The sheep and the wolf put their hands on their mouths! That's so sad!! The wolf is...gesturing. Somehow it's clear that the wolf really wants to help.

"This is a good place for refugees! Anywhere in Asphodel. How many people are coming?"

"We're not sure. Maybe - maybe hundreds of millions. The person who can bring them across seems - keen to help but can only do one at a time and we're not sure how long the planet will - still have anyone on it to come across - the way I got here will make it worse, if we do too much of it."

They're so sad!!

"Hundreds of millions is okay! What will you and them need? We'll go tell people. Are you hungry?" The sheep holds out the basket of orange berries. Ranary will have to reach down a bit if she wants any because they are four feet tall, and the wolf is only a little above that.

"They're going to need food and water and something to build homes out of - we can let them pack but they can't carry their houses - are you super sure humans can eat those -"

"I think so! I haven't heard of anyone who can't eat these. There's a lot of food and water and trees to make houses out of! The two of us just prefer to sleep on the ground, though."

The wolf noms one.

"Does it not rain?" She takes a berry; if they'll all die of poisoning if they try to come here she can probably still make it back to deliver the news.

The berry is sweet and tart and gooey. It tastes like mango. It doesn't burn her tongue or throat or anything.

"Um...I don't think we have that here...?" She looks at the wolf, unsure, who nods at her. "We have the twilight mist. Just before sunrise, the plants become dewy. Is that what you mean?"

"It's not but it's still good to know. What about wells, or... if someone dug from the edge of the river, in a line, would part of the river flow where they dug?"

"I don't know what a well is. The river would flow where they dug!"

"Okay, great." Civilization does not have to approximate a line segment. It'd be better than everyone dying but it would be SUCH a hassle. "What else should people who are going to move here know about it?"

"Hurting people is bad. People who are going to move here should not hurt us, each other, themselves, or others." The wolf nods sagely.

"I recommend drinking from the river Pyriphlegethon when you're thirsty. The River of Dreams is also good to drink, but maybe not right away if you're new. You will get visions of the good when you drink it! Very good experience but you have to be in a good mindset to appreciate it. Drinking from the river Kerlaugar is fine but it tastes bad. It's bitter. We swim in it to get clean." The wolf makes a disgusted face.

"You can eat any of the plants here but some are tastier than others." Wolf nod. "But people vary on what they like to eat."

"...since there are hundreds of millions of people," says Ranary, "I don't think I can be sure that none of them will hurt anyone. It's too many people to check, if we even had a good way to check, and some of them are children, who might grow up any which way."

The wolf makes a mournful expression of understanding.

"No, it's okay. We want to help as many people as possible — do not worry about...picking which people are good or bad. We want everyone to be able to heal and have peace here in Asphodel. It takes time for people to stop hurting and learn to stop hurting others. And we will teach them and help them." Wolf nod.

"If someone is very violent then perhaps we might put them to sleep, and then when they wake up they will be more calm."

"That sounds... probably... fine..." What is Cor going to say if she relays this. "How long will they sleep for if you do that? How violent is very?"

"Maybe a few hours. A whole day or a whole night if they're really tired.

Very violent is when you're hitting people." The wolf mock karate chops the sheep's head, and the sheep cringes and rubs their head. Then returns to their regular pleasant expression. "Like that."

"And this will make them calmer just the way sleeping normally makes people calmer, or in a different way?"

"I don't know how you could be a different kind of calm when you sleep? I guess if you have bad dreams you might not be calmed by sleeping..."

"...okay. Uh... does anyone else live here besides people like you two already?"

"Yeah, lots of people. Do you want to meet them?"

"Not right now, if I'm gone too long my friends will think I'm dead. But can you tell me about them?"

"Okay. Well I'm Mina and this is Sasa," they gesture to the wolf.

"Narina likes swimming and basket weaving. She made my basket! Tepa can fly and his nest is super high up in a tree and he has lots of shiny rocks. Paz also likes swimming. Tumi and Tamomi and Raya and their friends want to make a tiered garden as high as a hill! Rati likes sleeping. Mima" and she is going to continue like this unless Ranary stops her.

"That's not what I meant. I mean, you two are the same sort of person, right? You're furry and you're - from here - and your friends you mentioned are probably also about like that except for the one who can fly maybe? Are there other kinds, like are there groups of of refugees or their descendants, or people who are from here but don't look like the same kind of thing as you and maybe act differently in some ways, besides just having other hobbies?"

"No, I haven't met anybody like that. Or talked to anyone who knew anybody like that. But I haven't traveled much." They look at Sasa. Sasa shakes their head.

No proof of concept, hoo boy. "Okay. So - people can come here, and eat the food and drink the water and build houses and dig irrigation channels, and if they hit someone they'll fall asleep for a while... are there ways to get things like metal and stone and sand that can be made into glass, here?"

"Yes! And I don't know what metal and glass are but there's stone and sand!"