Nod.

It might actually work okay to invite the tigerfolk to Valinor. I don't know enough about you or them to be sure, but they're better at handling surprises than kobolds and they have a harder time with the elves even when there's nothing specific going on.

The Valar also don't generally invite everyone to Valinor, just if they're really suffering and there's no better way. What are the elves?

Elves are one of the kinds of people that live near my old home, and they're awful. We stay away from them and that mostly works okay, but about... thirty-five, maybe forty years ago, someone stole something from them and they responded by trying to wipe us out. And they have fire magic, and they were vicious with it, we lost four entire tribes just to that and another two to mundane fighting, more than half our Speakers - it was bad. And then they just stopped, and we have no idea why. They like setting magical traps around the forest, too, and kobolds have magic that defends against that, but tigerfolk don't, and they do keep the tigerfolk they catch; I have no idea what they do with them but as far as I know none of them have ever come back.

How evil. 

He's radiating horror.

What monsters.

Yeah. We survived, though, and we're recovering mostly okay. We might lose Speaking as a tradition, and that might be a big deal, but I think aside from that we'll be all right.

That seems like it would be a terrible loss. What is Speaking?

Well, most kobolds don't talk. Most kobolds can't talk, as far as we can tell, and those of us who learn don't end up being good enough at it to teach it, so it's a difficult skill to pick up. And Speaking is all the things that those of us who learn to talk do for our tribes with that - lorekeeping and passing messages between tribes and things, but most of it is translation and diplomacy, two Speakers from different tribes each Speaking for a tribemate and putting what the other Speaker says into body language that they can understand. And since we have to be so good at understanding the people in our tribes, we end up helping out when there's conflict within the tribe, too, and being the chief's primary helper.

Ah.

The Quendi - wouldn't be anything if we couldn't talk. I can't even imagine that.

Nod. Feanaro has said basically the same thing, but I don't know why you feel that way - even Speakers spend most of the year without anyone to talk to, now that there's so few of us, and it's never bothered me; it's not like there aren't people around just because they don't do that one thing.

It's - are there some things, that if no one around did them you would feel desperately alone? Maybe it's touch, maybe it's facial expressions, maybe it's emoting - for us it's speech and song. A life without those would be not worth living.

Ahhh.

Yeah, it's touch, for us. And singing, but to a much lesser degree. That makes sense, thank you.

I suppose it makes sense it'd be different things for different kinds of people.

Nod. For kobolds, it's - we live or die by the strength of our tribes and our bonds with them. If you get hurt, or sick, or anything, it's your tribe that looks after you; it's your tribe that keeps you safe and fed and warm. And touch is a very viscerial reminder of that presence, and so is singing together.

For us - it's our voices that kept us together in the dark, in the danger of Cuivienen. We are a people who named things, gave them words, made them known when they'd been strange to us.

That gets a fond grin, and a little chuckle.

Well.

Last time I let someone name me, it didn't go very well for me. But it sounds like it would be different, here; perhaps I'll allow it.

I bet he'd be honored.

And they are approaching Aule's.

Huh. What a fancy cave.

She stops for a moment to get her current location and cast a spell to let herself teleport to it, and then she goes to have a closer look at the entrance.

It's beautiful. The air pressure seems to get more intense as she enters.

The air pressure thing is weird; she pauses for a few seconds to see if it gets worse, and then continues.

"Yark?" Hello?

Hello.

He looks humanoid except bigger. Bearded, smiling.

Don't panic, do bow.

Hello, she grins as she straightens back up.

Welcome to Valinor, child.

She will work out whether she wants to be upset that people keep calling her 'child' later. She keeps smiling.

Thank you; it's good to be here - I'm still figuring it out but so far it seems very nice.