"-Mmh. We put criminals in the mines at home too, called it 'punitive labor' not 'slavery' but it's still work for no pay, and - fucking with that would get you tarred with the same brush." Sigh.

"It's not even just the mines. We do a lot of mining just because we live underground and find stuff worth having while we're digging out new homes. Elves - drow are a kind of elf - don't like babies. The surface elves are dealing with this by going slowly extinct and we're dealing with it by having slaves. I don't have a clue how to handle that."

"-Well, my mind immediately said 'nursery clanks', but... Uh, clanks are a thing sparks can make, they're sort of like metal animals, mostly not people smart."

"For all I know that's how they do it on Castrovel. - Elves are not from this planet."

"Ooh, other planets?" It's like something out of a Heterodyne Boys story! "-Uh, spell duration, not urgent."

"Yeah, it turns out that the rock we are in is kinda ball-shaped and there are other balls of rock stupidly far away. I've never been to Castrovel, though, don't know much about it."

"I knew about the sphere thing, it's just there's no way to get there- The emptiness is huge. It'd be amazing to explore though, since teleporting is apparently a thing."

"You need an especially powerful teleport spell to get that far. Like, I'm not positive anyone alive can cast it, that kind of powerful."

"So, what, someone really really smart? With tons of practice?"

"Somebody really really smart with tons of combat experience. With a book you can understand anything you're smart enough for but you won't actually be able to cast a spell like that if you haven't done a lot of adventuring, probably riddled with near-death experiences. Opinions vary on how much mileage you can get out of espionage and intrigue that never comes to daggers drawn, but once you're past fifth circle I don't think you could find enough of that even if it'd work in sufficient abundance."

"...If it works that way generally I guess that'd explain why Wulfenbach is Wulfenbach, emperor of Europa. He's probably fought or commanded the fight against everything there is to be fought on the continent of Europa. Ye gods that means strong people actively looking for more fights, though. Yikes."

"People do retire but if you mean to go and keep going then yeah, you e souses jov e tyon."

"-Spell ended, I think."

Suddenly dropping a language is just as weird as suddenly knowing it was.

"Leh? Ah." She casts, and beckons on toward food.

Waltana is trying to remember the sounds of things she said as easy as breathing just a minute ago. Pon... Or something? Leh? What's Leh??

(And also following)

Eventually they can find a big communal kitchen with coal burning stoves and ovens and grills, their smoke harmlessly sucked away by regular Chimney castings, where people are cooking mushrooms. Belmarniss finds somebody who's selling what he cooks and buys two bowls of stew. It has several kinds of mushrooms in it.

Funnily enough, City Frostbound cuisine also prominently features mushrooms, if more like once a day than in every meal. Does it look like they're going to eat it here and now, or what?

Yep, there are rocks to sit on.

She noms. And mutters quietly, idly, "Central vessel with steam pipes could heat all those stations with less coal... Smoke's a bad sign, smoke is unburnt fuel, higher temperatures are more efficient..."

Belmarniss tilts her head, listening curiously, while she goes through her stew.

"In a really hot furnace you don't get smoke, just - bad air, the kind from exhalation that settles in pits. Fundamentally, burning is converting the breathable part of air and fuel into heavy air and water vapor and heat. Anything that's not one of those means an incomplete burn. Well, mostly."

Interested nodding!

"Doing all the burning in one place, at high temperatures, making hot water or steam and distributing that to cooking spots would mean less heat ends up in the air or not produced because it's smoke. And you can use the steam for..." Glance around. "Uh, useful stuff. We worked on that sort of thing a lot in Frostbound. Got to be frugal with the coal."

Belmarniss points out two proprietors, then balls her hands into fists and taps them against each other. "Grr."

Shrug. "I guess if there's no Captain issuing directives that'll happen."