"Now you're using your head," Algidus chuckled, going through the process of shifting his finger a couple of inches more down the vine. He must've been getting some amount of water from it if he was still going at it--if he hadn't thrown it away in a huff by now. When she brings that up with that tone of voice, though, it gives him pause.

"I don't... know," he admitted unhappily, rubbing at the uppermost of his gill arches. "All of the plans that I had crafted... they've hit a hitch with this latest development. Attempting to reach my people is the only thing that still feels viable." But even then, it was suddenly going to take a whole lot more doing, and he knew it.