They can finish up their meals and begin making their way out of the city gate.  A few stragglers are still coming into the city for the night, but most of the people who were leaving to head to a farm left a while ago.

Is Saman already back and waiting for them?

Yes - he's sitting on the riverbank, still dripping, chewing something. He swallows when he sees them coming. 

"Hello, Erin, Ara'Vine. Did you find everything you were looking for?" 

Erin trots up to him and kisses his nose, holding herself away from his head so as to prevent her clothes from getting soaked.

"Mostly, I think. Should we go back in tomorrow to find you some clothes suited to Garnethold and Setebre?" She asks Ara'Vine. She has clothes for Garnethold, of course, though she might need something else for when they reach the other as well.

"No, not for one thing.  There'll be plenty of places along the way before we reach actual rainforest that would be more worthwhile to spend multiple days in.  I also wasn't very impressed with the fabrics out of Kor."  They were very pretty, with machine-precise weave and well-dyed thread, but they had also seemed less durable.  Like they'd been made as something that could easily be thrown out again, instead of kept for years.  "Someone closer to Garnethold would be better at making clothes for rainforests, too."

"I wasn't paying them much attention," she admits, "That does seem consistent with the overall philosophy they seem to follow, however." 

She starts setting up camp, pitching her tent and pulling out her duskmindh. 

Ara'Vine has decided to leave his tent in Saman's pack and just take out his bedroll tonight.  

He pulls out the journals he bought, designed for explorers with a watertight case that can fold out to be a writing surface.  One will be for personal notes, including how refrigeration works.  In the other, he begins recapping what has happened since leaving Olivine Monastery.

And she tends her plant, and attempts meditation once again, using up much of her remaining time, to no avail. 

Practice is useful, even if it's not doing anything yet.  He can offer some encouraging words, though he has no way of knowing how close she is to affecting the plant.  

As far as non-magical care of the plant is concerned, the duskmindh is doing well.  It has a few more leaves than it did when she got it.  

She appreciates his encouragement anyway. Eventually, she'll put her duskmindh back in its place, wish her traveling companions a good night, and crawl into her tent to get some sleep.

They continue their journey westward, going clockwise around Therma'Ro Ocean.  Over the next two weeks, they leave Soth, pass across Helois, stop briefly at the two-island country of Jarexis, and make their way to Gyre - officially a part of the Garnethold region.  The land has slowly shifted from desert shore to richer heavier jungles and tropical swamplands.  The architecture has shifted alongside it, going from adobe and stone to primarily wood.  

Ara'Vine takes some time to get fitted for a new set of clothing.  It's colorful and sleeveless, a style popular among sailors and fishermen out here.  

She also switches out some of her clothes as they make their way towards her homeland. Her leggings and tops stay mostly the same, for practicality's sake, but her skirts become more brightly patterned, pink and green and blue, and more besides. She loses the shawl she was wearing over her arms, as well, when they're on shore. It's a relief to get away from the dryness of the desert, even around the river, and back to the humidity of Garnethold. 

He's not used to the mugginess yet, but distracts himself with looking at all of the wildlife.  There are so many interesting animals!  Flocks of birds, monkeys, and other jungle life are common sights, living right up alongside the settlements.  

As is their routine, they travel for a bit in the morning before stopping at yet another seaside village.  

The monkeys can be a bit of a menace if they don't keep an eye out, especially the ones near settlements. Her packs are all monkey-proof, though, so at least they can't make off with any supplies inside them.

"I know this village," she comments as they disembark. "I come through two times a year, usually - I was actually here recently, on my way to the southernmost islands." 

"Have you normally been coming through at specific times a year, or just whenever you happened to reach them as you go around your route?"

"A combination, I suppose. It's too hard to predict very exactly when I will get to any particular place, given that I can be delayed by a bad case at any point on my route, but I usually pass through around the same times every cycle." 

As they speak, a small party of locals - A woman in her mid thirties, a man in his early fourties, and two children of about 6 and 8 - make their way down to the shore to greet them, having recognized Saman. 

"Erin!" The younger one calls, darting ahead of the others to throw himself at the healer. 

"Cole," the older man admonishes tiredly. 

"Oh, let him be, you old grouch, she doesn't mind," the woman says, smacking his arm, before she turns a smile on Erin. "You're later than usual," she accuses playfully, "And you brought company!" She adds, peering up at the man next to her. 

She catches the boy, taking a step back and flaring her wings to keep her balance, "Ah! You're getting too heavy for this," she tells him laughingly. 

"We went a bit farther than we usually do," she says to the woman, "I met my father while I was in the south, and he granted me a Sorcery. Some of the applications proved difficult, however, so I went looking for some help," she looks up at Ara'Vine. 

"Goodness!" She smiles up at Erin's companion - whose identity she has some idea of, how interesting!

"Welcome to Rhysden," she offers him. "I am Candace Hol, and these are my children, Anabel and Colin, and my brother Tomas."

"I'm Ara'Vine."  He leaves off the 'Champion of Diamondeye' bit, which always manages to sound too formal.

"It's nice to meet you.  You're Erin's friends?"

(Yes, she thought so. There aren't many humans with his height.)

"We are," she agrees, turning her smile on the woman in question. Mostly, at any rate. Some might disagree with the term, in her case. "Practically family!" 

Erin steps closer to give Dacey a hug. "Any new cases since we left?" She asks. 

"Oh, nothing more than the usual little coughs and sniffles. The old butcher has been complaining about his leg more than he usually does," she adds, "But he could just be unusually grumpy this month." 

Ah.  

He can listen in, and comment if anything sounds like it could use his input.  "Anything unusual, or just an old injury?" he asks about the butcher's leg.

"The latter," she says. "Some foolery from his youth - it's near impossible to tell which story is the true one, there's a good dozen. All I can say for sure is that he lost a whole a whole chunk of muscle in his calf." 

"Has he not been using the salve I gave him?" 

She narrows her eyes in annoyance, "Who can say? I certainly hope he has been, given the volume of his complaints. If he's not been using it I might have to give him something new to complain about."

She huffs, shaking her head, "Well, we won't learn anything standing out here by the ocean. Come up to town! We can have a meal together, and you can tell us all the things you've been up to in the past few months." 

She turns to head back into the village, trailing her family.

"Do you mind?" Erin asks Ara'Vine.