And he recommends three names and sends some mental pictures of more buildings by them and suggests they go to one of them to get a plan drawn up when they're ready.

"Thanks."

"My pleasure. Let me know right away if there's anything else."

"...There sort of is one thing, actually, someone said something rude and I sort of got fed up and said something snarky back but even if I had been inclined to handle it diplomatically I wouldn't know how."

He sighs. "I'm very sorry. What was said?"

"He said, 'You know he sleeps with men, right?' and I said 'Are you asking me to take off my top to prove I have breasts?' and he said 'I thought he might not have told you, I suppose it makes sense that he'd have imported someone from somewhere they don't know better' and I said 'I assure you I know my own gender.'"

His expression is a little forcedly still for a second. "That definitely works. If you don't want to embarrass and alienate someone you can just say 'and he married me' or something to the effect that he grew out of it."

"I don't mind letting people assume I have a problem with that sort of behavior because of course obviously everyone does," she says, "or at least not so much that I'll actively correct it if it makes your life harder. But I come from a culture that doesn't have ridiculous gods peering over our shoulders claiming to know what's best for us when they don't get how we work and I have no desire to reinforce the belief that they're right. 'And he married me' I can do, claiming that growing out of it is a thing not so much."

"All right. I'd stick to that if there are people you have some reason not to offend. It's an obscenely rude comment to make and if it weren't true they could get in a lot of trouble for it."

"Which is idiotic, but not really surprising."

"You don't think people should get in trouble for malicious lies?"

"I think it shouldn't be a rude comment."

"You can get into that with people on the street too but I wouldn't expect it will get you very far. I'm sorry. It won't hurt people to hear that other worlds have different customs and get along just fine."

"If I thought it would get me anywhere I'd stand on the highest feasible point in the city and shriek it."

"Please do let me know if you're planning to do that."

"I'm not planning to do that. I don't expect it to get me anywhere."

"I don't think so, no. Are you two sure you want to live in Tirion?"

"...I don't want to take him away from you guys."

"That's good of you. For the short term. If this isn't the place where you'd want to raise your children I don't know if it makes sense to build a house."

"That makes a lot of sense," she sighs.

"I don't really want to raise kids in Tirion. Some of them might just like the same gender."

"Yeah. This is annoying, I like your family."

"Not all of them are tied to Tirion," Maitimo says, "and you should give children a few Years anyway."

"That much is certainly true."

"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. If there were magic words to be screamed from the rooftop I'd know them, but there aren't, and the Valar'd hear screaming. Change might have to be quieter."