But then old age is going to get to her eventually anyway? I'm confused.

The idea is that aging might not get her once they've found a way around it, far in the future. The point is that she can get treatments we don't know about now, but will know later.

I don't get it. Aging is not an illness, something you can cure, it's just the way mortals work. Different races age slower or quicer, but everyone dies of old age, except gods. And even then, Aroden died too.

Aging is something that comes from somewhere else, and can be stopped by stopping that "somewhere else". Every illness is "the way mortals work", why would aging be the only one of them you can't cure?

I... guess. I'm not smart enough to understand the details, I'm just confused.

But thank you for spending time to try and help me understand, I appreciate it.

:)

Glad you appreciate it! It's really a very interesting and impressive system.

The moment afterward, a message on her phone informs her that a grassfire has gotten out of control, and is spreading rapidly. It won't be long before all the smoke blows over the city, and everyone has been asked to stop skiing and rush to their homes.

Oh, shit, fire. Her first instinct is to get out and try to get away from it, but the message explicitly said to get into houses.

She's confused, and scared. It looks like emergency alert can be replied to? She'll try that.

Uh. Hello. I'm one of the people who recently got here from Cheliax.

I'm confused by the order to get inside the house. With the fire coming, isn't it dangerous to be inside a closed place?

The fire is far enough away that you have no need to worry about it spreading to your home. However, your home will protect you against the thick smoke that will be produced due to the growing fire. We will supply you with further protective equipment, as time allows. But at present, please stay home. The food delivery will continue uninterrupted; we will keep you both comfortable and well-supplied during this period.

Thank you, dear Sir.

Or Lady.

She looks from her window, to see if she can see any trace of the fire.

"The food delivery will continue uninterrupted." Well, might as well make use of it. She orders some Sambar. The app asks if she wants it "extra spicy". Well, she likes spices so sure, why not?

The fire started quite recently, so it's nowhere to be seen at the moment. As normal for food delivery, the food arrives some 25 minutes later, on the charming and cute robot. And there's an even, thick layer of paste over the food. It's very, very spicy, so Zenobia has to eat it more slowly. But it leaves a fantastic aftertaste that lasts for hours upon hours.

She thanks the robot. After all, even if it's just a construct, it always pays to be nice

Oh. Oh wow, that's... a lot. She's not sure she'll get it extra spicy in the future, but very she's happy she tried it this once.

A while later, smoke can be seen in the distance, clearly visible against the vast, white, snowy landscape. It reaches far into the sky, where it begins to spread out. Zenobia is sure that it'll blanket the city before the day is over.

She'll look, fascinated, outside the window. It's good to feel safe.

Maybe... maybe her life will be good now.

As she looks out the windows, she sees wisps of smoke starting to make its way towards the city. The sky turns orange, creating a beautiful, eerie feeling. It's not obvious how, but the air inside the apartment doesn't smell of smoke or anything burning, even though she should probably be able to smell it by now.

She feels tired and should probably sleep, but it's just fascinating to look at the unfamiliar sky color, everything looking surreal.

She reluctantly shifts her attention to preparing for bed, but then sets the bedroom window to show the outside too, and stares amazed while in bed surrounded by her plushies. A frankly ridiculous amount of them, to be honest, but they were so cute, and cheap!

The soft bed, and the thick, warm blankets (the bedroom is noticeably colder than the apartment) lulls Zenobia into sleep. The bed is exorbitantly wide for just one person, and no matter how Zenobia sprawls out over it, her hands and legs always stay under the comforting warmth and weight of her blanket.

Zenobia wakes up, well rested and still surrounded by her fuzzy protectors.

She decides to text William for Winter's Bone.

Hey, want to meet up for Winter's Bone? :)

Happily! I'm just thinking about the, uh, smoke. You'd probably want to get down to one of the tailors and upgrade to a helmet with real anti-smoke filters. I wouldn't want to have you coughing and wheezing on a big holiday like that. I can get you the address to one of them who works a lot with firefighters? He's got all the newest and best gear.

Oh, that would be great, thank you!

Zenobia's snowsuit, proudly displayed on a mannequin, is cozy and comfortable. It consists of an incredibly soft and fuzzy inner layer, closely fitted to her body, together with a wind-blocking outer layer with a large amount of padding. The snowsuit has its gloves built in to the sleeves. It's warm enough that it manages to keep her cozy and warm even in the biting wind, but it comes with special vents that can easily be opened so she doesn't drip with sweat when indoors. The helmet is designed to interface seamlessly with the collar of the snowsuit and protect her head from the cold just as well.

She puts the snowsuit on, helmet and everything, and puts an additional cloth in front of her mouth to try and avoid the worst of the smoke.

Fully cocooned into the softness, she makes her way to the tailor, to get the modifications applied.

The cloth does an OK of blocking the smoke; at least, the tailor isn't very far away so she doesn't breathe in too much of it. Zenobia feels a draft of air as she enters the tailor, and sees a man wearing a snowsuit like hers, with all vents open. He starts speaking. "Hello, miss. What can I do for you today? Are you going to give me your helmet, so I can get a look at your pretty face... and make it work to protect you from the smoke spreading over the city?"

"I don't think my face is that pretty, honestly. But yes, I'd love to get something more protective. I made do with a wet cloth, but it's really not enough with all the smoke. What options do I have for having my helmet work better against smoke?" And how much would they cost? Zenobia now has a salary, but she hasn't been working for long yet, so she needs to pay attention to her purchases. Cynthia assured her that all refugees have funds assigned to them to help with the transition, but she doesn't want to use that, there are so many people who need it more! She's happy she has a job she enjoys, and that she can earn the things she now has.

"Well, for helmets like yours, I use a fairly standardized wide inflow filter. Unless you spring for a dedicated anti-smoke helm, which is overkill unless you're very sensitive to smoke, that will do plenty. And it's actually rather affordable. If you could bring me the helmet?" He looks over it, shoving a squarish filter that fits over the vents of the helmet in front of them. He nods for a few seconds.

"I'll need it for a few minutes, get all necessary parts 3D printed. And you can wait here." He quotes a reassuringly low number for the modification process to Zenobia. "I'll also have you get a bunch of filters; they should be replaced often for easy breathing and good protection. I could also get a real ultralight exhalation valve for the helmet, think you'd be interested?"