"Okay. I cut rocks!"

And humming cheerfully she will start ferrying the load down the chute in batches. She's definitely not just dropping the rocks down like a barbarian.

Belmarniss makes off. She's back in an hour and a half with a bag of dried assorted mushrooms, a tin cup she sticks under the flow of the water, and one single strawberry. She begins diligently seeding the strawberry.

Waltana is in full weapon assembly rant mode, laughing and bashing rocks with metal bits and other rocks and building something nearly the height of the whole cave in a corner. She takes some of the mushrooms and, instead of eating them, starts shredding them and mixing them with a bowl of - rock and chalk dust?

...hopefully they will be at least as useful in this application!

Her rant does not make that much sense, but apparently she is using it as fertilizer. It also becomes clear that the construction is a furnace/kiln and it will be ready by tomorrow, just add coal. And finally, she would like to show off a weird bundle of wires!

She rubs it over an old piece of iron scrap, then takes two loose ends and holds them close together. A tiny static shock arcs between the wire ends with a quiet 'tss'.

"Hee! Baby Jolt." Probably Waltana does not know those words.

Waltana seems to think this is the correct time for a slightly disjointed lecture about how lightning works!!! Apparently lightning and lodestones are kind of the same thing?

That's actually fascinating!

Moving magnets past a conductor creates an opposing electrical current, like throwing a big rock and being pushed away a bit by it. This is why she's making weird wire loops. They can turn a spinning ring of magnets into electrical potential, no Jolt required. The opposite is possible too- Running electricity through a wire coil sitting near a magnet makes the wire move, because it turns the coil into a magnet for a bit and magnets push each other, too.

There is MATH. It's weird math. Perpendicular angles are involved for some reason.

Belmarniss takes notes. And snacks on the dried mushrooms a bit.

Aaaand then she seems to run out of energy all at once. She sits down, looking a tad dazed.

"...Aaaaand here comes the crash. Spark's gone now. Too long working under the Spark and ignoring needs. Hn... Water."

She stands shakily and wobbles over to a bowl near the wall leak and drinks from it.

Belmarniss hovers a bit in case there's anything she can do.

Squint. "I used the food for something, didn't I? Right, helping turn rocks into something approximating soil. Urgh... I'll be fine. I've done this before. Nothing a good sleep and lots of food doesn't fix."

Belmarniss hefts the remaining mushrooms and makes an inquisitive noise.

Nom nom nom.

They're chewy and vaguely umami. Belmarniss seems encouraged that she's snapped out of it enough to eat.

They're calories.

She misses potatoes with butter. She recognizes the fruit and wonders what it will taste like...

"I feel good about my progress today, anyway. Score one for 'acceptable Spark outlet'."

The strawberry, once totally divested of its seeds, is going in Belmarniss, actually. Omf. Leaves and all.

Eh, she'll be growing some in a few days. Or a couple of weeks. Probably.

For now she is going to close her eyes and lean against a cave wall and sip water some more.

Belmarniss hangs out a bit in case she needs anything else or wants to place further shopping orders. Makes sure she's seen the strawberry seeds.

"Are we thinking I sleep here, now? Uh... Let's see, Chimney tomorrow, the scrap iron is working pretty well so any more of that you can get, more thread or cloth but I know that's pricey and I can make do with just the one rotor, some sulfur or stuff that contains it like cinnabar or galena or sphalerite... And some Prestidigitating now that I think about it, of me and that whole-" she gestures vaguely to an area.

Nod at "sleep here now", again at "Chimney tomorrow", notetaking at the shopping list. Prestidigitation occurs.

"...How long does Chimney last?"

They made sure to cover time units during the language lesson, thankfully.

"Twelve hours."

"Oh, that'll be plenty. In that case the last thing is maybe, fifteen or twenty pounds of coal? If I mean to make optimal use of a single Chimney."