"Huh. Okay. Aha, here it is." And there's a holographic screen with notes and instructions on the standard preservation signet. "I could probably print this to you, if you wanna take it with you. It does the same things yours does but some of this stuff is slightly different so it might be more useful to just tweak yours to add the changes? I'm sure those stuffy councillors wouldn't accept your new signet before they tested that it was thoroughly the same as ours but I checked and it is so I don't care about them."

Vetareh smiles fondly.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't convert over to the standard signet instead of holding out with my old one. I'd pushed for it in Orr, and was always very frustrated that it was so hard to get everyone to commit. I could tweak my signet to give you the data you need promptly, and also study and learn the new standard and swap when I've got it? That way I'm not held up relearning a thing I already have, but am not a hypocrite. If it were lesser I'd do it as fast as possible, but if you say it's not, then I believe you."

"It's really, really not," the girl says, bobbing her head up and down in a nod. "I'll print this out for you."

"Thanks!" she says, beaming. "Any changes you'd like me to make in sample collection going forward? I promise I won't be offended if I can improve, I am several hundred years behind the theoretical curve."

She reiterates that Vetareh is still miles ahead of James but she does have an opinion or two that she had previously considered pipe dreams.

Vetareh is not offended! She nods along and asks questions and even takes very brief notes. Yep, those are things she can do!

"You really should keep her, Commander," Taimi says when they're done. "Or if you don't, I will, she's mine now, bwahahahaha!"

This is hilarious, and Vetareh giggles accordingly.

"At least she thinks you have good taste," she says, to James. "And I have a new career as a minion! I'm branching out."

"I'm sure you will be a splendid minion."

"Here, here, take this," Taimi says, handing Vetareh a bunch of pieces of paper. "And go be lovebirds elsewhere, I'm really busy and I hear you two have a world to save!"

"Thank you, Taimi. We will stop distracting you from your important work now. Fire Islands, then?"

"Fire Islands indeed! Lead the way, boss."

"That's the spirit!"

Vetareh snorts, then leads him out of Taimi's lab, and to the asuran portal's control panel to input the Fire Islands portal.

Then: hooray, Fire Islands! Time to figure out what those earthquakes were about. They were probably related to Primordus.

Probably! They can take the waypoint near the Fire Islands gate to the other Fire Islands waypoint they have unlocked north of the Destroyer hive. "Now we have an asuran researcher to find. Should be easy enough, just follow the arrogant orders or the frustrated despair."

She snorts. "There is no in between? All right. Well, the researcher said east, so..."

To the east! Any arrogant barked orders or signs of frustrated despair to be found?

...yes, actually! There's an asura over there on top of an elevated stone platform grumbling at a device that looks very obviously broken, and a skritt in pirate gear watching him.

She doesn't actually know what a skritt is, so seeing one in pirate gear is novel. Not the weirdest thing she's seen, but novel.

"Pardon me," she says, politely. "What's going on here?"

    He looks up at her and looks close to tears. "This miserable device won't activate! And the skritt won't help!"

        "No! Smelly asura will ruin everything! Leave it to skritt! Champions of Rock Face!" says the skritt.

"Are you the researcher in charge of figuring out what's going on with the tremors?"

    "Yes! —wait, you're the Commander. Surely you can help?"

"With what?"

    "According to these skritt, this device has something to do with the building seismic pressure beneath the island. If we can't figure out how to activate it, the pressure builds and builds until... well, as the skritt say, 'pop'."

        "Pop! Pop! Weeeee hee hee!"

She frowns at the device. It's clearly inactive, and it's not obvious how to change that, but it feels rather like some kind of, of pressure release valve.

"Is this... dwarven?" she says, blinking thoughtfully at it.

        "Yes! Rock face old dwarf face! Dwaaaaaaarf heee hee hee!"

    "Oh, my," says the researcher. "A dwarf? Here?"

"You haven't spoken to them?"

    "The skritt won't let me get close enough to ask how to work this blasted machine."

"Do the champions of Rock Face mind terribly if we go pay our respects to their esteemed leader, and maybe pay tribute in, uh." She considers the intelligence and goals of a cackling pirate rat thing. "... Shinies?"

    "Ooooh! Shinies! Yes yes!" It pauses. "No! No! No bribing thirdish mate! Talk to firstish mate first! Yes! Friends of skritt only!"

James perks up at that last thing.

"Okay, then I suppose we'll just have to be very helpful and charming. Could you please direct us to the first...ish... mate?"

    "Yes! Yes! Come with me! Come come come!"

James shrugs and follows.