"Only between Elves and orcs. It's a chip thing. I would have warned you otherwise!"

"I don't think I'd really mind that much."

"Well, I would. I'd warn everyone I met, just in case."

"Fair enough."

"Some of our blessings work for souping up the telepathy, especially the ones that are reserved for marriages."

"There's specific ones for marriages?"

"Oh yes, that's how we formalize it, picking out blessings we want and getting them together. There's also a party but it's not the important part."

"That's sort of cute."

"Is it? I hadn't heard that before."

"Well, I don't know a lot about blessings, but it sounds like you're sort of... changing how you see the world together? A little like if two people in Skygarden were getting married and they both went and got wings for the occasion. And I think that's sweet."

"Some of them are like that! The most popular ones make being married a visible trait - it's in the eyes, I don't know if you have the vision for it - and expanded telepathic range, but many of the less common ones do what you describe."

"Well, I don't know if I can see marriage since I don't have the first clue what it's supposed to look like."

"It's like a little spark in the pupil."

"Huh." He blinks at her. "Mm, not without magic I can't."

"It's very small."

He laughs.

"It wouldn't be nearly as popular if it interfered substantially with our aesthetics!"

"Of course not!"

"Although there are hairstyles that are only for married people. Because they require help to braid them."

"...how complicated does a hairstyle have to be before you need two people to accomplish it...? I suppose by definition you have no way to show me until I reunite you with your husband."

"...and we will not be braiding my hair in front of anyone."

"...I was thinking of being shown the results rather than the process, but the way you said that sounds like there's more to it...?"

"Oh, the results aren't private, that would be fine. Elf hair is considered sexual. We all have it long and it's always braided in public - some places scarves are considered polite if you're not swimming. You can get away with just a ponytail for extremely casual situations."

"...Huh. Okay. I hope I haven't run into that by accident somehow, I can't remember."

"You have not interacted with my hair in any inappropriate way," she assures him, "although if you were an Elf you would be disfigured."