She sighs. And I'm not sure giving everyone who wants it magic doesn't just make things worse again.

I dunno. I should probably stay out of it. Let's go get those spells cast?

Staying out of politics is how I stay sane. Yeah, let's.

And off they go.

I don't actually mind politics, I'm just used to it being a lot smaller. Kobolds live in tiny little tribes, compared to Eldar, and don't really interact with outsiders much.

Sounds nice.

I liked it, yeah. I don't really know what I'm comparing it to here, though.

I didn't live in the city, I mostly travelled with Huan, made friends along the way. Not with people, I find them complicated. 

Her ears flick back at the mention of Huan, and then she looks confused. Oh?

I can communicate with animals. So I usually do that. This is the longest I've spent being around people, because they need me.

That must be interesting, being able to do that.

I like it. I don't think most people'd want to.

I don't think I'd've made very good use of it, but I can think of three or four people back in my old tribe who would've been thrilled.

What's it like?

You just kind of - instead of sending words, like I'm doing now, send experiences you expect to have in common, get a feel for how they structure their thoughts and experiences. Takes a lot of listening.

A little like being a Speaker, then, she smiles.

What's that?

Most kobolds don't talk, and we don't have osanwë, either. Within a tribe that's not a problem - they're small enough that everyone can know everyone else well enough to get by - but for situations where tribes need to work together, each tribe has someone who can talk, so they can talk to the Speaker from the other tribe and work it out. But in order to be able to do that, we need to get to know all our tribemates well enough to Speak for them, which is kind of like that.

Sounds like a lot of responsibility.

Tribes don't interact all that often, but yeah. Second or third most responsible position in a tribe, depending on how you count mages.

It's still a valuable sort of skill even if you aren't using it for something like that, though.

I can be responsible now that it's needed, but the thing I liked about travelling was that I didn't have to be. I wanted to understand everyone, but so that I could talk with them, I didn't have to represent them to anyone else, they weren't dependent on me or vice versa...

Yeah. Well, if we're lucky enough, we might have the Enemy taken care of in a couple of years, and you can go back to that.

Not with my dad dead. They need me more now.

...oh.

Sorry.

Me too.

Hug?

A hug would be fantastic.

He can have a hug, then.

I could give you a couple teleport spells, if you'd like, make it easier to get out of the city when you have a little bit of time.