"I am not an Abadaran myself, I don't have quite the right mindset, but they are indispensable to have as neighbors."

"Maybe we'll get some here. It sounds like you might know enough about them to get someone started, our way."

The waitress comes back with four slices of pie - apple, cherry, blackberry peach, and spiced pear. Raafi gestures for Blai to take first pick.

That's a lot of pie. Blai takes the cherry.

Raafi takes the blackberry peach and spiced pear slices, moving the apple slice over to Blai's portion of the table. He eats in silence for a minute, favoring the blackberry peach.

"Is the pie... traditional in a closely related situation, or..."

"No, it's just - useful to be reminded that there are good things in the world."

Okay. Blai has a little difficulty putting away two slices of pie after a full dinner but he can do it if they're not in a hurry.

Raafi isn't especially trying to finish both; one slice is half-eaten and the other is close to done when he puts down his fork. "You don't have to rush on my account," he clarifies. "You don't have to finish, either, they aren't short on food here, they won't mind."

"I am not in the habit of wasting food, but if you're sure," he will put down his fork.

"It's a good habit in general but sometimes the point is the experience. Especially when we were told it was worth coming for the pie specifically."

"It is good pie."

He flags down the waitress and settles the bill, leaves a tip among the plates, and they can head off to the town square to see about the healing. They're still getting everyone together - they don't have wheelchairs here, and stretchers are slower at the job - but they think it'll only be another twenty or thirty minutes, which is a good amount of time for Raafi to go out to the mine in, and when they get back (with news that the mine is fine now and they want to bear east for the best yield) everyone is ready.

Blai stands in the middle of it all and does his channel.

The people here are no less enthusiastic and grateful than the last two places.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." Hand.

They appear just outside Raafi's tent. "Do you want to come with me while we unpack the hole, or should I find you somewhere when we're done?"

"If you could use a hand I have those but I'm not sure I wouldn't be in the way."

"We could, I wouldn't mind you in there and I can't say that of everyone. - do we need to discuss the euphemism, Kat covers it half the time but I don't know if it would have come up today "

"I don't think she explained any euphemisms to me."

"Now I'm not entirely sure the euphemism is translating. If you don't think there's anything to discuss I'd just as soon skip it."

"...okay."

They can head over to the clearing, then, and send runners to get the Pelorians and a couple work teams of refugees. Raafi waits for the Pelorians to arrive before laying out the hole, and half of them stay topside to receive the barrels the other half go in to send them up while they're waiting for the other workers.

Blai has hands and can hand things up. When the barrels are where they need to go he can go fill those.

There's more stuff to notice in the hole while he's down there: Raafi has a rack of clothing along one wall, winter gear and summer gear and fancy clothing in multiple styles and a few things stranger than that. It also looks like he collects walking sticks; there are a handful hanging on the wall by the ladder, some of which are glowing as magic items sometimes do, but also a whole barrelful next to that that are interestingly carved but not apparently otherwise remarkable.

There's an argument outside the hole about where the rain barrels will go; from the sound of it, it comes to blows before someone steps in to break it up.