Giggle.

"I bet she gets into stonecarving, if the dye thing proves intractable. Make tiny stone beads and sew 'em on stuff."

"Ooh...."

"Of course, that would require needle and thread."

"I should get on that, clearly."

"You have at least until she starts getting frustrated with the pigment idea. Which will take a while."

"I mean, it'll also be useful for making clothes!"

"True."

"So."

"I'll make sure to be excited if those words happen to cross Delsmiar's mind."

He laughs. "Yeah."

"I think it's starting to get late."

"...Maybe yeah."

"I should see how the others are doing."

"Good plan."

Everyone is doing fine and a chunk of them want to turn in early because it's been a long day.

Yes it has.

Tiro stays up for a while longer, studying the diagrams in his recipe books, and then he flops in the grass outside to sleep.

Aduva finds him in the morning.

"We could have spared a mattress, you know."

"If I'd wanted a mattress I would've hauled one up!"

"Ah, you just didn't want one. Perfectly valid."

"It didn't seem worth the bother. Anyway! Did you all sleep okay?"

"There were some leftover nerves but basically, yeah."

"That seems mostly good!"

"Fondai woke up, saw no one was on guard, and kinda freaked out before she remembered where we were, but I got her calmed down and back to sleep."

He nods.