"Hard to know," she said. "We arrived after the fall harvest and it's been winter, which means food is a little scarce. But I hope..." Ariadne always had that. She always had hope. "...that come the summer, things will get lively and there will be plenty to go around."

The soil was, sadly, lacking. But who knew what Varian and Fern and the others could come up with?

She had more than hope. She had faith.

With a nod of her head, she led him to a spiral staircase in the corner of the great room. It wound up to the second floor, which was Ariadne's apartment. A small space, with a large canopy bed on one side and a practically-untouched kitchenette on the other. In between was a low, wooden table. Surrounded by an assortment of pillows in various jewel tones. Ariadne had started decorating her home with mobiles of found objects: pieces of glass and metal and ribbon. Casting sparkling colors all over the room in the mid-day sun.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'll start the tea."