"I would totally eat food if offered food!" says Aleko, waving a hand.

"Great," he says. "I'll make food. Anybody else?"

"By all means," says Sarelle.

"Why not," says Ekador.

"I'm kind of hungry too. Your moat is lovely," adds Kiri. "Very elaborate."

"I appreciated the detail work," mentions Sarelle.

"Yeah? Good eye," says Loel. "It's pretty subtle, but I like it that way."

"You haven't been here that long; I'm surprised all those little fiddly bits are already done."

"When I don't wanna waste time, I don't," he says. "Also, magic. I did a lot of that detail work myself. It was fun."

"Oh, cool."

"That has to have taken forever."

"Not nearly as long as you'd think," says Loel. "Here's a sitting room, it's nice, anybody who doesn't feel like watching me cook can wait here."

Twins plop down in the sitting room.

"I will watch you cook," says Sarelle.

Ekador follows the twins into the sitting room.

"We're staying here for, what'd you tell Patience, a week?" Aleko asks Kiri.

"Yep," says Kiri. "And, yes, then we can go home and stay there for a nice long while."

"Loel Lalindar is very... lively," says Ekador. "It's charming. I'm charmed."

"He is very lively. I'm officially optimistic that we're all five going to get along nicely."

"I think I am likewise optimistic," says Ekador. "Although my opinion of him may suffer if he turns out to be a terrible cook."

"He's fed us before. He's good."

"I am appropriately relieved."

"And he probably would have a hard time getting those weird Thiyecine herbs, around here, too. I don't think I liked them."

"Hopefully he has learned to adjust."