Nothing right now; I just talked to Tyelkormo, though, and they told the elves we're not going to send Tirinquo home.

We still can. 

Yeah.

They are enspelled.

So their tribe won't take them? They can tell if a spell has ever been cast on someone? No way to hide it?

Their tribe might take them anyway, they're from far enough away that they might have different customs about that. But it won't help, and they can't hide it - I can go with them and talk to their speaker about it if their tribe lets me get that close; that might be enough, but I won't know until we're there.

Well, they're welcome back here if it does not work out.

Thank you.

How much does it matter if Tyelkormo finds out we broke their promise?

I really don't think he'll care. 

Mm - I think I'll play it safe anyway, they were in kind of a mood. We'll go in a couple days, the story is I'm taking the time to find a different tribe to send them to.

Okay. I think he's just upset at the idea of people stealing from us some things we need to win the war.

Something like that, probably, but they're grumpy at Tirinquo about it, better to avoid the conflict if we can. I think they'll hold out okay for another couple days.

No, he's grumpy at Tirinquo for risking his life stealing things for thrills and also about the elf guard who lost an arm. 

...hadn't heard about the guard. Okay, we'll go now, then. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone - at least a few days, maybe a week or so, their meetup won't be close to the city.

Good skill.

Thanks.

And a few minutes later, they're gone.

They return five days later, appearing huddled together on the bed, the new kobold shaking violently while the original tries to calm them. Back, she tells Maitimo after a minute. Couldn't get close enough to talk to anybody.

I am sorry.

Yeah.

Sorry, distracted...

Tell me when you're not busy?

Certainly.

Thanks.

Tirinquo is sobbing, now, curled up on the bed in a little ball of misery. She curls up behind them, rests her snout on their shoulder, hugs them close, and waits for them to calm down, even a little.

It's going to be a while.

And a while later - I am not busy.

Hey. She sounds tired. I've been thinking about what we can do for Tirinquo, and there's really not a good solution, but there is one that seems best out of the things we can do, probably. You might find it upsetting to think about, though.

Go ahead.

Mmhmm. So one of the plants I have is a drug that makes it harder to think of things as dangerous or scary - if the person who takes it knows that something's dangerous, they still feel that, but if they just think it might be, they don't. It's useful when things are stressful but there's someplace a person can be for a while that they know is safe, to let them relax for a while. I'm hoping that if I offer it to them again they'll take it this time and it'll let them be around Quendi without panicking, but it means we'll have to be really careful about keeping them away from anything risky.

Is that what they want?

They know what the plant is; if they don't want it they won't eat it. But if I offer it at all I'm telling them I think it's safe enough for it here.