The thin-legged quadrupeds are domesticated! She can tell from how the person gets on its back and rides off!

Yeah, all these people who think she's super important are not going to make passes. They're feeding her and watering her and waiting for someone sufficiently important to show up that he can make decisions more complicated than 'when foreign royalty wearing magic clothes show up, give them hospitality and call for backup.'

Ughhhhhhhh.

Not that her displeasure will show on her face, or anything. She will smile politely and be so pleasant and stay where they put her and eat what they give her in small, languid, ladylike bites as she looks at the picturesque countryside. So that if it's poisoned she'll notice before she's out of commission entirely. Probably not, but hey. Might as well be careful. This place sets her a little on edge.

Is anyone brave enough to come try to talk to her (with magic) while she eats like the royalty they all apparently think she is?

Nothing is poisoned! They're giving her the best they have!

And sure, Firuz has dibs on that. What does she want to talk about?

The obvious thing that's disturbing her a bit!

((So is there some sort of famine/trouble going on around here? A lot of people seem so malnourished.))

... Did she grow up in a palace or something? I mean, yes, things have been bad, but... maybe she means particularly now?

((The Tafnoi/people of a specific culture/nomads who like stealing stuff))

((Have been raiding/looting/killing more than usual, so times are hard in))

((This province/the southern parts of the western Qalmiri empire/ areas neighboring this desert south of us,))

((Since the Traveler/giant metal guy/alien from another world/evil overlord/new conqueror person))

((Conquered the Hellfire Wastes/these terrible poor areas south of us/the continent's largest desert.))

She's... missing something. Because petty bandits don't explain poverty that looks this entrenched. These are not people that have fallen on extremely hard times recently, these are people who lived hard lives who are recently living harder ones. And she doesn't know where she'd see that unless this were a more literal war zone. With more things trying to kill her. Maybe... the fertility of the land is garbage, and there's no Melandru to fix it?? Could just that do all this??? Don't they have ways to fix it?? Hm.

((I see.))

((How long ago did things start getting worse/when did the evil overlord?? apparently? start doing evil overlord things?))

((That was five years ago/approximately five years/five years by our best repots.))

((But the lands near the Hellfire Wastes has been poor forever/they grow tiny crops/they have no cities/it is very hot and dry.))

((I'm sorry/That seems suboptimal/She is absolutely now trying to think of a way to fix it))

((Qalmir/like Qalmir Qalmir the inner area not its empire))

((Possesses boundless wealth/that's rhetoric it's technically bounded but super huge))

((Because of the benevolence of the Empress/ruler of Qalmir/person with all the Earth magic/practically God))

((and the power of the Worldvein/source of all Earth magic/center of Qalmir/thing the palace is built on.))

Oh gods there's that adorable phrasing again! She's so charmed. No, no, bad Vetareh, don't be so easily won over by charming phrasing.

Fortunately, she's a nerd, so she can be easily distracted by something else instead.

((What sort of Earth magic/what kind of super huge wealth/what are the defining parameters being controlled by magic here?))

Wow, she's really from a long way away! He honestly thought Qalmiri darics and nakri were the standard currency everywhere.

((The Worldvein is the font of Earth/metal/stone/ground/rock/not living dirt or plants. Its magic lets the Empress control the earth around her/no like everything/at a range of multiple miles. So all the mines have nothing but good ore and there's perfect farmland everywhere and Qalmir is impossible to attack/surrounded by a mountain range.))

((That's incredibly cool/commendable/a good use of resources/and I approve.))

((But the effect is just localized in Qalmir/around the Worldvein?))

Yes, in fact, Qalmir is the best.

((Yes, there's only so far she can reach/that's how magic works.))

Is it, now? Not in her experience.

But she just nods, instead of giving the game away and saying something like 'That's how magic works here, for you.' In fact:

((I was just wondering if, since it's earth, it could move its own font around. Wishful thinking, I suppose/It'd be cheating so hard.))

((What are the other local fonts?/I think the last I encountered was one for plantlife/trees/wood.))

Her CUNNING DECEPTION is a success! Firuz does NOT suspect she is from an alternate universe where magic works totally differently!

((No, the Worldvein stays at the heart of Qalmir/Qalmir is defined as that nation whose heart is the Worldvein. It can't move, worse luck/we could be super lucky.))

((The other ones on the continent are the First Root/font of wood/font of life in Lemrysh/the forest west of here/what you saw; ))
((The Still River/font of time/font of duration/font of memory in the Timeless City/place northwest of here/our tributary/really creepy place; ))
(The Empty Well/font of the void/anti-font is behind wards/we built them/Karakral sucks/they are needed near the court/palace/heart of Karakral/our southern neighbor/maximally evil; ))
((The Starshard/font of fire/font of energy is in the volcano/capital city/palace of Viranatu/the fire nation/southwest of us; ))
((And then Laukera/cheats/not a real kingdom is founded on the Seaheart/font of water/extremely underwater font off the coast somewhere.))

So fonts are all... aesthetically coherent. Like a single aspect from an elementalist, instead of the arbitrary divisions she's accustomed to. That sounds... cute and kind of tidy. And since she went and made her type of 'font' apparent, it makes her potential cover story very easy. She has a mind font, and so, if she'd like to not explain that she's from another world: she doesn't remember. Because mind magic wiped her memories. Ha. Probably she shouldn't open with lying, or something, but she's rather charmed by her newly invented cover story. And this is probably safer! Yes, be a strange foreigner from within the magic system, instead of a strange foreigner with a completely different system. That way if they try to capitalize on weaknesses they expect she'll have, they... won't, actually. That seems like a smart thing to set up when one is a single person up against a massive system that may or may not want to leverage her for their own devices.

Is this justification for how she's totally thought of a name for a theoretical mind-font and wants to use it immediately? Maybe! Is it still tactically a smart move? Probably! Also, it sounds so fun to lie with thought-speech. Easier than normally, even.

((Well, my font is the Dreamweave, and it's—))

Then she sits up, abruptly, furrowing her brow.

((—??? confusion/fear/alarm/the feeling of missing a step but with one's own mind/Oh shit is this what being mindwiped feels like?))

((... uh/I was not expecting this and don't know what to do/Where the fuck did I live in relation to this place??/Coastal? It was coastal/AAAAA.))

OH NO! That's horrible! Firuz Gholman feels it is TRAGIC that she lost her memories! He will stand uselessly! 

((Don't worry!/worrying won't help! Wherever you were before, you're safe now!/I reiterate Qalmir's protection!))

(There is a note of discord at the back of his mind - how, exactly, did she not notice that she'd lost her memories beforehand? When was she dropped in the Hellfire Wastes, exactly? - but PANICKED VIP is enough of a distraction that it isn't his first thought.)

((Right, yes/Qalmir has lots of reason to keep me safe and alive/Honestly the fact that I'm alive, away and confused means something went wrong/right for me, probably?/I feel so incredibly stupid though how did I not notice!/[She knows the answer to that question, there's a tone of 'Of course I didn't notice,' approximately equivalent to 'of course I was bruised when I fell down']))

((Sorry, one moment as I—retrace steps and check over everything/I need to find the holes/or the walls where there were doors/but by closing my eyes and seeing if I walk into any walls trying to go to the library because I DON'T REMEMBER IF THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY OR NOT AAAA.))

This also, conveniently, gives her time to get her story straight and review everything she said! She picks a bit of floor to stare at and obligingly holds her head in her hands, looking suitably disturbed by her amnesiac status. What exactly were all of the details...? Oh, confused amnesiacs can ask for outside opinions, that would be very smart for them to do!

((Actually/My mistake, this is backwards, I'm panicking and being dumb/What all do you remember me saying, I need [as close to objective perspectives as possible].))

This is not a problem he can solve by being muscular or loyal or brave! Firuz is somewhat out of his depth here! Still, he'll roll with it!

((You said you were from a long way away/another world/was that figurative?)

((You said you were a mesmer/mind mage/mage from the mind font?))

((You said you'd been to Lemrysh/the wood font before?))

((Lemrysh was the place that tried to stab me, yes, I think that's true/It didn't make any sense and I was confused and frightened and defended myself [with magic], and ran.))

((Mesmer/mind mage/mind font mage is a correct term, that just sounds unambiguously correct. Being from a long way away/another world...))

She trails off, frowning.

((...Long way away is right, I think, but other world sounds so insane?/I remember thinking that I could have ended up in another world for all I knew but not why I thought that/That's so confusing, I apologize/I didn't... travel through the world normally? I think? Otherwise it doesn't make any sense!))

((The Daughters of the Forest/royalty of Lemrysh/wood mages are very hostile to outsiders/evil and xenophobic/crazy forest cultists. We mostly just leave them alone/they are outside of our power-projection range/they aren't worth killing. It's a tragedy they tried to hurt you/hurting people is bad/but it is unexpected because they are bad.))

((I don't know about that! Void/Karakrali magic doesn't do that/we've never seen it do that! All it does is destroy/erase things/kill people and make monsters/shadows/hungry ghosts. I can't imagine what a lack of the world could be/seriously that's bizarre. Perhaps a sage back in Qalmir would know/they're supposed to know important things like that/I don't know things like that.)) 

He pauses. How can he phrase this important question very politely...

((... Do you know how you made it through the wastes unharmed/YOU WALKED HERE FROM LEMRYSH AND YOU AREN'T EVEN SUNBURNED???!!!!))

Uh. Her immediate impulse response of 'Of course I'm fine, nothing even tried to kill me,' is clearly incorrect for the character she's playing. So, if she were expecting herself to be less capable and competent, and her magic only did mind stuff: that's a damn good question, especially since people seem to be less capable than she's used to. And the world less deadly. How does a mind magician look like she's fine?

Oh, that makes it so easy, when she phrases it like that. Answer: she's not.

((What??/I'm NOT unharmed/I'm tired and sore and so extremely sunburned and had to magic animals into killing themselves and why would you think I—oh. Oh, oh, my fault, magic/defense mechanism/you just think I look fine))

???????????????????

Is she saying she has auto-on mind control????????? That's not how magic works??????? Also that's horrifying!

((!!!!!!!!!!!)) slips through because he wasn't paying enough attention.

He needs to send ANOTHER messenger after the FIRST messenger immediately to let the governor know he should PANIC!!!!!

((Is there anything I can do to help?/seriously please let me help/panic panic panic))

Ohhhh no, she messed up. She's not... entirely sure what she messed up, but that's definitely a mistake right there in front of her. She has incited panic. Is it... the range thing, she shouldn't be able to do magic at this sort of range from her font? That's probably it, uh.

((I'm sorry I did it very early on and forgot about it/this is very scary and the way I protect myself is to look like the strongest in the room!!/I'll put it back sorry sorry sorry!))

Quick! Illusion up some sunburn! And mud! And scratches! Does this solve her problem?