"That makes sense." 

"As much as anything does, I guess. Oh! Except I found a book last night that had a spell for making mana cakes, and it said you could survive on them in a pinch."

"Huh. What a neat and also puzzling fact. I wonder if 'in a pinch' means, like, don't do it unless the alternative is starving to death because you'll be really painfully exhausted, or just don't do it all the time because eating nothing but sugar is not ideal for your health." 

"Dunno! It seems pretty easy, though, so I could cast it some and we can try."

"Science!" she agrees cheerfully. 

And once they've eaten their non-magical food, bid good-day to the people of the abbey and head back to Goldshire? 

Sounds like a plan!

They're stopped on the way out by someone who wants to know if they'll carry a letter to his brother the innkeeper in Goldshire. Even though the mailbox....... is right there.....

It would probably be rude to ask him if the problem is he can't afford the copper coins for postage, wouldn't it. Even though clearly he can afford ink and paper. 

"Sure, I guess, it won't be out of the way," shrugs Theriel. It'll be probably at least five minutes out of her way, actually, but she likes it when people tell her she's helpful. 

Diane grumbles about the mailbox thing for at least half the trip, once they're out of earshot.

This is a super reasonable response. Theriel spends most of this nodding agreeably and trying to resist the urge to make an incomprehensible comment about how the difference between walking and mail delivery is basically negligible at this distance compared to e-mail, and then it occurs to her that there is no way the Azeroth mail system in any way resembles the United States Postal Service. " - and wouldn't that probably even have been faster than waiting for us to walk, too," she agrees to Diane's latest grumble, "isn't the mail operated by elementals or something." 

"-I don't really know. I think you just build a mailbox and hope for the best."

"Pfffhfhahah oh my gosh what? There's not even a spell? You just - you just build a mailbox and magically the mail goes?? That's a strategy someone tried for the first time at some point and it worked?" 

Somehow this mental image makes the mailementals even cuter than they already were, which was very. 

"Maybe the elves made the spell first and it's just kept going since then."

"Ah, yes, that does seem like how elves." 

"I'd like to meet an elf someday."

Nod, nod. "They must be so fascinating! I think I'd be horribly jealous, though, thousands of years of lifetime, can you imagine?" 

"I would learn so many spells. A spell for every occasion. Just like bam, pow!" She mimes tossing off magic with flashy movements.

"Yeah! It'd be so cool! Everyone would be all, 'how do we solve this incredibly obscure arcane mystery? I know, we'll ask Archmage Diane, she has a thing for everything'!" grins Theriel. "And meanwhile I'd just be off gleefully spending centuries making needlessly elaborate jewelry and climbing mountains and stuff, like, call me when you require my approximately one spell for the one specific occasion of 'demons'."  

Diane laughs. "That comes up more often than it probably should, to be fair."

Snicker. "Not false." 

Anything else of interest along the road before they get back to Goldshire? 

Not especially, no. It's a nice, boring walk.

Lovely! In that case probably they can swing by the inn first thing, that'll be an easy to-do item to get out of the way before they split off to do between-adventures stuff. 

"Your brother couldn't be bothered to pay postage," Theriel informs Farley cheerfully, waving the letter at him as she hops casually over the entryway railing, and then stops in surprise to marvel at her own upper body strength. Apparently having spent much of one's life practicing to be a frontline melee combatant gets you different results from spending it doing math, who knew. 

"Aye, that sounds like Francis. Thank you, ladies. Would you care for a bite to eat?"

"Happy to help, and that sounds lovely!" 

Diane walks around the railing more sedately, and they can have a nice lunch of warm bread, soft cheese, and fresh water.

William Pestle, the local alchemist, wanders over to inquire how they found their day out on kobold patrol.

"So awesome!" enthuses Theriel. "We beat a bunch of kobolds and also some bandits and a bandit chief, I got hit a little but Diane was all prepared for that so it was totally fine, and the Abbeyfolk called us adventurers like we're real professionals now, it was really exciting!"