--Have Gafana be incredibly geographically different that RINC Homeland. Her first view of Gafana, she notices mountains in tthe distance where her homeland was flat. Or vice versa depending on the terrain. Either way, she's awestruck by it, as she's not really left her region before.
--Drop the differnet language schtick. The original idea had these being farflug and massively different cultures. New version is still far flung, but was originally hegemonous (US/Canada). Make specific words (such as Tarhee) a culturally specific thing, or said to keep the meanings obscure to the person being called in (aka, Dana). Try to keep to Ethiopian words instead of made up.
--Drop Thayla being poisoned. He is now her "temporary" minder, waiting to go back to the War on the Eastern Front. As the war goes badly, he loses touch with the Central Conference, and becomes just as trapped in Gafana as Dana does.