"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."

He giggles. "Disfigured, wow."

"If you were an Elf you would never have it so short! You'd make it grow as fast as it could even if you didn't want to ask a Vala to get it over with! It would hurt!"

"Wow. Good to know, I guess."

"If you ever go to an Elf city you will know not to touch anyone's hair and why they will all wince at you slightly."

"Yep. Suppose I could grow it out, but braiding it looks tedious, so that might not be much of an improvement."

"Your choice between naked and mutilated."

"I tend to prefer the first one, but admittedly not for image reasons."

"Well, you can also just explain that humans are different, or rely on everyone being too polite to ask what horrible thing happened to you."

"Maybe I'll wear a hat."

Giggle.

Aww, a giggle! He grins at her.

"It will have to be a pretty hat."

"I'm hardly about to wear an ugly hat."