Delegation is a great thing. It’s time to see whether delegating finding farm-suitable plants has had any actionable results.

“So each of you has brought an example of a plant you think would be good for our purposes?” I ask the group of eager samurans, feeling some excitement myself. A chorus of clicks and grunts of agreement meet my ears. “Then can each of you explain what you’ve chosen and why you’ve chosen it, please?”

The young samurans – and I’m pretty sure they are mostly young from their demeanour and the softness of their scales – look at each other and then the one who had first spoken steps forwards holding a plant between his claws.

It looks a bit like a leek, though its leaves are less stiff and flop to either side of its main stem. Planted, I guess that it would come up to mid-thigh level on me.

“Alright, what’s your name, and what do you have?” I ask him.

“Trips-over-a-stick, Honoured Pathwalker Tamer. This is a plant which the grunt-grunt-flash-of-green love eating. Whenever a herd of them goes through, they eat this plant down to the ground before moving on. It regrows from its roots despite this and spreads new plants sideways quickly. The dung of the grunt-grunt-flash-of-green seems to help it to grow as I have often come to a patch only a moon or so after the herd has seemed to destroy it, only to find that the patch has doubled in size.”

“Interesting,” I respond to him, then focus Inspect Flora on the plant.

Uncommon plant: Ostrya Cassine

Edible: Yes (leaves, bulb)

Alchemical uses: Unknown

Medical uses: Unknown

This plant is a particular favourite of the asper herds and they will consume it whenever they have the opportunity to do so. In exchange, their dung offers this plant nutrients it needs to expand its root structure and grow new bulbs. This plant grows all year round, offering a meal for many different types of herbivores.

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It only gives a bit more information than Trips-over-a-stick did, though it probably wouldn’t have given the whole description if I hadn’t asked the samuran. I do have a name for the creatures he was talking about, which is both good and interesting. Good, because I don’t think trying to imitate samuran speech without the help of Animal Empathy will end remotely well for me; interesting, because I hadn’t realised that one Inspect Skill would offer information usually communicated by a different Inspect, especially when the object isn’t even present. Inspect Fauna, in this case.

Either way, this plant looks like a good option. Not only is it eaten by ‘asper’ herds, but it’s apparently a meal for many other herbivores, and edible by me too It also seems to have potential alchemical and medical uses too which maybe Tarra knows about.

“Are aspers a good choice for hunters?” I ask. After all, the whole point of this is to find a way to make the samurans’ hunting more sustainable if my changes make the village grow faster than it would normally.

“We do hunt the aspers, Honoured Tamer,” the brood-mother answers. “Though they can be difficult to hunt as they will attack predators. They are large, though, and a single carcass can feed at least two Warriors, three Pathwalkers, or multiple hatchlings.”

Hmm, sounds pretty good to me. Working out how to start the process of domestication is another question, but I hope that at least one of my Skills will come in useful for that.

“Good choice, Trips-over-a-stick,” I praise, then pull a small fragment of an Energy Heart from my Inventory. After discussion with the council, we decided not to give full Energy Hearts except for the most dangerous and complex tasks. While neither I nor the group of Unevolved had at first been in favour of the idea, we had been reluctantly brought around by logical arguments from Flower and Plays-with-poison.

Obviously of the same mind, they had argued that giving the same level of reward would motivate samurans to choose the easiest and shortest jobs, meaning that the more dangerous and complex ones wouldn’t get done. Plays-with-poison had added that a full Energy Heart would take several days to absorb, and would therefore demotivate the samuran who had gained it to do anything in the meantime.

Fragments given instead would still offer a reward which the samurans would be keen to gain, but would be quickly absorbed and leave them hungry for more. Awarding more fragments or a larger fragment for a more difficult job would be motivation for samurans to accept it despite the risks, especially if most of the easier jobs were already taken.

So far, it seems to be working out well enough, and I have to admit that even if I have a lot of Energy Hearts currently in my Inventory, we’d be going through them quickly if I were handing one out to every Unevolved samuran every day. As it is, I’m still going to have to try to crystallise new ones for a future supply, but that’s not immediately pressing.

Giving the samuran in front of me the fragment, I see his spikes light up with eager anticipation. Thinking of it, this might be the first one he’s received – finding the plant might have taken most of the few days since the new changes were instituted.

“Thank you Honoured Pathwalker Tamer,” he says hurriedly, lifting his chin towards the roof and then hurrying away to and through the entrance, his claws carefully caging the glittering fragment so that it doesn’t slip free.

“Alright, who’s next?” I ask. The next samuran steps forward and introduces himself, his own spikes and body language full of hopeful anticipation.

*****

By the time the last samuran seeker leaves the hut, I have four plants which seem to be good options for growing for farming purposes, and one which might be useful for Tarra to grow for her herbal concoctions. Those five all walked away with fragments.

The sixth left empty-clawed. He couldn’t explain why he had chosen the plant, and my Inspect Flora didn’t indicate that it was anything special. I’ll check with River and Tarra just in case – I can always give him a fragment later if it turns out to be something good – but I have a feeling that he just picked something at random, hoping to be given an Energy Heart fragment for it.

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“How are you finding the change?” I ask the brood-mother. I figure I might as well check in with him while we’re in the same room. “And sorry – I never got your name either.”

The other samuran tilts his head to one side.

“I am Elder Twig,” he answers. Perhaps he sees my confusion as he explains a little. “While we are not like the Honoured Pathwalkers, gaining a name upon our Evolution to better reflect our new abilities and leaving our Unevolved lives behind, we do shorten our names upon becoming an elder. I believe that the intention is to show our commitment to the village – we are no longer complete individuals, but an important part of the village society. I was once Breaks-a-twig, but became Elder Twig when I failed my Evolution and decided to commit myself to this village’s hatchlings instead of seeking power through combat.”

“Thank you for explaining, Elder Twig,” I answer. “Now, how are you finding the change?” I repeat, not wanting to hurry him along, but also aware of time passing – I have more work to do today.

“It is…a change,” Elder Twig answers slowly. “I mean no offence, Honoured Pathwalker Tamer,” he quickly adds. “I do not mean to question the wisdom of the Pathwalkers."

“None taken,” I tell him. “I want your honest opinion, that’s all. And you’re perfectly at liberty to question the wisdom of the Pathwalkers – recent events have proven that it’s not always as wise as it should be.”

“Then…I can say only that I need more time to see how the changes might affect our village – for better or for worse. I will be glad, though, when I have eggs to care for again. I feel…lost without the hatchlings around.”

My heart goes out to the Elder – his body language reflects his words, drooping and despondent.

“We will have hatchlings again soon,” I tell him, doing my best to be soothing. “Until then, we value your help with guiding the group of samurans under your care to the right kind of tasks for them. Your help may mean that we have even more Pathwalkers to take down to the meeting with us, which, to my understanding, should mean more eggs.”

“I hope so,” Elder Twig answers, still looking a little doubtful – but a bit less despondent. I’ll take it.

I excuse myself and head out of the hut after checking that he still has sufficient supply of Energy Heart fragments for now. We’re not giving many to the brood-mothers – or perhaps I should say ‘Elders’ – so as not to offer too much temptation to other samurans, but we have given each of them a few just to ensure that they don’t need to come to me every time someone completes a task.

Touching my network of Bonds, I find the one I’m looking for and close my eyes to get an idea of her direction. Sensing it, I start walking towards her. Even better, my target is actually talking to the one I was going to speak to next.

“Flower, Tarra, just the samurans I need,” I say brightly, walking quickly to their sides.

Tamer, they answer practically simultaneously. What can we do for you? continues Flower politely, Tarra just sending a sense of impatient question down the Bond and rippling in her spikes.

“I’d like you to tell me what you know about these plants,” I say to them, laying the six plants down on the ground.

Crouching over them, the two Pathwalkers share their knowledge. It’s not a lot more than was already covered by a combination of the explanations from the samuran seekers and Inspect Flora. Tarra does add in a few facts that I didn’t know, filling in the alchemical and healing uses for two of the plants.

As it turns out, the ostrya cassine that I first examined is useful as a neutralising agent between many other reagents, preserving the strength of the reagents while allowing them to actually work together instead of causing problems. It’s also good as a salve when pulped and placed over a wound caused by a sting or venomous bite. If the poison hasn’t gone very far into the body, it can draw it out and make the wound easier to heal.

The other plant, a type of bush, has mild intoxicating and healing effects – one reason, apparently, why the creatures like eating it. Using Tarra’s Healing Infusion, she can enhance the healing effects; by crushing it and squeezing out the juice within, she can extract its intoxicating effects.

The plant which I figured was a dud turns out to be that exactly – no diamond in the rough here. Apparently it can be made into a mild poison with Tarra’s Transmutation, but it’s such a poor poison that there really isn’t any call for it – Tarra can make far better poisons from other, more common ingredients.

“Do you think that these plants,” I indicate the five which have been identified as being worthy finds, “could work well as food for captive herds of creatures?”

Grower tilts her head to one side.

This is your idea of…keeping animals, yes? To use them for food instead of hunting?

“Yes, exactly.” I answer. “Farming.”

And you think this will work? she asks doubtfully. Will we not eat through them too quickly?

“Well, that’s kind of my question here,” I admit. “Where I come from, animal farming is done as efficiently as possible. Food is grown for the sake of feeding animals for slaughter, and the food chosen is often types which will make the animals grow as quickly as possible.” I don’t mention chemical pesticides or growth hormones or any of those other things – it’s not like it’s relevant here. Though…there are herbal infusions here….

“Samurans eat more meat than my people generally do – most of our diet consists of non-meat products, though we do eat plenty of things which are from animals without killing them.” Mental note: send someone out looking for killer chickens, I think to myself. I’m sure the samurans would be happy to eat eggs and I’d enjoy being able to expand my recipe list a little.

“On my world, we were limited by the amount of space we had, the plants that we could grow and their speed in growing, and thereby how many animals we could support from birth to slaughter. Here, I’m hoping that you might be able to help with at least one of those limitations,” I say directly to Flower. “How does your Growth ability work?”

I can definitely help speed up the growth of plants, Flower answers thoughtfully. Though by how much, I don’t know. I wouldn’t be able to do it over a massive space either.

“What about animals?”

I don’t know, she says bluntly. I’ve never tried. But I would be willing to do so.

“And Tarra, do you think there’s anything you could make with herbs which might increase the growth speed, or nutrition value of plants? Or perhaps increase the growth speed of animals?” I ask next, turning to the other Pathwalker.

I’d be interested to do some testing, she answers looking intrigued.

“Alright. Here’s what I’d like you two to do,” I say, quickly getting my thoughts straight before continuing. “Flower, I’d like you to organise groups of Unevolved going out to find a number of each of these plants, and then planting them in different sections of the ash field near the upper side of the village. I’d like you to test what you can do with your ability. Also test what the ideal conditions of the plants are – some like more or less water, others more or less sun.” I know there are also nutritional requirements for different plants, but I don’t even know where to start there – I have to just hope that the ash will offer a good start for the baby plants. “At the same time, please experiment with your ability on animals – see whether you can do anything.”

“Tarra-”

She interrupts me.

You want me to do similar – to recruit one or more assistants to help me test different concoctions on the plants and animals.

“Yes, exactly,” I say, pleased I don’t need to repeat myself. “And don’t forget that boiling, or baking, or burning plants with the use of fire might change their properties. I don’t know how, but it might be worth exploring a bit.”

She looks rather taken-aback, as if she hadn’t thought of that possibility.

“Is everything clear? Any questions?”

Tarra and Flower exchange a look.

Let’s go and find some assistants, sister, Tarra said with more than a little excitement visible in her spikes.