Drop In Visit

"Don't tell me I've been out there more than you," Beryl responded, faux shock on her face. "Its part of my regular route now. They're good people, and I think Valna would be discreet. They're all...how to put this...really elven. They take their obligation to you and your father pretty seriously, so they're bound to keep your secrets."

She shrugged.

"But, yeah, I'm sure I can arrange a nice pastoral vacation for you two if you really want," Beryl added with a friendly wink.

"Thanks - I'll think about it. Both options. It would be good to take Macen out there more, anyway. But how are work-thing going? last i heard there were some promising hybrids?" He made a bit of a face, remembering the metaphors his father had used when talking to him about the divorce.

"Oh, really well. I don't know how much you've talked to your father about it, so stop me if I'm retreading old ground, but we've been trying to hybridize some of our stable stock with more Change-resistant, mostly wild, strains."

Beryl made the drake in her hand fight one of the animated ones crawling over Macen as she talked.

"A lot of wild strains, whatever they are, tend to Change with the landscape, sort of an adaptation. But they problem is, they sometimes change on their own, making them, at best, unpredictable."

"Some, though, are more resistant to the Change, weathering it like a normal crop does a frost or drought. They can still have trouble if, say, the new conditions aren't hospitable, but its a good trait to have. Those are hard to hybridize, though, which is the work we're doing. We've found some 'naturally' occuring near various farming communities, between here and Grimfar originally, but now all over. We're trying to cultivate these, and see if we can make more similar strains."

Vedran nodded, settling Macen into his lap... which lasted all of two second before he squirmed to get up and chase down a drake to attack Beryl's with. "Are you working with any actual crops yet, or just trying to pin down the change-resistance?"

"Well, some of the accidental hybrids are crops, which was lucky, so we've got a few test plantings. Rice near here, and rye closer to home."

Beryl chuckled.

"I should get Thru in on this. We've got all kind of casters working on this, alongside the farmers themselves. I know your father doesn't approve of too much magic in his cultivation, but these are too important not to try everything we can."

"Still, it'll be seasons and seasons before any of it is really viable on any sort of usable scale. But, you know Jesseryn, its all about the long-term."

Vedran smirked. "He doesn't approve of too much magic unless its his own, I think you mean. But that's great, for the long term, like you said. And it'll be great for you too, being involved at this stage. Your house must be pretty excited."

"Fair. But, yeah, they're pretty happy with our progress. This is how they've made most of their fortune in the first place, so anything that helps keep that going. I will say they're still a little wary of working with an elf on this, at least the older members of the House. It'll be a happier day when we're all Nerathi, instead of Vanilorran or Grimfarrer, you know?"

Vedran grinned. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you that's half the agenda here. This whole project is a metaphor." He gave he a more serous look. "Not that the project isn't important in and of itself... Well I'm sure I don't have to tell *you* about how my father's mind works, anyway."

Beryl gave a short laugh, her face settling into a knowing look.

"Layers upon layers, I know, gardening metaphor and so on. I'm behind Jesseryn's goals for the most part, I just wish he wasn't always so...creepy about it."

Vedran grinned back,raising his eyebrows. "Welcome to my life? Anyway, I'm glad things are going well. Its a great project." He paused a moment to let Macen crawl into his lap, and gently pet the drake the toddler thrust into his face. "But - love life, work life - am I missing anything else here?"