"Can't help you there; the water pump out back is just about the most complicated widget I own." Lily sets the cleaned pot down on the countertop for now. "Gimme that fish, and you can grab whatever veggies you like from the pantry. I bet onions will work well, they usually do."

She passes Lily the fish and steps over to the pantry. Onions, potatoes, and beets all come out onto the cutting board. "I think this looks like a satisfying combination," she comments, showing the selection to Lily.

"Sounds good to me," she says cheerfully, slicing up the fish.

Then she'll set to chopping. All of the vegetables get chopped into large chunks to cook down in the stew.

"On another positive note, we learned how to compress distance while navigating. That was impossible in our previous world, so it's quite the novelty to experience."

"Oh?" she says curiously. "What, you used to have to take every step between you and your destination like you're going for a walk through the orange grove? Sounds tedious."

She nods. "There was nothing about the world that recognized or cared about the efforts of your will or lifeforce. Everything was entirely made of the physical properties and those alone. It was very reliable and consistent, but there were none of these conveniences we're learning to love."

"Wouldn't a world without will or lifeforce just be... dead?" she says, squinting into the middle distance as she tries to picture this. "Rocks and water, nothing alive at all?"

"You'd think, coming from a world like this, but no. There was life. We came from there, after all. It just all ran on physical properties as well."

She shakes her head. "I can't imagine it!"

She chuckles and nods. "And we couldn't imagine a world with navigation that cares about your opinions before coming here."

The veggies are chopped, so she scrapes them off the board into the pot once Lily is done with the fish. "Shall I fill this up, then?"

"Yes, please. I'll start the stove heating up and we can let it cook while we pick the peaches."

Out she steps to the pump to fill the pot, then back in and onto the stove it goes. And then it's time for whisker peaches.

The ladder comes out again, and Lily once again offers the choice of who goes high and who goes low.

Maya doesn't mind going low. She'll help stabilize the ladder as needed, as well. Quick progress can be made on collecting all the ripe peaches.

Lily is companionably quiet and briskly efficient, until they get all the peaches into crates in the barn and it's time to head inside and eat stew.

She washes her hands, then sits down across from Lily with a smile as they dig in.

Lily smiles back.

"So this is your last night in my barn, but don't be a stranger, feel free to come by and ask for vegetables if you're hungry. Or oranges to trade to Palla. She'll get sick of them eventually if you give them to her morning, noon, and night for days, I've heard, but I've never seen anybody have trouble trading just a few oranges a day for a fish or two. I'd say that for the work you've done you're due about two big sacks of fresh produce—not the little ones I've been giving you to carry to Hazel, I mean the big ones I store it all in—and you can run down that account at your leisure, I don't need you to build a cart and haul it all off right away."

"We deeply appreciate that, Lily. Thank you. Given that we're confirmed to have a soul, and Torok has offered to escort us, we may take just two days worth and try to head straight for the city tomorrow. We'll make headway much quicker if we have tools in our hands, I'm sure."

She enjoys another spoonful of stew.

"Reasonable! I wish I had a second good carrying pack going spare, but I guess if you're travelling with Torok you still get to use it, and it's on someone else's back to boot."

"Hah! Yes, there is that. And our satchel can hold a few things as well. Between the two, that should be enough."

Lily chuckles lightly and eats her stew.

Tasty stew. This combination was a good idea. Pleasant company and tasty stew.

When she gets through her bowl of stew, Lily stifles a yawn. "Well, I'm turning in for the night. We can have the rest of the stew for tomorrow's breakfast."

She smiles and nods, finishes her own bowl, and clears it away. "Sounds lovely. Sleep well, Lily."

"You too. G'night."