She seems fine, maybe a little amused at the whole thing. She pauses outside the artist's door once they're let out, to pet him and kiss the top of his head; "did well, there. And usually when - pays you early, it means you're done, they don't want any more. That's why she had to say she really did."

He shifts slightly to nuzzle her chin, and then snuggles back into her. "-Oh. I didn't- Did she mean that?"

"Meant to give you a break, wants you back. Will be okay if you don't come back, that's why she paid you part."

"Huh." He thinks that over. "Okay. Can we go see the bridge?"

"Sure." And she sets off for it, taking a little longer to find a lift without Figment guiding her but soon enough managing to get to the east bridge between this stack of platforms and the next one; it's not particularly remarkable - the flowers adorning it are tiny pink and orange and yellow stars, different enough to distinguish this bridge from the others in the village and about as pretty as the rest, and the bushes below it sport dense spheres of orange petals with burgundy tips, the size of a spread hand - but the promised seating is visible on the other side, lightly enough crowded that they'll easily find a seat.

One looks around, obviously still very taken with getting to see new things. "...Sit?" he suggests to Deka after a moment.

"Mmhmm." She crosses, and spends a few seconds picking out the bench furthest from anyone else. Most everyone else here - all elves except for a catlike woman with dark brown fur and her two tabby-striped children - is working at something or other; the nearest elf is attaching the feathers to a batch of arrows; another nearby one has a huge pile of red flowers and is systematically stripping the petals off of them to put in one sack, then putting the central stems in another. A pair a little farther from them is working with some kind of fiber, one spinning it into thin rope with the aid of a machine sitting in her lap, the other fashioning a coil of similar rope into a basket, while a man on the bench across from them whittles wooden cutlery. "Should have brought my knitting," Deka says, following One's gaze to the workers.

One hums his agreement, watching the workers curiously. He nods to the one spinning fibres. "Is that sort of like how you get the...yarn? For knitting?"

"Mmhmm. That's - hemp, probably? Plant fiber, sturdier, good for rope, not soft enough for yarn. Same idea though, twist it together to make it strong."

One nods rapidly. "Looks...interesting to do?" Pauses, tilts his head this way and that. "Soothing?"

"Very soothing, yeah. Could try it sometime. I don't have a wheel but I'll want one, later."

"No rush. Might set it on fire. Probably don't want to do that..."

She nods. "Probably something to do about that. Maybe find a druid to ask. Or see how wizards do it, with fire spells."

One nods. "Been...better? Had less accidents since you- since I left?"

"Yeah." Pet pet. "Could just be - not a problem, when you're more okay. Happens sometimes. Like me - harder to talk when I'm around strangers too much, headaches, things like that. And fire is - often, emotions, might be a reason it happens more when you're scared."

"...Maybe yeah." Pauses. "Still wouldn't want to risk messing with yarn right now. That's important."

She shrugs. "First few months you're learning, not a big problem if it's ruined from fire. Good chance it'll be bad anyway. But not yet, sure."

One thinks, turning words over his head, and when he speaks it's like he's testing each word, not quite sure of their taste and form. "Think...better for me if setting yarn on fire not as likely? Even if the result isn't good?"

"All right. Good you know what you need. And we can -" she gestures vaguely. "Ask." Sigh. "Should teach you - sign, language, if you're staying."

He perks up a little. "Sign?" Pauses, looks at Deka worriedly. "Would that be easier for you?"

He's very cute. "Little bit. If I don't talk it gets harder to talk. But when I can't, good to be able to talk anyway." Her hands move as she speaks, little half-complete signs following along with her words. "Need my hands, though. Work on it tonight maybe. At the room."

He nods eagerly - and some of that is his eagerness to learn, and some of that is his desire to learn something that will make things easier for Deka. "I'd like that! -Uh, but you don't have to?"

"Not a secret or anything." Pet pet.

He makes pleased sounds at the pets. "Yeah, but- You might not have the time? Or the energy? And that's-"

She gives him a second to complete the thought before answering. "Should be fine tonight. Might sometimes be tired but if that's every night, something's wrong. Until college, I guess, college might be harder. Might hire someone to teach you, if it's that hard."