Beadu was still chewing through the bread when Beorn finally answered her question.
"When a farmer harvests a Stearne crop."
He started to explain with a slow tone, "He doesn't plant all the grain again next season. He keeps the best part of it. The strongest grain, the plants that handled drought better, the ones that produced more."
He folded his arms.
"Then he repeats the process every year. Over time, the plant changes."
Beadu looked toward the Stearne row she had boosted earlier. He could see her trying to connect the explanation to the part of the process she already understood.
She replied even more slowly than him, "So I push it that way. Like making it grow faster, except instead of faster, I push it toward being stronger."
She gestured vaguely with the bread.
"More... durable."
"Not quite," Beorn corrected. "But different."
She frowned at him.
