"Is any of it still food?"

"Oh yes, we still eat plenty of the same kinds of plants now as they did back then. For instance, I could make a pretty tasty stew out of the roots of that one, seasoned with this, this, and a bit of that." She points at the various plants as she speaks.

"I meant I'd have expected the weeds to take over if they didn't have anyone looking after them, not for the food plants to still be there."

"Ah, yes. A lot of these are weeds, but some food plants are remarkably hardy. Also the native wildlife are less likely to eat the food plants; that probably helps."

"They are? Why?"

"I don't know. It's been noticed in Pinehedge, though; animals that were first brought over from this continent are more interested in plants brought over likewise than in the native ones. I suppose it might not go the other direction; I haven't seen enough animals eating here to be sure."

"Huh. Okay then."

Onward into the building! They find some stairs that go down to a relatively intact basement level. There's a pair of massive fireplaces along one wall, one with the rusty remains of a spit in it, a couple knives, and ceramic jars ranging from plain to pretty and from intact to shattered.

Buttons, knobs, dials...?

The spit doesn't have a crank handle. It does have a place on one of the supports that's marked off with a groove in the metal, like a button that can be touched but not actually pressed in. Nothing happens when she touches it, though.

She points it out anyway.

Tem puts a hand on it. "It'll take a charge, at least! Good spotting!" He stands around with his hand on the spit for several minutes, letting it suck mana out of him.

"Does that feel like anything?"

"Yeah. I can feel the mana flowing from me into the artifact, and I could make it stop flowing without taking my hand away if I wanted."

"What does it feel like?"

"Hmm. Sort of like water flowing over your skin, but inside you."

"Huh!"

"Hey, look at this!" Derron has found a totally intact jar with the lid still tightly on it.

"Need help opening that?"

"No, I can open it, I'm just amazed it's still sealed!" Once everyone has had a moment to ooh and aah over the hardiness of the jar, he takes the lid off with a small popping sound. It proves to be filled with honey.

"Gonna eat it or put it in a museum?"

"I'm thinking a little of the former and mostly the latter. Want a taste?"

"Sure." Nom.

Everybody has a bit! It tastes indistinguishable from the stuff you can get brand new in Pinehedge, and slightly different from what Cayra is used to. Then Derron puts the lid back on and packs it up carefully.

"Pretty tasty."