AAaA Scipio
Look, don’t strain yourself: the kinds of stogies Scipio smokes are available anywhere tobacco (or the equivalent) is sold in Arkerra. This is not a patented technology we’re talking about, here.
A much more interesting question to me is how he and Fr’Nj navigate this aspect of their relationship. Fr’Nj is clearly no scold, but I find it hard to believe she likes the smell of burning plants surrounding her lover and their shared quarters at all times. Her most constructive approach would probably be to view it as a test of the tolerance she’s seeking to develop. I guess we could’ve made it a point of conflict, but Scipio will give up the stogies, without complaint, when he finally assimilates into B’ial Vezk.
Besides, as Weo will eventually point out to Goblaurence, the Wood Elves have access to much better things than merely tobacco. ;)
I think Fr’Nj disliking the smell of burning plants wouldn’t be as much of a thing as humans just disliking the smell of cooking/cooked bacon or steak or chicken, since the Wood Elves are plant-like but not literally the plant he’s smoking (hopefully!), right?
Physiology fun fact: meat cooking does in fact smell profoundly repulsive to humans, when it’s a kind of meat that human doesn’t eat. (Including having the same “agh, I smell burning flesh!” reaction if one goes a couple years without eating a kind of meat which they previously found delicious in both taste and smell.)
Why would Fr’Nj be opposed to smoking plants? Her society smokes things all the time (or at least that’s implied by Weo to Goblaurence). And she uses plants in the construction of her clothing. So she’s not opposed to consuming plants.
So aside from personal taste, is there a reason that she would be against smoking?
I imagine Scipio’s worries are more akin to “My tremendously longer-lived elven bride is so going to bury me in a few decades” or “Our kids are totally going to be pariahs, IF we manage to have kids at all” Satisfying the inquiries of idle minds is probably low on his list pf priorities
Which brings to mind the question–are the inhabitant of Arkerra aware of the deleterious effects of tobacco? Are there deleterious effects of tobacco, or can magic cure emphysema/cancer/all that rot?
Everything is somebody’s turn-on.