"My complaints have less to do with your lecture and more to do with the fact that the material exists at all. Much as I would love it to be so, not finding something out doesn't mean it's not going to bite someone later."

"Well, we mostly go through life without worrying about it - it has been centuries - but most people aren't bringing back the dead."

"Considering The Subject That Has Been Dropped and how I handled it I don't think I trust myself not to accidentally drop a hornet's nest on the situation if I don't know as much as I can about it."

"...so the full story on the other subject is that rumors about me, my cousins, and the means by which the peace was achieved and has been maintained are popular among people who'd like the alliance to fail, which is why bringing it up at dinner provoked the reaction it did. Maybe it's harder than I realized to just give someone what they need to know of politics."

"Oh. Oh. I'm really, really sorry about that. I wouldn't have said a word if I had known. Spreading rumors like that is a shitty thing to do."

"Even in your world, where apparently the behavior itself is considered acceptable?"

"Spreading rumors about someone to undermine their efforts, I mean. If someone started spreading rumors about me and some random girl in my classes it might be annoying but it wouldn't be a big deal unless they were also claiming that this hypothetical relationship was the only reason she was getting good grades in a class my father teaches and she was at risk of losing her scholarship or something."

"Ah. Here the primary insult is in the implied relationship. Though they're related, there's a concept that if two men are involved one has the advantage of the other and this will explain their decisions in other contexts."

"Weird."

"For all I know it's true," he says, managing to sound very bored.

"It's not for humans. Statistically speaking, given how many of those kinds of stereotypes there are and how many are accurate, I would guess it's not true for Elves, either, but I suppose I can't know for sure."

"How do you know for humans? Do you know that many of them?"

"I know some gay couples, they're nothing like what you describe, and we don't have that stereotype at all."

"Which stereotypes do you have?"

"Homosexual men are likely to be more effeminite, homosexual women are likely to be less feminine, homosexual mages are more likely to be Sympathy or Conquest than Effort if men or Conquest or Effort if women, gay women are more likely to like violets and crocuses than roses."

"...huh."

"I apologize if my reaction at dinner offended you on behalf of your friends."

"Thank you for apologizing. I had already decided not to be upset about it in the long term, but I appreciate it."

"Decided not to be upset because holding grudges isn't worthwhile?"

"Pretty much. And it's really not fun, either, not for me."

"A wise perspective.

Would most people from your world be similarly bothered?"

"Depends on where. I mentioned earlier that things used to be different? They still are in some places."

"I will be mindful should I ever end up visiting."

"For diplomacy's sake it may be relevant that the whole 'well I suppose Mannish customs are different' thing would sound patronizing to a lot of people who would probably be offended by that."

"So to make friends on your flying city, I need to agree not only that the conduct of your people is fine for you but also that it's fine for us? It's not. We factually cannot wed people of the same gender if we wanted to, and I am very grateful we cannot."

"It was the phrasing, rather than the content. Taking out the words 'I suppose' would do a world of good, for instance."