He beams at her. That's amazing! I am so impressed with you. People could use this to have entrances to houses in the city and houses far away if they want big ones, or ones on rivers....

She grins and nods. Sure, anything like that. I do have to have been where the portal will lead in order to cast it, but that'll get easier as I go more places.

Tirion is lucky to have you.

She grins and dips her head demurely. I feel pretty lucky to be here.

There was another thing I wanted to talk to you about that's more... private? And I'm not sure if osanwë can do that, or how to if so.

It can be directed at a person, usually by visualizing a space you and that person share which is otherwise private, though people use different mental metaphors.

Is there a way to know if it's working?

Unfortunately I can't think of one without a third person listening and mentioning if they notice anything.

All right. Everything else about it has been straightforward, it's probably fine.

I was talking with Fëanáro earlier, and - I'm not actually sure they understand body language at all. I sent them a memory from yesterday - she sends it - and they didn't recognize that you were happy and didn't entirely believe me when I told them.

He doesn't think about people much, I don't think. He prefers thinking about projects. More predictable.

Yeah. But when they do think about people, they're also pretty anxious about them, and I think this is a big part of why - it's easier to tell when someone's angry or disappointed, people go out of their way to make sure people know they're feeling that way; if they're only ever seeing that and not ever seeing that people are happy with them... it explains a lot.

He's a bit of a difficult kid. I don't think he has any deficiencies, he's just stubborn and wants to get his way. Brilliant, too, so he doesn't have much in common with most kids.

If you're wrong about that it's going to hurt them, you know.

I don't think I know what you mean, no.

...and the way I usually think about this kind of thing doesn't translate, I tried that already. It's - yes, they're stubborn, but they're not just stubborn; yes, they want their own way, but everybody wants that. As far as I can tell they're legitimately doing the best they can; they do care about people, I've seen it. But they're isolating themselves, and if that was genuinely their choice it'd be one thing, but it's not, they've admitted that they're lonely; if when they try to connect with people they can't see that it's working, and can only see when it doesn't, of course they'll stop trying, but that doesn't mean they need the connection less, it just means they don't see a way to get it.

What do you think should be done?

Tell them you like them more. Not just what they're doing, them. It's going to be hard at first; they've been guessing at how people feel and a lot of the guesses are wrong and kind of insulting - pointing out how your actions support what you're saying might help, but it hasn't been very reliable so far, I'm working on it.

Hmmm. Thank you for your advice.

Her outward expression doesn't change at all as she sends the impression of a grin. You're welcome. The other thing is... be patient. This isn't something that's going to change right away and it's definitely not something you can change by demanding they do what you want, that'll only convince them that being around you is more trouble than it's worth. I wouldn't be surprised if this took a couple years at a koboldish pace, and I have no idea how the aging difference will affect it.

That is not a problem at all. He looks very tired and sad. We have all the time in the world.

Publicly: Thank you, that should help, and she approaches the throne, her body language showing relief and a bit of residual worry.

Privately, though, she sends, would you like to pet me?, and a memory of how soothing it is to do so.

Is that considered appropriate among your people? he asks skeptically.

Among tribemates, yes, it's not particularly familiar or anything. She sends more memories,of her approaching or being approached by various people and settling in to pet or be petted.

He reaches out and cautiously scratches her. I wish you'd come here when my wife was alive. You would have liked her, she was very like our son.

She smiles, a little sadly, and leans into the scritches. That would have been nice.

Good for him, too. I don't know what to do, he needs a mother.