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Thinking things through--it was a new thing for Fai, of course, he'd been ignoring little details for a while--but now that he had so much time and not enough wine, he'd been forced to confront some of the things he'd come upon as he'd worked his two gardens.

Such as the small stones he had found when tilling the ground. They were pretty, he thought, holding one up to look at it curiously. Not diamonds, of course, but he had a nice little pile of rather pretty stones next to his grapevines and it seemed a waste to the Famine horseman to just leave them there.

Perhaps they were worth something to someone? He could be wrong, of course, he wasn't much into stones--but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask around. He packed the stones into a pouch and headed into the clan, heading for--what else? The Death Clan's area.

After a few questions and a bit of direction change, Fai found himself looking for a mare named Mjoll. And he found her place, pulled his pouch from his waist and knocked on the door. "Excuse me, my dear, might I have a bit of your time?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Fai said. "I am Faiyum Riaz, Alchemist of the Famine Clan--well, of the Lost Clans, now," he introduced himself, bowing to the mare. "My specialty is plants--so please forgive me if I am wrong in my evaluation," he went on, stepping into the room. "During my time here I have put together two humble gardens--well, one garden and one vineyard. And when preparing the soil, I came upon some interesting stones."

He held out the small pouch of stones. "If you would?" he offered.

"Amber?" Fai said, his interest becoming aroused. "Amber, created from fossilized tree sap? That amber?" He had been sitting them to the side of his vineyard, ignoring their existence, and they were amber?

"I would very much like to learn more about these stones," Fai said. "I understand your pain, of course," he said, looking at the lack of books. "So many scrolls lost... it's a terrible thing. So much of the information could have been useful now. I managed to bring several seeds from the isles--but they are not the same as the information that has been written down."

"Well the ground really wasn't appropriate for what I had planned," Fai said casually. "So I did do a bit of... reconstructing, I suppose you could say. "Importing elements from this section and that, you know how gardening is." Probably not, considering he'd just as much as admitted he'd dug far deeper than most gardeners ever would. "A proper PHEAR balance in your dirt is a necessity for well grown wine grapes."

He tucked the pouch into his belt again and motioned for her to lead the way to the school's library. "I was, of course, drunk at the time, so I am not quite certain HOW deep I went, but I know that it was well worth it. The grapes I've grown are quite magnificent. Tell me, do you enjoy wine? Or... grape juice?"

"Ah, but my dear, I am very good at what I do," Fai said, and surprisingly it didn't sound as arrogant as it sounded confident. "You see, mere gardening, basic wine making, while an art form, I will not deny, are simple enough things once you have done them long enough. But I am able to say I have been sober for... two days now. It's a very enlightening thing, although I have yet to decide whether I like it or not."

He was being perfectly serious. That's what the scary thing was. Casually he offered his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. "But the true shame is--since I am, apparently, going sober, I fear all my grapes might go to waste."