"Yeah, I could figure that out. It'd still be risky since I can't control the weather."

"Vanyel could!" 

"Dara, I cannot go off on a boat trip across the goddamned ocean. Which is hundreds and hundreds of miles from here anyway." He glances apologetically at Tarinda. "I have no way of contacting Leareth before getting back to Valdemar anyway. My Foresight is blocked for, er, reasons. It's about a fortnight's journey but we can try to be efficient about it, and I can introduce you to the King too just in case he's enthusiastic about helping." 

"Okay. Uh, what if he's not?"

"He won't do anything to harm you or keep you from leaving Valdemar even if he disagrees, and if you do leave Valdemar he can't really do anything to prevent you working on it. I guess he could tell our allies not to help you but that'd be pretty extreme for him. He might try to talk you out of it." 

"I guess," she says. "He's not going to talk me out of it though."

"Figured not. Anyway. We should get going for the day. Want to ride with Dara again until we break for lunch?" 

"Up to you guys, I'm easy."

She hops up on Rolan.

Vanyel isn't very talkative for the rest of that day. 

Dara more than makes up for this. 

Then by the end of the day Page will be able to generate more interesting song lyrics.

Dara thinks that is amazing and even Vanyel is drawn in by it.

They ride longer because some features are now popping into view on the previously featureless horizon. Drawing closer, they can eventually make out a very strange sort of city. A cluster of ancient-looking stone buildings, surrounded by a smallish number of absurdly colourful tents - not camping-style tents, but ones that look build to last a season. 

"Welcome to Kata'shin'a'in!" Dara says brightly. "It's way better in full summer, I wish we could stick around but it really doesn't make sense to." 

"Oh, it's so neat! I love that one over there, in the purple."

Dara squints at it. "I think that's Clan Pretera'sedrin - er, Clan of the Grass-cat in their language. We can ask to camp there if we want, everyone's incredibly friendly here, but they're probably still setting up so it might be rude to make them put up guests. I'll go find someone to ask where we can pitch our tent." She slips down from Rolan's back and runs off. 

"I think we're lucky to be passing through in the off-season this time," Vanyel mutters. "It's so incredibly loud when all the clans are here. And dusty. Also summer is hot here." 

"That sounds really uncomfortable, I'm sorry!"

"Dara loved it, but I think she's more of a people person than I am." 

Dara, in fact, takes a while to come back and show them a tent location because she gets distracted catching up with people she remembers from the previous summer. 

"So, um, pending questions about our world? I wasn't totally keeping track of your conversation today and what Dara's filled you in on." 

"Do you think magic could help make the hardware I need faster? I don't wanna have to spend a hundred years on it."

"Is that what you think it'd take otherwise? Hmm. Maybe. You can do some kinds of metalwork and glasswork with magic - it's rarely worth it in Valdemar since we have so few mages and a lot more non-magical craftspeople, even if it takes them longer to make a given item, but sometimes for making something one-of-a-kind it's the most efficient." 

"I don't know exactly how long it'd take, it'll depend on - mining and economics and stuff, I'm not Sing and neither is Page so I can't just start with building machines that do everything for me, right? I could do it all myself if I really had to but that would take so long to get all the stuff and make the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools. Like - do you ever think about how when there were first people, there was, like, rocks and sticks and that was it? They made all their stuff using rocks and sticks, and then they had the second generation of tools, and then they could make the third generation, and now you have, like, what-all you have, but they started with rocks and it would be very annoying to do that over again even if you know it's possible. What-all you have is rocks compared to what Sing needs."

Nod. "I never really thought of it that way before, but...you're right. Huh. Anyway, once we get back to Valdemar I can do a better job of showing you what kinds of work our artificers and craftspeople can do. But - I bet Leareth is way ahead. He is on most things." 

"I'm kind of worried he's mostly ahead on magic and it could turn out it's not helpful but it'd sure help a lot to start with better rocks."

"It hasn't been his main focus, obviously, but I bet he still knows more than anyone else in our world about non-magical science. He's recommended me some books in the past, although it was years ago and I don't have them with me and don't recall that many details."