Aleko's easier to keep safe, we shall just keep him far from enemies. We can do that for you too if you'd like. 

Risk/reward's different for me. But an expanded range would be great.

I'll work on it. We should talk to the Dwarves. I get the sense the locals are disgustingly racist and they still manage to grudgingly speak highly of them.

Oh, you noticed the disgusting racism too!

We need them, and this place is genuinely safe and well-lit and the sort of environment Elves thrive in, and it has food, so I've been biting my tongue. But I've nearly bitten through it. Hopefully the victims of the disgusting racism will be inclined to talk with us at all, I wouldn't blame them for not being so. 

Well, me and Aleko are at least not Elves so if they're understandably racist back maybe we won't count. Though we still don't speak the language very well and I'm not sure this is the same one here.

Osanwe should help there, right?

They said Dwarves don't have it and neither do we. Elf intermediary attenuates the 'look how not an Elf I am'.

Right. Sorry. Uh, I don't look much like the Thindar? We could see if that gets us anywhere, though it may not. How long would it take you to learn the local language?

...telepathy would speed it up, probably, but still a really long time.

Then we might have to hope they'll tolerate an Elf intermediary. If it helps you can be obviously in charge?

I don't know if it'll help or not but it might.

Well. I am happy to take orders as your Elf translator. I also have a passable grasp of the local language, though if we wait until tomorrow I'll have a better one. 

You guys are really good at languages.

My father wanted to come himself but he wouldn't bite his tongue on the disgustingly racist bits and it'd be an all-around diplomatic disaster so I promised him I'd come back fluent. 

It was very hard not to press the point on the disgusting racism.

Doesn't even help the Dwarves. I'll push it if they ask. Not - not just because it annoys me personally, there's a war on and a lot at stake. 

Yeah. I wouldn't be pushing it because I'd think it'd do anything but because I'd want to suss out the depth of the character flaws in my ostensible allies, pretty much.

He laughs. They are deeply xenophobic but basically good rulers of their own people, this kingdom does not seem to be hiddenly dystopian in any ways we'd need to correct, and I think they could grow up but being Elves they'll do so slowly, it'd take me a few decades to get much of anywhere. 

Of course it would. Did you as a species just allocate all your swiftness into language-learning?

My family just cares about swiftness more than any other Elves we've ever met. Though all Elves pick up words and songs and poems on first hearing. 

I've noticed that, although I was attributing it to practice. The hunti prime has an eidetic memory and I was so jealous when I heard about it, I was so tempted to just try to install it on myself once I knew it was within natural human variation...

They don't have it as their magic, they just have it? Wow.

He's so lucky. And hot.

Your mental modification would let you do things like that?