Nod. That pretty much just gets you killed, where I come from.

You'd really rather the hosts were talking to each other more?

No, that's probably a terrible idea. I just wish everything wasn't all fucked.

Yeah. I do think it's moving in that direction, just, slowly, it's not anyone's first priority.

Oh, Nolofinwë and Maitimo will make nice because it fits both their self-images. I don't think things in general will get better.

I mean, people know where I am when I'm here. I've mentioned a couple times when your siblings have come up with a particularly good idea that it was them. It's not popular, I still have to be careful how often I do it, but I can, that's an improvement over how it was when they first showed up.

Wait, what'd happen when they first showed up if you mentioned something was us?

I didn't do that at all until they had a chance to calm down enough for it. At first if I mentioned you at all they'd tense up and go kind of wary - they really didn't like that I wasn't just straightforwardly joining their host and having nothing to do with you.

Like I said politics is really fucking stupid and people are horrible.

I mean, to be fair, kind of a lot of people died, I'm not surprised they're upset about it.

Right but handling all that kind of stuff is just - I can't.

She scoots around and hugs him. You don't have to. Most of what they want right now is just to be left alone anyway.

Nothing would delight us more.

Mmhmm. Hug. Sitting-with.

It was nice being able to help out, with the elves. I guess I can always find problems like that and then hand them off to the politicians.

Mmhmm. Plenty of us around, she grins. But what you've been doing here is important, too - it's hard to see how big of a deal support work is, sometimes, but that doesn't mean it's not.

I don't really do support work, but thanks.

Yeah you do? Your siblings do the stuff that it's easy to see is important, but without people keeping the place running - making sure they're warm and fed and safe - they can't do that, those things are important too.

I'm really not the one who keeps the place running. Everyone knows that's important, but it involves telling people what to do and I'm shit at that.

I mean you actually do the stuff. Telling people what needs to be done is kind of useless without that part.

I am also not great at being told what to do. I just - do stuff.

...yeah? It's still the right stuff. It doesn't, like, stop being useful because you noticed it's useful on your own or something.

I guess.

Hug.

I'm really not just saying that. I was actually talking to Maitimo about it, after you got done with the elves, if we should be trying to find you more stuff like that to do since you enjoyed it so much, and I barely got to suggest it, they immediately said that no, they need you here too badly.

Well, then I should be more of a nuisance, I'd like to do more stuff like that. But he relaxes considerably.

Well, if I find anything I'll tell you. Maitimo can cope a little. And then she hovers, waits a beat for him to notice, and goes darting off through the trees, inviting him to chase her.