"It's nice! I find cities kind of overwhelming, so I moved out here with just Anlon first and more of our friends accumulated over time."
Nod. "That's very kind of you, to accept people in like that. Apparently stories about bandits and ruffians were false?"
"Oh, I won't say there are none out here in the wilds, but we were lucky to start out and now we have two ravelers living here."
"Two?" says Adarin, surprised. "Wow, that's - very lucky. Absurdly so. I've only met one other raveler, from home, and she was in her fifties. Were they also heading to Casasha?"
"And we're not all ravelers," puts in Tima. "Chelasi and Anlon aren't. I'm not. Dayree and Quel and Netse aren't."
"Yeah, Rin," teases Zeviana. "The world doesn't revolve around magic!"
"They're better about jobs for ravelers than Antaurb, and I am unemployed." He winces. "And we both wanted to move."
"Kesaven still takes jobs in either country, sometimes," Tima muses. "But only one at a time and only just after snowmelt when the plants are too young to sell."
Chelasi's barely smiling. "What kind of work were you thinking you'd pick up exactly? You look so young to be worrying about it, anyway."
"Probably something involving protection - bodyguard's the obvious choice. I like people being safe."
He laughs a little, looking embarrassed. "Thank you. But uh - no, nothing specific."
"Kesaven made plenty of room when he put in the expansion," adds Chelasi. "You could stay over for a few days or so and rest up and tell us about what's new in the country."
"It was annoyingly long. With lots of sleeping on the ground," agrees Zeviana. "Adarin, if you turn down the offer of a free bed with nice people, I will swat you."
Adarin laughs a bit. "Well with that threat hanging over my head... Sure. It'd be nice to sleep in a bed, and have such lovely tea. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, anyway, I don't want to bother any of you."
"I do food as well as tea!" beams Jony.
"Well, she grows it. The rest of us do the cooking," says Tima, flopping her head on Jony's shoulder with an affectionate wink.
"I volunteer Adarin to cook. Adarin, you get to cook if they don't want to."
"If you'd like me to, I can, I like returning hospitality."
"There's not really a formal chore rotation," says Chelasi. "Everything gets done. It's not a company, it's a household."
"What sort of things do you cook?" asks Tima.
"Do you want me to tell you," teases Adarin, "or would you rather I showed you?"
"I'll go tell everyone dinner's on the way. There's eight of us here," Chelasi says.
She gets up and turns away, making a subtle scissor motion with each hand.