He wasn't excited about the term 'Hand' - it was Zariah's term, he seemed to recall, and Edrei had been associated with it as an enforcer, but he didn't want to rock the boat so soon. Besides, he was glad that Amalia would be stepping in as the second in command, and he sent her a pulse of warm congratulations along the Attuned bond as he smiled.
The suggestion that he and Sam work together as historians earned a broader grin as he glanced to his ginger friend with an easy nod. "It fits in well with what we already do," he agreed. "I've been working on putting together a history as I've learned it, but it's getting to the point where I should clean it up and make it more readily available to others, even as we add to it. There's still so much we don't know..." He shrugged wryly, everyone in the room knowing that already.
The mention of food and good soil was met with another nod and his smile turned more wry. "Loren already made a start on that in Flowerbirth. We worked on enriching some of the Fields - Deimos was there," he nodded to the General. "Creating irrigation systems, setting up windbreaks, and the like. My magic allows me to do so to the soil directly as well, if we have small areas of particular importance you'd like to focus on." He'd already done so with the earth on Rory's farm and Abasi's mortuary yard... not that it was needed any longer.
"It might be easier than asking the Fae... Delah, at least, seems to think they don't need anything we have." He grimaced faintly, nodding to Deimos's point. "Our last attempt to open trade with them ended... rather poorly, from what I heard. But we can still try to find something they might want." What that could be, he had only a slight hope, but he slanted a glance to Amalia. "Maybe something like stories, songs, books...?" He'd spoken to some of the Fae about Safrin's library and they'd seemed eager to learn more. Tarasha had even offered to trade books from the Undercroft, though how well that would go over with Delah he didn't know, and they were Amalia's books to dispose of, not his.
As to the matter of the Ascended... "Wessex teleported to the Mathair earlier this season," he said grimly. "The Fae shot her, but she teleported away again before they could finish the job. How you're going to keep out someone who can move like that..." he shrugged, but he didn't envy Rex the weight of trying rein in the Voice's pet demigod.
The suggestion that he and Sam work together as historians earned a broader grin as he glanced to his ginger friend with an easy nod. "It fits in well with what we already do," he agreed. "I've been working on putting together a history as I've learned it, but it's getting to the point where I should clean it up and make it more readily available to others, even as we add to it. There's still so much we don't know..." He shrugged wryly, everyone in the room knowing that already.
The mention of food and good soil was met with another nod and his smile turned more wry. "Loren already made a start on that in Flowerbirth. We worked on enriching some of the Fields - Deimos was there," he nodded to the General. "Creating irrigation systems, setting up windbreaks, and the like. My magic allows me to do so to the soil directly as well, if we have small areas of particular importance you'd like to focus on." He'd already done so with the earth on Rory's farm and Abasi's mortuary yard... not that it was needed any longer.
"It might be easier than asking the Fae... Delah, at least, seems to think they don't need anything we have." He grimaced faintly, nodding to Deimos's point. "Our last attempt to open trade with them ended... rather poorly, from what I heard. But we can still try to find something they might want." What that could be, he had only a slight hope, but he slanted a glance to Amalia. "Maybe something like stories, songs, books...?" He'd spoken to some of the Fae about Safrin's library and they'd seemed eager to learn more. Tarasha had even offered to trade books from the Undercroft, though how well that would go over with Delah he didn't know, and they were Amalia's books to dispose of, not his.
As to the matter of the Ascended... "Wessex teleported to the Mathair earlier this season," he said grimly. "The Fae shot her, but she teleported away again before they could finish the job. How you're going to keep out someone who can move like that..." he shrugged, but he didn't envy Rex the weight of trying rein in the Voice's pet demigod.
