"And I have never been aboveground. Your experiences in this regard are greater than mine, and so I wish to listen," she states, lofty but not unkind. "You need not share all the specifics with me today, certainly. I am sure your people would want for something in return as well. But this... To heal the Cwyld in the early stages is something useful. We usually cut it out, cauterize infected wounds."

Needless to say, it's a brutal, not ideal kind of method.

"I imagine your city would not have survived if it were not safe, for whatever reason, much the same as mine." Her smile turns a little wry, a sort of dark humor that seeps through. "My people do not excel at avoidance. I'm sure you can understand why your people's methods interest me."