"...Woodcarving."

"Why?"

He gives her a puzzled look.

"...what? Is this about cows again, should I learn about cows first?"

"Where are you from? You say you ain't cityfolk, but I can't figure how anyone who ain't cityfolk wouldn't know the things you don't know."

"A river."

"What?"

"I'm from a river."

"...Your mama was some kind of crazy hermit or something who lived by a river?"

"I don't have a mama."

"...Okay." He does not look like his confusion has been much resolved.

"I'm an elemental," she says.

He blinks. "What's that?"

"Like me. I don't know any others."

"You look like a magician."

"I'm not a magician. I've never met one."

"Is an elemental a kind of nature spirit?"

"I know a water spirit. We're not the same kind of thing but we can do some of the same stuff."

"Huh."

"Yeah. I don't know if there are more elementals."

"That's strange. So what were your questions again, I've forgotten them."

"You were going to show me the ends of a cow maybe, and I was asking about clover. I also want to know if you have sugar."

"I don't know if you actually need to be told the front end from the back end of a cow, it's pretty obvious. Sometimes we have a little sugar but we don't right now."

"I've never seen a cow."

"They're big animals with a head and a rear just like anything else."