He recognises that a lot of this is his, you know, specific personality in how he expresses it, but...

...did Siran see their faces?? They were priceless, it's always hilarious when this happens. And he's sure they meant it when they said that they'd be bringing reinforcements but hopefully he'll be long gone by then.

They made such faces! It was so good!!

Anyway uh can Zash maybe perhaps um have a resumption of hugs?

Of course.

And then they can go that-a-way! They aren't riding birds so it'll take them a few hours to get to their destination, which turns out to be...

...barely a town, really. The village of Jeneora Rock owes its name to the huge rock it was built around and it was made from the remains of one of the colony ships that mostly didn't make it a hundred and forty eight years ago. Most of its useful technology has been scavenged and brought to the bigger cities, but it somehow managed to retain enough that people can live there anyway. Not that most people with a choice would, but then again, many people don't have a choice, do they?

Jeneora Rock

"...'s that gonna fall down?"

"Probably not! It's been like that since always—well, since humanity arrived here—and it's pretty stable. Just don't push it too hard."

"Wasn't planning on it, but you never know."

He wants to reinforce it by magic, but he shouldn't.

"Still extremely curious to see your magic but not in a way where I think it'd be a great idea for you to use it if you don't think you should. The rock really is very stable, it looks precarious from this distance but there's a lot of surface contact."

Thoughtful nod. If Zash is pretty sure it's all right, then he'll leave it. He should generally not try doing any magic larger than really tiny things until he's settled on a design for his anti-sword and figured out how to safely build it.

Yeah valid.

Anyway, uh... actually they should maybe think of what to tell the townspeople about Siran. And his. Shoelessness. They know and like Zash but they'll definitely be curious about Siran.

Well. Siran could sit out here in the desert while Zash enacts some sort of bizarre complicated plan to get Siran a pair of shoes without anyone in town knowing that Siran arrived without them. Or they could just proceed as-is and Siran could shrug off questions. Second thing seems simpler.

Yeah sure they can wing it he's right it's not like the townies are gonna have anything to do with their curiosity if it doesn't get satisfied.

He does expect it would be a great bizarre complicated plan. But if they just brazen it out and ignore the questions, Siran probably gets shoes faster.

Zash is a fast talker but if he's not allowed to directly mislead that curtails their options greatly (and also removes a lot of the fun of it) (he's sometimes a little shit, sue him).

Speaking of shoes how, uh, is Siran holding up, there?

Eh, it's tolerable. His healing is keeping on top of it.

Good. Soon he'll have proper shoes.

He's looking forward to it!

Jeneora Rock is the kind of small town that has one diner which is also a pub and that's it. It does have proper walls and a proper gate, though.

When they walk into the diner everyone stops talking to stare at them, but the click of recognition of Zash happens a moment later for everyone, causing most of them to soften and return to what they had been doing or wave at him. One person in particular, the pregnant and severe-looking brunette tending to the bar, immediately leaves said bar to greet them personally. "ZASH! We didn't think we'd see you again, welcome back! Come on in, sit down."

"Rosa! A second one, is it?" he says, walking up to her and giving her pregnant belly a huge grin. "And how's the husband?"

"Goodness me, looks like! And I threw his lazy ass out," she says, with a smug little grin.

"Did you! Good on you. And where's the first one? I haven't met them yet! —ah, sorry, I shouldn't be so impolite." He takes a step back to gesture at Siran. "This is Siran. Siran, this is Rosa, a good friend."

Zash is so cute with his friends.

"Nice to meet you," he says, surprised to find that it's true.

"Oh, Tonis is our resident worm-catcher, I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later. And hello, Siran, it's nice to meet you, too. Sit, sit, what can I get you?"