Wince. "Nnnno, between each one. Since each time it cuts a plant it's like it's docking at a new dock. Uh. I'll get you something to make it quick and easy, and until then don't worry about it?"

"The plants have tiny lifeforms that are harmful to each other?"

"Often, yes."

He furrows his eyebrows but nods seriously.

Poor Taharqi, confronted with germ theory out of nowhere. She reaches out and pats him. You're doing great, Taharqi. "I guess I'll prioritize distilling alchohol higher, then!" Pause. "... Until then I could teach you how to clean my athame with magic and then send you off with it."

She looks so incredibly unenthused about this prospect, though!

"Why is it a bad idea?"

"It's a good idea, actually, if you'll be running around getting cuttings of things instead of me, I'm just, uh. .... It's mine?"

"I think I can deal with boiling water, it is not a deal breaker."

"Honestly, I recommend just skipping it until I get alcohol to let you do it quickly. I can and will just kill any of the tiny lifeforms that plague any cutting you give me. But, if you're replanting things without me! Sterilize things."

"Duly noted."

Okay, back to their lesson on cutting bits off of plants! It's still super straightforward. He's probably glad he's wearing gloves, though, because it involves a lot of sap and other plant related liquids. And then all of the plants are placed into little holes in the ground, that Saevetei does just a little bit of magic to and then fills with water from the river. The holes in the ground do not seem like they're going to drain anytime soon, even though that is... not how things tend to work.

"And that's basically it!" she says brightly, once the cuttings are all safely potted in their little waterproof holes in the ground.

He does not actually care about the wetness and sap but sure. "Isn't that a bit too much water?" he asks.

"Nope! They don't need that much water to drink, but they'll find it easier to grow new roots if they're suspended in water. Once they've got roots of their own I'll rip holes in the waterproof film keeping the water in, and add in dirt. From there they'll get watered normally. But little baby plants are delicate."

"Clever. I feel like this entire area is going to suddenly have many more plants than it's ever seen."

"I did warn you! Obnoxiously alive. I was really, really not kidding."

"I look forward to seeing what-all you will do."

"It'll be fun! And also often rather boring. Magic involves a lot of setup and then wandering off for a while until things are done growing."

"Not the local kind, but I suppose that makes sense."

"Right. My magic involves a lot of setup and then wandering off for a while. The local magic involves dancing, placating gods, and blood sacrifice. There, happy?"

"It sometimes involves food, fires, and chanting, too."

"Mine sometimes involves food and fires too! But no chanting. I have no idea how chanting would help anything in particular."

"Me neither, it was never really my thing," he says, shrugging.

"I will teach you some of my magic, and then you can lord your strange power over everyone."

Taharqi laughs. "I can, but maybe I'd rather keep it a secret."

"Then you can do that too! A lot of things I could give you would plausibly just be weird collectibles without the knowledge of how to use them, anyway, so it wouldn't even be hard."