careful to touch nothing except language; your mind-shield will help. May we? "We" comes with an impression of a woman not currently present.

What area would I need to unshield for you to get what you need about Pax?

Words, definitions, are closely connected to memories and other private thoughts. They can skim the surface of her mind, grabbing only the lexicon and deliberately ignoring everything else. If she can shield the "everything else", all the better. Grammar rules are easier to grab without risking an intrusion. (There is, maybe, a little bit of a paradigm mismatch here.)

Yeah, can they like - show her someone who has unshielded only a language for her to copy, maybe?

Of course. Detlev offers his own mind: perfectly shielded, but with a filter allowing access to language concepts.

Great. With this example she thinks she can mimic it. Like - so.

And the woman appears. Around Sveneric's age (late twenties, maybe), dressed in an austere robe. She nods to Bella in greeting, then looks at Detlev.

Turns out this will take time. Less than a half a day, but not that much less. Does Bella maybe want to eat first? Or sleep? 

She doesn't need to sleep in the next ten hours, it was morning for her, but she could use food if there is some reason that can't happen simultaneously?

If she can eat and shield at the same time, then they can get started. Sveneric mutters something and makes a sign, and with a puff of displaced air two plates of food appear on a nearby table. Chicken, rice, and veggies; some of the spices are unfamiliar.

The translation begins. The woman, Hibern, does the actual magic; Detlev is also present in the mental realm, guiding her hand and strengthening Bella's shield. Throughout the process Hibern remains perfectly still, eyes closed, not uttering a word; as time passes, the air begins to warp and scintillate around her.

Sveneric teleports out once he's finished his meal. He returns near the end of the spell, well after the sun has set and the house's magical glass lights have come on.

And it's done. The building power dissipates, the air returns to normal, and Hibern collapses into a chair.

When Sveneric says, "Did it work?" in Sartoran, the words echo a split second later in Bella's ear in Pax.

"- on this end, yes, can you understand me?"

"Yes!" He smiles. "Now tell me, where do you come from? And how did you come to this world?"

Before she can answer, Detlev stands. "If you'll excuse me." (Perhaps by this point Bella has perhaps noticed that both men, Detlev especially, have a bearing reminiscent of fighters and other military types—nothing overtly threatening, but perfect posture and economy of movement.) "Could you see to our guests while I recover?"

Sveneric gestures assent, and Detlev smiles goodnight to Bella and retreats upstairs.

"Good night. Uh, I tripped in an interplanar studies classroom."

He gestures for her to go on.

"...into some kind of active working, I don't know much about it because I'm not majoring in any magical field let alone interplanar studies, and then I was in that cold area. I'm from the Magisterian Imperium on the Material Plane if you know where that is?"