Swamped

You could send a message, you suppose. Encode it in the ether. You ponder pausing the flow at particular intervals, but decide against it. You're already meddling with time itself, there's no guarantee the intervals would stay the same.

But order, order ought to. If you shift from flame to water to earth, say. The way to start is by sending a recognizable pattern, then they can acknowledge by extending it.

Flame. Water. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Flame. Earth.

Long enough to make the pattern clear. You wait a while, and get the reply you were hoping for. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Earth. They send the next two steps in the pattern, too.

So they've acknowledged. The line of communication is open. Now it's time to test if they can understand you.

You send the words PEACE WISDOM AND in a very simple cipher. If they can understand Common, and have a wizard, then they ought to be able to send back the last word, RESTRAINT.

A moment later, a reply comes. The pattern suggests it's using your cipher, but it's clearly not RESTRAINT. Strange. You'll need to take a moment to determine what it says.