"I guess that makes sense if you've been alone all this time."

"Yeah. I mean, not that long. But kind of too long. I'm not even totally sure how long."

"I don't know if it's better or worse that we arrived, what with the 'you're not alone anymore' and the spontaneous babies."

"Better," he says firmly. "I mean, better for me, I don't know about you."

"Well, not only are we no longer in the specific war zone we were previously in, there literally aren't enough people around to start a new one."

"Well, all right, when you put it that way..."

"The genesis is...a complication...but we'd better get used to not referring to spontaneous babies as a horrible imposition before any of 'em are around and old enough to understand."

"I don't even think they're a horrible imposition, not really, they're just - a new concept?"

"Well, I guess they'd have to be, if you don't have geneses."

"Yes, exactly! I've never had to deal with the idea of spontaneous babies before! The actual spontaneous babies themselves are just, like, a logistical challenge, and not even a huge logistical challenge. A medium-sized logistical challenge."

"You're so hung up on them, though."

"It's a really weird idea!"

"So're the Athrai, and we're not as hung up on them as you are on this. I mean, they're just babies."

"...I think the things about my world that are weird to you might be less weird to you than the things about your world that are weird to me," he says.

"Why, though? I mean, you have babies, right?"

"Yes. But we have only one species of babies, so they all work approximately the same way and it doesn't involve ever appearing out of thin air."

"Wonder what you'd think of elf reproduction."

"I bet I'll think it's weird."

"We lay eggs."

"I was right! I do think it's weird!"

"If that bothers you, don't ask about the gloves."

"I wouldn't describe myself as bothered... like, it's also weird that I can paint ink onto a plate and make a big pile of dirt appear out of thin air, that's very weird, but it doesn't bother me."

"I guess that's true."

"Yes!"

"I guess you just react differently to weird stuff than I do."