Lift lift.  It's kind of convenient that they're heavy enough that he has to pause for a few seconds after each one.  It means he doesn't have to worry as much about pacing himself in the longer run; he can just make that part take longer as he starts to feel worse.

His thoughts circle, as he works, around whether he expects Belmarniss to be lying to him to keep him an easy slave.  She's teaching him magic... but also it would be so easy to lie about how that works, for every part of it......

He's really curious what they have for punishment, here, since they seem to care a lot about keeping slaves intact and working.

How big is this disc and how many rocks does it look like it fits?  Is he going to need an actual break before getting it filled.

It will hold 300 pounds of rocks. Rynaeri notices when it's approaching capacity and clicks her tongue at him and heads out.

Okay that's not actually that much rock.

Time to see how long it takes him to walk into a wall.  Or fall on his face.

Rynaeri keeps whistling, and does the spooky-spell when she gets to the top of a ladder or staircase ahead of him till he gets a glimpse of her lookin' spooky.

Climb climb climb climb.  His foot slips on one of the ladders but just in a way that makes him cling to it for a moment, not a way that makes him fall off.  The whistling is useful enough that he at least doesn't run full into any walls, and he only trips a little more than usual.

The spookiness spell lasts less than twenty seconds and when she does get it to do lights they go off like the lovechildren of fireflies and sparklers, not exactly a good clear torch, but it's something. During the trickiest part she does something that makes several globes of light to show the way but says she only has one of that.

"Thanks," he mumbles.  It doesn't prevent him from scuffing his feet on the ground a few times but maybe it does prevent him from toppling full over; who knows.

And then they can go back and load up again.

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that the walking is by far the worst part of this.  The loading and unloading are really not that bad in comparison.

Rynaeri gets up to six of those floating disks a day and each lasts three hours. With the proof of concept established, she casts a second one and a third, all of them crowding around her, and they can take a bigger haul.

Okay that's a little rougher but still way less bad.

She doesn't like to go above three at a time since they all want to be pretty close to her, but when the first one expires she replaces it.

Beau gradually gets slower and trips somewhat more often, but maybe he still shouldn't say anything?  He'll just be really careful on the up-and-down parts and probably he'll be fine.  If he notices himself failing at being really careful on the up-and-down parts he'll say something.

Rynaeri decides to knock off when she's run down her fifth disk rather than casting a sixth. "Home we go," she sings to herself softly, leading him out of the mine.

It's weird that someone can call him a thing while still being such a mom in other ways.  It takes more active effort, now, but he can still be careful on the trek home.

They get home before Belmarniss does but Rynaeri can grab cooking tongs and carry a glowing coal to show him to her room. "There you go, safe and sound," she trills, half to him and half to herself, and she goes to put the coal back.

"Thanks..."  It might not be loud enough for her to hear.

Nap time?  Nap time.

Belmarniss is back by the time he wakes up.

"....We already have the festival... that weekend..."

Is that his native language? Comprehend Languages.

"Fine.  Yes," he mutters.

"Yes what?"

- He opens his eyes.  "Hm?"

"Oh, were you asleep?"

"I, uh..."  His brain attempts to kick back into gear.  "Yes?  Sorry..."