"Oh well. What's she done with bees, that sounds fascinating."

"She's gotten them to produce honey with unusual alchemical properties! Her long term goal is to make some replacements for hard to acquire potion ingredients; it would be a great boon for the enclave if she could pull it off. She'll have to put it on hold while she's in here; my dad will take care of them until she gets out."

If she gets out. Adam knows the people he loves aren't invincible, any more than he is.

"That's cool. And anything that disincentivizes people from making quattria is a good thing."

"Agreed!"

"I wonder how taking eusocial insects as familiars would work. Would it have to be one at a time, or could you take a whole hive as a single organism? Not a particularly practical question to be asking right now, I admit."

"I don't know! Melissa might be able to find out someday."

"That'd be fun. Maybe someday I shall be able to send my kid to the Scholomance with a hive of carnivorous hornets for a familiar."

"Ooh, carnivorous, that would be useful!

...Say, is that how you're..."

He gestures at the spiders.

"If your question is 'do we feed the spiders mal grubs' the answer is yes."

"That's really smart! And it's stickin' it to the mals, to not just cull their population but get something useful out of them."

"I dunno how much it's possible to stick it to them, but I'll take what I can get."

"Exactly! Gotta take pride in the small victories, or you'll go crazy."

Oops. That was a bit too honest. But not, in itself, a dangerous thing to say.

Wryly: "I think 'survival' is about the size of victory to aim for."

Oh, good, she finished the thought! Between the two of them, they've pretty much stated Adam's entire philosophy.

"Yeah. For yourself, or your family, or if you're really good, both."

She glances at Wilbur. 

"Guess I'll just have to be really good then."

"Same. Talia was for me, so I'll be for Melissa."

"It's easier with a twin. We'll have each other through graduation."

"Yeah, you will. At least I have my enclave-mates in my year."

He doesn't sound too excited about that.

"Allies are useful. Even though they're not the same as family."

"For sure."