The Prince and The Orcs

Kalil puts the empty vial in his pocket and then follows after Saige. "Well, I was planning to stick around here for a little while in case Blodwulf shows. I owe him a training session. Then I was going to head back home." He keeps pace with Saige as he looks around the small village. "There's plenty to do around here. My mom should be heading back out soon too. She just needed some time to deal with what happened. Then she'll get back to helping them farm." He shrugs. "I guess while I wait for Blodwulf I could poke around the farm and garden and see how it's going. Maybe help some. Care to join me?"

Saige listens to Kalil’s words and nods. “Sure! I’m already covered in dirt so gardening will be fun! I need to talk to Kogdor at some point too, you could come with me? He’s been so busy with the rebuilding though it’s really hard to track him down.”

"Sure. I'll join you when you speak to him. I should probably check in with him anyways."

Kalil begins walking towards the garden area of the village. Some plants are clearly trampled while others appear completely untouched. Each row of plant is in a different stage of development, some nearly ripe for the picking. Kalil walks over to one of the crushed plants, kneels down to touch it's wilted leaves, and sighs.

"Maybe magic could fix it. Magic seems to be able to do anything." He turns and looks to Saige. "But we don't need magic for this, right? We'll just replant what's ruined."

He turns back to the plant and gets to work digging it up. Then mumbles to himself. "Could use these crushed plants for compost. That would make good fertilizer..."

“It’s always better to just them regrow on their own. Magic isn’t natural, it’s not good for the plants. Some kind of magic is already making them sick, poor things.”

Saige gently works to maintain the remaining ones.

“This reminds me so much of helping my friend back home! I used to help them a few times a week before I left, just taking care of all the plants. It was so funny though, because every time I’d accidentally trim too much they would get mad and try to stab me with their little horns.” She laughs fondly at the memory. “Don’t worry, I definitely won’t stab you if you mess up!”

Kalil chuckles as he moves on to checking one of the untrampled plants. "Thanks for not stabbing me." He pulls out a knife and cuts away a diseased leaf then begins inspecting it. "Maybe we can still save the plants if we cut away the diseased parts. I'm going to give it a try."

Saige and Kalil work in the fields for a few hours, chatting away the hours as they work. Around the time the sun begins to set, Kalil and Saige call it for the day, covered in sweat and dirt from their ard days work. They then begin seeking out the chief. An Orc points them towards the biggest hut near the middle of the village, the Chief's home.

When they arrive, one of the Orc's standing guard pulls the tattered curtain aside to let them enter. The chief is sitting in a makeshift chair made of trigs and leaves. He has a tankard in his meaty hand and is laughing with a couple of other Orcs who sit around in a semi circle. When Saige and Kalil enter, all eyes turn to them.

[In Orcish] "AH! Friends! Be welcome! Come! Have some ale!" The Chief gestures and a female Orc who is standing off to the side approaches with a mug for each of them. "Please! Have seat! Join us!"

Kalil nods and takes the tankard from the female Orc, muttering thanks in Orcish before he takes a seat in the circle.

Saige takes the tankard with a smile but does not drink, memories the last time she had alcohol, or lack thereof memories, crossing her mind. She takes a seat, sitting between Kalil and Dabuk, waving excitedly to the latter.

She leans closer to Dabuk and whispers in orcish, “I need to talk to you about something later.”