"Oh, Norur was starting to grouse about that, thanks for clearing it up. And I've been meaning to find you and tell you, I'm letting some adventurers pass through - they don't want to harvest anything, they're avoiding some tax collectors or something who'd be looking for them on the road and they seem like good sorts, they'll want to nip through a corner of your patch. Elf with a sword, human Gozrehn, tall willowy wizard with red hair like a fox and grey eyes is also human."

Huh. She nods. "Got it. ...RJ should be arriving tomorrow, so I'll be pretty busy this next week, but I'll keep an eye out for them."

She stays for a bit to chat, but she's planning on harvesting the precious crafting plants this evening, just to get it out of the way, so she doesn't stick around too long.

Norur noses her goodbye.

(She nuzzles Norur back.)

Crafting with RJ continues to be really nice. It's warm enough outside that they join her in sleeping under the stars, though they stay close to the cave. They make a traveller's any-tool for her ("it weighs the same amount as that broken-down axe you carry, and will do its job and a dozen others"), more bags of holding (including one of the bigger kinds, which is an exciting project that takes them almost 3 days), a pair of cloaks of resistance, and a few pearls of power. She keeps one of the small bags, the any-tool, and one of the pearls.

RJ knows they'll never feel the way Kaiti does about her forest, but her love for it does still manage to be a bit contagious, on these clear warm summer nights. They learn the names of plants and animals they'd never really noticed before, and even manage to retain facts about the ecosystem, which is easier to do when Kaiti smiles at them about it. (They're down bad. It's kind of a problem, albeit the kind of problem that's mostly pleasant in the moment and that they feel no real desire to try and solve, at least not in a hurry.) 

They give and get more hugs, over the week. She's always a bit awkward about it, but they don't mind, and she initiates so many of them that RJ isn't actually worried. 

On the fifth day, Kaiti surprises them by mentioning offhand that the efrofyel and hothon levels are healthy enough that she'd be comfortable with them coming back in the fall. They figure out a time, and RJ avoids smiling too much about it.

Then all too soon, it's time to say goodbye again. (They give her a much longer hug, this time, savoring the smells of the forest mingled in with the distinct tang of her feathers.) 

Kaitiaki feels that weird pang of feelings when they have to leave. (She should... think about what that means, at some point; she knows it's not wise to ignore her feelings.)

She goes looking for Zisel - she's only seen traces of the adventuring party he mentioned, and she has that promised bag of holding for him.

Zisel (and Norur) are with the adventuring party in question, when Kait finds them. He's sitting riiiight next to the wizard with the fox-red hair.

"I was starting to think I'd have to come looking for you," he says. In Hallit, since Druidic is secret. "I'm gonna... go... with... these folks. For at least a while. You good to check in on my area now and then?"

Her eyes widen.

"For -" wait, that's Druidic, because she always talks to Zisel in Druidic, but there's other people here so she's supposed to use Hallit so she switches to Hallit, "- for how long?"

"I'll aim to be back by wintertime. Get Norur her long nap in a familiar place."

...that's not so bad. She bows solemnly. "I will take good care of your area until then."

She wants to ask what they'll be doing, but there's three people here she doesn't know, so instead she awkwardly hands him his bag of holding, and decides to give him her pearl of power, too. Just in case.

"Thank you. You're a good kid and a good druid." And she gets a hug.

She hugs him tight, eyes watering. "Be safe," she whispers.

"Oh, probably not. But that's how everything learns, in the long run."