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Nadya giggled softly and cut through a gap in the lattice, taking Lin through the rows instead of between them. It was a far walk, otherwise. In some rows, workers were picking grapes with large carts, other rows were abandoned. Nayda invited Lin to try each of the different kinds of grapes, some of which were sweet, some sour, some a mixture, and some just right in the middle.

After a while, they came out on the north side of the vineyard. There was a fence there to keep out ... well, it wouldn't really keep anything out, since snakes could go under and owls could go over, but it was a boundary marker at any rate. Once they reached the fence, they turned west, towards the winery buildings.

As they went, Nadya continued to explain to Lin the processes used for making the wine. Which grapes were used for which wines, when they were picked, how to tell when they needed care, and so on and so forth.

"Wine keeps forever," Nadya smiled, "or nearly. When it's first made, it has no alcohol content. Essentially, it's grape juice. Over time, it ferments, which is where the alcohol begins. The longer it is left to ferment, the stronger the alcohol content. The oldest wine here is ... close to ninety years, though I know in the Westland, which wasn't affected nearly as much by the war, they have one winery with wine nearly two hundred years old. Personally, I think that's a bit too much alcoholic content, but they do all right."

Ahead of them was the door to the winepress, and it was wide open.

Nadya had to think about that question for a moment, and finally she just shrugged. "I would imagine that at some point it would," she nodded, leading Lin towards the winepress, "but we don't leave it that long. Once our oldest wine reaches one hundred years, we'll be bringing it out to sell as well. That's long enough."

"Everywhere in the Four Lands," Nadya nodded, and then, almost as an afterthought she added, "Not to the dwarves. The last thing they need is alcohol to add to the insanity. But everywhere else, yes. It keeps us busy."

She led Lin into the winepress, where several elves were mashing the grapes inside a large vat.

That was a question that Nadya had to think about a bit longer. "Well ... it's a two day process," she began, "but that's per batch. Today they're pressing the grapes that were picked yesterday ... and tomorrow they'll press the ones that were picked today. All told, the picking season lasts ... well over half the year. Sometimes four or five months. It's just in high summer when it's a little too hot, and the water level too low, that we don't try to make the grapes grow as much. Other than that, the weather lets us work year-round. It's how we're able to provide such a large area with the wine we need."

And so Nadya showed Lin the winepress, how the wine was made, how and where it was stored, and showed her the ins and outs of pretty much the entire business. From there, she showed her the stables and the horses and the barn, and the orchard and the garden, and everything she could, and at last they were back at the house.

"And that's pretty much everything," she smiled at Lin, leading her back to the porch so that they could sit a bit in the shade. "I think the only thing I didn't show you was where my parents and Elnara's parents used to live. I suppose Elnara and I lived there at one time as well, but neither of us were old enough to remember it."

Nadya smiled sadly. "I would imagine that Elnara must not talk very much about her life here," she murmured softly. "I can't say that I blame her. So much ... so much sadness." She stood up again and motioned for Lin to follow her. "Come," she smiled. "It's just around back of the house."