In the world of Gi'Gabi, fast travel is available via magical portals, created and maintained by the Mages.

Once "known", somebody can use a portal to travel to/from any other "known" portals. However, to become "known" requires physical attunement to the portal, meaning you have to have visited it in person at least once before its use.

The Mage guild can make exceptions to this rule and provide "public" portals which do not require them to be "known" before use; however, they are generally loath to do so. The portal on the Isle of Bards is one such exception.

Additionally, using any portal comes at the cost of one stress per use. Hence, a two-way trip would cost twice the stress. Additionally, someone can only use a portal once every 2 minutes.

The stress and time limit are security measures to prevent ne'er-do-wells from slipping in, doing something nefarious, and then quickly slipping out.