"Is there one?"

"Not sure. Maybe. Did we ever test whether Morse code works?"

"Don't remember."

He looks up Morse code and tries to say "hello" by tapping on something.

"Nope."

"Ugh, okay, that would've been nice—wait, maybe plain speak doesn't work but, um, what if I tell you how to Morse code an order and see if you can order me like that?"

"Okay."

He spells out "lift your arm" in Morse code for her and tells her what it says.

And she taps it at him.

"Drat. Okay there goes my idea to use something less conspicuous."

"How would this have helped?"

"Unless they stripped me naked and examined my body inch-by-inch it could've been a backup way of getting orders by attaching something elsewhere in my body that'd vibrate in morse code or something."

"...I wouldn't put it past them," she points out. "They'd be looking for food, more likely than equipment, but they might."

"Next idea is something subcutaneous."

"If they're careless they'd miss that. If."

"Really? They'd inspect stuff under my skin?"

"You could put a berry under your skin and then heal the incision."

"So would they check every inch of my body or?"

"Or they've got a kind magic that handles it or they'd make sure you were taking orders by giving you ones that would be hard to follow without flinching and only enforcing some of them..."

"Hmm... Didn't you mention that there's a kind that can transmit its voice along whatever distances?"

"Littlesingers."

"Could one be selective about who hears it?"

"I think so, since one doesn't hear littlesingers shouting random things all the time."

"Yeah, so—okay why aren't all courts trying to get littlesingers, they sound ridiculously useful for remote management."

"They're not particularly common and delivering orders through proxies is troublesome if the proxy isn't helpful."