[ Reynir at least is familiar with phones, if not satellites; there were old phone booths around in the Silent World, and of course all the old wires on poles that stood there, relics of a bygone past. So he can answer part of the question ]

I guess they needed people in other countries to help keep them running, or - something broke and no one would go wherever it was to fix it, or maybe they took too much power? Or - I don't know. We have radios!

[ They aren't COMPLETE savages, after all!

But Genji asks yet another pair of questions and Reynir's slightly uncomfortable expression of confusion and uncertainty deepens: ]

I- I don't know. It was only supposed to be temporary at first, I think, and then everybody started dying and all the other countries started doing it, too. But a lot of them were too late, or they weren't islands so it didn't matter at some point. Um.

[ Reynir is fiddling with his braid, mouth quirked to the side in frustration at his own lack of knowledge. And he can't help remembering those brief flashes he'd seen, from Anne's memories in that vision, of those awful days of the outbreak. People lying everywhere, dying. Everyone looking for an answer, looking for hope, finding none. ]

A skald could tell you more. The truth is I'm kinda- [ Reynir hesitates, wanting to make a good impression but wanting to be honest, too. ] -not. Smart. About history stuff.

[ He's a peasant sheep farmer okay the fact that he can read is impressive. ]