She opens one eye to peer at him. Uh?

Valar say it's evil to have sex like that, outside marriage. So, like, as far as I give a shit what they think which is not at all, that's a thing.

...I might be missing some things, here? I only have a pretty vague idea of how things work for Eldar.

Uh, okay, so a man and a woman, if they have sex, are married, everyone can see it. That's the only acceptable kind of intimate conduct, a nice wedding after a yearlong engagement. People occasionally screw around but you're at least supposed to pretend you don't. Two men together, or two women together, is super evil, say the Valar.

Not sure I'm catching the actual significance of 'married'. It seems a little bit like partnerships but not entirely. Also did they say why? Because that seems pretty bizarre to me. Maybe less if you all know what each other are from the start - also super weird - but even then.

I mean, I think morality is bullshit, but the argument is that Eru designed us and designed sex for a purpose and you're not supposed to do it recreationally.

Not hurting people isn't bullshit, but that sure sounds like it is. Unless I'm missing something again, but it doesn't sound like it, 'recreational' sounds pretty harmless to me.

Bit more complicated than that but only because people make it complicated.

...sigh. I don't want to know but I probably should, if you're willing to talk about it.

So, let's say there's something that's meaningless, right? Like, I don't know, putting a flower in someone's hair. But then everyone decides that putting a flower in someone's hair means you're claiming them as your property. Now, it's not that it's wrong to put flowers in peoples' hair, exactly, but lots of peoples' reasons for wanting to do it will be caught up in that, and that's how other people will interpret it even if that's not how they mean it.

And that's how the Eldar think about two men sleeping together.

Ugh. Okay. Important to know, thanks. Do you know of anyone who could be trusted to keep an eye on the humans and make sure they're not picking that idea up somehow? Not that I have a good idea of what to do about it if they do.

Nope, sorry.

Okay. I'm keeping an eye on them anyway, I'll probably notice eventually if it happens.

In the meantime, the problem at hand. The Eldar who're here probably have the best idea about how important the other things are and how long they'll take to arrange... I can be back as early as this afternoon to check the possibly-pregnant people, if they can get enough of them together that quickly, but I don't expect them to - if they don't have anything else for me to do I can get those plants - probably won't have enough of anything for more than a few dozen people to start with, but I can magic 'em to regrow fast... I should probably just go talk to them but I don't especially want to.

Why not?

Touchy subject. Not so much the accidental pregnancy thing as how they were handling it; I was hurt really badly by people making that kind of mistake, once.

Freaking out about something that's bad but not fixable?

Telling someone they shouldn't be what they are.

I really don't think saying 'yikes, you involuntarily grow people inside you and it might kill you' is saying you shouldn't be what you are. It's saying you should be what you are, minus the horrible thing that's happening to you and happening to another person...

Yeah but it's close. And people who're panicking aren't generally very good at that kind of nuance.

Fair enough. 

It's possible I'm not being very fair to them. Still don't want to talk to them, though. She nudges his hand to solicit petting.

Sure. 

I'm sure it's partially a cultural difference but also - I really do think bringing people into the world who no one wants is bad, and being forced to do it is really bad.

Yeah, but... I think you're not giving the cultural difference enough credit. The humans are having a rough time because this is a surprise, but the underlying situation is pretty similar for kobolds, and it's close to unheard-of for an egg to go unhatched just because nobody happens to want it, and really rare for anyone to feel forced.

That's nice for kobolds that this thing which is incredibly dangerous and damaging under many circumstances mostly turns out not to be. But still. Getting to choose whether to make a child is way way better. And even if usually everyone wants an egg, they don't have to, that matters.

Sure, but they don't get that, not the way you do, and they still shouldn't feel like they're wrong for it.

Like - you remember most kobolds don't talk, right?