"It's going to be a grim morning, but afterwards there is hope things will improve."

Should she mention the thing where she doesn't need to worry about sunlight? No, not on a whim, she thinks.

Crin looks over at Alethia. "Are you ready for us to bring poor Piotr back home, or would you like some more time beforehand?"

"I am."

"Alright, then let's get this grim business over with." 

Crin sticks two fingers in her mouth and blows an INCREDIBLY LOUD whistle. 

Nikola comes down from upstairs in her simple dress. "Yes, yes." She rubs her forehead. "I will get villagers." She goes over to the door and slips on some simple wooden shoes. 

"Many thanks, Nikola."

"Is honor for my lady." Nikola waves it off and stomps outside.

"She'll be a few minutes getting a group together." Crin doesn't stir from her place at the table. "Feel free to talk to Ishaza while you wait."

Oh no how does one talk to people.

One says words, typically.

"I really do hope I can help things improve, in my own way. If nothing else, I could ensure that nobody can be sure that because Lady Illemvich is in one place, another is not defended."

Ishaza smiles slightly. "That would be enough, to start with. And if you pick up Shyish as fast as Crin seems to think, you may well make a real difference in this fief."

"Not that saving several of these villagers' lives is not a real difference."

It's nice, to have made a difference.

And she'll do more, eventually. Lots more. But for now, there are a few people here who are going to get to live lots longer because of her.

"Yeah. And I certainly plan to pick it up as quickly as I can. Well, as quickly as I can while minimizing Crin's cause to deploy her 'you have just suggested an interesting new way to die' facial expression."

"Oh, you know it that well already, do you?" Crin's face stays smooth and impassive. "I practice it every day ten times in front of the mirror. It doesn't help."

"Every time it makes me feel as though I have just noticed that I am placing my head directly in a bear trap-"

And then she gets the joke and breaks down giggling.

"My goodness! It took me a second, I didn't-"

She giggles more.

And Crin smirks.

"Took you a moment, didn't it?" She raises an eyebrow. "Nice to see you've got a brain in there." 

"I'll have you know I have the most brain. It simply does not stop me from being dumb, for it is tragically entirely full of desire to learn things about magic and corresponding effort to prevent me from deciding to check whether Shyish is edible."

That startles a laugh from Crin. "Good riposte! I think you've won that spar." She looks over at Ishaza and gives her a little eyebrow raise.

"Crin would like me to inform you that that is fatal. But also I understand. I too have been tempted by the desire to eat the magic." 

"A tragedy. While it remains true that everything is edible if you are not a coward, it is also sadly the case that sometimes such cowardice is a prerequisite to continued existence."

"Everything is edible. Some things are only edible once."

She nods sagely.

"Precisely. And this is an extraordinarily grand tragedy. Obtaining the ability for I and Ishaza to eat the magic should be our highest priority, and henceforth determine the structure of all our plans."

"Why, you could make a new committee on magic edibility and invite all the leading scholars. But I think we both know that that would be a bad idea for more than one reason."

"Imagine if we actually did that. They all show up from all across the world to our new grand building set up for just this purpose. One person steps forward for the inaugural presentation on magic edibility. And they just say, "It isn't," and then everyone goes home."