That is some water sitting there.

"Okay, maybe at this pressure water doesn't boil at this temperature. This can probably make toast but I don't think it will let me do any food that actually needs cooking. These don't come any hotter?"

"They don't. They can cook meat, though, we use them for that."

"...that must take a really long time."

"You start preparing for the sunrise feast as soon as the sunset feast is over, in some months."

"Okay. Well, most meat that will be good left lying around indefinitely is packaged precooked. So I still should make the assumption that I shouldn't include anything that needs heating."

"That makes sense." And he shows him the storage rooms.

Cam does some scratchwork - on paper, the screen flicker's too annoying - about nutrient ratios, and then fills up the rooms with cans and plastic sacks and foil pouches. The cans have pulltabs.

The faeries are delighted.

Wag wag! "I have come up with a couple science books which I think have been translated enough, where do you want them?"

"I will go bring them to my brother right away."

Books appear, one by one.

He glances through them and then hands them off to -

- him; he arrives in a hurry.

Giggle.

"Hello," he says cheerfully and runs off with his books.

"How many instruments are we looking at and does it count any which way if I hang on to one that I play and play it?"

"That puts listeners in your debt, if you're good, but as long as you're willing to let them pay you back that's fine. And - I think four, or three if they're all very distinct sorts of thing."

"Assuming I'm not in the market for sexual favors from random strangers who - do they even have to like my music or is there some objective standard of being good at it? - what kind of repayment are we looking at there?"

"It just matters if you're good at it, not if they like it. They could run errands for you, or answer questions for you. They could bring you things, except you can make things you want anyway. If you want sexual favors from some people but not all of them you could transfer the debts and then just accept payment from whoever you actually liked, and leave them to settle things internally."

"I'm not actually asexual but it's a whole metaphorical can of worms for the time being. One popular instrument is in non-electric form kind of annoying to tune, is that a problem?"

"Not at all."

Baby grand piano! And a flute and a hang and on his own lap a violin.

"Thank you! In exchange for the gifts which you have given us, I offer you the debts of my human, holding back only enough that she'll remain entangled with us, and with the understanding that you can request I transfer those to you as well at some future date."

"She needs to stay entangled to - not slow down, is the idea?"