"Sure, but mind that an awful lot of pageantry is pretty standard for an Elf and they probably wouldn't even blink."

"I'm going to have to consult some people on this."

"I bet. Do invite us all. If you're making an occasion of it especially."

"Absolutely."

"Congratulations again, Illia. Good luck with everything."

"Thank you. ...I think statistically my luck probably will be better when I'm not hanging out with Doomed people so much."

"Another benefit!"

"I don't actually know if the Doom affects small day-to-day things but I wouldn't be surprised if it at least had--oh, I don't know the word in Sindarin, in Genoshan it's called the 'nocebo' effect and it basically means that if you think something's going to hurt you then some fraction of the hurt occurs anyway even if the source isn't inherently harmful."

"Just living with the knowledge." She nods slowly. "I can see that."

"It's considered the opposite of the 'placebo' effect the archetypical example of which is that people given sugar pills and told they were painkillers experienced more pain than people given actual painkillers but less than people who weren't fooled into thinking they were taking medicine."

"I'd expect that to be even stronger for Elves than Men, given how connected their body and soul is."

"Did you know that a side effect of the not accidentally having kids thing is that the lucky bastards don't spend five days out of the month bleeding."

"...I did not. Really? Why did Eru not make everyone like that?"

"Don't ask me, I'm not even from here."

She laughs. "There's a Mannish saying Elves don't like - 'Eru loved his firstborn best, but he left his younger children his estate'. Since we're going to outnumber them pretty soon, and the fate of the world is that it'll be ours."

"Huh. If the human birthrate doesn't slow down soon enough and people stop dying of old age we may have an overpopulation problem on our hands."

"That's a concern for after the war, I think."

"Eugh. True enough."

"My sons weren't old enough to fight. They also have not been seen, and I'm worried fighting found them anyway."

"Where were they?"

"East of here, traveling. They were in the mountains."

"As much time as it's been it's probably worth waiting for my sister to look for them more effectively rather than having me try to do it now..."

"It didn't even occur to me that's something she could do. Would she?"

"Absolutely yes."

"Please."