“Summer. Winter? A cold time… a warm time? What is that?”

Joe glanced down at her, his own confusion evident on his face, “You don’t know what summer and winter are?”

Gwenvair glanced up at him, “A cold and warm time? No. I do not.”

Joe felt his eyebrows rise, “You don’t know seasons?”

Once again, the mana built up around them before erupting outward in a mana shockwave once again. Joe frowned. Whelp. Guess she doesn’t know what that is. They don’t have seasons here? Guess I’m on the equator? Pretty comfortable here… but…

Gwenvair’s eye’s had widened in surprise when the mana shockwave washed over her and she looked up at Joe in surprise, “A time of warmth that changes to a time of cold and then back again every year?”

Joe nodded, “Yeah. That’s a good explanation.”

“Hmm… we have a dark and a light time of the year.”

Joe paused at that, then nodded, “I guess that would make sense, going behind the gas gia… cradle would put it as the dark time, and in front of the gas giant would be da… uh… light time of the year.”

Gwenvair looked at Joe, slightly confused but very considering, “Back and front of the cradle?”

Joe nodded, “Hmm.. then… the cradle circles the sun and we circle the cradle. When we circle the cradle until we are between the cradle and the sun, then I would say we are in front of the cradle… that was my meaning. It probably doesn’t make much sense.”

Gwenvair nodded at that, “I can understand such things.”

Joe smiled, “It must get pretty cold during the dark times. Our winters are very cold. That is why we built thick or deep homes. It was pretty important. If we did not, we would die from freezing.”

Her shock grew, “Just from the air? Wait… there are too many questions here. First, your plane is that cold? During your… winter? And… why would you think the dark times would be cold?”

Joe blinked at that, ready to explain the seasons but taken aback by her statement about the dark season, “It isn’t cold in the dark time? The … you do not have … it doesn’t get cold during the dark times?”

“No?” Gwenvair replied with confusion and some worry.

Joe paused at that, mouth open in reply before he clicked it shut. He shook his head, “That… I do not know what to think of that. It doesn’t make sense to me at all. But…”

Gwenvair said nothing and stared up at Joe in thought for a bit saying nothing as well. The two walked in silence for a bit before Joe finally shook his head.

“Well, I guess I’ll see when the dark season comes. But yes, our world grows quite cold in the winters, cold enough to kill if you do not protect and keep yourself warm.”

“Your whole world grows cold? That sounds… very bad.”

Joe shook his head, “No. Only the far north or south from the equator.”

Mana formed, compressing before exploding outward in a shockwave. Gwenvair’s confusion quickly was replaced by understanding and she nodded.

“Then, it is cold in different places on your plane? Maybe an elemental or a greater elemental is affecting such a place?”

“No not an elemental.”

“Then… how do different places get cold? Is it from nature?”

Joe waffled his head at that, combining shaking his head with nodding, “Well, sort of. Maybe not like you are thinking. The parts farthest from the sun are cold, those closest are warm.”

“Then you travel from warmth to cold?”

Joe shook his head with a laugh, “No. As our planet… plane circles the sun, the furthest part becomes the closest and warms while the parts that were closest grow cold as they become further from the sun.”

Gwenvair looked at him in shock, “Your biomes change weather?”

Joe felt an eyebrow twitch, slightly confused. How do they have the word for biomes, but not for… never mind! “Uh… yes… no? Well, it depends. Certain biomes are biomes that regularly change weather, yes. Other biomes do not change weather and remain the same constantly.”

Gwenvair seemed fascinated, “So… the biome IS one that is in constant change… not constant!”

“… sure?”

She seemed excited at that, almost vibrating in place, “Constance through change!”

Joe quirked an eyebrow, but let her run with the idea as he wasn’t sure what her thought process was. After a few moments, she quickly turned back.

“And those constant?”

“Uh. The tropics. Living in the tropics is nice, not having to worry about the colder weather.” The mana shockwave developed once again, forming and erupting outward with his statement and he watched Gwenvair carefully to figure out what new word or concept had been auto translated.

This time, however, she was not shocked. A thoughtful confusion came over her face and she glanced up, “The… center of a plane? Around the equator?”

Equator… ah… ok. Then tropics? Uh… hopefully this is not shocking news… “Yes. Planes are not… actually planes. They are spheres… they are shaped like a ball. Round.”

Gwenvair nodded, “Yes. This is known by the scholars.”

Huh… then why is it called a plane… nevermind. “Yup. And they spin. That is where day and night come from.”

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She nodded in understanding and Joe continued, “So, if you look at a ball spinning, you have the two points where the ball spins on and then there is a long line around the center of the ball where the spin makes the greatest… uh… circle. Huh… that doesn’t make a lot of sense… um…”

Gwenvair giggled when he said that and Joe smiled before forming a ball with his hands and began attempting to explain once more. After a few moments of showing, she quickly grasped the idea and Joe was able to continue.

“Right. So, just this little difference, being closer and further from the sun, greatly warms or cools that area. If we tilt the planet… plane,” Joe tilted his fist and used Gwenvair’s fist as the sun, “then you can see how the top and bottom of the plane tilt further or closer to the sun. So, now you have a time of cold and a time of warmth. We called these seasons.”

“So… here… the weather is always the same?”

Gwenvair nodded, “Always.”

“How about … maybe wet and dry seasons.”

“Is that… truly a thing? A time when it becomes wetter… and… wait. How does it become wetter?”

Joe stared at her with some confusion, eyebrows knitting quite strongly together, “Uh… with water?”

“But where does the water come from?”

Joe’s frown deepened, “The sky. Rain. Snow?”

Mana swelled again and Joe’s eyes shot open in shocked surprise. No! No! There is no way that it could…

Gwenvair stared up at him with her own shock laced with bemusement and disbelief, “Water… and ice? Falling from the sky? How… that … is so strange. Your plane must be very strange. Why would your cradle do such things?”

Joe found himself nonplussed, uncertain how to reply and rather shocked, “So… there is no winter… summer… wet or dry… no seasons at all?”

Gwenvair cocked her head, “No?”

“It’s… always like this. No rain. No snow. No cold… it doesn’t get hotter or colder. Always?”

Gwenvair nodded, “It has been so all my life.”

Joe blinked in shock, “It’s never rained. Not even once?”

Gwenvair’s own surprise echoed back at him, “No?”

Joe found himself rather stunned, staring off into his thoughts and quickly returned back to the half a year he’d spent here on planet. Joe ran the numbers and came out to about two hundred and forty days. If his exact numbers were correct, he was at day two hundred forty two, but he wasn’t exactly certain, so rounded to two forty. But… even two forty… four hundred day year… that puts each season at a hundred days each. If I came midsummer, I’d have to be middle of winter… even passed winter by now! And if it was early spring, I would have definitely noticed the temperature change. I’d already be back into fall… getting on to winter again.

The realization hit him hard and he found himself deep in thought even as he absent mindedly answered Gwenvair’s questions about inclement weather. She found any form of water falling from the sky utterly bizarre and Joe, looking at the abundant greenery around him, thought the opposite. It was fascinating. He turned his thoughts to trying to remember any days of rain, but no matter how far he thought back, every day was a perfect balmy warmth. There wasn’t a single day, even in the morning, where he woke and found the temperature mildly cool, let alone cold.

The rest of the day found them discussing weather, with Gwenvair growing increasingly skeptical of some of Joe’s claims and Joe found himself able to return to their conversation, finding her surprise amusing and enjoyable as he taught her of the wonders of rain. This continued until the sun set and the conversation finally dried up.

Finally, Gwenvair ended their conversation with bemused skepticism, “Your plane… is very strange.”

“Is it?” Joe asked, a little confused.

“It really is. I have never heard of such a thing before.”

Joe blinked at that, taken aback himself, “It is… unusual.” This place is… not Earth!

Gwenvair looked at him and smiled, “Truly.”

Joe smiled back, but then grew silent. So… unusual. Might be a good idea to keep this idea to myself. Is it… unusual for ‘normal’ planes? Is this an aspect of living in ‘absence’ like Garnedell says? Is this…

The silence killed the conversation and Joe soon felt the uncomfortable air of awkwardness settling on them. He quickly sought a way to continue the conversation.

“I think one of my favorite strange sayings of my people is ‘cat got your tongue?’”

“Cat got your tongue? What does it mean?”

“It’s a question, usually. But it can be used in a sentence. It describes the inability to be able to speak or explain as you lack the words to do so.”

“Oh. So… this cat… it paralyzes the tongue?”

Joe laughed, shaking his head, “It… could. I am uncertain where this saying came from. It does not make sense to me. It describes the mental block… the inability to think of a word, not a true paralyzing of the tongue.”

“Then this cat is a mental attack?”

Joe laughed again, “No. It’s a common pet.”

Gwenvair cocked her head, “A pet? What is a… oh!”

The shockwave of mana washed over her at the end of her sentence and realization hit her. Joe felt his own surprise rise when he saw how shocked she was with the idea of a pet.

“An animal you keep… as … an … like a family?”

Joe bobbed his head while shaking it, “Hmm… maybe. Some treat them purely as family, but they were originally companions that worked well together to help defend, protect, hunt… there are many things a good animal companion can do.”

“An animal companion. A slave?”

“Hmm. No. Not really. We do pack bond with them. The animals usually see us as their companion, or family. And we attempt to treat them in that way as well, although they are usually seen and treated at a slightly different level than another human. They are not seen as equals but people still try to treat them as such.”

“What class skill is this from?”

Joe’s eyebrow rose at that. Well, makes sense… but… can’t really… if seasons were weird, then… “We have trainers who help train animals. We also have shepherds, cowboys, zoo keepers… uh.. I guess circus and spectacles as well to use them as a show for others to watch.”

“Hmm.” Gwenvair mulled over the idea before looking up at Joe with a speculative gaze, “So. Cats?”

Joe cocked his head, confused, “Yes?”

“You enjoy cats?”

Joe smiled and shook his head, “I’m more of a dog person, myself. I don’t hate cats, but prefer the companionship of dogs, to be honest.”

“Then, you have had animal companions before.”

Joe nodded, “Yup.”

“A common situation for your people?”

“Uh… I would say yes. Many of my people have pets.”

Gwenvair looked up at him, “Then they are slaved to your will?”

“Uh… what? No. Not at all.”

Gwenvair seemed surprised at that, “But, how do they not attack you?”

Joe smirked, “Well, they do sometimes, but if you train them well and teach them wisely, they will protect you, not attack you. Of course, do not tease or treat them badly, but…”

“And that… is enough?”

Joe nodded, “It is enough, if done well and correctly.”

“It seems… quite costly.”

Joe laughed at that, then nodded, “Yeah… yeah. That’s true. Pets are pretty expensive. Do your people have this?”

Gwenvair shook her head, “Not as part of a family. There are trainers who prepare animals for specific tasks or abilities… but not to simply keep in a home.”

Joe quirked an eyebrow at that, “I could see that.”

Gwenvair shrugged, “It seems it would be wasteful. What could they do?”

“Be a friend?”

Gwenvair huffed, “And a drain upon your food.”

Joe’s easy smile fell at that, “True.”

“Unless they offer more in return for the investment.”

Joe nodded, his easy acceptance of pets quickly shifting as he realized that the hunger and poverty of many of the poor would make pets a foolish waste. Joe remained lost in thought for a time before their conversation began again, Gwenvair politely restarting it with a question.

“So… this training. You can do it?”

Joe waffled, “My family had a dog, and I watched my dad, but … maybe?”

“Then, you can do that with any beast?” she asked with enthusiasm.

Joe smiled, “Well, yes. Beasts that bond are easiest to train and help them bond with you. Beasts that stay alone are always more of a struggle. The longer… the more generations that you tame, the stronger the bond is between the human and the beasts as they learn from family and teach their young.”

Gwenvair’s eyes glistened with wonder and she immediately began peppering him with questions, fascinated with the topic. The discussion held all the way back home, and it proved the perfect medium to keep the conversation light yet enjoyable for both. They walked through the clan city gate, heading towards the villa, Joe explaining any question she had while Gwenvair excitedly peppered him with questions.

They arrived at the villa with the sun still in the sky, the promise of the evening clan epics bringing excitement to Garnedell and Zilnek while Gwenvair was more reserved in her excitement. They entered the villa and Joe smiled to see them all. Zilnek glanced up towards them.

“Where’s my sister?” asked Zilnek.