"And yours as well!"

Before she leaves for the temple of Iomedae, she goes and finds Ember. "Say, Ember. Do you want warmer clothes and shoes and stuff? It doesn't cost me anything to make them and I don't want you to get cold."

"With most people, they need warm clothes or they'll get frostbite or catch a cold, but if you have enough magic that doesn't happen to you even when you get cold. So lots of other people need clothes more than I do."

"Okay, but I already made a bunch of clothes for those people, and I want to know if you also want some, when it doesn't mean anyone else having to go without. If you'd actively rather be barefoot that's okay, but if you're just worried about other people you don't need to be; there are plenty of clothes to go around now."

"Well, I don't really like wearing shoes, but I don't know if I would like new clothes or not. It's been a while since I had any."

If Brenda had always been immune to cold, sharp rocks, maternal disapproval, etc she might never have gotten in the habit of wearing shoes either. "Okay. How about I give you a sweater and if you don't like it you don't have to keep it?"

"Sure, that sounds fine."

Cozy sweater for Ember! It's soft and warm and cream-colored with little crow silhouettes knitted into it.

"Wow, it's so warm!"

Soot looks at the sweater and preens, taking the same pose as the knitted bird.

"You should keep it, it captures my best qualities. That friend of yours has a good eye."

Ember laughs.

"Soot really likes it too!"

"Aww, I'm glad you both like it! I'd offer to make Soot something too but I don't know if he could wear clothes comfortably. Maybe a bracelet or a necklace or something."

"Does that sound interesting?"

"I don't need a necklace, I'm a bird.

...

"Maybe if it was really shiny."

Little crow-sized braided-gold necklace, smooth and polished with no gaps a feather could get caught in! It's very shiny.

Soot will valiantly resist the temptation for two entire seconds, before flying over to Brenda for it.

"Thank you."

The response is in Hallit this time, though he doesn't seem inclined to further conversation.

"You're welcome."

"Ember, there was something else I wanted to ask: I have magic that lets me copy traits from other people. I think if I copied you I'd be able to live as long as an elf, assuming I don't get myself killed, and I'd like that very much. Would that be alright with you?"

"It's always really sad when the people I know get old and die, and I've never had an elf friend before. I think I'd like that a lot."

"Thanks--and I'm sorry about your other friends. I'll do my best not to die on you." Dragon Fairy Elf Witch! (Her non-cat ears get pointier but they're hiding under her hair so it's not obvious.)

She's also slightly more graceful and better at overcoming spell resistance, but admittedly the latter doesn't really feel like anything as such.

The temple of Iomedae is not right next to the temple of Desna, but it's in the same part of the city and large enough that it's readily visible from up on the hill. There are starting to be some people actually on the streets now, though not that many and mostly only nearby the temples. Brenda and co will receive a few cautious greetings on the way over, but nobody wants to stop and chat and it's not long before they've arrived at their destination for the second time that day. The person currently organizing things seems to be a rather harried woman dressed in red and white.

"Sorry to bother you, but are you interested in donations of winter clothing? Also I'm selling powdered silver for fifteen crowns per Bless Water casting."

"Thank you, that would be greatly appreciated."

Her response comes on autopilot, then her mind catches up.

"And, sorry, I think I misheard you. Did you say 15 crowns?"

"Yep! I have a spell that conjures it, and Ramien at the temple of Desna checked and it works just as well."

That's... a baffling thing for a spell to do, she thinks? If that were common, then probably bless water would already be cheap, and silver wouldn't be used for money. Maybe it would work if it was a really high level spell but that doesn't explain why someone would be selling it in Kenabres or why they would go to Ramien instead of Rathimus to confirm. Maybe it's a scam, or a cover for for looting and they're hoping selling it to the church offsets the evil of the looting? She's not really sure that makes more sense, though.

"That sounds useful? But I don't think I can buy it without confirming that and I don't have bless water prepared today. If you need money in a hurry you could sell it to the Prelate or the Abadarans."

And also she gives most of the money from the collections to help fund the eagle's watch and she couldn't buy all that much if she tried. The inquisitors are the Iomedaeans with all the money.

"Not in a hurry; happy to come back tomorrow. Or leave you some so you can try it tomorrow morning and if it's good you can pay for it then, whichever. Where should donated clothing go and is there anything other than coats and boots that would be useful?"

"If you could stop by tomorrow that would be appreciated. If it's not just clothing we'd take blankets, otherwise shirts, caps, and breeches would all be useful even if they're not as important as coats; if there's just a few I can get them distributed now but if there's more I should find a room in the back."

"I'd appreciate if you found a room in the back; I make clothes by magic too. Not the teachable kind of magic, unfortunately."

Then the Select can arrange that for her. Despite Brenda's words, she still kind of boggles at the sheer volume of clothes and how many hours of labor would go into making that the normal way; it definitely makes the silver claim a lot more plausible.

"Bless you, this will help a lot of people. I'll make sure these get to the people that need them most."

"You're welcome! While I'm here, is there anything else found in clothing or jewelry that's a useful spell component? Silk, fine wire, gold, gemstones, magnets . . .?"