"That's good," she acknowledges the last statement, "What about going to the source, the former site of Xeni? It would be good to set up something to filter it out in the meantime, but wouldn't it be worth it to see if it can be stopped from entering the river at all?" 

"Oh, that's a good idea.  A single large filter will be better than a hundred smaller ones, and help with the wildlife too."

"It shouldn't take too long to get there," she muses, thinking back on what she knows of Soth's geography. "Did you want to set up some better filters in the meantime, or would it be better to get to the source sooner, is the question." 

"It'll take a while to develop something usable.  Months, at least.  We'll get there before we have a testable prototype."

"I suppose there's no reason to make our way there immediately, in that case. If you wouldn't mind it, we could simply keep on as Sam and I have been - going village to village, offering mundane healing - while you work on the filter, and I work on using my sorcery on targets other than myself." 

He considers that.  

"I'll need to be close to the river to create the algae.  Though, the big limit on developing things is magical charge.  We can travel for a while, visiting necromancers once a week, and I can buy a tank and start altering the algae once we're heading up the river.  If I already have the charge I need, I can make a prototype on the trip to Xeni and only have to spend as long there as it takes to set it up and make sure it's working.

It would be more convenient to use his orich-copper charger, but there wouldn't be a way to disguise the lack of trips to a necromancer to someone with his same power.  Erin does seem nice, but that's a secret for a very big reason and he's not about to share it with someone he's known for a day.

She nods, "Yes, that seems like a good plan." She glances up at Saman, a regretful cast to her features, "We usually don't travel far from the water, anyways," she adds, "Sam doesn't travel very quickly on land, even if he does have legs. Sometimes I'll go inland for a few days on my own, but..." she doesn't like doing it. She hates leaving landbound villages out of her route, but it's just not efficient. There are other traveling healers.

The plan made, he should probably get his tent set up.  There are some decent areas, and he takes the second-best one.

She appreciates that. She sets up her tent in the best spot, flap facing her brother and the fire. She unrolls her bedroll and settles her blanket at the bottom of it, for later. Then she climbs back out and settles back down at the fire, pulling out some supplies to store, prepare, or mix some of the herbs she'd taken from the hospital earlier.

He is centuries out of practice at doing normal herb preparations, so watches.  The block of wood and whittling knife come back out, and occasionally a bit of wood is cut loose.  It's slowly taking shape, becoming the six-legged figure of a barnwyrm.  

She glances up at one point, smiling when she sees the shape coming together. 

"I've always wanted a barnwyrm," she muses, "Or a dragonette." She pauses, "Both, really," she admits, ruefully, "And many of them." 

"I've had barnwyrms before.  Elias - my most recent husband - was constantly bringing back strays."  Barnwyrms were one of the more normal things he'd bring back. 

"I learned to carve them from one of the priests of Diamondeye I met - barnwyrms being associated with her in some parts of the world, for being dragonlike and preserving the harvest from mice."

Most recent. That... makes sense, given. Though, it's also sad, and makes her think about her own future, briefly. She's an immortal demigod with a very powerful sorcery, now. It's highly likely that she will face a lot of very dangerous challenges, and lose people to them. 

She shakes these worrisome thoughts off, for now. 

"My mother wouldn't let me have one," she says, "Partly for that reason, I believe - the association with Diamondeye." She glances back at Saman, "And my lifestyle isn't suited to pets, now," she adds. 

"Huh.  I wouldn't have expected Paean and Diamondeye to be quite so at odds.  Though, I suppose Diamondeye is the reason I made my way to Olivine instead of remaining a not-very-useful dragon for another century.  And the gods do seem to take any opportunity they can to start grudges. 

"Did you ever have dogs?"  Those being associated with Silva, a perennial favorite of the wealthy, if not especially friendly with Paean.  "Or... I'm not sure if Paean has a common pet.  I suppose herons aren't very pet-like.  Snakes?"

She smiles, "I had a snake, yes," she agrees. "A gift from one of my favourite teachers, when I was small." She looks down, wistful, "He died when I was fifteen, but he was a good companion." 

As to the other comment, "It wasn't so much that my Father and Diamondeye were at odds - though I understand there's some dislike there, for the reason you stated. My mother simply made every effot to take his grudges and dislikes to extremes, in the attempt to gain his favour." 

She shrugs, "I suppose I can't say her methods didn't work," she admits, gesturing to herself. 

"Paean does seem to go for that," he agrees.  

"I'm happy being Diamondeye's Champion.  She's more... apathetic about things, than any other god.  I've never seen her start a fight.  The few countries where the local religion has decided to villainize her, she just warns me to avoid.  That's northern Kor, these days.  From what I hear, they're all about progress, and use preservation as its opposite.

"As far as I know, she's never had demigod or monster children.  Dragon monsters are one of the most common, but always some other god, playing into their association with fire, or scouting, or sunlight..."

Erin isn't sure how to reply - she agrees that Diamondeye seems preferable in many ways, but she generally doesn't speak aloud her thoughts on Paean. And this seems like a particularly poor time for it, given. She is unsure how badly he might take her going to Ara'Vine for help, and does not want to make it worse in the case that he is paying attention. 

So she just nods, "I'm glad for Saman, and for my own life, but many of the stories about my kind and his are sad ones." 

Ara'Vine notices her hesitation but isn't entirely sure what caused it.  Did he say something offensive?  Worried that he's trying to spread Diamondeye's religion?  That one would be a reasonable thing to think he's doing, considering that it's technically part of his job description as a Champion.  

"'Epic adventures' don't sound like very much fun to have," he agrees.  Demigods to play the role of chosen hero.  Monsters to play the role of mount if they're lucky.  If not, the monsters are raised in the wilderness and set up to attack towns, or given artifacts to hold so that 'heroes' can come in and kill them to take it.  Most religions place cosmic importance on what the gods send people off to do.  It's the cycle of the universe, and if heroes and villains do not complete their quests, then the seasons will stop cycling.  A few have instead theorized that gods must need worshippers for some reason.  Ara'Vine is mostly convinced that it's for the god's entertainment.  

Perhaps a topic change is in order, hoping for something a bit less morbid.  "Have you seen any of the machines coming out of Kor recently?  I've been hearing stories, but most of them take infrastructure that hasn't been built in Mesasoth yet.  I'm particularly interested in the machines that can make things colder."

Relieved by the change of topic, she answers, "Not recently - a few novelties, in Elgea, but I've been in the remote parts of Garnethold for the past few years." 

A machine that could make things colder? "That would be very useful for medicine storage - and food storage, as well," she muses. 

"It would.

"Something that makes things colder than the surrounding air isn't something I've ever seen in nature.  I'm hoping that if I see how the machines work, I can replicate it."

"To - make something living which cools its environment? To make use of the idea without the necessary infrastructure?"

It would be much simpler - and besides that, people trust Ara'Vine's creations where they don't necessarily trust those machines. A few decades of medical improvements will do that to a person's reputation. 

"I mostly just like finding out how to do new things, so I can have them if a use comes up.  Something that can keep food and vaccines cold but doesn't take infrastructure and so much metal does sound useful, though."

She nods - it does seem like useful knowledge, aside from the obvious practical applications. 

Not sure what else to say, she goes back to her herbs. 

Ara'Vine keeps carving his barnwyrm figurine for a little while, then eventually heads to his tent to sleep.  

He considers his current job.  He's not very good at being on-task, instead wandering wherever his attention and curiosity takes him.  That is probably going to mesh badly with whatever image of him has come out of Olivine, where the monks had been keeping him focused pretty thoroughly for the last 50 years.  There's no way he's going to keep this up for a century.

In the morning he leaves his tent.  Do either Erin or Saman look awake yet?